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Pacers' Team Report It won't be easy, but bummed Pacers look to Game 5
Posted: Thursday June 15, 2000 04:36 PM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com INDIANAPOLIS -- Not even 12 hours after their heart-stomping loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Indiana Pacers walked back on the court at Conseco Fieldhouse on Thursday. Very, very slowly. Trying to forget Wednesday night's 120-118 overtime loss -- an NBA thriller of the first degree -- won't be easy. But it may be a piece of cake compared to moving on. "I don't think anyone's looking forward to coming into today's practice," Pacers forward Austin Croshere said to a pack of reporters around the court just before the practice. "This is a regrouping day." The Pacers have to regroup if they plan to send this series back to L.A. for Games 6 and 7. They have to forget that they played maybe their best game of the series and still lost. They have to put out of their mind the fact that one more loss in this best-of-seven series puts a terrible ending on the franchise's first-ever trip to the Finals. They can't even think about winning three straight games -- including the last two in L.A. -- to finish what they want to get done. And they certainly can't acknowledge that theirs is a lost cause, considering no one has climbed out of a 3-1 hole in the Finals. Ever. "We can do it," Indy forward Jalen Rose said. "But it's easier said than done." The Pacers face a game on Friday night with several undercurrents. It will be the last in Conseco for Indiana coach and native son Larry Bird, who has decided to call it quits after this season. Backup point guard Travis Best looks unlikely to play. He wasn't able to practice Thursday after falling on his shoulder while fouling Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal in Wednesday's game. There are increasing questions about what will happen to the aging Pacers, who have several free agents on the team. And, of course, there's Wednesday's game and what effect it will have on Game 5. "To some degree, it will be an emotional letdown for both teams," Croshere said. "It's a cliche you hate to hear, but we just have to take it one game at a time." One game Friday will be all the Lakers need.
Strategy of the DayIf Best doesn't play, or if his playing time is greatly reduced, simply look for Mark Jackson to take up most of the slack. The Pacers are a much more deliberate team with Jackson at point. He makes sure the players who should have the ball -- mainly Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose -- get it. Best is more of a creator off the dribbler and more of an offensive threat than Jackson. The fact is, though, the Pacers have been fine offensively. They topped 100 points for the third straight game against the Lakers -- the score was tied at 104 at the end of regulation -- and Miller is coming off maybe his best game of the playoffs. The Pacers' problem has been defense, which means stopping Shaquille O'Neal. And for all the talk of double teams and everything else, the Pacers simply have not been able to do that. The MVP-to-be of the Finals is averaging 38 points and 19.25 rebounds a game in the last four games. The Pacers' answer to that: They have none.
Quote of the DayThe 5-foot-11, 184-pound Best, on trying to foul the 7-foot-1, 315-pound O'Neal and coming out on the wrong end of it: "Shaq is a lot to deal with. For anybody. He was going right through people."
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