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Psyched up Head games play a big part in a seven-game series
Posted: Sunday June 18, 2000 05:11 PM By John Donovan, CNNSI.com
This is a special edition of the NBA Week at a Glance. It will appear every day until the NBA Finals conclude. LOS ANGELES -- When Phil Jackson is finally finished coaching -- maybe when he has a title ring for every finger and toe -- he could retire to his local community college and teach a course on the psychology of the NBA Finals. Jackson knows, more than most, the ebb and flow of this best-of-seven series. He realizes the overriding importance of home-court advantage, which his Los Angeles Lakers still own and will use Monday night in their second attempt to close out the Finals against the pesky Indiana Pacers. Jackson, who already owns six title rings from his run with Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, knows how to win these series. It's now up to the professor to pass that on to his still-learning Lakers. "We have to play with more energy and more control," Jackson said Friday night after the Pacers forced the series back to L.A. with a 33-point beating of the Lakers in Game 5. "The precision wasn't there, the execution wasn't there in what we do." More than anything, the energy and precision of Jackson's triangle offense is what the Lakers are after. With the offense clicking, the defense works better (L.A. has allowed 100 points in each of the past four games) and everything falls into place. But that's just the part of the game played on the floor. There's the quest to win the psychological edge in the NBA Finals, too, the one that involves momentum and cushions and that ever-important home-court advantage. Those are just as key as offense and defense. That's why, when the Lakers were up 2-0 and Kobe Bryant had injured his ankle, Jackson decided to have Bryant rest for Game 3. Jackson knew it would be a long series and that the Lakers would need Bryant down the road. He knew Game 3 was not critical. That's why, up 2-1, he decided to play Bryant in Game 4 and the Lakers pulled out the one win they so desperately needed on Indiana's home court. On the other side, that's why the Pacers, down 3-1 and playing their last game on their home court, played like a team possessed. Game 6 is in L.A.'s Staples Center on Monday night. If Jackson has played it right, the Lakers are more likely to play like they did in the first two games of this series than they played in the last game. "We are not worried," said Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal, who doesn't seem to get worried about much. "We just have to play better ball. They were at home [Friday night], and usually, when players are at home, they are very comfortable ..." Jackson, like about a billion Lakers fans, is a bit concerned over L.A.'s inability to close out a series, maybe the final psychological component that's missing for this team. The Lakers had Portland down 3-1 in the Western Conference finals and the Blazers forced L.A. to a Game 7. Still, as Jackson and everyone else knows, it's much easier to close out a team on your home court than it is in a hostile environment. And it's much easier to do when you have a couple of chances -- which the Lakers still have. "I think if we put forth energy and our home fans can do what Indiana's home fans did," L.A. guard Ron Harper said, "then we should be all right." On to the NBA Finals Day at a Glance, which on the day before Monday night's Game 6 ponders this: Will Sunday's practices be the last ones of the season for both teams? The answer: If The Glance knew that, we'd be sitting at the craps table in Vegas right now.
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