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Indiana can't get offense going
Posted: Thursday May 28, 1998 01:43 AM
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Miller was not to be found in the first half with just 2 of 6 shooting (AP) |
CHICAGO (AP) -- If anyone's seen an offense, the Indiana Pacers are desperately looking for one. Jump shots, layups, hook shots, dunks -- they'll take anything.
Somewhere between Games 4 and 5, the Pacers lost their offense. And they better find it fast or all of Reggie Miller's big shots won't mean a thing.
"All 11 guys who suited up tonight should be embarrassed," said Miller, who scored just six in the first half and finished with 14 points. "It's a total team loss."
Rebounding after back-to-back losses in Indianapolis, the Chicago Bulls put on one of their best showings in the playoffs Wednesday in Game 5. Their defense was stifling and Michael Jordan scored 29 points, Scottie Pippen added 20 and Toni Kukoc had 19 on the way to a 106-87 rout.
Chicago could have turned in a so-so effort and it wouldn't have mattered because the Pacers were just dismal from the start. Indiana shot a woeful 8-of-34 (24 percent) and went 14:14 without a field goal as Chicago took a 57-32 lead at halftime. Their shooting improved in the second half, but they still finished the night only 23-of-67 (34 percent).
Chicago leads the Eastern Conference finals 3-2. Game 6 is Friday at Market Square Arena.
"Mentally, we just felt like everyone should have been coming out with a lot of emotion," Antonio Davis said. "Sometimes, when you're on the road, you've got to over-emphasize things and we kind of talked about that. But we just didn't get it done."
Indiana should have known from the start that it was going to be an ugly night. About 10 seconds into the game, Chris Mullin collided with Rik Smits' elbow, opening a huge gash on the top of Mullin's head. The night went downhill from there. After 3-pointers by Miller and Mark Jackson gave the Pacers a 10-7 lead with 8:30 left in the first quarter, Indiana went 14:14 without a field goal.
The ugly night for the Pacers started with a huge gash on Mullin's head (AP) | |
Give much of the credit to Chicago's defense, which stifled the Pacers. With Pippen draped on Jackson, Ron Harper sticking his hands in Miller's face, Jordan chasing Mullin, Kukoc shutting down Davis and Luc Longley bottling up the middle, the Pacers couldn't get open. At one point, they missed 18 straight shots.
"It's amazing, really, especially since it's the Pacers," Chicago guard Steve Kerr said. "They've been a good shooting team; you wouldn't expect that. But it's a sign of our defense."
While Indiana's offense was struggling, Chicago's was romping. The Bulls went on a 32-10 run before Smits' layup finally stopped the drought with 6:16 left in the half. Miller, whose clutch shots gave Indiana victories in Games 3 and 4 despite a badly sprained right ankle, was nowhere to be found in the first half. He scored just six points on 2-of-6 shooting. No one else was much better, either. Smits had six points and Jackson added five.
The Pacers' vaunted bench contributed a grand total of nine in the first half. They were playing without suspended reserve sparkplug Jalen Rose, who averaged 11.5 points per game in Games 3 and 4.
"We missed him, but I think I'd be lying if I said we would have won with him here," Jackson said. "It didn't make a difference who would have been playing tonight with the way we played."
Rose was serving a one-game suspension for leaving the bench during a mini-brawl at the end of Game 4. Harper pulled Miller out of bounds with 2.9 seconds left and, as those two scuffled, Rose wandered down the sideline. Indiana coach Larry Bird said later Rose was trying to check into the game, but he never took off his warmups and never entered the game.
"We didn't come to play," Davis said. "Eleven guys didn't come to play. You can't blame it on the 12th guy."
Indiana's shooting improved in the second half, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome the disastrous first half. And with Chicago players always in their faces, the Pacers had to resort to ugly shots. Mullin went up for an easy layup in front of the basket with his legs akimbo. Miller resorted to layups.
"It was a battle for us all the way," said Smits, who finished with 12 points. "At some point in the second quarter, we knew it just wasn't there for us. You can't climb out of that big of a hole."
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NBA Finals
