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Showdown in the East

Deep, veteran Pacers may be too much for Knicks

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Posted: Thursday May 27, 1999 03:03 PM

Alex English, an eight-time All-Star with the Denver Nuggets, takes a look at the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers.

Indiana has waltzed through the first two rounds of these NBA Playoffs, only to come face-to-face with the New York Knicks in the conference finals.

The Pacers didn't have a whole lot of trouble with the Knicks during the regular season, winning two out of three.

But they haven't seen this Knicks team yet.

The Knicks, once given up for dead, are coming off their sweep of the Atlanta Hawks in the second round and are playing with a lot of confidence. Their bench has given them a major uplift, with Marcus Camby, Chris Childs, Chris Dudley and Latrell Sprewell. When those guys come in, they change the pace of the game.

These are definitely not the same old boring Knicks, trying to force the ball into Patrick Ewing all the time. They look to run. They look for Sprewell and Allan Houston. That is going to give Indiana some problems.

Then again, the Knicks have not played a team like the Pacers yet in these playoffs.

Neither the Hawks or the Miami Heat (the team New York beat in the first round) had a bench anything like Indiana's. The Pacers have the best bench in the NBA, next to Portland. Their bench could be a starting unit on most teams.

The key factor in this series , all things being the same, is that Sprewell now has Jalen Rose to contend with. Rose is as big as Sprewell, he's as quick as Sprewell and he's just as offensive-minded as Sprewell. And they will have to play against each other.

I don't think Sprewell -- who is averaging 19 points and almost five rebounds a game during the playoffs -- will have it that easy against the Pacers.

That's bad news because Sprewell is the person who is making these Knicks go. It's his show. It used to be Ewing's, but with Sprewell and Houston around, the Knicks really don't need Ewing's offense.

Ewing's backup, Dudley, is a better defensive player right now because he's more mobile. And that helps on offense, too, because it clears space and lets Houston and Sprewell, and even Larry Johnson, flourish. And guys like Camby fit in better, too.

Still, at this point of the playoffs, there may not be a better team in the NBA than the Pacers. They are deep, experienced and confident. When Larry Bird made the decision at the end of the season to go with his veterans, especially at the end of the game, everyone respected it. The players all know their roles. And it shows.

Besides Sprewell vs. Rose, here are some other matchups to watch :

• Ewing against Indiana's Rik Smits. This could be Dudley against Smits, too. Look for Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy to maybe go to Dudley a little earlier in this series. Whoever the Knicks throw out there has his hands full against Smits, who can turn around and hit an open jumper and beat you down the floor. He's averaging 11.1 points and 5.4 rebounds a game in the playoffs. Ewing is hurt still nursing that Achilles heel, though he still is averaging 13.1 points a game. Dudley is not much of an offensive threat, but he can rebound, averaging 5.7 boards in 17 minutes a game in the playoffs. And, remember, with Houston and Sprewell, the Knicks don't need a lot of points from this position.

• The Knicks' Houston against Indiana's Reggie Miller. Both these guys can light it up. Houston has shown that in the postseason, averaging 16.4 points a game. Miller leads Indiana, at 23.7 points a game.

• Indiana's Mark Jackson against Childs and Charlie Ward. Jackson is an ex-Knick, a smart, clever player who knows what it takes to win. He averages 7.9 assists a game. Travis Best will give some good defensive effort as a backup to Jackson. Ward starts for New York, with Childs off the bench. They're solid.

• Van Gundy vs. Bird. These are two coaches who know coaching. Bird is only in his second year, but he's shown he can take a veteran team, mix in some good young talent and get them to play their best. Van Gundy has done a great job with what he's had to deal with: The rumors, the injuries, trying to get other people into the offense other than Ewing -- while still keeping Ewing happy. Van Gundy has the Knicks playing their best ball of the season. His game preparation is impeccable. I think the Knicks should keep him, regardless of what happens in this series. He's proven himself.

That said, I think the Pacers win this series in six games . They are just too deep (let's not forget Antonio Davis and Dale Davis and Derrick McKey), too veteran and they are playing too well right now.

Alex English is the NBA analyst for CNN/SI, the 24-hour sports news network from CNN and Sports Illustrated. Be sure to catch English on "This Week in the NBA" Sundays at 10:30 a.m., then replayed at 11:30 p.m. on CNN and CNN/SI.

His column, the English Lesson, appears every week exclusively on CNNSI.com.

 

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