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Isiah plays mix-and-match with Pacers
The Pacers are really searching right now -- they've lost five of their past seven games and are in sixth place in the Central. Reggie Miller is the only starter left from the team two years ago, and new head coach Isiah Thomas is still looking for the right mix of starters this season. He's used 11 players in eight different combinations thus far. Indiana is the first NBA team to have three players who came to the NBA straight from high school ( Jonathan Bender, Jermaine O'Neal and Al Harrington ), and when you go young, you can expect to struggle. The Pacers gave up a big-time player -- Antonio Davis -- for Bender in August 1999, and he really hasn't produced like they thought he would. He's big, but he plays outside, like a guard. He's not physically ready for the NBA yet, but he's got a lot of talent. The play of another youngster is also making things difficult. Twenty-five-year-old Austin Croshere, who had a tremendous playoff run last year, isn't shooting the ball well this season. He's really good going to the basket, but he's not making that outside shot, so teams are laying off him and making it tough for him to drive. He's got to play well to get back in the starting lineup, but if they're not going to start him, he'll probably have a disappointing year; it doesn't look like he's happy coming off the bench.
Ideally, every coach wants to go with the same starting lineup every night. When you juggle the lineup like this, the players have a built-in excuse for not playing well. So the Pacers have to settle in and decide who's going to start at each position and who's going to be the backups. The quicker they settle on a starting lineup and the substitutions, the better off they'll be.
Lakers losing their edgeIf a team comes back after winning a championship and plays terrific basketball the first month of the season, it can intimidate a lot of teams, particularly at home. Opponents won't think they have a chance whatsoever to win, and that's a big edge. The Lakers have lost that edge this season because of their lack of intensity on the defensive end. They really miss Derek Fisher there. He plays the smaller point guards much better than Ron Harper, and he's more active defensively. He played Damon Stoudamire and Travis Best really well in the postseason last year, so he's more important to the Lakers than they probably anticipated. The key is for Phil Jackson to figure out how to get the players to react with more aggression and more hustle. He didn't have this problem in Chicago, because Michael Jordan would motivate himself and everyone else. But he doesn't have that luxury anymore. Another factor making things more difficult in L.A. is Shaquille O'Neal's free-throw situation. Missing them hasn't seemed to bother him in the past, but it looks to have gotten to him, and it's not getting any better. The Lakers should still be there at the end, but they have to play better defense.
Hot hoops in Hot-lantaThe Hawks (10-18) have a four-game winning streak going -- and they've beaten some decent teams (New York, Toronto, Indiana and New Jersey). Atlanta actually got a little bit of a break when Jim Jackson got hurt and Jason Terry moved to shooting guard, because he's shown that's his best position. The problem is, Jackson was activated this week, so Lon Kruger has to figure out what to do with him. And when Alan Henderson comes back, he'll have another dilemma, because Lorenzen Wright plays much better when he starts. A coach will stay with a team that's been winning, so hopefully, Jackson and Henderson can accept roles off the bench.
Kevin Loughery is a former NBA player and head coach. He appears each Sunday on CNN's This Week in the NBA.
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