All or nothing. Nothing.
Needing two points to tie, Indiana went for three to win, bravely and stupidly, arrogantly, losing to the Lakers Wednesday night and losing any reasonable chance to win the NBA Finals. Pacers guard Reggie Miller heaved the basketball over Laker Robert Horry, higher than Miller wanted to but “right on target,” he said. The ball clanked off the side of the rim as the game clock blinked good-bye to Indiana and all that.
“We came up short,” said Pacer coach Larry Bird.
About the width of a rat’s tongue, to put a measurement on it. Or one of Miller’s ears. Short is short. Short is 120-118 in overtime.
If not Friday in a home funeral, then next week in Los Angeles in front of a crowd caring not as much about winning as this one about losing, the Pacers will rest in regret, if not in peace.
“We’ve got a little bit of pulse left in the heart,” said Miller.
“Their backs are against the wall,” said Laker coach Phil Jackson, “officially.”
“Uno mas to go,” said Shaquille O’Neal, center and linguist, who fouled out in overtime and watched Kobe Bryant take over the Lakers’ victory.
“This is the the game I’ve been dreaming about,” Bryant said. “I dreamed about hitting the winning shot today.”
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“Kobe’s the hero of the game,” O’Neal said. ” I’m just happy we’re the legendary 1-2 punch.”
Never forget who is Punch No. 1, the big guy nearest the basket. In hardware stores and bad leads it is called “the paint.” In the NBA Finals it is called “Camp Shaq.” If the Pacers and their pilgrims are to be believed, they ought to just stencil KOA under the basket and be done with it.
Traffic cops issue parking tickets for shorter time than O’Neal spends in basketball’s forbidden precinct.
Call it Clock-a-Shaq, another device to try to control O’Neal. It is less spineless than Hack-a-Shaq, but requiring the collaboration of the officials. Opponents try everything to reduce his advantage short of insisting O’Neal play with oven mitts. That would be Muff-a-Shaq, I guess.
O’Neal’s explanation for the failure of Indiana to control him is typically loopy. Rather than credit his superior size, strength and will, all of which would make sense, O’Neal reaches into this weird bag and pulls out Tai Chi.
“Tai Chi is using somebody’s energy against them,” O’Neal explained. “When I try to get into position and they take that away, I just run off and get another position.”
As if the Pacers haven’t had enough trouble with O’Neal, now they would have to be concerned about some obscure martial arts contrivance, likely to exist only in O’Neal’s sense of silliness.
So, the less complicated tactic for Game 4 was to call attention to O’Neal’s tendency to skulk.
“Typical Indiana stuff,” sniffed Jackson before the game. “They did it with us with Chicago. They’re always looking for referees to help them out. You haven’t heard a word about Reggie’s (Miller) footwork and all the illegal screens.”
Bird does not take Jackson’s bait, except to remind Jackson that in the last Chicago series, he thought Scottie Pippen was being allowed to rough up Mark Jackson. Bird shrugs, granting O’Neal the privilege of his stature. Stars in the league get away with stuff lesser players do not. Scrubs get the rules and stars get winks. “Shaq has lived his whole life in the paint area,” said Bird, understanding. “He does a great job of getting in and out.”
Never trust a teenager making change nor a coach’s count. Obviously some impartial research is required. By my count just in the first quarter, of the 25 possessions by the Lakers, O’Neal could have been called eight times for loitering and was called once, the second time down the floor.
For all of Bryant’s late heroics, it was O’Neal’s 36 points, including 10 of 17 free throws, and 21 rebounds that sustained the Lakers.
O’Neal worries no more about Clock-a-Shaq than Hack-a-Shaq. He has a precise clock in his head which allows him, he says, to beat the most precise timepiece. Tai Chi again.
“You have to understand that my game is full of Tai Chi,” said O’Neal. “I don’t have to stay in the lane because I’m programmed to go into the box and I get in for 2.88 seconds and then I step out.
” I’m always out on the last point of the second.”
Clock-a-Shaq vs. Tai Chi? The Pacers never had a chance.