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Round Six
By Randy Boyd The following is an email from Randy Boyd to a good friend and fellow Pacers fan. SUBJECT: ROUND SIX Six?  That's how many times now the Indiana Pacers basketball franchise has been to the NBA's Eastern Conference finals, thanks to a gut-check performance in Miami May 18. Last Tuesday, "Frasier" ended its run. This Tuesday, it was the Miami Heat saying so long, thanks to a competent performance by a seasoned Pacers team with enough talent, depth, experience and good coaching to survive a night when they were too tired to click on all cylinders. Tired yes, unfocused no. Ron Artest played like Charles Barkley in his prime, bullying his way all over the defense, knowing he had to step up and be The Man, especially in the scoring column. That's because Jermaine O'Neal's rhythm on offense was trumped by Miami's Brian Grant and the double team. But that didn't stop Jermaine from giving every inch of his body, eye socket, leadership and defensive prowess to the cause. At halftime he told the sideline reporter that he didn't care if he scored three points as long as the team won. After the end of the game he told that same reporter, when asked why he emerged from the locker room and went back into the game after a still-bulging eye injury that happened with under two minutes to play: "I couldn't see, I still can't see, but I wanted to help my team any way I can, on defense, rebounding." Words of a leader on a team on a mission that won't be considered successful unless it ends with the Larry O'Brien trophy. Perhaps Jermaine's biggest contribution of the night: a sequence with seven minutes left in a tight 4th quarter where his hustling led to him drawing the 5th foul on Dwayne Wade, who was on fire and getting the crowd into the game. Wade sat down and the Heat were all but extinguished without their emerging superstar in the zone. Others in yellow uni’s and socks also stepped up when needed. Jamal Tinsley and Reggie proved to be a potent guard combo at both ends. Al Harrington had an important sequence, dominating three possessions, two on offense, which stemmed a Heat run. Give credit also to Coach and new daddy Rick Carlisle, who clearly out-coached Stan Van Gundy. And last but not least, give credit to team architect Donnie Walsh, who dissembled the last Pacers team to reach the conference finals--and ONLY team to WIN the conference finals--traded away players that had become family to the city and rebuilt but relatively quickly (just ask Boston and Chicago), giving the fans the excitement of championship-contending basketball quicker than you can say, "What three years not getting past the first round?" And so it's onto another conference finals for Pacer People everywhere, this time sans Knicks, Bulls or any Magic in Orlando. But rest assured, there will be heated moments, deafening decibel levels, growing tension between the teams, the cities, the mascots. There will be bad calls which both sides will claim altered a game or two. There will be a great comeback, a route, a three that will be replayed over and over, a Reggie moment. Hopefully several Reggie moments. This is a Pacers team that has exceeded all other NBA Pacer teams in every category, with the exception of one officially (winning a title), and one unofficially (capturing the city's hearts as much as Pacers past). Hopefully, this is also a Pacers team that survives the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in history and becomes the best and greatest Indiana Pacers team ever--in both the record books and Pacer's People's hearts. Photo by Mark Bower Randy's Outsports archive May 26, 2004 |
