MILWAUKEE – We begin with a public service announcement: Don’t fall for the NBA line that the playoffs get underway next weekend.
For The Mysterious J. and her dozens of devoted disciples, the second season already is in progress, as evidenced by the game ball she justifiably earned as a result of the Pacers’ pacemaker over the Buckling Unders.
Friday night’s extra-session escape positioned Indiana in an eighth-place deadlock with the Cheese Wheeze. Still, Milwaukee continues to hold the hammer on the strength of its season-series 3-1 margin and a more favorable finish; two of last three at home whereas Nap City has two of last three at Holiday Inns. For whatever it’s worth, the Buckling Unders also get to play scoreboard, as today’s tilt vs. the homeless Hornets starts two hours after the Pacers visit the house Mess Unseld loused.
Despite a gargantuan game from the previously gamy Anthony Mason (23 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and clever/ physical coverage on Jermaine O’Neal) and magical, mystical, mythical shelling by Ervin Johnson (three jumpers, one lefty hook and a dunk in seven attempts), the Buckling Unders ran their wretched resume to five straight losses, 11 in a row on the road and 15 of 19, overall.
You know it’s a pooper of a party when Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Tim Thomas miss open trifectas at the end of OT.
Meanwhile, Indy, the league’s youngest team (excluding suspended Carlos Rogers who curiously disappeared from the radar screen one night, never to return) is amassing invaluable playoff-simulated experience, for use in the exceedingly near future, or in seasons to come.
Amazingly, er, comically, instead of being glorified for the undeniable team and individual player development (as are the Clippers, second youngest), the Pacers have been sinfully attacked by ignorant local stiffs and national mannequins alike.
We’re all too familiar with their motive operandi; so much more is expected from coach Isiah Thomas (than from, say, Doc Rivers, who won coaching honors his first season on the sidelines despite the 41-41 Magic not making the playoffs), because he led the University of Indiana and the Detroit Pistons to championships. Moreover, for whatever reasons (mostly perverted by a zealous lack of knowledge) he has harvested few friends along the way or since.
So, here they are, with three games to go, the Pacers’ playoff hopes are very much alive, yet their perception remains unchanged; they’re still getting discredited on a regular basis at home and around the country despite obviously improvement everywhere you look.
“I’m delighted where we are and I’m delighted with the job my coach has done,” team president Donnie Walsh said. “You can’t skip the growing process. You have to learn what it takes to reach the playoffs and what it takes to win once you get there. This is great for us. We’re learning how important each possession is and the price you pay for not boxing out once, stuff like that. No, we’re not a championship team, but we’ve got enough pieces to make the necessary changes to turn us into one.”
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Come on, surely nobody seriously believed Pat Riley willingly would relinquish his multitude of Heat duties after not making the playoffs for the first time in 20 seasons. That would’ve been tantamount to welcoming a dishonorable discharge. Of course, Pious Pat isn’t going anywhere, principally as long as Alonzo Mourning stays active. How would it look if adversity coerced Riley into recoiling while Zo hung tough to fervently fight through his kidney disease?
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Regarding New York’s scandalous OT loss to Chicago, do you think it may have dawned on James Dolan that the Bulls got a better game-winning shot with one second left in regulation than the Knicks did with 17 seconds at their disposal? Don Chaney may not be to blame for the team’s latest surrender (that’s a big maybe), this time to Boston, but when your players consistently are unprepared coming out of a huddle, you gotta go.
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Apparently Patrick Ewing doesn’t seem to be getting Doc Rivers’ “subtle” hint he should retire at season’s end. So, the Magic coach is trying to run the 17-year veteran out of the league. After starting Ewing in New York (his two jumpers early on were shades of Willis Reed/ Knick-Laker title drama; OK, so it’s a bit of a stretch), Rivers played him a bunch of minutes in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s relay race against the Nets.
