Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal vowed this won’t happen again. In bold remarks, O’Neal refused to give credit to the Nets for his miserable evening.
After stinking up the Meadowlands with a 12-point, 3-for-11, six-rebound lack of effort last night, O’Neal said it wasn’t because of anything the Nets did.
And O’Neal vowed his Game 2 invisibility will be the last of this series, claiming the Nets “aren’t a very physical team.”
“They didn’t stop me, I stopped me,” O’Neal said after the Nets evened the series at 1 with a 95-79 hammering. “I missed shots. I wasn’t as aggressive as I should’ve been. Quote me, That won’t happen again. I’m a great responder.”
After erupting for 24 points in the first half of the Pacers’ Game 1 victory Saturday, O’Neal has now posted just 18 points across the last six quarters.
“It wasn’t anything they did to me,” O’Neal said. “I missed shots I normally make. I hurt my team today. I won’t hurt the team again.”
The Nets vowed to double O’Neal but, frankly, the 23-year-old potential superstar didn’t see it that way. He did admit to catching the entry passes “three to four feet out of the box” – too far for him to do inside damage. “They were just faking the double team, pretty much what I thought they’d do,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal wasn’t the only one of Reggie Miller’s band of youngsters to flop in Game 2. Ron Artest, who helped key the Game 1 victory with his defense, was lost offensively and threw up more bricks than found in his old Queensbridge neighborhood.
Artest shot 1 of 11 – 0 for 3 from 3-point range, and had three turnovers, once getting caught with the ball as the 24-second clock expired.
“I was playing so much defense my legs went away from me,” Artest said.
Fellow native New Yorker Jamaal Tinsley couldn’t make a move without committing a foul. Playing with a sprained knee that definitely bothered him, the Bedford Stuyvesant product got in foul trouble from the outset, finally picking up his fifth with 11:15 left. Tinsley didn’t score or take a shot, and had three turnovers to five assists in 15 minutes.
At least the veteran Miller showed up, hitting 9 of 12 from the field for 26 points, gunning from the wings and keeping the Pacers close for a half.
