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May 19, 2000 By Mike Lurie SportsLine.com Staff Writer |
PHILADELPHIA -- There's a reason no team in NBA history has come back from
a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
It is too difficult a task under normal circumstances. When the
circumstances include a big-game player like the Indiana Pacers' Reggie Miller Miller gets Pacers back in Eastern Conference finals Audio: Reggie Miller says he had something to prove Audio: Allen Iverson wishes he could have done more Audio: Coach Larry Bird says the Pacers made the plays Audio: Sixers coach Larry Brown says the Pacers were the better team Audio: Brown talks about the Sixers' fans
, the challenge is enormous.
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The victors in these kinds of series usually have one player who thrives when the pressure intensifies. The Pacers were no exception Friday night in their 106-90 victory over Philadelphia in Game 6.
By winning the best-of-7 series 4-2, the Pacers get a reprieve from a possible Game 7 on Sunday, a development that would have made a few people in Indianapolis somewhat edgy.
The Pacers now head for the Eastern Conference finals against the winner of the Miami-New York Knicks series.
They go there with the reinforced knowledge of how much Miller means to the team -- even if most of his shots aren't falling for a stretch.
Not that the Pacers needed any reminders.
Still, the team that looked lost in Game 5 during Miller's one-game suspension embraced his return with a collective toughness.
The Pacers showed a commitment to staying active on defense, making Sixers guard Allen Iverson work for everything and contesting as many rebounds as possible.
Miller, who finished with 25 points, said he only had himself to blame for his suspension -- incurred when he sprang up to deal a blow to the Sixers' Matt Geiger after the second of two flagrant fouls from Geiger during the Sixers' Game 4 win.
Geiger received a two-game suspension, but Miller found plenty of pain in having to sit out just one.
It pained him not to play in Game 5. Watching the shooting of his teammates suffer so much only reinforced Miller's misery.
"I told (point guard) Mark (Jackson) that after watching Game 5, I was going to shoot as much as I could," Miller said. "Just for the simple fact that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself ...
"To not be a part of that, especially when you're up 3-1 and could have come back and closed it out at home -- like I said, it kept bothering me."
The Pacers are smart enough to take their cues from Miller. Jackson controlled the point with precision. Jalen Rose contributed 21 points. Rik Smits, who finished with 18, showed that some NBA centers can hit the mid-range jumper.
"I think it was our ball movement breaking them down a little bit, making the extra pass," Indiana coach Larry Bird said.
A year ago, the Pacers swept Philadelphia in the second round. This time, they faced a stiffer challenge.
It was small consolation to Iverson.
"Right now, Indiana -- they just have our number. Simple as that," Iverson said. "This is my second playoffs. (Miller) has that experience. His team has that experience. He's been there before.
"You add Jalen Rose," Iverson added, "and he makes it that much tougher."
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| Reggie Miller helps extend Larry Bird's tenure as Pacers coach by at least four games.(AP) |
Miller began this game with a hot hand, hitting six of his first seven shots and finishing the first quarter with 13 points. However, he also went about 21 minutes between field goals and did not score at all in the second quarter (0-for-3 from the floor, no free throws).
He did start scoring again -- with 4:21 left in the third quarter. But that was after the Pacers weathered a few possessions in which the Sixers had a chance to take the lead.
The final steps toward ending the series began with a couple of mid-range jumpers by Smits that extended the Indiana lead to six, 68-62.
Those jumpers preceded a defining moment -- a breathtaking steal Jackson engineered on Iverson, as Jackson fell backward. In the same motion, Jackson was able to feed Dale Davis for a jam that made it 72-63.
Not to be left out, Miller followed by sinking a back-door alley-oop from Jackson.
The Pacers had their lead back in double figures. They were not going to be denied. The Pacers saw how much the Sixers inspired the crowd during a 16-3 first-half run that brought them within a point. They had no intention of returning to that juncture again.
"I've never been in a pro building where people were so supportive the whole game," Sixers coach Larry Brown said. "That was the hardest thing for me. I don't think we matched the fans' energy."
Said Miller, "If we were constantly putting the pressure on them to play catch-up and make shots, then we would come out on top."
They won by taking cues from their leader. They won by spreading around the responsibility when Miller didn't take it on single-handedly.
"When we were trying to make our run, they made big plays and took us out of anything we tried to do," Sixers guard Aaron McKie said.
It was just another game that reinforced an impression of Indiana as a team that does its most damage when it feels most threatened.
No wonder Bird didn't particularly want the Heat and Knicks to tire out each other with a Game 7 that would delay the start of the conference finals.
"When this team takes a lot of time off, their heads swell and they get a little soft," Bird said. "It's better for us to play every other day."
Thanks to Miller's presence, the Pacers reminded themselves of how important their team concept is to winning. It's a memory they'll need to draw on during the next round.