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and Jalen Rose as dependable scoring threats to last year's Pacers, and maybe they're not leaving after six games this year.

Problem is, Croshere, Larry Bird's first draft choice, isn't a secret anymore after Indiana's 102-88 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

And it isn't going to happen again, all those open shots. Count on that. But Croshere has set the standard by leading the Pacers in scoring for the second time in the playoffs this season.

"I was telling him that (Marcus) Camby was their 'X factor' last year, and he's going to have to do something for us this year," Pacers guard Reggie Miller said, recalling last year's Eastern Conference finals against the Knicks, which Indiana lost. "He did a good job extending their defense. He can hit 3s. And he's going to extend Camby, who's a great shot blocker, away from the basket."

Croshere made 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range. He had half of his points in the fourth quarter. He is not unfamiliar with the comparisons to Camby.

"He was unproven last year and I'm unproven this year, my first time through the playoffs," said Croshere, in his third season. "Sitting there and watching it for the last two years created a big desire in me to pull my weight throughout this series."

During shootaround Tuesday, Miller reminded everyone that the Pacers had not lost a playoff series during his career when they won Game 1. It is Indiana's fifth appearance in the conference finals in the past seven years. The Pacers have never made it to the NBA Finals.

"They're as focused as I've ever seen them," Bird said.

They also might have caught the Knicks at a good time, only two days after a rigorous series against Miami went a full seven games.

"It's going to be a long series," Miller said. "It's going to be a dogfight. This is only one game. I wasn't worried about us coming out focused for this game. It's (Game 2) Thursday I'm worried about."

Croshere has been inconsistent during the playoffs. He didn't score in Game 1 against Milwaukee and came back with 16 points in Game 2. Against Philadelphia in the conference semifinals, he had a team-high 20 points in Game 2, but didn't have that many in the next four games combined. Ankle and foot injuries contributed to the situation.

So it made sense if the Knicks were more concerned with others.

"They had to leave somebody open with their double-teaming, and fortunately I was able to knock down some shots," Croshere said. "I'm sure I wasn't their primary focus with Jalen and Reggie and Rick (Smits) out there. That's something I've tried to take advantage of throughout the course of the year."

Croshere, coming off a 1-of-7 shooting performance from the floor in Game 6 against Philadelphia, said he watched video with Bird after Tuesday's shootaround and saw that the shots weren't bricks.

Austin Croshere was a major force off the bench for the Pacers.(AP)

Verdict: no reason to panic.

A lottery pick out of Providence in 1997, Croshere has received special attention from Bird during his career. Long gone are the days when Croshere was in awe just by being in the man's presence.

"I remember trying out for the Pacers," Croshere said after Tuesday's game. "He was rebounding for me and it was like, 'That's Larry Bird rebounding for me.' Three years later, that's all gone."

Their relationship includes constant reminders from Bird of what Croshere does wrong. But Croshere said the criticism is always delivered with a dry sense of humor, not with a hammer over the head. Sure enough, during his postgame news conference Tuesday, Bird mentioned Camby's offensive rebounding soon after he talked about Croshere's scoring.

Croshere expects to hear more about that Wednesday.

"The offensive put-back he had with two minutes to go," Croshere said. "I'm ready for it already."

But with 22 points, it was a good day. A stack of videos could be seen in Croshere's locker after Tuesday's game. Another sat on the empty seat in front of his locker before he arrived for interviews. It was neatly labeled with a Pacers logo: "NY-Ind, 5/23/00 ... RND 3, GME 1 ... Extra Copy -- TV."

Definitely a keeper.