The Pacers’ recent history has been kind of monotonous. Get a fourth-quarter lead, advance to about two minutes left and then blow the lead. Happened time and again.
Last night, a one-time 16-point Pacer lead was down to single digits. It was getting near that time when the Knicks make a run and the Pacers fold like a bad poker player.
But Jalen Rose was not going to let it happen again. So he did what drove Larry Bird nuts in Game 1: He just took his man one-on-one.
Rose drove the right side and forced a foul on Allan Houston that led to a crucial three-point play, boosting Indiana into an 81-70 lead – an advantage not even the Pacers could blow – and they went on to a 90-78 victory that evened the Eastern Conference finals with the Knicks, 2-2.
”Definitely,” said Rose, the game’s leading scorer with 19 points, when asked if he specifically tried to avert another collapse. ”Any time you’re playing in the Garden, the players out there are feeding off that crowd. They feed off their emotions, they feed off their intensity. If you can keep them at bay, if you can keep them [down] around eight or 10, everybody is going to look up at the score and realize they are not closing ground.
”And we know they will turn on their team just like we want them to.”
New Yorkers? Turn on one of their teams? Surely you jest.
”We talked about it in the huddle,” said Rose, who had heard that Larry Bird claimed he was ”pouting” after some very harsh Game 1 criticism.
”I heard that and I asked him and he said he didn’t say it,” claimed Rose, who was told Bird did indeed say it.
”Well, he was joking. I knew what Larry was saying and he wanted me to go out and be aggressive. And I relish that opportunity.”
Especially when it can prevent a collapse.