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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hawks Send Pacers Packing Miller’s Brilliant Fourth Quarter Tainted By Miss At The Buzzer

Reggie Miller returned, and everything went right for the Indiana Pacers - until the final shot. Miller, sidelined since April 13 with a fractured eye socket, made a surprising comeback Sunday and had another spectacular fourth quarter. But he missed the game-winning shot at the final buzzer and the Pacers lost 89-87 to the Atlanta Hawks in Indianapolis.

Atlanta won the best-of-5 series 3-2 and advanced to play Orlando in the second round.

Miller scored 16 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter, including Indiana’s final eight. He got the ball in the final seconds but was double-teamed by Mookie Blaylock and Matt Bullard. He still managed to get off an off-balance 3-pointer, but it glanced off the side of the rim as time expired.

That gave the victory to Atlanta, which had lost to the Pacers in the playoffs the past two years. Indiana was ousted in the first round for the first time in three years in what may have been Miller’s final game with the Pacers. He becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The Pacers cut Atlanta’s lead to 89-87 with 31 seconds left after Miller was hacked by Stacey Augmon as he went up for a 3-pointer. He made all three free throws.

Blaylock then threw the ball out of bounds on the next Atlanta possession, giving the ball back to the Pacers with 11 seconds left to set up the final sequence.

Blaylock scored 23 points, Steve Smith had 17 and Christian Laettner added 15 points and 11 rebounds despite being in foul trouble for much of the game.

Rik Smits finished with 17 points for the Pacers, who were eliminated in the first round for the first time in three years.

The Hawks trailed only once from the end of the second quarter on, but they nearly gave the game away in the fourth quarter. After Bullard’s trey gave Atlanta a 72-63 lead - its largest of the game - with 11:11 left, the Hawks were scoreless for the next 3 minutes. A pair of baskets from Smits and three free throws by Miller cut Atlanta’s lead to 72-70 before Blaylock drilled a 3-pointer with 8:30 left.

Hawks 89, Pacers 87

Atlanta (89) - Augmon 4-8 0-0 8, Long 2-10 0-0 4, Laettner 5-13 5-5 15, Smith 6-11 3-4 17, Blaylock 8-21 2-2 23, Ehlo 0-1 0-0 0, Rooks 4-8 2-2 10, Bullard 2-5 2-4 8, Henderson 2-2 0-1 4, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-79 14-18 89.

Indiana (87) - McKey 3-12 0-0 8, D.Davis 5-7 0-0 10, Smits 8-17 1-2 17, Miller 7-17 13-15 29, Jackson 1-6 4-4 7, Pierce 2-6 0-0 4, A.Davis 2-6 2-2 6, Ferrell 0-2 2-2 2, Best 1-1 0-0 2, Workman 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 30-76 22-25 87.

Atlanta 22 30 15 22 - 89

Indiana 25 22 16 24 - 87

3-Point goals-Atlanta 9-20 (Blaylock 5-12, Smith 2-2, Bullard 2-3, Ehlo 0-1, Long 0-2), Indiana 5-16 (McKey 2-5, Miller 2-6, Jackson 1-4, Pierce 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Atlanta 43 (Laettner 11), Indiana 56 (D.Davis 13). Assists-Atlanta 17 (Long, Smith, Jordan 3), Indiana 20 (Jackson 8). Total fouls- Atlanta 25, Indiana 20. Technicals-Miller, Indiana illegal defense. A-16,731 (16,530).

Bulls 91, Knicks 84

Chicago

A sore back couldn’t keep Michael Jordan from carrying the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan, bothered by back spasms all week, scored 44 points as the Bulls opened the Eastern Conference semifinals with the victory over New York in Chicago.

The Bulls, who eliminated the Knicks from the playoffs in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993 but lost to New York during Jordan’s retirement in 1994, have followed their NBA-record, 72-victory regular season with a 4-0 start in the playoffs. They’ll try to go ahead 2-0 in the best-of-7 series Tuesday night.

Scottie Pippen, with 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting, was the only other Chicago player to score in double figures.

So it was Jordan’s game to win or lose. And, as he almost always does against New York, he won.

The Bulls missed eight straight shots, allowing the Knicks to pull to 83-82 with four minutes left, before Jordan made a 15-foot jumper, an end-to-end drive over 7-foot Patrick Ewing and a fade-away from the lane as the Bulls finished the game with an 8-2 run.

New York did not make a field goal in the final 5:15 and had two of its 17 turnovers in the final minute of the game.

Ewing, who had 21 points and 16 rebounds but was only 9 of 23 from the floor, missed two free throws with 2:15 left that would have cut Chicago’s lead to 88-86.

Jordan responded with his turnaround jumper in the lane for a six-point lead. Then, John Starks shot an airball from 3-point range on New York’s next possession.

New York (84) - Oakley 4-9 6-7 14 , Mason 5-11 2-2 12, Ewing 9-23 3-5 21, Starks 0-9 4-4 4, Harper 8-17 1-2 19, Ward 2-5 0-0 4, Davis 3-4 0-0 8, Reid 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 32-79 16-20 84.

Chicago (91) - Pippen 4-15 3-3 11, Rodman 0-3 3-4 3, Longley 4-10 0-0 8, R.Harper 2-7 0-0 4, Jordan 17-35 9-9 44, Kukoc 1-8 5-6 7, Kerr 3-6 0-0 8, Salley 0-0 0-0 0, Edwards 0-0 2-2 2, Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Wennington 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 33-87 22-24 91.

New York 17 30 22 15 - 84

Chicago 25 29 19 18 - 91

3-Point goals-New York 4-15 (Davis 2-3, D.Harper 2-5, Ward 0-2, Starks 0-5), Chicago 3-19 (Kerr 2-4, Jordan 1-5, R.Harper 0-2, Kukoc 0-4, Pippen 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-New York 53 (Ewing 16), Chicago 54 (Rodman 12). Assists-New York 14 (D.Harper 5), Chicago 21 (Pippen 7). Total fouls-New York 21, Chicago 23. Technicals- D.Harper, Mason, Oakley, Jordan, Pippen. A-24,394 (21,771).

xxxx NBA playoffs Today’s game Houston at Seattle, 6 p.m. (TNT) Tuesday’s games Utah at San Antonio, 4 p.m. (TNT) New York at Chicago, 6:30 p.m. (TNT)