Bird Has Indiana Pacers In Hunt For Central Crown
Have you happened to notice who’s rising, ever so gradually, to the top of the cutthroat Central Division? OK, the Bulls finally seem motivated. But there’s another team making a push. The Indiana Pacers and their rookie coach Larry Bird.
The former Celtics great has the Pacers playing terrific basketball against some truly brutal competition. After Friday night’s victory over Orlando, Indiana was 18-9, only a half-game from the division lead. And to think they’ve done it all without Derrick McKey!
It seemed like Bird picked the ideal situation to make his return to the NBA and his debut as a head coach. He is revered in Indiana. He took over a playoff team that decided to take the year off after its old coach, Larry Brown, bailed out in midseason. He has veterans who know how to win, know to play together, and are short on the entourage/cell phone/beeper list.
“The guy has done a great job,” gushes Indiana president Donnie Walsh, who zeroed in on Bird last spring. “If anything, I think our decision has been more than confirmed. He’s extremely organized. He’s extremely well prepared for each game. I think the question has been answered as to whether he likes it or not. The only thing he doesn’t like is losing.”
The Pacers haven’t done much of that lately. They had a slow start, losing five of their first seven games. Since then, they’ve lost only four times, all on the road, and all to teams well above .500. In fact, of their first 27 games, 18 have been against teams that are .500 or better and there have been two others against Detroit, a .500 team-in-waiting.
Bird has the Pacers in every game. They suffered their worst loss of the year, by 12 points, to San Antonio last Tuesday. That snapped a six-game winning streak that included home victories over Miami and New York and a road win over the Magic.
Bird has several benefits Brown either didn’t have last year or chose to ignore. First and foremost is a healthy Rik Smits. Smits has started every game after being sidelined much of last season with foot woes.
Second is a recommitted Reggie Miller. Last year, Miller shot a career-worst 44 percent from the field. This year, he’s up to 48 percent, closer to his career average, and is tops league-wide in 3-point shooting and fourth in free throws.
Third, Bird has an option Brown didn’t have: Chris Mullin, who is supplying scoring (12.3 points on 52 percent shooting) and leadership and, of course, leads the NBA in free throw shooting.
Last, but not least, is Bird’s willingness to experiment and reclaim. Jalen Rose, who Bird figures can play almost any position but never for more than 5 minutes at a stretch, is the top sub. He’s even playing defense once in a while, a new experience.
Bird doesn’t hesitate to yank defensively challenged Mark Jackson (who, by the way, leads the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 5.2 to 1) in close games or insert Mark Pope in a critical situation.
“There was this game when we were tied with Phoenix and Larry put in Pope for the last shot,” said Walsh. “He makes a perfect pass to Reggie, who hits the game-winner. Larry’s learning that while he does have control, it’s not the kind of control he had as a player. But I love the way he deals with the team. He makes guys watch tape, for instance, but only in 4- to 7-minute clips. He tells me, ‘I don’t understand why they make you look at the whole film. I used to fall asleep when I had to do that.’ And his practices are efficient and to the point. No wasting time.”
On the courts
Michael Jordan scored 47 points and Dennis Rodman had 29 rebounds, the most in his 2-1/2 seasons with the Bulls, as Chicago defeated the Atlanta Hawks 97-90 Saturday night in Chicago to take over the lead in the Eastern Conference.
At East Rutherford, N.J., Kendall Gill scored seven of his 25 points in the second overtime and Keith Van Horn had 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead the New Jersey Nets to a 112-104 double-overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
At New York, Doug Christie’s 3-point field goal with .8 seconds remaining gave Toronto a 97-94 victory over New York as the Raptors claimed their first victory over the Knicks.