Pooh
06-02-2004, 05:39 PM
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It was a lousy way for an exclamatory season to end. A lousy way. With Ron Artest reverting back to his old form, committing a bone-headed flagrant foul in the final minutes. With Jermaine O'Neal missing a two-footer that could have tied the score. With the Detroit Pistons walking off the court bathed in confetti.
That's what will hurt the most, and that's why there will be regret and recrimination in these days following the Pacers' loss in the Eastern Conference finals.
But with time, they'll understand: This was a remarkable feat, a remarkable season, and this was all part of the painful process the NBA requires of its future champions. The Pistons were ready. The Pacers were not.
Not yet, anyway.
"It's something we'll build on, but that doesn't make it feel any better," said team president Larry Bird as he sat quietly in the visitor's locker room. "I told our guys when the season began, I felt like we had the talent to go to the Finals. When you get that chance, you've got to seize the moment. Now we've got to go through a whole season and playoffs, and you never know what's going to happen with injuries."
Then Bird paused.
"But we've grown up a lot this season," he said.
That doesn't diminish the sting, though. Not just yet. Not for a while, probably.
Fact is, they were there, right there, challenging the Pistons on their home floor, standing toe to toe despite the spate of injuries that reduced them to tatters late in these playoffs.
What happened to the Pistons' coronation? The Pacers, playing in a diminished state, were taking them to the wall.
Until the flagrant foul.
Part of the learning experience?
Only if you learn from it.
And with Artest, that's always the rub. He clearly learned a lot from last year's brushes with madness. But he lost his cool when it mattered most on Tuesday night, and that's not something easily forgotten. It's part of the Artest dilemma. He might be the Pacers' most indispensable player. But he remains the ultimate wild card.
Artest said later he felt that Richard Hamilton elbowed him in the groin, although that would seem to be an anatomical impossibility. Clearly, though, Artest took a shot to the, ahem, lower abdomen and was momentarily doubled over. That's where it should have ended. In a series of give-and-take -- and miss after miss after miss -- sometimes you take.
But Artest retaliated.
"I put my arm up," he said. "It was an accident."
Maybe it was. But that's not the point. Retribution is fine in Game 34 of the regular season. It isn't fine with scant minutes left in your team's season.
He's got to know better. He's got to be smarter. No excuses. Maybe that play didn't lose the game, but it clearly changed everything. In a series when both teams were setting every conceivable record for offensive ineptitude, a flagrant foul is a back-breaker.
"That play put them back on their heels," Detroit coach Larry Brown said. "If you're going to give a four-point possession the way this game was going, that was almost a quarter's output."
The Pacers still had chances. They had one when O'Neal found himself under the basket, a two-footer and a chance to tie the score at 64 on his fingertips.
And he missed.
Again, lousy.
How far has this guy come since he arrived in Indianapolis? He may not be an MVP just yet, but, then, the league's MVP, Kevin Garnett, didn't get his team to the Finals, either. There will be a rush to say he didn't come up big in the biggest games, but, like Jamaal Tinsley, he was operating on a bad leg. He played gallantly. They all played gallantly.
In a way, really, it's just as well the Pistons are going on to meet the seemingly invincible Lakers, because by Game 6, the Pacers were operating on fumes.
"It was their turn," O'Neal said. "The obstacles were too high for us. I don't know how much longer I would have been able to put up with my leg. They put in their time. I'm guessing we have to put in ours."
When it was over, Bird went around the locker room, shaking hands. Team CEO Donnie Walsh, the architect, did the same, making a point to comfort O'Neal, who was sitting forlornly at his locker. Coach Rick Carlisle, who can now do the fatherhood thing full-time, also made the rounds.
There was hurt and disappointment, clearly. But there was a soothing truth that was readily acknowledged: This was an amazing run by a promising young team, and someday, this will be recalled as a night when the Pacers began building an NBA champion.
That's what will hurt the most, and that's why there will be regret and recrimination in these days following the Pacers' loss in the Eastern Conference finals.
But with time, they'll understand: This was a remarkable feat, a remarkable season, and this was all part of the painful process the NBA requires of its future champions. The Pistons were ready. The Pacers were not.
Not yet, anyway.
"It's something we'll build on, but that doesn't make it feel any better," said team president Larry Bird as he sat quietly in the visitor's locker room. "I told our guys when the season began, I felt like we had the talent to go to the Finals. When you get that chance, you've got to seize the moment. Now we've got to go through a whole season and playoffs, and you never know what's going to happen with injuries."
Then Bird paused.
"But we've grown up a lot this season," he said.
That doesn't diminish the sting, though. Not just yet. Not for a while, probably.
Fact is, they were there, right there, challenging the Pistons on their home floor, standing toe to toe despite the spate of injuries that reduced them to tatters late in these playoffs.
What happened to the Pistons' coronation? The Pacers, playing in a diminished state, were taking them to the wall.
Until the flagrant foul.
Part of the learning experience?
Only if you learn from it.
And with Artest, that's always the rub. He clearly learned a lot from last year's brushes with madness. But he lost his cool when it mattered most on Tuesday night, and that's not something easily forgotten. It's part of the Artest dilemma. He might be the Pacers' most indispensable player. But he remains the ultimate wild card.
Artest said later he felt that Richard Hamilton elbowed him in the groin, although that would seem to be an anatomical impossibility. Clearly, though, Artest took a shot to the, ahem, lower abdomen and was momentarily doubled over. That's where it should have ended. In a series of give-and-take -- and miss after miss after miss -- sometimes you take.
But Artest retaliated.
"I put my arm up," he said. "It was an accident."
Maybe it was. But that's not the point. Retribution is fine in Game 34 of the regular season. It isn't fine with scant minutes left in your team's season.
He's got to know better. He's got to be smarter. No excuses. Maybe that play didn't lose the game, but it clearly changed everything. In a series when both teams were setting every conceivable record for offensive ineptitude, a flagrant foul is a back-breaker.
"That play put them back on their heels," Detroit coach Larry Brown said. "If you're going to give a four-point possession the way this game was going, that was almost a quarter's output."
The Pacers still had chances. They had one when O'Neal found himself under the basket, a two-footer and a chance to tie the score at 64 on his fingertips.
And he missed.
Again, lousy.
How far has this guy come since he arrived in Indianapolis? He may not be an MVP just yet, but, then, the league's MVP, Kevin Garnett, didn't get his team to the Finals, either. There will be a rush to say he didn't come up big in the biggest games, but, like Jamaal Tinsley, he was operating on a bad leg. He played gallantly. They all played gallantly.
In a way, really, it's just as well the Pistons are going on to meet the seemingly invincible Lakers, because by Game 6, the Pacers were operating on fumes.
"It was their turn," O'Neal said. "The obstacles were too high for us. I don't know how much longer I would have been able to put up with my leg. They put in their time. I'm guessing we have to put in ours."
When it was over, Bird went around the locker room, shaking hands. Team CEO Donnie Walsh, the architect, did the same, making a point to comfort O'Neal, who was sitting forlornly at his locker. Coach Rick Carlisle, who can now do the fatherhood thing full-time, also made the rounds.
There was hurt and disappointment, clearly. But there was a soothing truth that was readily acknowledged: This was an amazing run by a promising young team, and someday, this will be recalled as a night when the Pacers began building an NBA champion.