PISTONS CORNER: Miller sees himself in Hamilton



May 24, 2004







BY PERRY A. FARRELL
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER






INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana's Reggie Miller called Richard Hamilton "Mini-Me" after Saturday night's Game 1.

Miller meant it as a compliment after watching Hamilton weave his way around a maze of screens and score 23 points on 10-for-20 shooting in the Pistons' 78-74 loss.

"It's like he's Mini-Me," Miller said. "I feel like I am looking at myself. Rip obviously has studied some film."

Hamilton, at 26 he's 12 years younger than Miller, admitted that while growing up he watched tape of Miller to figure out how he always got open against the likes of Michael Jordan.

"I watched a lot of him because he mastered the game as far as coming off screens and moving without the ball," Hamilton said. "I saw that they were putting MJ and some of the best defenders on him and he still managed to find a way to get his shots and find a way to get his team great looks. I always watched."

Hamilton may have totaled 23 points, but it was Miller's three-pointer with 31.7 seconds left that beat the Pistons, at least on the scoreboard.

"He was able to come off the screen," Hamilton said. "He got me going one way while he went the other and the rest is history."

Hamilton helped the Pistons rally from a 48-41 halftime deficit with eight points in the third quarter.

"Rip has unbelievable energy and he never gets tired," said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, Hamilton's former coach in Detroit. "In the year I was with him I learned that he has breathtaking speed when he's running around screens trying to get the ball. He's a tough cover."

IS IT DENNIS OR LAIMBEER? Jermaine O'Neal said one of the Pacers' priorities should be to re-sign Jeff Foster when his contract is up. When Isiah Thomas coached the team, he compared Foster, a 6-foot-11 forward/center from Southwest Texas State, to Bill Laimbeer because of his rebounding and shooting ability.

O'Neal said Foster wore No. 10 because Dennis Rodman was his role model on the court.

"He's the kind of guy you have to have on your team if you want to win a championship," O'Neal said. "I don't get to go up against him as much this year because he's starting, but when he was on the second unit he'd give me problems with his quickness. He really frustrated me. Jeff has great footwork. . . . He's a guy that's extremely mobile and extremely quick. "

Foster played a big role in the late stages of Saturday's victory. He had a driving lay-up with 1:23 left to tie the score at 74. He then ran down an offensive rebound and set the screen on Hamilton that freed Miller to take a pass from Jamaal Tinsley and hit the game-winning triple.

"Jeff Foster was huge for us," Miller said. "He came in and got the big offensive rebound. The ball went into Jamaal's hands and then I looked over to Jeff and said, 'Get him, get him good.' And he laid a good body on Rip and got me a good shot."

Foster had eight rebounds and two points in 26 minutes.

Before the game Pistons coach Larry Brown had called Foster an X-factor in the series.

"Foster does all the little things that you don't get credit for," Brown said. "He rebounds, defends, gets loose balls and every once in a while, when he's asked, he scores. I've coached those kind of kids all my life. They get you to where Indiana is right now."

BRING THEM ON: Just because Brown has no say-so as far as Olympic players, he still has an opinion. Brown said recently that he wouldn't mind seeing Miller, Ron Artest and Ben Wallace on the team.

"Reggie's done it for a long, long time," said Brown, who coached Miller for four seasons when he was the Pacers' coach. "With all the things he has been able to do at his age and still manage to do it on both ends of the court, that's pretty incredible."

NOT A LOST SEASON: Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said if the Nets had beaten the Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals, it wouldn't have been a lost season.

"We're trying to build a team long-term," said Dumars, who noted that Rasheed Wallace was 29, Chauncey Billups 27, Hamilton 26 and Tayshaun Prince 24. "It would have hurt to take a step back, but it's not like it would have been the end of the world for us." link