By Johnnie Clay – Pacers Insider
April 17, 2004 – 10:00 PM.

A year ago, Paul Pierce and Boston Celtics erased a double-digit Pacers lead en-route to taking the all-important first game of last years’ playoff contest. The Pacers never regained their composure and went on to lose the series 4-2.

Flash now to the present. A confident and more prepared Pacers squad faced the Celtics this time, and took them apart…literally.

Led by the newly announced Defensive Player Of The Year Ron Artest, the Pacers went out and obliterated the Boston Celtics 104-88 at Conseco Fieldhouse this afternoon in game one of the NBA Playoffs.

Artest scored 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, his defense smothered Paul Pierce, who scored just 20 points on 5-18 shooting, a far cry from last years’ 40 points in game one.

At the beginning though, it appeared as if the Pacers were going to be in for a fight. The Pacers fell behind early as Pierce and Chucky Atkins went to work. Atkins scored 12 of his 19 points in the first quarter alone, including three three-pointers, the last one closed the Pacers lead down to just four points, 23-19 with 2:58 remaining in the first quarter.

Both teams exchanged baskets for the remainder of the quarter. A Paul Pierce lay-up just as time expired, made it just a one-point game, 30-29. That momentum carried over into the beginning of the second quarter as Marcus Banks three-pointer gave the Celtics a 31-30 lead with 11:40 left in the first half, their last lead of the game…before the storm hit them.

Ron Artest drained a three-pointer to give the Pacers back the lead, and then slowly began to pull away, going on a 15-1 run, much to the delight of the 16,605 in attendance. What really got the fans’ attention was an altercation that took place in between the constant barrage of Pacers’ points.

The Celtics Brandon Hunter threw Jermaine O'Neal down to the floor after the two got locked up battling for rebound position on the Pacers Fred Jones' three-pointer. O'Neal responded angrily and drew a technical foul. There might have been a second technical had Ron Artest not quickly turned back to the bench. Artest ran onto the floor as soon as he saw Hunter throw down O’Neal, but quickly spun around and ran back to the bench, no word yet on if Artest will be fined or suspended for his actions.

"I was concerned when it happened.” Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle said on the incident. “They had just put in a young strong player and right away he was throwing an MVP candidate to the floor. I don’t like that style of basketball. I reacted, the team reacted and the fans reacted. It got us going.”

"We knew he (Hunter) was sent in to do something to shake it up and get them moving.” Jermaine O’Neal said. “This is the NBA. Each team sometimes has a person to come in and do that. No disrespect to him; but I have to do a better job to keep myself focused and not get ejected because our loss would probably be greater than theirs."

The incident seemed to fire up the Pacers, especially Al Harrington. Harrington scored 8 points in the span of just three minutes, including a spectacular dunk, giving the Pacers 54-39 lead with 3:46 left in the first half. The Pacers continued to turn on the heat, going on an 8-2 run to stretch their lead to 12 points, 65-43 at halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Pacers simply ran away with the game. A 30-8 run not only sealed the coffin shut on the Celtics, they dug the trench and covered them up. The lead grew and grew, reaching almost thirty points (76-47) mid-way through the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Pacers hit the first two buckets, giving them a commanding 92-64 lead. The Celtics then caught fire, scoring 12 consecutive points, cutting the lead down to just 16 points, (92-76) with 8:15 remaining left in the game. Thoughts of last years’ dramatic comeback flashed through the minds of the Pacers fans, but those thoughts were put at ease as Ron Artest put the team on his back, scoring 8 straight points, pushing the lead back up to 22 points, then Reggie Miller stepped to the floor, draining a three-pointer to end things once and for all.

Afterwards, Coach Carlisle talked about the victory.

“We’re pleased to get the win. We did not get off to too good a start defensively; but it got better in the second through fourth quarters. The priority now is to continue what we accomplished today into Tuesday. This is just one game. In my experience if you win the first game by a comfortable margin, the next game tends to be a war. Your opponent makes adjustment and there is a tendency for a natural letdown."

Ron Artest and Reggie Miller talked about keeping up the intensity and the focus, knowing there’s more work ahead.

“First game doesn’t make a series. We know they will come back strong and intense. We will have to continue to work hard, stay focused and play our game to win this series." Artest said. “It doesn’t matter whether we have two days off or three days off. We just have to continue to be ready to play and come out and defend and get the job done. We know we played much, much better after the third quarter. The first quarter, we didn’t play our type of basketball.”

Miller remembers the painful sting of last years’ defeat by the Celtics and knows it’s not over just yet.

"We couldn’t recover from our game one loss last year, so you know how big it is. This is just one edge for us.” Miler said. “Boston has two days to prepare and I know Coach Carroll will have them ready. We have to equally do the same. We’re all are looking in the mirror and wondering. Being knocked out in the first rounds the last three years was a big blow. This is just one game, we won’t get too high. The maturity level is high; but we have to play much smarter. We were fortunate to have a big second quarter. Take that away, it’s an even game.”

For the game, the Pacers shot 46% (39-84) from the floor, 42% (5-12) from the arc and 78% (21-27) from the free-throw line. The Celtics went 40% (29-72) from the floor, 57% (8-14) from the arc and 76% (22-29) from the free-throw line. Each team committed 18 turnovers each.

Jermaine O’Neal had a big game, scoring 24 points, 11 rebounds and 4 block shots. Jeff Foster scored 8 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Reggie Miller scored 11 points, including two three-pointers. It was a big day for Miller who was presented with the J. Walter Kennedy Community Service Award for sportsmanship before the game.

"This is an honor to be the recipient of this award. I think it’s one of the bigger awards in the NBA and it’s a great honor for my family and I." Miller said.

Sixth man of the year candidate Al Harrington continued to make a case for the award, scoring 14 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals and one dramatic block and brought the nearly sell-out crowd to its’ feet.

There was some doubt whether or not Harrington would play, having come down with back spasms earlier this morning according to Coach Carlisle.
"Al played with great force. He came in today with back spasms before the game and it was questionable if he would even play.” Carlisle said. “Obviously he played well and was in the middle of a lot of good things, loose balls and offensive rebounds. He gave us a big boost."

Jermaine O’Neal summed up Harrington’s importance to this team.

"We feel Al is the best sixth man in the NBA and is really our X-factor. He makes things happen on both sides of the basketball." O’Neal said.

The Pacers now take their 1-0 series lead into game two this Tuesday night at Conseco Fieldhouse, where they look clamp down once again on Celtics. Once again the match-up should be fierce. Both teams know what to expect from each other now and look for the next game to be little closer than today’s rout. If not…the only thing the Celtics can look forward to will be training camp.

Game Time Tuesday is at 8:30 (EDT).