By Johnnie Clay - Pacers Insider.
January 11, 2004 - 2:30 PM.
It was a contest of epic proportions. The Indiana Pacers against the San Antonio Spurs. For nearly 48 minutes, the Spurs and Pacers slugged it out in a defensive struggle, a late basket by "Mr. Clutch" Reggie Miller gave the Pacers an 83-79 lead with 3.9 seconds to play, but a last second three-pointer by the Spurs Hedo Turkoglu sent the game into overtime. From there, it was another slugfest, with both teams going at it, it came down to a timeout that appeared to be called in time for the Pacers, but wasn't, as they fell to the champion Spurs last night 89-88.
Despite horrific shooting from their two leading scorers, the Pacers survived the first half nicely. Ron Artest (1-12) and Jermaine O'Neal (3-12) combined to go 4-24 from the field (17%) in the half, but Al Harrington came off the bench to score 10 and give the offense a needed lift.
Though the Spurs had better success from the field (49%), they committed 12 turnovers in the half and Tim Duncan only scored eight points, though he did pull 10 rebounds. The Spurs closed the first quarter with a six-point run, the final four from ex-Pacers guard Ron Mercer, tot ake a 27-19 lead. But they missed their first nine shots of the second quarter and the Pacers' second unit put together a 10-point run to produce the first lead, 29-28, on a Harrington dunk. The Spurs pushed back out to a 41-37 halftime lead.
Artest and O'Neal both announced themselves in the third quarter, combining to score the Pacers' first 12 points. But so did Duncan, who scored 11 as the Spurs withstood repeated early challenges from the Pacers to pull out to a 64-58 lead entering the fourth quarter. Artest's fast-break dunk cut it to 64-62 early in the quarter, and his two free throws brought the deficit to 71-69 with 4:20 left, but Duncan hit a pair of free throws before Robert Horry beat the shot-clock buzzer with a 3-pointer to give the Spurs their biggest lead of the game, 76-69, with 2:46 remaining.
The Spurs led 76-69 with 2:46 left in regulation, but the Pacers shut out the Spurs from the field while putting together a 12-2 run to take an 81-78 lead after Reggie Miller's free throws with 3.9 seconds left. But Turkoglu, unguarded as the inbounds passer, took the quick return pass from Duncan and tossed in the tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Turkoglu put the Spurs up 87-82 with 2:45 left in overtime with consecutive baskets, but Miller and Harrington hit back-to-back 3-pointers - the first of the night for the Pacers - to put the visitors back in front, 88-87, with 1:25 left. The teams traded turnovers before Duncan hit what turned out to be the game-winner with 44 seconds left. The Pacers had two more chances, but Artest's drive with 30 seconds left fell short. After Turkoglu missed a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left, Artest couldn't control the rebound in time to call a timeout, thus ending the contest.
“We feel like we let one get away." Jermaine O'Neal said afterwards. "We had an opportunity to win in regulation if we had just hit a three and then again in the OT if we could have just got a few more shots to fall.”
What many Pacers fans wanted to know was what about the alleged "timeout" that was never called. It appeared that it was called in time, but after reviewing the video, it appeared the correct call was made. The Pacers, as well as their coach, Rick Carlisle were drained from the emotional loss.
“That was a tough play to make. It was a long rebound first of all and that ate up some clock." Carlisle said. "We just weren’t able to get the timeout. That’s more my fault than Ron’s because we tried to communicate in the huddle that make or miss we wanted to secure the rebound and then call timeout. It’s a tough way to lose a ball game.”
Carlisle praised his team for never quitting against the Spurs.
“We did such a great job of keeping our turnovers down and that kept us in it. We did a lot of good things tonight, but most of all we never quit fighting. We were down 7 near the end of regulation and fought back, then down 5 in the overtime with about 2:40 left again we fought back, fought hard and got back in position to win.”
Artest, who played a fantastic second half was devastated.
“It was a good call. I didn’t get the timeout. I juggled the ball just a little bit and then that was it. That was the end of the game.” Artest said. (On Turkoglu’s three) “Somehow he just got loose. He gathered himself, gave a little head fake, took one dribble, and hit the shot. It was a good play.”
The loss snapped the Pacers' seven game winning streak, on the other end, the Spurs have won 16 of their last 17 games. But there appear to be s in their armour and they can be beaten and by the Pacers for that matter. Perhaps Jermaine O'Neal said it best.
“We feel like we are the best defensive team in the league." O'Neal said. "We get up in you. Tonight the two best defensive teams in the league faced off and they came away with the win. You can look at it any way you want, break it down however you like, but in the end, on the final box, they got the win. But we get them again at our place not to far down the road.”
Down the road is correct, the Spurs now travel up to Indiana this coming Friday, the 16th of what appears to be a classic matchup and from this reporters opinion, it will be game two of the 2004 NBA finals.
But before all of that, the Pacers must now regroup. And right now they have pleanty of time to think about this loss, because their next game is on Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Hawks are coming off losses of over 20 points each and are spinning out of control.
Game Time Wednesday is at 7:30 pm (EST)
No matter what you feel like, JO, you're team is only 4th best and you were beaten by the best.“We feel like we are the best defensive team in the league." O'Neal said.That's a nice way to spin "we hack, push, trip, pull down shorts, foul and play an all-around dirty style of basketball."We get up in you.
Hey, they played with the Spurs and did the best they could...losing by just one point is no shame.
That's a nice way to spin "we hack, push, trip, pull down shorts, foul and play an all-around dirty style of basketball."
You wouldn't be familiar with it since your a spurs fan, but it's called DEFENSE.
if anyone knows defense, its a Spurs fan. The team that has led or been close to the top of the league in defense the last five years.
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