Lakers show who's boss

Shaquille O'Neal dominates as the Pacers' Reggie Miller falters, scoring only seven and shooting 1-for-16.

By DARRELL FRY

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 8, 2000

LOS ANGELES -- The Indiana Pacers got lost Wednesday evening on their way to Staples Center for Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Once they arrived, they still looked lost, opening their first championship series with all the sizzle of a Lawrence Welk concert.

Los Angeles climbed all over the clueless Pacers early, survived a mild scare in the third quarter and then basically strutted to a 104-87 win and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 is here Friday.

With some of Hollywood's biggest stars among the sellout crowd of 18,997, the game was fittingly a contest of stars -- the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal and the Pacers' Reggie Miller.

O'Neal towered over Indiana, smothering the Pacers with 43 points, 19 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. He nearly eclipsed his career playoff high of 46 points.

"I took a lot of high-percentage shots," O'Neal said, "and if those shots keep falling we're going to be a hard team to beat."

Meanwhile, Miller, playing his first NBA Finals game, fell asleep at the switch, missing his first eight shots to finish 1- for-16 for seven points, a career playoff low. It was perhaps his worst post-season game since shooting 3-for-18 for eight points in a Game 6 against New York last season.

"I couldn't put a ball in the basket," said Miller, who had several open looks at the basket, which was encouraging to him. "My first four shots went in and out. And all of them except one felt good. If they keep playing me like that, it'll just be a matter of time (before his shots start falling)."

Save for a third-quarter run by the Pacers in which they came within 71-69, this was almost a day off for the Lakers, who are making their first appearance in the Finals since 1991. They shot 51 percent from the floor, led by as many as 17 in the first quarter and got 64 of their points in the paint.

As easy as it was, the Lakers aren't so naive to believe that every game is going to be like that. "We'll be prepared for a better game on Friday," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said.

To give the Lakers a better game, the Pacers have one important detail to work out between now and Friday: How to better defend O'Neal.

In the Western Conference final, Portland contained the 7-foot-1, 335-pound brute by surrounding him with two and three defenders, limiting O'Neal to 17 and 18 points in the last two games of the series.

But Indiana coach Larry Bird chose to play O'Neal more one-on-one. Bad choice.

O'Neal bullied Indiana's Rik Smits, Dale Davis and Sam Perkins, muscling his way close to the basket where he caught easy passes that led to easy baskets. He shot 21 of 31 from the field, scoring 15 in the first quarter and 21 by halftime.

He opened things up for other Lakers like Kobe Bryant, who had 14. Ron Harper added 12 and Rick Fox chipped in 11 off the bench.

"(O'Neal) is just so powerful and so strong," said Bird, who indicated Indiana would make adjustments for Game 2 but wouldn't radically alter its approach to defending O'Neal. "He just went up and over us and put the ball in."

Point guard Mark Jackson tried to prop up the slumping Pacers as Miller went flat, posting 18 and seven assists while shooting a sizzling 6-of-8 from the floor. Jalen Rose and Smits were each 5-of-12 for 12, and reserve forward Austin Croshere helped out with 16. But none could ease what was killing the Pacers: O'Neal, who had as many offensive rebounds (six) as the entire Pacers team. The Lakers outrebounded the Pacers 48 to 36, many of them helping Los Angeles score 18 second-chance points.

"He's obviously a lot bigger than anyone we've had to guard so far in the playoffs," Croshere said. "They absolutely killed us on second shots, and when you give a guy that big that many shots at the basket, you're not going to win the basketball game."

That was pretty evident from the start. Three minutes into the game, O'Neal had five points and Los Angeles led 7-4, an advantage that quickly swelled to 33-16 just before the end of the quarter.

Los Angeles rode that lead midway through the third when the Pacers got their only grit of the game, making a 17-4 run to cut the Lakers cushion to 71-69 with 1:42 left. But Bryant hit a pair of jumpers and Brian Shaw stroked a three-pointer just before the quarter ended to beat back the Pacers, who essentially withered after that. Despite the lopsided outcome in the opener of a series almost everyone has going to the Lakers, the Pacers maintain they aren't discouraged.

"As crazy as it sounds, we feel good about where we are right now," Jackson said.

So do the Lakers.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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