Miller vows his shots will fall

By DARRELL FRY

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 9, 2000

LOS ANGELES -- Reggie Miller is mad. For Indiana fans, that should be a good sign.

Miller said he feeds off emotion, and he is peeved at himself about his 1-for-16 shooting effort in the Game 1 loss to the Lakers on Wednesday. A day later, he vowed to keep shooting until his shots start falling again.

"You need that extra motivation, to create your own little something to get you ticked off, and I think I've created that myself by going 1-for-16 in Game 1 of my first-ever NBA Finals," Miller said. "So, I'm more upset with myself now. Now I've got to contend with myself, which is kind of scary, if you can believe that."

Miller reiterated that his poor shooting had more to do with himself than anything the Lakers did defensively.

"Like I said, out of my 16 shots, 11 of them were wide-open," he said. "You know, as a shooter, you're encouraged by that."

Some have speculated Miller was feeling the pressure of making his NBA Finals debut in his home area (he grew up in nearby Riverside). But Miller dismissed that theory.

"Well, it's not as much pressure as people think," he said. "You know, it's a new experience being in the Finals, but this is still a game of basketball. People make too much out of it, being on center stage. ... I think that's when a lot of players take it to a different level and they get choked up from the pressure because they're worried about the world watching them, you know? This is a simple game and you have to treat it like a simple game."

PHIL'S COMING ATTRACTIONS: Lakers coach Phil Jackson, the so-caled Zen Master, does some quirky things at times. One is trying to motivate his players by splicing scenes from movies into game tapes.

Several Lakers said Jackson has used bits from The Green Mile, American History X and even The Three Stooges in recent times.

"I think he does it just to keep us awake, you know, try to pick out a movie that he doesn't think most of us have seen and put it in there," forward Robert Horry, laughing. "He likes to cut the lights off (during film sessions) and I'm like, "Okay, the lights are off, I'm going to sleep.' "

WE CAN'T HEAR YOU: There was a lot of talk after Game 1 about how the Staples Center crowd, a sellout of 18,997, was somewhat subdued even though the Lakers won. It was a stark contrast to the atmosphere at the arena three days earlier when the noise was deafening for the Game 7 win over Portland in the West final.

"Our fans come along as we come along. (Wednesday night) we felt out our opponent and (the fans) felt us out," forward Rick Fox said. "But I think when it comes down to needing them the most, like for Game 7 against Portland and Game 5 against Sacramento, they bring a certain level of energy that lifts us, and I'm sure we'll see it at some point in this series."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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