Pacers’ Loss ‘Mind-Boggling’

To say the Indiana Pacers have put the Game 5 loss to the Chicago Bulls behind them would be untrue.

Clearly, the Bulls’ 106-87 rout on Wednesday night in Chicago has planted the seeds of self-doubt in the heads of the Pacers.

“It would have been different if this was the first game and we had been blown out,” Antonio Davis said. “But we got blown out in the fifth game, and that hurts. It hurt everybody.”

It also left Indiana only one game away from elimination in the Eastern Conference finals, which resume tonight in Indianapolis.

“To lose the way we did really affects your pride,” Rik Smits said. “The way we struggled, that affects confidence. I mean, we missed 18 field goals in a row. That gets to you at a certain point.”

Coach Larry Bird made the Pacers watch a tape of the entire first half of the game.

“It was mind-boggling to me,” Bird said. “Maybe they were caught up in everything going on around them. It was a big game and I expected them to play harder and more aggressive. I don’t think they [the Bulls] played any better than they did in any other games, they just didn’t get any resistance from us. They looked better because we didn’t play.”

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Jalen Rose, suspended for one game after leaving the bench in Game 4 during an altercation between Reggie Miller and Ron Harper, will be reinstated for Game 6. He is averaging eight points in the series but his real value is long-armed defense against Michael Jordan and an aggressive attitude.

“One guy wasn’t going to solve the problem [in Game 5],” Miller said. “But he was another guy to guard Mike and hit big shots. He’s aggressive and a slasher. He is the big catalyst for that second unit.”

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If the Bulls clinch a third consecutive berth in the NBA finals tonight, Karl Malone probably won’t know about it until later. He has more important things to worry about.

Asked Thursday after a Jazz practice in Salt Lake City about his weekend plans, Malone said, “Uh, what’s tomorrow, Friday? Oh, my wife’s having a baby tomorrow!”

Malone’s wife, Kay, is expected to give birth sometime today to the couple’s fourth child, a girl they’ve already named Karlee.