For This Plan to Work, Smits Must Hit Shots

Indiana’s game plan appeared to be to put defensive pressure on Shaquille O’Neal by getting the ball early and often to Rik Smits and make Shaq play defense on him. And if you remember, Smits had a lot of shots early, but he missed some easy hooks and looks over the middle, and Shaq didn’t foul him or need to. That set the pace for the rest of the night.

I expect the Pacers will try the same thing, or something similar to that, Friday night. You have to remember that they would have been happy to let Shaq get 35 (instead of 43) and then, if that happens, and Reggie Miller doesn’t have such a horrible game and scores maybe 20, and they get 20 from Smits and a better scoring game from Jalen Rose, it is a different game.

Indiana doesn’t like to double team, so it might be a series very opposite of Portland, where Shaq got doubled all the time. And that means the Pacers have a very big problem, because Smits, though he is 7 feet 4, isn’t as quick nor as active as Shaq. I really don’t think the scenario is going to change that much, but I also don’t think Miller is going to go 1 for 13 [16, actually] or whatever he did tonight.

Indiana did its best defensive job in the third quarter, and that’s because they doubled quicker on Shaq. If he gets the ball, in the paint, one-on-one, you just don’t stop him.

The Lakers did a good thing in the third quarter, too. They kept Shaq rested and safe by guarding Smits with one of the forwards, while Shaq drifted in the lane, away from trouble. The rules allow you to do that on the strong side, and they did it well.

Mostly, it was not so much strategy as Shaq and Kobe Bryant just taking over when they had to. Every time Indiana would get it down to eight points, working hard to do that, Shaq would get the ball in close and make it 10. After that happens for awhile, you get pretty discouraged if you are Indiana. And they did.

--As told to BILL DWYRE