Jackson, Rice Situation Downplayed

The Great Glen Rice Debate kept burbling on Tuesday, but with much less passion.

Coach Phil Jackson shrugged off the NBA finals media analyses, Rice refused to apologize for airing his frustrations about being benched for most of the fourth quarter in Sunday’s Game 3 but didn’t push it beyond that, and everything was left to see what develops tonight.

“Glen and I have had a good relationship all year,” Jackson said. “We maintained it and I think Glen and I are clear with what our program is.

“I play who I want to play, when I want to play them, how and when it’s best for the team . . . and that’s it.”

Looked upon to help fill the scoring load lost when Kobe Bryant was held out, Rice scored only seven points in Game 3, and was often ineffective defending Jalen Rose.

“It shouldn’t cause a controversy, it’s just a guy speaking up, saying what he wants to do to get something done to help a team win,” Rice said. “If you want to portray it as a controversy for wanting to do something to help your team win, I’m not the loser in this situation. . . .

“I’m not going to sit on the bench and show no expression. If I do that, then I don’t consider myself trying to do anything to help this team win.

“I’ve been a winner all of my life and I try and go out and do the things I know I can do and what I want to do to get this team over the hump.”

Rice and Jackson said they have not discussed the situation, and said they had no plans to.

“I don’t know if talking to Phil would be good, but I just don’t want to dwell on the issue too much,” Rice said. “I just want to go out there . . . give my best effort and see what happens from there. . . .

“If Phil decides not to put me back into the game, that’s something I have to deal with. . . . Hopefully, we can get a win.”

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Jackson, who briefly used Travis Knight to try to slow down Pacer forward Austin Croshere in Game 3, said that he made the move because Robert Horry was not getting the job done against the Indiana sixth man.

“Yeah, I was unhappy with Robert Horry’s play,” Jackson said Tuesday. “I substitute to help the team.

“Robert hadn’t closed out on Croshere from the three-point line, he hadn’t done a good job of closing out middle penetration, and Croshere’s someone that we’ve identified as a player that we have to really play defense on.

“Robert’s a help defender. Sometimes, he gets distracted with being a team defensive player rather than individual. I want someone that will play this guy.”

Is it possible that Jackson will try Knight against Croshere--averaging 17.3 points in the series--again either in tonight’s Game 4 or throughout the rest of the finals?

“If necessary,” Jackson said. “I like Travis. He’s played well against Indiana. He’s got the ability to play both screen rolls and [straight-up] defensive situations as well.”

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Jackson said he would keep Brian Shaw in the starting lineup if Bryant does not play tonight, even though Shaw missed seven of 10 shots with four fouls, one assist and two turnovers in 31 minutes of Game 3 and Derek Fisher had 10 points, 10 assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes off the bench.

The reason is defense. Shaw is 6 feet 6 and a much better matchup for Mark Jackson. The Lakers knew it ahead of time, but that was proven again Sunday, when the 6-1 Fisher gave Shaw some fourth-quarter relief and was easily backed into the lane by Jackson. Fisher was forced to foul.

“I thought that obviously they took Derek into the post immediately, the next three times he got in the ballgame with Mark Jackson, and they were successful at drawing a foul,” Jackson said. “What we must prevent against, and what Indiana does well, is they create fouls on their home court and then they beat you up through the free-throw situation. And we must prevent that. So whatever it takes not to get in foul trouble, especially in the fourth quarter, is important to us.”