It Was Probably Pacers’ Best Shot

One of the keys will be how Kobe Bryant comes out. With an injury like his, often it feels much worse after playing a game.

Kobe played nearly the whole game and in the overtime he gave a tremendous physical effort. How he ever managed to play those last three, four minutes in overtime when Shaquille O’Neal was fouled out, how he took over the team is a testimony to how far Kobe’s come this year.

But the big factor in Game 5 is how he comes out of that trip.

The Pacers played about as well as they could. They shot 50%, only made 12 turnovers. I imagine they will be a little demoralized to have lost after all that.

They will go again to Rik Smits to begin the game. They want to get him involved because it opens up the perimeter for outside shooting, which the Pacers are about the best in the league at.

When he was in the game, Shaq took over with his rebounding. Shaq has become as good an offensive rebounder as I’ve seen in a long, long time. But if Smits gets that hook shot in the paint going again, Shaq, and not A.C. Green, will physically have to play Smits.

One thing I found disappointing was the inconsistency of the foul calls. I thought in Game 4 it was a lot different than the other games. There didn’t seem to be a common interpretation of the charge/block call. It is very difficult to play if there isn’t consistency. All the ticky-tack fouls really gave me proof that the NBA needs a no-foul-out policy.

Players and coaches should determine the game. The game was never meant to be decided by officials. Yet so many times Wednesday, calls were either removing players from the game permanently or making them sit because of foul trouble.

The Lakers cannot continue to make dumb plays. Especially when you are in foul trouble, you back off a little. You can’t keep trying to make aggressive plays because Indiana is such a great free-throw shooting team. It’s often better to give them the shot.

At the end of the fourth quarter the Lakers made some turnovers and missed some key foul shots that got it into overtime for the Pacers.

Defensively, I don’t see what the Pacers can change. They still don’t have the means to guard Shaq. And he was so relaxed at the foul line he looked like a different person. He got a little tired at the end but it just shows what he can do at the foul line. I predict he will be a 70% shooter eventually.

--As told to DIANE PUCIN