Croshere Helps Pacers Get Even

The Indiana Pacers evened the Eastern Conference finals with their best all-around effort of the series.

Austin Croshere made his first start in more than two years and scored 14 points Friday night, providing the Pacers with a much-needed extra offensive option in an 83-68 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

“It was a little bit of a gamble because defensively you don’t get the same type of activity that you do with [Jeff] Foster, but Austin changed the game,” Pacer Coach Rick Carlisle said. “I just thought it was a gamble worth taking. It’s certainly not a cure-all.”

Getting off to a rare good start and sustaining a respectable shooting percentage, the Pacers evened the series at two games apiece, avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season and regained the home-court advantage for what’s now a best-of-three series.

Carlisle pulled a surprise by turning to Croshere in place of Foster -- a move even more stunning because it was made by a coach whose resistance to change has been cited as one of his negative personality quirks.

“Rick likes to pretty much keep it simple,” Pacer guard Anthony Johnson said. “He’s not one of those guys that likes to change his lineup or change the style his team plays from game to game, but tonight was definitely a change for the better.”

Croshere, who averaged only five points this season -- his sixth in the league -- hadn’t contributed much of anything since the 2000 NBA Finals when he scored a career-high 24 points in Game 2 against the Lakers. After the 1999-2000 season, he signed a seven-year, $51-million contract to stay with the Pacers.

Croshere, whose scoring average dropped from 10.1 to 6.8 to 5.1 in his first three seasons after signing the big contract, didn’t even play in three of the Pacers’ first 13 playoff games.

“To get the opportunity to step up in a game like this, it’s great,” said Croshere, whose six points and five rebounds in the fourth quarter of Game 3 prompted Carlisle to make the change.

Croshere ended the first half with a three-pointer and began the second half with another to put the Pacers ahead, 52-39.

Moments later, he was left wide open at the three-point line. As Pistons’ fans let out a collective groan, Croshere nailed the shot for a 17-point lead. The Pacers eventually led by as many as 23. Detroit fans even booed a bit over the remainder of the third quarter.

“We can’t play any worse than we did tonight,” Piston Coach Larry Brown said. “We weren’t ready to play, and that’s on me.”