PACER NOTES
INDIANAPOLIS – Go back one year. In the time it takes you to reach the next paragraph, Rik Smits would have started the game for the Indiana Pacers, committed two fouls and gone to the bench against the Knicks. So the Pacers think it’s sort of important he not have a repeat, you know?
And while Smits eventually found some foul trouble last night, he was huge at the outset, driving the Knicks batty with scoring inside and outside. Smits knocked in five of his first six shots enroute to his 16-point, five-rebound game that was instrumental in Indiana’s 102-88 victory.
“I like to get going early and the guys, especially Mark (Jackson, 13 assists), did a tremendous job of getting me the ball,” said Smits, who made 7 of 10 shots. “They called a couple plays for me and I was able to get some good looks at the basket.”
And drive the Knicks nuts and into an early 19-point deficit. Not bad for a guy who was contemplating retirement because of his chronically aching feet after last season’s Conference Finals.
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The Pacers were a perfect 12-of-12 from the line, their best playoff showing ever … Indy landed all five starters, plus Austin Croshere, in double figures … Jackson had his fifth double-digit assist game in the playoffs this year …The Knicks’ 88 points were the fewest allowed by the Pacers since Milwaukee scored 85 in the playoff opener.