INDIANAPOLIS – Another first half like the one Jalen Rose endured last night could be the end of a beautiful friendship.
See, Rose and Latrell Sprewell are friends, having met through a mutual pal, Chris Webber, a former teammate of both. Sprewell and Webber were teammates at Golden State. Rose and Webber, of course, were part of Michigan’s Fab Five.
“Me and Sprewell are friends,” explained Rose, who finished with 17 points, all in the second half, in Indiana’s 102-88 Game 1 victory in the Eastern Conference Finals.
“We’ve been friends since Golden State drafted Chris Webber. I went out there that summer. Me and Chris are the best of friends and we became friends as [Sprewell and Webber] became teammates. We have a lot of respect for each other on and off the floor, but once we get out there on the floor, none of that will matter.”
Rose probably was wishing Sprewell never left Golden State at the outset. While Sprewell was so very instrumental in much of the offense the Knicks generated early, scoring 13 of his 22 points by the break, Rose was the skeleton cousin in Indiana’s offensive closet.
While the Pacers were romping to a 19-point lead (OK, they squandered it away), Rose couldn’t find the basket with an open lane and a road map. He went 0-for-5 before finding redemption in the second half.
“I got off to a slow start. Guys were knocking down shots so I was giving the ball up and shots I took, I missed,” said Rose. “I didn’t put any pressure on myself to force things even though the flow was going good. In the second half I was able to respond. I knew it was just a matter of time for me to get my rhythm.”
He got rhythm, he got some points in the third quarter. He banged in 4 of 5 shots and scored eight points in the session, which was huge for the Pacers because they kept the Knicks at bay.
Rose, whom Larry Bird projected to be “one of the worst players I ever saw” when he first arrived in Indiana,” then banged home a big 3-pointer early at 10:15 of the fourth to push the Pacers back ahead, 81-72.
Moments later, he slipped a pretty pass inside to Dale Davis for a score that made it 85-74. And Rose slipped the dagger into the Knicks’ gut with a little baseline jumper 5:42 from the end to push Indy’s lead back up by 16 points, 90-74.
Yeah, but 0-for-5 in the first half? Especially when so much was expected of Rose. This season, he became the first player not named Reggie Miller to lead the Pacers in scoring since 1988-89. Then he had a terrific series against Philly in the conference semis, averaging 22.0 ppg.