PACER NOTES
INDIANAPOLIS – A team loses, it grumbles. It points fingers. And some Pacers were grumbling and pointing at Larry Bird and his strategy in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Nothing major, mind you, just some questions about double-teaming more or sagging less or playing quicker or substituting differently. But it was enough to elicit a response from team president Donnie Walsh.
“I don’t think he’s substituting in and out. He’s giving a lot of minutes, particularly to starters and he’s coming in pretty much the way he has all year,” Walsh said. “If he did it any differently, then he’d be deviating from the way he dealt with it all year. [On style], he’s not changing everything around and coming in and having six hour practices. He does things exactly the same. That serves them very well.
“Larry doesn’t overreact,” continued Walsh. “The frustrated talk, they’re the inevitable comments after you lose. I didn’t hear those comments after we won.”
The Pacers have a slew of free agents: Mark Jackson, Jalen Rose, Reggie Miller Austin Croshere and Sam Perkins.
Said Walsh, “I’m going to sit with them about coming back. They’re free agents. They can go wherever they want. I have no real assurances that even if I wanted them back real hard, that they would come here.”
Many are still waiting for a real breakout game by Reggie Miller but Bird said his star guard’s play has been fine, so far.
“Reggie’s been playing pretty well for us. He doesn’t need to go out and get 40 for us to win. We just need to play harder,” said Bird. “He’s got to be aggressive like he started the other night (Game 4). He’s playing solid defense. He’s just got to pick it up and play a little harder.”
Said Dale Davis, “I’m not concerned about Reg. I know he’s going to be there. It’s only time before he’ll have a breakout game.”
Rik Smits, who seriously contemplated retirement last year, noted that “I’ll think about it this summer” regarding whether or not he would be back next season.
Dale Davis on the absence of Antonio Davis: “We definitely miss him. You take a guy like him off a team, it hurts. Just his presence and the way he attacks the boards is missed. But then we have had guys who stepped up and are capable of getting the job done.”