INDIANAPOLIS – With his Pacers three victories from the NBA Finals entering last night’s Game 2 against the Pistons, Indiana president Donnie Walsh has to feel justified that he and Larry Bird pulled the trigger last summer, ousting Isiah Thomas as coach.
Of course, Knick fans are thrilled because if Bird hadn’t booted his bitter rival, the Knicks still might be in the hands of former GM Scott Layden, who would probably be preparing for tomorrow’s lottery drawing in Secaucus.
Isiah’s Pacers were bounced from the playoffs in the first round three straight years. New coach Rick Carlisle has taken Indiana, with the same players minus All-Star center Brad Miller, to the cusp of Indiana’s second Finals appearance in five years.
Walsh defends Isiah, only to a point. He said the first two years the Pacers were eliminated by clubs that went to the Finals – Philly and the Nets. But he has no defense for the first-round KO last spring to the Celtics, who got murdered in the next round by Detroit.
“Last year, we fell apart, so it came down to this might not work and we decided, look, we probably have to change,” said Walsh, downplaying the Bird angle. “We had young players and you have to keep them. Most of the time the coach is out.”
When the Knicks visited Indiana in early April, Isiah said he felt he could’ve “won the NBA championship” and still gotten axed by Bird, who was close with Carlisle, his former Indiana assistant.
Said Walsh, “That’s not true. I didn’t know he felt that way. Isiah is right to say if he stayed and everything worked right, he’d have had a chance to win a championship here. I thought he did a good job here. When teams fall apart, you have to make a change.”
Isiah spent this past weekend at his home in Indianapolis but did not attend Game 1. Isiah said last month he shares in Indiana’s success, feeling he developed young stars such as Jermaine O’Neal, who adores Isiah, and Ron Artest, building them to this crescendo.
Walsh, a Brooklyn native, has no regrets. How can he? The Pacers won a league-high 61 games and have homecourt in the Finals if they get there.
“A new coach came in and started things off in a different light,” Walsh said. “I didn’t know if Isiah came back if we could’ve come back as a team.”
Walsh continues to show he’s got the magic touch, as the Pacers have been an Eastern threat since the mid-1990’s. The Pacers advanced to the 2000 Finals and only Reggie Miller is left from that team.
Miller’s 3-pointer with 31.7 seconds left that won Game 1 Saturday stirred all sorts of Garden memories for Walsh. Walsh remembers one of his most poignant moments at the Garden when Miller drained a killer trey in Game 6 of the 2000 Eastern Finals.
Miller finished with 34 points, 17 in the fourth quarter, making all three of his 3-point shots, as Patrick Ewing’s defending Eastern champs were eliminated.
“We were down three, the year we went to the Finals,” Walsh said. “Rik [Smits] missed a shot. The ball got batted out to [Chris] Mullin, who passed it to Mark Jackson. Miller was in the left corner behind the 3-point line. As that ball was on its way, the whole Garden went, “Oh, [bleep].”
Later on, Walsh said he remembers seeing a magazine photo of Miller launching that shot and in the background, noticed the faces of Knick fans twisted in agony. And the ball hadn’t gone in yet.