EASTERN NOTES
AUBURN HILLS – The Pacers are shooting a collective .319 against the Pistons’ defense. And it went up in the last game.
“We’re playing horrible,” said Pacer Ron Artest, who has been thwarted into .263 shooting. “It’s like when you play in the park, sometimes you lose.”
Artest isn’t the only Pacer being held way down. But yesterday, on the eve of tonight’s Game 4 in the Eastern Conference Finals, he sounded more frustrated than most – with his frustration aimed at both sides.
“I’m not getting the ball where I want to get it,” Artest said. “Right now I’m trying to adjust to the way the coach is playing me so we can win games. (In Game 3) I got into the paint when I wanted, I just didn’t have the ball as much as I wanted to.”
Said Detroit coach Larry Brown, “I don’t think they’re going to him as much because there are other matchups they’re trying to take advantage of.”
And while the Pacers insist they can work the ball and get better shots and duplicate the success that led to a 33-point fourth quarter Monday, Detroit isn’t so sure. The .319 isn’t just bad Pacer offense.
“We’re that good,” Piston center Ben Wallace said. “We’ve been doing it all season. Any time we force a team to settle down in halfcourt and have to go against our set defense, teams have struggled.”
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Reggie Miller was fined $5,000 by the league yesterday for kicking the ball into the stands at the end of Game 3. . . . Indy point Jamaal Tinsley is bothered by a sore hamstring but “as long as I can walk, I’ll play,” he said . . . The U.S. Olympic team’s medical staff was named yesterday and it includes Nets trainer Tim Walsh. “Timmy’s terrific, a great trainer. It will be a wonderful experience,” said Nets CEO Rod Thorn . . . Thorn said Lawrence Frank has not had the interim title removed but foresees it happening soon.
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Indy knows the desperate mode it needs tonight: “We don’t think it’s time to press the panic button, but there is some urgency to win,” said Jermaine O’Neal. Offered Detroit’s Chauncey Billups: “I don’t think we’ve taken control of the series. If we win (tonight) we can take control of the series.” . . . Ben Wallace on people calling the series ugly: “The last thing I want to do is sit here and defend the way two of the best teams in the league play basketball. Call it what you want.”