Playoffs 2000:Playoff Around The Rim: May 16

Playoff Around The Rim: May 16
ESPN.com

Tonight's games: Suns at Lakers/Jazz at Blazers
Any chance the two West series could turn into the near free-for-all we're seeing with the Sixers and Pacers? Nah.

Fact is, the Lakers and Blazers, for their faults, are just plain better than the Pacers, who have now laid a collective egg in three of their 10 playoff games. Philly was up 15-0 before anyone at Conseco knew what hit them. Two of the first three Pacers baskets were thanks to goaltending calls against Theo Ratliff, who only played the game of his life. We're not saying Philly wins Game 6, but if you're a Sixer fan, you had to enjoy it.

But are the Lakers and Blazers really capable of ending up in the same situation? Some will say yes, the Lakers just came off a blowout loss (at least it was on the road, two of Indy's tank jobs came at home) and they are ripe. The Blazers and Jazz finished with similar regular season records, maybe Utah is ready to play better and make it a series.

We look at it differently. It's tough to put a team away. Phil Jackson is a motivator extraordinaire and his actions told the story after Game 4. He's angry. Ron Harper chose his words carefully: "We're going back to Los Angeles and kick the (crap) out of them." Harper might want to note that Phoenix could easily be even at 2-2 in this series, though.

The Suns talk about Game 5 and seem to look forward to it. They say it will be a war. They definitely think they can win and do what Philly did, which is extend the series. Their opponent is beatable.

But the Jazz are a different story. While the Suns have been a factor in more than one game, Utah is looking old and almost admits it's just playing for pride. This isn't the last gasp, but close to it; even without Jeff Hornacek next season, Karl Malone and John Stockton should still get this team to win 50-plus games. But in the big picture, the Jazz are pretty much done. The Suns don't feel that way at all.

Everyone expects the Lakers and Blazers to meet on Saturday at Staples in Game 1 of the West finals. Wouldn't it be something if the Suns would be there for a Game 7 instead of Portland?

Other thoughts

We've given the Pacers credit all year for winning the East and for getting by the Bucks and for going up 3-0 on the Sixers. But to complain about losing Game 5 to Philly because Reggie Miller wasn't there, give us a break. The 76ers played without their starting point guard and they didn't complain. And while Matt Geiger isn't an integral part of the team, if Theo Ratliff doesn't have a career game Geiger's absence would have been important. But nobody whined.

In our view, obviously Miller not being there affected the Pacers, but they still can win as long as Jalen Rose plays well. Maybe Larry Bird should look in that direction instead of complain that a player who threw a punch was wrongly missing.

For the record, Rose averaged 35 points in the first two games of the series, and has scored 41 total on 14-of-48 shooting in the last three.

Finally, for those who wrote in questioning our Monday Around The Rim content, we did not condone Geiger hitting Miller. We did not defend him. We did have a problem with Philly's $50,000 fine.

VIEW FROM THE FANS

It seems that everbody forgets how close the Suns have played the Lakers in the last three games. If Kobe does not hit a tough jumper at the end of Game 3, this series is 2-2 and not 3-1. You guys need to realize that the Lakers are not as good as everyone thinks! The Kings pushed them to five also! If they meet the Blazers in the Western finals, the Blazers will win. They are playing basketball at a very high level. The Lakers are all about hype! They got pushed to the brink by the No. 8 seed. Give the Suns some props!

Jeff Sanders
Phoenix

Matt Geiger can say whatever he wants, but if you watch the replays it is pretty obvious that he didn't even go for the ball. If he wasn't going for the ball what was he going for? Now the media is dissing the Pacers again because they haven't finished the Sixers off. Well, the series will be over Friday, because with Miller the Sixers won't even come close. Iverson can talk about heart all he wants, but he beat the Pacers without Miller, and the Pacers aren't that good without him.

Josh Schaefer
Wilmot, S.D.

Should we even bother listening anymore to NBA players talking trash about upcoming games? Take the Pacers for instance. We heard Jalen Rose, Mark Jackson and Reggie Miller shoot their mouths off prior to last night's game against the Sixers, saying things like "the Sixers won Game 4 and that's all they will win" and "we will not go back to Philly" and "we don't need Reggie to win Game 5." They talk all this trash, but don't back it up. Yet we have to listen to this crap. The media shouldn't even quote these idiots anymore. The Pacers have flat-out choked in this series and now have to face an extremely hostile environment in Philly on Friday night. Like Allen Iverson said after they went down 3-0, "Eventually someone will come back from a 3-0 deficit, we might as well be the first team to do it!"

David Halpren
Ardmore, Pa.

I have one question for the NBA -- where's the fine for Rick Fox and the Lakers?

Was what Rick was doing any different than what Geiger did? Shouldn't Phil Jackson be as responsible for the actions of his players as Larry Brown is?

Chris Palma
Charlottesville, Va.

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HEROES AND GOATS (two of each)
Theo Ratliff Picked a good time to have his career game, with 26 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Heck, he gave the Pacers their first two buckets as well on goaltending calls. Where was Theo in the first three games?		Matt Geiger No, we're not crazy. He didn't play, but his actions from Sunday, however expensive and dangerous, fired the team up and took Indy's top player out. Don't underestimate what Geiger could have done in Friday's game		Jalen Rose After a couple great games that seemed to prove his worth, he's been horrible in the last three. Isn't just missing shots, they are open shots. Was 4-for-15 on Monday, though did add six rebounds and six assists.		Derrick McKey Didn't really get into the flow of Game 5 much. Missed both his shots and didn't score in 23 minutes, and Toni Kukoc responded on the other end with a solid game against him. This loss wasn't all because of Reggie.