Pacers prove to be vulnerable
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The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — This is a
confused and frustrated team.
The Indiana Pacers, a team with
championship aspirations, are
proving to be a club that loses
close games when it can least af
ford to.
The Pacers practiced together
daily for months during the NBA
lockout, anticipating a payoff
once the season began. Home
court advantage throughout the
playoffs was one goal, but that’s
now mathematically impossible.
Homecourt advantage through
out the Eastern Conference play
offs is a long shot. The Pacers en
ter their final four games of the
regular season struggling to hold
'first place in the Central Division.
Indiana’s lead over second
place Atlanta was* cut to a half
game with Tuesday’s 88-87 loss to
Orlando, and the Hawks could tie
the Pacers on Wednesday by beat
ing the New York Knicks.
Three of Indiana’s final four
games are at home, but that appar
ent edge seems minimal since the
Pacers have lost three of their last
six home games.
“Last year when we needed to
win at home, we won,” Antonio
Davis said. “This year we can’t
put together a bucket, a stop, a
win when we really need it. It’s
scary Decause we just can t get it
done and we don’t know why.”
Indiana is 1-6 in games decided
by one point and four of the losses
have been at Market Square Are
na. Failure to protect leads late in
the game and an inability to make
game-saving stops have become
common.
“This was a very tough loss
with the same story on a different
day and the same ending,” Jalen
Rose said after the loss to Orlan
do, which cost the Pacers home
court advantage with Orlando if
the teams finish the regular sea
son in a tie. “We must stop this. I
think we’re thinking about it too
much and just haven’t gotten into
the rhythm to pull out these
games when we need to be.”
Coach Larry Bird has stressed
the importance of home-court ad
vantage in the playoffs since the
lockout ended. But the team is
now in danger of not having home
advantage past the first round.
Miami, the Atlantic Division
leader, holds a 2 1/2-game lead
over Indiana and would likely
win the tiebreaker if the two
teams finished the season with
identical records. The teams split
their four games this season, and
the second tiebreaker would be
conference record. Miami has a
three-game lead over Indiana in
conference games.
ine nrsi ueDreaiter in aeter
mining home-court advantage is
head-to-head games and Pacers
have lost the season series to Or
lando and Atlanta.
“As far as winning the East,
catching Miami is probably out of
reach,” Dale Davis said. “You
have to put it behind us ... and
keep pecking away.”
Indiana is 6-8 in games decided
by three or fewer points and is
only 12-14 against teams with
winning records.
“A majority of these games, we
shouldn’t have been in this posi
tion ... where it’s so tight,” Dale
Davis said. “As a team, we have to
step it up and put teams away.”
The time to do that starts
Thursday when Charlotte comes
to town. Indiana makes its last
road stop of the regular season on
Friday at Atlanta and Finishes at
-home with New York on Sunday
and Cleveland on Tuesday.
“Just being in that position is a
little bit discouraging for a team
like us,” Davis said. “It’s still not
over. We still have time to correct
some things, and make this a
championship squad.”
“If we don’t watch out, we
won’t have any home court,” Bird
said. “Losing like this is tough on
everybody and it’s tough to
bounce back, but somehow we
have to find a way.”
’ Continued from Page 11
And as the expectations have
risen, so have Driessen’s perfor
mances. In his debut season three
years ago, Driessen placed fourth
in the 400 hurdles at the Pepsi
Team Invite and qualified for the
Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onships.
The following season was
Driessen’s breakthrough at Ore
gon — he ran three personal
records in the 400 hurdles, won
the event twice and concluded
the season with a fifth-place fin
ish at the Pac-10 meet. With all
the success Driessen enjoyed, he
still failed to qualify for the
NCAA Championships, but by
less than one second.
Last season, the improvements
continued. He was one of just two
Ducks to score points for Oregon
in two events at the Pac-10 meet.
But still no NCAA appearance.
As the current season progress
es, Driessen has only one goal left
to accomplish — making the
NCAA cut.
“He works really hard at what
he does,” said junior Nat Johnson,
Mourning sidelined
with eye injury
MIAMI — Miami Heat center
Alonzo Mourning will miss at least
two more games after being diag
nosed Wednesday with a slight
fracture of his right eye socket.
Surgery won’t be necessary, but
Miami’s leading scorer and re
bounder will have to wear a pro
tective device in the playoffs for
the second consecutive season.
“Whether it’s a face mask or
goggles, we won’t know until af
ter he tries some things on,” team
spokesman Tim Donovan said.
Mourning missed two games last
season and played with a protec
tive mask for 10 more after break
ing his left cheekbone in a late-sea
son collision against Boston.
Mourning, who mfssed Tues
day night’s win at New Jersey,
will sit out games Thursday
against Boston and Saturday
Dnessen
* * //e mentality
to not run for a year,
and then come out and
dedicate himself
completely. »
Na!Johnson
UO runner on Wilt Driessen
who has occasionally run relay
events with Driessen. “He has the
mentality to not run for a year,
and then come out and dedicate
himself completely. He is a legiti
mate contender for the NCAAs.”
The challenge for Driessen this
season has been overcoming a
foot injury. Although he has
missed just one meet, Driessen’s
times have been uncharacteristic.
On April 3, Driessen finished sec
ond in the 400 hurdles, but his
time (54.12 seconds) was
nowhere near his personal best of
50.97.
Driessen said his foot is about
90 percent and he will finally be
ready to run full force Saturday in
the Oregon Invitational at Hay
ward Field. .
“This is going to be my first
chance this season to run really
fast,” Driessen said. “I’m hoping
to go out and bust a good time.”
It’s ironic to think that Driessen
probably wouldn’t even be watch
ing this meet if he had done
things his way at Oregon. He
probably would have gone to
class and read about the results in
the newspaper.
Now, he’s the only competitor
for Oregon in the hurdles and cur
rently ranks seventh on the Ducks’
all-time list in the 400 hurdles. His
name is in the record books, yet
three years ago he thought his
track career was finished.
However, he wears yellow and
green as if he had planned to run
for Oregon all along.
“I love competing, and it’s fun
to race against other people,”
Driessen said. “I have little goals
that I set each race, but right now,
first and foremost, I want to go to
theNCAAs.”
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against Chicago but could be back
Sunday at home against Charlotte.
Mourning is having perhaps his
best season, averaging 20.3 points
and 11.0 rebounds and leading
the league in blocked shots with a
4.0 average. He was considered a
strong candidate for league MVP.
His latest injury came in the
first quarter of Monday night’s 90
65 win at Cleveland, when the
Cavaliers’ Cedric Henderson hit
him in the face.
Mourning continued playing,
finishing with 23 points, 12 re
bounds and four blocks. But he
complained of discomfort after
ward and was sent home Tuesday
for further examination, missing
that night’s win at New Jersey.
A second facial injury to
Mourning caused coach Pat Riley
to say that officials need to pay
closer attention to what defenders
are doing to his star center.
— The Associated Press
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