Playoff Around The Rim: Monday
By Eric Karabell
ESPN.com
So you're the Sonics and your big win at Sacramento the last week of the season enabled you to avoid big, bad Shaq in the playoffs and get the oldest team this side of The Golden Girls, the Utah Jazz. Then some guy drops 50 on you in the first game and you don't feel so lucky.
Karl Malone has been overlooked before. He's not as menacing as Shaq. He doesn't dunk over you. Doesn't growl in your face and make you as scared. You figure he's so old, you can push him around. And it could have been the Mavs as the No. 7 seed, a lot of experts still would have had the Jazz losing.
Malone isn't about the spotlight. He's had it. He's got his MVP awards and he's been to the Finals before, where that Michael guy got in the way. So he didn't show a whole lotta emotion after his career playoff high half-a-Wilt on Saturday.
When the final horn sounded, Malone didn't want the spotlight. He waved his arms and vainly urged fans to forget one of the best performances of his 15-year career.
"Do it when I've done something," he said, recalling what he shouted at fans. "If we win a championship on this floor, be as loud as you want."
Malone has earned the right to say something like that. Score 50 but go out in the second round, what's the difference? It's hollow. In fact, while Malone's teammates tried to get him the ball in the final minute of a game that really wasn't over (Jazz were up by six), Malone passed it up to run more clock off. He did get the ball back and hit a fallaway jumper for the 49th and 50th points. But you got the feeling he didn't really care about 50.
As Gary Payton dribbled out the clock, strangely deciding to waste the final 20 seconds rather than score and foul (probably because they knew Jeff Hornacek wasn't going to miss from the line), Malone turned to Horace Grant and whispered something in his ear.
"I told him, 'I'm not trying to rub it in,' " Malone said. "I'm not in this business to embarrass another team or another player. I'm in this business to win a championship. I have the utmost respect for Seattle. They're a tough team."
And people should have respect for the Mailman. He's pretty tough, too.
George Karl is either the smartest man around, or the opposite. We still don't know. He angered the Orlando team he eventually knocked off the final week of the regular season with comments questioning what the team's future would be. It was the perfect distraction in a game that already had a playoff atmosphere. Now he's done it again with the Pacers in discussing Larry Bird's lame duck status as coach.
"I think it's distracting and disorienting to your team," Karl told Milwaukee reporters on Friday. "A coach should never de-energize or distract his team. That's a Dean Smith philosophy."
Bird didn't seem too concerned. "You know, I never got up in the morning worrying about what George Karl said," Bird said.
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VIEW FROM THE ROAD
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By Mitch Lawrence
MIAMI -- The Elian Gonzalez saga happening didn't affect the game on Saturday at all. There were some extra squad cars outside the arena, but in terms of it not being a sellout, you can attribute it to the people the last couple of years being wary with Miami failing in the playoffs. As Pat Riley says, "we haven't lost support, we've lost their trust." People are waiting for the Heat to show them something before committing to see them play. Good tickets are available for Game 2.
The Pistons can't win with Grant Hill on one leg. Grant says he has to change his focus and not score as much, defend and pass more. In Game 1 he says it was a lion against a wounded deer with him and Jamal Mashburn. It's a shame. This has evolved into a first-round series that not even the Heat can blow because of Hill's injury. Even without Tim Hardaway, this looks like Grant Hill's fourth straight first-round exit. They've now lost 10 playoff games in the Hill era, eight by 10 points or more.
I feel bad for him. Without Hardaway, they had a great chance. Now, on one leg, they are not the same team.
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VIEW FROM THE FANS
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When will ESPN and NBC drop the Jazz "are too old and
decrepid to win" ideaology? What does it take for Malone and
Stockton to win some respect? Remind me what they did two and three playoffs
ago. If I recall, they made it to the Finals. Don't be
stupid. They are the greatest to ever play in their
respective positions. They can beat any Western team. By
the way, why is the East even holding a playoff?
Trent
New York, NY
I will bet you any amount of money that the Raptors will beat the Knicks. They will probably have to play all five games but I am sure that Toronto will beat New York. Anyway, New York won't be going going to the championship because if it comes down to Indiana and New York, Indiana will win.
Parminder Singh
Cincinnati, Ohio
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HEROES AND GOATS
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Karl Malone
Think he's jacked for these playoffs? Scoring 50 in any game is a feat, but in a playoff game it's really something special. |
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Shaquille O'Neal
The Kings aren't going to just roll over and die, but if Shaq keeps scoring 46 and Webber keeps fouling out the series ends in three. |
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Butch Carter
Not only was it his strange lawsuit against Marcus Camby, but he fails to get his young team over the hump in the closing seconds. Butch, tell Christie that Vince takes the last shot. |
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Glenn Robinson
Shoots 4-for-17, which in a blowout loss doesn't matter, but when you lose by three it sure does. The Bucks can play with the Pacers. |
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