"Pierce shows how it's done"- Indianapolis Star

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C. Jemal Horton
Pierce shows how it's done

April 20, 2003
 
They just don't get it.

The majority of the Indiana Pacers are playing in their third consecutive
playoff series. They have grown enough by now. They should know that someone
on their team has to be ready to make the plays when the game is close.

And they still don't have a clue.

Saturday's first-round playoff loss to Boston helped them, though. Well, it
better have helped.

The Pacers have to extract something redeemable from this series-breaking
defeat, in which they were beaten like a Colts cornerback in early October.

All the Pacers had to do was watch Boston's Paul Pierce in the fourth
quarter.

And from the way Pierce dominated and carried his supposedly inferior team on
virtually every possession in the fourth quarter, about the only thing the
Pacers were doing was watching.

"Paul was dynamite," Indiana second-year point guard Jamaal Tinsley said. "He
hit big shot after big shot."

The Pacers' precocious-but-empty-handed players got to see up close just how
a true star goes about his business in the postseason.

They saw that respect and success are not attained through mere rhetoric.
Quoting Pacers forward Al Harrington on the eve of Game 1: "It's going to be
a coming-out party for me, for sure."

Let's just say the party isn't going too well if a dude with size-15 Nikes
jumps out of your cake.

If the younger Pacers hadn't gotten the hint from all those Reggie Miller
moments, then Pierce's mind-blowing display had to be confirmation.

Real players are the difference for their teams in the playoffs; wannabes
usually wind up mumbling something about being better the next game.

Pierce had 21 points in the fourth quarter, equaling the total the Pacers
scored in that period. The Pacers led by 10 points going into the final
quarter, yet Pierce was good enough to lead the Celtics to a three-point
victory.

If that's not carrying a team, I don't know what is.

More than that, Pierce showed how to carry a team when you're not even
playing your best basketball. That's an even greater lesson for the
inconsistent Indiana kids.

Going into the fourth quarter, Pierce had made just 4-of-19 shots. His
shooting touch had been off the mark, plus the Pacers often sicced the
aggressive Ron Artest on Pierce to throw him off-balance.

However, in the fourth quarter, Pierce went out and shot 4-for-5, including
three 3-pointers, and made all 11 of his free throws. Pierce clearly was
different when it appeared the Celtics were about to lose.

For some reason, none of the Pacers seemed to catch on and try to mimic that
approach.

"That was unbelievable," said Miller, the only Pacer qualified to appraise
Pierce's performance. "I think the energy Pierce brought in the fourth
quarter was amazing."

Pierce finished with 40 points. And while some people -- say, the Indiana
Pacers -- will point out that Pierce missed 16 of his 24 shots on the way to
those 40 points, well, that just doesn't matter at all.

What matters is that, when the Pacers allowed the game to just sit there
waiting to be won, Pierce was almost perfect. What matters is that, when
Pierce decided to attack the basket for points, the Pacers could not stop
him.

"I just wanted to be aggressive," Pierce said, "and I kept going to the
basket."

The Pacers' potential stars -- Artest, Tinsley, Harrington, Jermaine O'Neal,
Brad Miller -- got a lesson from Pierce: You move from the pretender stage by
doing and carrying -- not talking. Nothing matters until you are great in the
playoffs.

They better get the hint now. Otherwise, there will be more time to watch
Pierce.

On TV.

C. Jemal Horton is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star.