Neither really was supposed to be there, where only the guys like Michael, Magic, Larry, even Hakeem belong.
And a guy called Shaq?
It was supposed to be Jordan again, perhaps Ewing, from places named the Big Apple or Big Shoulders. Not Hooterville, er Hoosierville, or Goofyland.
But Wednesday the Orlando Magic moved just one game away from the NBA Finals with a 108-106 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. And this guy called Shaquille O’Neal led the game with 35 points and 13 rebounds.
Game 6 will be Friday in Indianapolis.
The Magic had been concerned and angry about O’Neal’s early foul trouble in the two games in Indiana. O’Neal was at peace with the referees for most of the first quarter, following up three misses for baskets, but missing his first two free throws to make it 10 straight since Monday until he hit two after the Pacers went up 14-10.
“We have never approached him about trying to put him on the line,” said Pacers coach Larry Brown.
Until O’Neal missed two more in the second quarter and Greg Kite replaced Rik Smits.
But what the Pacers did concentrate on was slowing the flying Magic by working patiently for their own offense. It was a mostly successful effort in a first quarter in which they took a 12-point lead and ended leading 32-26.
“I’ve felt we could score on them if we keep it slow,” Brown said. “They get a lot of points off transition and turnovers.”
And to Brown’s dismay the Magic did in a 14-1 run after they trailed 32-20 late in the first. The Magic got a boost from the lately little-used Donald Royal converting a steal into a fast break and Nick Anderson, who started posting up and going to the basket strong like he did against the Bulls.
“That’s why we cannot get caught up in a fast-break game,” said Reggie Miller. “They have a lot of weapons.”
But so do the Pacers, who are more than Miller and Smits. A key for them has been their Derrick McKey, the laconic defensive power forward who has emereged as a third scoring option and kept Horace Grant off the defensive boards.
“He’s isolated a lot,” said Grant, who has had to curtail his helping out with McKey looking to score, as he did with 10 first-quarter points. “They’ve been trying to get him started early. He’s a spark plug for them.”
But not as much as O’Neal is for the Magic.
After failing to score 20 points in the Magic’s two losses in Indianapolis over Memorial Day weekend, O’Neal, unburdened by foul trouble, broke out late in the second quarter with 11 of the Magic’s last 18 points of the half.
“Basketball is a physical game,” said O’Neal, who had 20 points and nine rebounds with eight of 14 free-throwing by halftime. “You have to play physical. But we don’t play crazy physical like the Knicks, where they throw people down, chop them, knock them on their butts.”
Which was where the Pacers almost were after a dreadful 2-of-17 shooting second quarter after which they were lucky to be trailing by just 58-50. And that was only thanks to four offensive rebounds on their last five possessions, which resulted in five second-chance points and kept the Magic from disappearing out of view.
“They force you to play their style,” Brown said. “They’re better at it than anyone else. Sometimes when I watch them I think they’re going to score every time.”
And it looked like that in the third quarter as O’Neal continued his assault with the Magic’s first two baskets. Although the Pacers briefly pulled to 64-58, the Magic got their inside/outside game working beautifully, O’Neal either powering inside or Anderson spotting up for consecutive three-pointers that sent the Magic out to a 15-point lead with 2:28 left in the quarter before the Pacers cut it to 83-72 Magic after three.
But then it was the (Brian) Shaw-Shaq redemption as Brian Shaw pushed the Magic out to a 14-point lead midway through the fourth quarter with a lob pass attempt to O’Neal that went in for a three-pointer.
