This time, the Indiana Pacers would not whine about the officials.
They would not be reduced to helpless shrugs when asked, “How do you stop Michael Jordan?”
And unlike after the first two games in Chicago, they did not have to hope that the next game would be different. Game 3 was different: a 107-105 Pacers victory, the result of an amazing performance by Reggie Miller and a strong showing by the Pacers’ bench.
Indiana cut its deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. Game 4 is Monday afternoon in Market Square Arena. The Pacers went home Saturday night convinced they could win that one and force the two-time defending NBA champions into a best-of-three series.
“We will win and get back into the mainstream Monday,” point guard Mark Jackson said. “We really took care of business (Saturday). We never thought we were out of it. If we can get two games here, it could make things interesting.”
Indeed, it might be a bit too interesting for the Bulls, who haven’t had to play a six-game series in the Eastern Conference since 1995, when they lost to Orlando two months after Michael Jordan returned from retirement.
“They have something to hold their heads up for,” Scottie Pippen said. “They came here and they took care of the home floor.”
Or did the home floor take care of them? The Bulls have a way of turning road arenas into their own private playgrounds, but the Market Square Arena crowd turned in a roar worthy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The noisy throng of 16,576 even booed Michael Jordan at times. Even when the Pacers slipped behind by eight points in the third quarter, the faithful wouldn’t stop screaming.
“The fans were phenomenal,” Jackson said. “A couple of times you had to practically cover your ears. I watched the Laker game (Friday) and Utah just took their crowd out of it. Our fans seemed like they were having none of that.”
The Pacers improved to 6-0 at home in the 1998 postseason. That’s a big change from two years ago, when they were eliminated in this building by Atlanta in the opening round.
The Pacers had little time to celebrate the victory. They have to turn in a repeat performance in 48 hours, or this pulsating triumph will be robbed of much of its meaning.
Even if Indiana sweeps the two games here, the Bulls would retain the home-court advantage they earned over the long NBA winter.
But this much is certain: The Pacers forced the Bulls to pay attention to them, and not to Utah’s ongoing rout of the Los Angeles Lakers out West.
And Indiana may have dispelled some doubts about whether it had a chance to upset the Bulls. Their 2-2 standoff during the regular season–with the Pacers claiming an impressive victory at the United Center–argued that they had every right to believe they could compete with the Bulls. But their poor ballhandling in the first two games, coupled with Jordan’s typically terrific play, had raised questions.
“We definitely needed to get a win,” forward Derrick McKey said. “We needed to take care of home court. Confidence-wise, I think we had an idea before we came into this series that we could play with them.”
A skeptic might point out that the Pacers nearly blew an eight-point lead in the final 94 seconds of Game 3 and that without a heroic performance by Miller they’d be in a 3-0 hole. But there were few skeptics in blue and gold Saturday evening.
“The bottom line is, we found a way to win,” backup forward Antonio Davis said. “The momentum is a little bit different now. If we can win the next one, maybe we can put a little pressure on them.”
