By Troy Brownfield

SPECIAL EDITION: GET THE HOOK; IT'S NOT FUNNY ANYMORE.

I'll dispense with this up front. If you aren't a basketball fan, this one won't make a whole lot of sense to you. If you like basketball, but not the Pacers, stick around and you'll probably laugh. If you're an Indiana Pacers fan, you'll probalby fall on one side of the issue or the other. For my part, as a Pacers fan who has invested time watching and/or listening to and/or attending games, and spent money on said games, I believe that I have a right to an opinion. Based on the first four games versus the Boston Celtics in Round One of the Playoffs, I believe that I have clear and irrefutable evidence that suggets the Pacers organization needs to replace Isiah Thomas as head coach.

At this point, even if the team somehow miraculously engineered a comeback from their 3-1 deficit and went on to win the whole thing, it's still evident to me that Thomas seems to go. He obviously lacks passion, drive and vision. He does not attempt to inspire his players. He does not make adjustments as the game goes on. He does not design winning plays in clutch situations. What he does do is make stupid decisions when the solutions are obvious to those without any NBA, CBA, WNBA, college or high school coaching experience.

Let's look at some point-by-point situations:

• The Selfish Issue: Confronted with flagging morale and swooning numbers earlier in the season, Thomas went to the press and called his team selfish. I found that kind of baffling. The team has one certain future Hall-of-Famer in Reggie Miller, All-Stars or potential All-Stars in Jermaine O'Neal, Brad Miller and Ron Artest, and several young and journeyman players. If you read the stat sheet, you see that several players chalk up scores in similar ranges. So unless guys only ever shoot when they grab the ball themselves, and unless there are never assists recorded at all, how can the team as a whole be "selfish"? And why do you take this to the press? Talking to the press about internal conflicts is always a fiasco; look at the Colts. The whole Vanderjagt vs. Manning thing around the Pro Bowl this year got way out of hand, especially when you consider that Vanderjagt was actually right. But that's another column. O'Neal actually stood up for these comments on April 13th; of course O'Neal stood for Thomas. It's only logical in that case; O'Neal was a bench warmer before the Pacers got him, and now he's an All-Star. I'd defend the coach that bumped me up from also-ran to contender too.
  
  
• Where is the World is Austin Croshere?: No, I don't think that he's out to ransack Pakistan or run a scam in Scandanavia; I think he's on the bench wondering why the hell he isn't getting more minutes. In the embarrassing game four loss on Sunday, Austin didn't play one second. The knock on the guy is that he doesn't produce enough, but how can he from the sidelines? In Game One, he had 6 points and 5 rebounds in 12 minutes; in Game Two, he had 6 points, 8 rebounds and a blocked shot in 20 minutes, and in Game Three he had 4 points and 4 rebounds in 10 minutes. Granted, those aren't stunning numbers, but he's obviously pulling down rebs and sinking some when it counts. What's funny is that Croshere was averaging 10 points a game in the regular season and 15 points a game in the playoffs BEFORE Thomas became coach and consigned him to somewhere in the back of the bench. When you have a guy that's capable of being a force, why have him ride the bench for an entire game when your team is blowing a fourteen point lead and not hitting anything? Why not mix it up? For that matter, Tim Hardaway didn't get in on Sunday either; I know Hardaway hasn't produced any offense this series, but Jesus, when the whole team is missing, how can it hurt to put in a 5-time All-Star with over 7,000 career assists? And what about only using Johnathan Bender for five minutes? Yeesh!
  
  
• Why sit Reggie so long?: Okay; in NBA terms, Reggie ain't a spring chicken. However, I'm betting he can still run my ass around the block. The guy is a human highlight reel. He can hit shots that kids on playgrounds can't even invent and has been to the hole more times that John Holmes. And of course, there's the immortal Game One in 1995 when he made 8 points in 16 seconds to stun the Knicks. So his best days are behind him, and he takes a while to warm up. So why bench him for nine minutes at a stretch after he only misses 1 shot on the basket? He only played 17 minutes. After Thomas FINALLY puts him near the end of the game, he bangs in a three. By that point, with the Pacers hopelessly behind and the seconds ticking away, it's too late. What if he'd had time to warm up in the third when the team was chucking a double-digit lead? Who knows.
  
  
• It Ain't Baseball: A funny thing about basketball. You can rotate the guys in and out. Once a guy sits down, you don't have to wait for twenty minutes or for the moon to change phases or what-have-you to put him back in. I swear, during the looooong third quarter, Thomas rode with the same guys who were obviously tired and becoming demoralized. Nobody had 'em falling, and there was no one to go to on the bench but Reggie Miller, Austin Croshere, and Tim Hardaway. Huh? It's stuff like that that absolutely boggles my mind. Thomas apparently has no concept of rotation or platooning. He keeps the same guys out there during bad stretches and doesn't attempt to shake things up. His idea of a revolutionary play is to let Brad Miller or Jermaine O'Neal go inside. This would make more sense if we didn't know where Thomas came from. He played under Bobby Knight at IU who has always effectively rotated players between chokeholds. His champion Pistons teams under Chuck Daly made deep use of bench; Thomas played the most minutes, but Bill Laimbeer, James Edwards, Dennis Rodman, Joe Dumars, Rick Mahorn, John Salley, Adrian Dantely, Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson and others were in constant motion. So Isiah gets a team, and he lets guys sit. Again, huh?
  
  
• So Why Him and Not the Players?: I'll concede that that's a good question. So here's one in return: how can Reggie Miller win you a game when he's sitting out for 31 minutes? Why do you allow Al Harrington to keep missing shots from the outside instead of telling him to knock it off and get in to the post? Shouldn't the coach help set the tempo and give ideas and encouragement instead of blanding sitting with an impassive look, rubbing his chin? Man, I swear that Isiah probably thought more Sunday about whether or not CBA creditors were coming for his ass then what to do about Paul Pierce on the outside.
  
  
• The What-If Game?: Playing "What-If" never helped a team win, but let's pretend that the franchise had followed Bird's wishes when he left and installed Rick Carlisle as head coach. What might have happened? Well, like Thomas, Carlisle took a team of talented guys (ironically, the Pistons) and made some moves. He integrated his own style. And what happened? Central Division champs and a Coach of the Year Award. Interesting.

Let's face it; the Pacers, unless divine intervention occurs, are taking the dirt-nap this time out. Come next week, their Finals hopes are deader than Laura Palmer. The players are good, talented guys. Ron Artest overcame some anger issues and is showing that he's as good as he says he is. Jamaal Tinsley grappled with a terrible personal time to come back strong. And Reggie, even in advancing years for an NBA player, could take on some of that John Paxson/Steve Kerr/Bulls paradigm of coming off the bench to stick a dagger in your heart style in his last year or so. This team could go all the way. And frankly, it doesn't appear to me that the team is holding the team back. There are always intangibles at work. If the team lacks spark and heart, it needs a catalyst to provide it. Kobe and Shaq look like they could give a shit less about each other out in L.A., but Phil Jackson doesn't tell the meida they're selfish. Carlisle left his assistant's job with the Pacers, obviously disappointed that he wasn't tapped for the job here, and made lemonade in Detroit. The Pacers players deserve somebody to come in young, hungry, with something to prove and ideas. They need sideline leadership to equal the floor leadership that they already have. I'm open for suggestions. The question is: Are the Pacers?

Sorry to the regular readers who don't care about Indianapolis sports. At least I spared you a diatribe on why the locals should give more love to our minor league baseball team, our IHL hockey team, and our AFL team. And for the record, I still don't like racing.


Troy Brownfield is the Editor-in-Chief of Shotgun Reviews. Feel free to give him hate mail over Isiah. It won't help the Pacers win. Email Troy at psikotyk@aol.com

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