This win is worth the wait

By Jason Quick of The Oregonian staff 


INDIANAPOLIS -- Love them or hate them, or feel indifferent toward 
them. This much has to be given to the Trail Blazers: 

They can be incredible. 

Displaying the depth and talent that make them one of the most 
dominant and respected teams in the NBA, the Blazers overwhelmed 
the Indiana Pacers 92-82 on Thursday night, ending a stretch of 
three subpar performances. 

And it was not so much that the Blazers won at Conseco Fieldhouse 
that was so impressive; it was the way they won that will raise 
eyebrows from Philadelphia to Sacramento. 

With Scottie Pippen off to Alabama to have his elbow examined, 
Arvydas Sabonis in the locker room with a sore back, and Bonzi 
Wells on the bench with three first-quarter fouls, the Blazers 
deployed wave after wave of high-priced talent that simply wore 
down the Pacers. 

Steve Smith stepped in for Wells and scored 22 points, and Dale 
Davis filled in for Sabonis and had 16 points, 10 rebounds and four 
blocks. Meanwhile, Stacey Augmon continued to be a solid 
replacement for Pippen, contributing four points, six rebounds, 
three assists and defense that helped hold Indiana's leading scorer, 
Jalen Rose, to 3-of-16 shooting and eight points in 42 minutes. 

"That's the type of team we have," Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire 
said. "If somebody goes down, somebody just fills in and steps up. 
A lot of teams don't have that luxury." 

Of course, a lot of teams do not have a deep-pocketed owner such as 
Paul Allen, but that is only part of the point. The beauty of this 
team -- maybe with the exception of forward Shawn Kemp, who 
struggled again on 1-of-8 shooting -- is that the high-priced 
players are earning their keep. 

It has added to a 32-13 record, which includes a league-high 18 
wins by 10 points or more and a Western Conference-best 16 road 
victories. And, with Sacramento's 97-91 loss to San Antonio, the 
Blazers' lead over the Kings (28-12) in the Pacific Division grew 
to 11/2 games. 

It helped ease some anxiety that seemed to be building on this team 
after a home loss to the Kings, an atrocious loss to the Cavaliers 
in Cleveland and a narrow victory over the Bulls in Chicago. 

"It's a good win for us on the road at this time," Stoudamire said. 
"We have been struggling, by other people's standards, and by our 
standards, too." 

As for Indiana (20-22), the game was disheartening considering it 
was playing on four days rest. The Pacers had won four in a row and 
seven of 10, and developed into one of the best defensive teams in 
the league. Indiana was holding opponents to a league-low 41.9 
percent from the field, and its last four opponents failed to score 
more than 80 points. 

So all the Blazers did was laugh in the face of Indiana's recent 
success. The Blazers made seven of their first nine shots en route 
to building leads as big as 18 points in the first half, and 
finished shooting 47.4 percent from the field. They broke Indiana's 
string of holding opponents to less than 80 points with four 
minutes left when Davis dunked off a pass from Greg Anthony. 

The only reason the game was not a rout was the third quarter, when 
the Blazers were outscored 23-12. The Pacers got to 59-56 at the 
end of the quarter, and to 69-65 with 7:20 left. But that was when 
Smith put the exclamation point on a game already punctuated with 
his stamp. 

After Indiana drew within four points, Smith scored six of the 
Blazers' next seven. And what was different about this game was the 
variety of shots Smith used. There was a hook shot -- which 
prompted forward Rasheed Wallace to shout "Sabas! Sabas!" from the 
bench -- a running jumper in the lane, and his normal array of set 
shots and jumpers from the perimeter. 

"He hit some big shots for us down the stretch," Stoudamire said. 
"I told him that hook was real nice, I really enjoyed that hook." 

Smith was 10 of 16 from the field -- 6 of 7 in the fourth quarter 
-- and finished with six rebounds and five assists. 

The Blazers also got 22 points and four rebounds from Wallace, who 
also picked up his league-leading 24th technical foul in the third 
quarter. 

Indiana got 23 points and 10 rebounds off the bench from Austin 
Croshere, and Reggie Miller added 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting. 
Former Blazers forward Jermaine O'Neal had 10 points and 11 
rebounds in 36 minutes, but he was 4 of 13 from the field and had 
three of his shots blocked by Davis. 

And that was the general tone of the night. The Blazers might be 
aging and breaking down in areas, but this is still a loaded team 
that can win with a variety of players. 

"You are going to face adversity in the course of a long season," 
said Anthony, who had six assists. "But we are a veteran team that 
knows what to do and what to look for."