04-20-2006, 09:29 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Lover Not A Fighter...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Silk City, Jersey...
Age: 29
Posts: 5,850
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Miller Not Wowed By Old Team...
Quote:
Miller not wowed by old team
Ex-Pacers star stresses his former teammates' recent surge has come against lottery clubs
By Mike Wells
The Indiana Pacers have won five of the past six games, including Wednesday night's regular-season finale against the Orlando Magic, but Reggie Miller still isn't sold on his former team.
Miller said during a playoff preview conference call Wednesday afternoon that he doesn't put too much stock in the Pacers beating New York, Boston, Minnesota and Toronto, all lottery-bound teams. Orlando, too, failed to make the playoffs.
"I'm not huge on what Indiana's doing, even though everyone says they are rounding into playoff shape," Miller said. "They haven't played anyone, and in April no one plays, especially the teams with bad records, because they're just trying to figure out where they're going on vacation when the season's over."
Miller, who spent his entire 18-year career with the Pacers, raised eyebrows among his former teammates the day before the regular season when he said he thought Detroit was the team to beat.
"Until Indiana shows me they've solved their chemistry problems, you have to go with a team that doesn't argue, that gets the job done at the end of the day," Miller said at the time. "Any little thing can set Indiana off."
The Pacers did little to prove Miller wrong this season.
Miller said Wednesday the Pacers aren't as good defensively, but he didn't rule out a potential upset over New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs.
"In years past, Indiana has been a strong defensive team, but they haven't shown that consistently this year," Miller said. "To slow anyone down, that's a tall order for Indiana. It's not a light switch where you can turn it on and off. . . .
"I wouldn't be shocked at all (if they upset the Nets). You have a premier player down low in Jermaine O'Neal. Peja Stojakovic is on the outside."
No contact for Wittman
Former Indiana University standout Randy Wittman said he's not taking it personally that he wasn't contacted by his alma mater about its head coaching position.
"I had no control over that," the Magic assistant said before Wednesday's game. "They chose to go the direction they went.
"Kelvin (Sampson) is completely qualified and a good person for the job. IU is still going to be IU.
That's my school and I'm going to be rooting for them like I always have.
"You don't have any control over what direction they want to head in. I don't have a feeling one way or another."
Wittman, a two-time academic All-American at IU, was on the 1981 NCAA championship team.
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Miller Not Wowed By Old Team...
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