No Clear Way Around Man in the Middle

Dr. Jack Ramsay, ESPN radio announcer and a respected former NBA coach, can visualize a defense the New Jersey Nets could use against Shaquille O’Neal.

It involves the zone the Nets employed so well against the Boston Celtics, the zone that shut down Paul Pierce--the player who had boldly predicted the Nets had no one who could stop him--in two crucial fourth quarters.

It involves fronting and backing O’Neal. It involves 7-foot, 280-pound Todd MacCulloch pushing relentlessly against the Laker center, and then Aaron Williams, an active player with good medium-range shooting ability, spelling MacCulloch and making O’Neal play defense.

And it all sounds very nice. But then Dr. Jack has to pause a moment and add something else.

“I thought the last two games,” Ramsay says, “it’s the best I’ve ever seen Shaq play. He played very much under control. He took what the defense gave him. When he was blocked in the middle, he went baseline. He shot the fadeaway jump shot. And he’s such a good passer. I thought he was terrific and right now, it’s hard to doubt him.”

Pat Croce, who last year was president of the Philadelphia 76ers, the East team that lost to the Lakers in the Finals, is now working for NBC. Croce watched the Nets beat the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

Croce says: “I love to watch the Nets play. I love the way they play, the way they always make the extra pass. They are a team in the true sense, and they will need to rely on teamwork even more so against the Lakers.”

Croce, the eternal champion of the underdog, then becomes silent, an unusual circumstance for Croce--silence--when asked to construct a way the Nets might stop O’Neal.

“At first glance,” Croce finally says, “it looks impossible. Shaq’s playing better than ever. He’s making these moves a man 100 pounds smaller makes. He fakes right, twists left. How does he do that? His hook has a little more extension than even last year. You can see Shaq still has the passion, and now he’s increased the skill level.”

So Croce’s suggestion on how the Nets stop O’Neal? “People who believe the impossible is possible,” Croce says, “accomplish special things.” This is not the game plan Coach Byron Scott wants to hand his Nets. “Believe the impossible is possible.” But it might be his best hope against O’Neal.

It is the one spot where the Nets seem hopelessly overmatched.

Ramsay says the Nets will have to overplay O’Neal when he’s coming to the ball. “Of course, that’s not anything the Lakers haven’t seen before,” Ramsay says. “The Nets have been doing a good job with their defense, though, and I’m assuming they’ll continue to do a good job with it.

“MacCulloch has a big body. He’s not easy to push around. And MacCulloch has great hands. He won’t miss shots around the basket. When Williams come in, the Nets will run a lot of high screen and rolls to involve Shaq. Williams has some quickness about him, he finishes well at the basket, he can make that 15-, 17-foot jump shot, and he’s a good free-throw shooter.

“Shaq became much more active defensively in Game 7 on screen plays. He stepped out instead of lagging in back. When he just lays off the play, he makes it very hard for his teammate who is defending. So if Shaq doesn’t stay active defensively, that helps the Nets.”

Don’t think that Ramsay is a total Laker backer either.

“I can’t read them,” Ramsay says of the Lakers. “They’re a puzzling team. When they absolutely have to do it, they get it done. Until then, they’re often on cruise control and that could be dangerous against the Nets. The Nets might have to win a game to get the Lakers to play.”

Ramsay had picked the Nets to beat the Celtics, even though the Celtics are coached by his son-in-law, Jim O’Brien. The 77-year-old who coached in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Portland and Indiana and won an NBA title at Portland, likes many things about the Nets.

“Jason Kidd is a great player and he makes all those guys around him better,” Ramsay says. “[Kerry] Kittles and [Keith] Van Horn seem to have found their shots and their confidence. The Nets really played exceptionally well against the Celtics. It actually surprised me how well they played against the Celtics. They’ve come up with big plays at the right times like the Lakers have. They are playing with confidence and come into this series with that old ‘everything to gain, nothing to lose’ attitude. Nobody gives them a chance and that’s significant. They can just go out and play their butts off.”

All that said, Ramsay has to speak about O’Neal again. While comparing O’Neal to Wilt Chamberlain, Ramsay says, “Shaq is quicker, more agile, has a more complete offensive game. Wilt was a great passer, but I think Shaq is his equal there.”

As to whether the Nets can guard this quick, agile, active, great-passing, high-scoring O’Neal, Ramsay says, “I can’t visualize it.”

The Nets not only have to visualize it, they have to do it. And if they do, it would be, as Croce says, “making the impossible possible.” Because the O’Neal of Games 6 and 7 against Sacramento is a Jason Kidd who is 7-1 and 320 pounds, an active, agile, mentally tough, physically unbeatable athlete whose only thought is not losing.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at [email protected].