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Saturday, April 22, 2000
Miami puts Carter
on the hot seat
The former Rainbow will
By Pat Bigold
start at point guard against
the Pistons today
Star-BulletinThere's pressure and then there's PRESSURE.
Miami Heat rookie point guard Anthony Carter faces the uppercase version when he starts against the Detroit Pistons in a best-of-five NBA playoff opener today in Miami.
It's an uncommon sight for a rookie to be starting a playoff game for a Pat Riley-led team. But with veteran starter Tim Hardaway still sidelined with a painful foot, the former University of Hawaii star is Miami's floor general for the foreseeable future.
There's no more potentially vulnerable position in the NBA than the "1'' (point guard) for a rookie.
Though he's had a strong rookie season, Carter -- like any other first-year player -- suffers from occasional lapses in judgement that have gotten him into trouble.
The Pistons are licking their chops. Jerry Stackhouse was aiming right at Carter's confidence when he said in an Associated Press story, "Hardaway is hurt, and we feel we can take advantage of that."
Carter hears the talk, but he's not listening.
"I think it's going to be a whole different war," he said during a phone interview earlier this week after practice. "Guys will have a lot more energy and that's what I'm going to have to bring, too. I just have to be ready for the challenge.''
In matching up against Detroit point guard Lindsey Hunter, leading scorer for Jackson State in the 1992 Rainbow Classic, Carter will try to get the ball inside to Alonzo Mourning. If the Pistons double up on Mourning, Carter will find himself having to take critical outside shots.
"It's obviously a much higher pressure situation than what he's been through in the regular season," said assistant Miami coach Stan Van Gundy.
There's also Miami's postseason history that fairly or unfairly weighs on Carter's shoulders.
The Heat won 52 games and their fourth consecutive Atlantic Division title this season. But in 1998 and 1999, the Heat was erased by the New York Knicks in the first round.
"I think that the 30 games he started in the regular season will help him," said Van Gundy, pointing out that Carter actually started four of the last five regular season games.
"Tim missed two and then tried to come back and play against Orlando (April 16), and sustained a different injury," said Van Gundy. "He's (Carter) shooting over 60 percent from the floor in the last three games. He had a really, really bad first half (five turnovers) against Orlando in the game that clinched the Atlantic Division for us. But in the second half, he was 6-for-9 and didn't have a turnover.
"That's been one of the things that's made him good. He has great, great mental toughness, and he bounces back even from bad starts."
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Carter said that the mental toughness has come with experience.
"I feel a whole lot different from the first time I got put into the fire," he said. "Now I'm a lot more relaxed and ready to go. I think I've grown a whole lot.
"I keep being put into situations and I think I'm handling them pretty good. I'm still learning but I think I learned a lot about how to run the team and get us the ball, when to be patient, and when to push the ball."
Van Gundy said the 6-2 Hunter (12.7 ppg, 4.0 apg), a seven-year veteran, is a tough matchup for Carter (6.3 ppg, 4.8 apg).
The two faced each other only 10 days ago at The Palace of Auburn Hills, and Carter played 44 minutes in a 90-73 Heat loss. Carter finished with six points, six assists and two turnovers, Hunter had 17 points two assists and four turnovers.
"He's (Hunter) one of the highest steal guys (1.6 per game) in the league," Van Gundy said . "And he's a real high-pressure defender who's got great energy. He's going to be into AC the entire game."
Van Gundy said what's in Carter's favor is his stamina. He'll need it when Detroit sends in John Crotty to spell Hunter.
A quality substitute for Carter is a luxury the Heat doesn't have.
"They'll try to wear him (Carter) down," said Van Gundy. "It helps AC that the series is so stretched out."
Carter knows he'll be a well-studied book in the playoffs.
"A lot of guys know what I like to do," he said. "And I'm just going to continue doing those things and not let them stop me. I'll just have to be a little more aggressive."
