Banged-up Snow grateful for break
PUBLISHED: April 27, 2000 at 3:52 a.m. | UPDATED: September 24, 2021 at 2:25 a.m.
For The Times Herald
PHILADELPHIA- When the first round of the NBA playoffs began, players around the league complained about the long delays between games.
Eric Snow isn't griping now after being fitted with a walking boot on his injured right ankle yesterday morning.
"I couldn't play (last) night if we played," Snow said.
But the Sixers' point guard is hoping that his ankle, which was injured when Charlotte's David Wesley stepped on it Monday night, feels well enough by tomorrow to allow him to go in Game 3.
In the past, Snow said, he's had sprained ankles that felt awful for the first two days afterward, but were fine by the third.
"That's a big-time blow," Allen Iverson said. "He's our floor general, he gets us in our sets and a lot of time when myself and other guys on the team get brain lock he always puts us in the right position on the floor. Without him it'll be a big loss."
Snow averaged 14.5 points and 11 assists in the first two games. With the exception of Iverson, who's averaged 5.5 assists, no one else on the team has really dished the ball.
In the event that Snow can't play, the job of running the team will fall on Aaron McKie and Kevin Ollie, coach Larry Brown said.
"Aaron's a great defender and I think Kevin's a terrific defender, but I don't know of anybody's that's as good as Eric," Brown said. "It's a little harder for Aaron to pressure people, even though he's good at the halfcourt.
"(Snow's) really our leader and it's a natural position for him, but not so natural for Aaron."
Brown didn't mention the possibility of moving Allen Iverson to the point, but Iverson said he wouldn't mind.
"I would rather play the two, I'd rather have Eric out there playing the point, but I know it's something I can do, something I'm willing to do and something I know I can do a good job at if I had to do that," he said. "Because I know Aaron McKie can play the two guard, he's probably a better two-guard than he is a one and it might be better for the team for me to play one."
McKie played 17 minutes in Monday's game and hit some clutch baskets, but running the whole show is a bit different because he'd be matched up against Charlotte's starters.
"It's something I've been doing all year," McKie said. "I really don't look at it as a classic point guard position for me. It's just a matter of setting the table for the guys. I've got to be the head out on the court and I think I'm capable of doing so, so I'm not going to put a lot of pressure on myself."
But he's a different player than Snow, and he'll approach the game differently because he has to.
"There's a lot more things that are going to be expected of me on the floor," McKie said. "I just have to come out and play a solid ballgame, not looking to produce too much."
Ollie is a point guard, and saw time during the season. But he played only a minute through the first two games, and that when the game was already decided.
"This is what your career's made for," Ollie said. "This is what you prepare yourself all the time for, to work hard and get the extra shot, especially when you're not playing, to keep yourself in the flow of what's going on. So this is what I want to do. Hopefully I'll get the opporunity, but I do want to see Eric play." So does Brown, who said the team doctors have assured him that McKie can't cause more injury by playing. Snow said if it's up to him, he'll play. And if not, it doesn't mean the game's a lost cause.
"Those guys can play given an opportunity," Snow said. "Like Aaron McKie, he's proved it all year long, he'll come in and they'll run plays that he's comfortable with. I call my own plays, but Aaron will probably get help from the bench as far as calling sets.
"Kevin understands what coach wants done. If those guys have to play I have the utmost confidence they can get the job done."