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Steve Francis propels Rockets past LA

Gary Payton, right, of the Lakers drives around Steve Francis of the Rockets during Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, Friday. PHOTO: EPA

If Gary Payton was unhappy by the final minutes of Friday night's game, he undoubtedly had plenty of company.

While Payton again sat out the fourth quarter, Steve Francis carved up the Lakers defense and led the Houston Rockets to a 102-91 victory at Toyota Center, cutting the Lakers' first-round series lead to 2-1. Game 4 is here Sunday.

Payton was a spectator again as Derek Fisher played the critical minutes. Fisher scored eight points in the quarter but was victimized on the two plays that iced the game.

Francis blew by Fisher and Shaquille O'Neal for a driving layup that pushed the lead to eight points with 1:07 left.

After Kobe Bryant missed a quick 3-pointer, Francis struck again, beating Fisher and bouncing off O'Neal for an over-the-head circus hook shot. He completed the three-point play, making it 97-86 with 40.3 seconds to play.

The driving force in Game 2, Bryant continued to struggle with his shot, scoring 21 points on 7-for-20 shooting. He was 2 for 6 in the fourth quarter.

Pacers forward Al Harrington, top, hangs on the rim after driving past Celtics guard Chucky Atkins for a slam dunk during the second half of their playoff game in Boston, Friday. PHOTO: AP

O'Neal scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 25. Karl Malone added 18 points and 11 rebounds. Fisher finished with 10 points.

Francis scored 27 points as the Rockets won their first home playoff game in five years. Cuttino Mobley added 21 points. Yao Ming finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lakers faced their biggest deficit of the series, 56-43, at halftime, having allowed the Rockets to make 55.9 percent of their field-goal attempts. Francis and Mobley combined for 27 points in the half.

A series that was supposed to be defined by the league's two best centers had largely devolved into a small man's game through eight quarters, and O'Neal -- who scored a career-low seven points in Game 2 -- seemed determined to set things right.

Wearing a sleeve over his achy right knee, O'Neal scored 11 of the Lakers' first 13 points, all by the 6:41 mark of the first quarter. But he didn't score again until nearly four minutes had elapsed in the third quarter, on a putback dunk.

By then, the Lakers had fallen behind by double digits.

Foul trouble kept O'Neal from making much impact on Yao in Game 2, and with the Lakers reluctant to send double-team help, the onus was on O'Neal to stay on the floor.

"What's important is continuing to make [O'Neal] a threat," coach Phil Jackson said before tipoff. "If they want to double-team him, it's to our advantage that he passes the ball out to guys that aren't covered or single-covered or whatever. So if he stays within the offense, things come easy, great. If he's double- and triple-teamed like he is in the lane, kick it out, let someone else shoot it."

O'Neal had arrived at the arena three hours before tipoff, 90 minutes before his teammates, to work on his free throws.

"It's a good sign," Jackson had said. "It's a long day, this is a late game obviously, so he gets antsy in the hotel waiting to come here, and I think it's good for him. He knows they're going to use Hack-a-Shaq things down in the fourth quarter, so he wants to be ready to produce."

Still standing a foot or so behind the foul line -- a technique he adopted to start the series -- O'Neal missed six of his first seven free throws. He made 4 of 7 in the fourth quarter to finish 5 for 14 at the line.

The height advantage continued to tip toward the Rockets as the Lakers played without the injured Slava Medvedenko. Luke Walton logged nine minutes at power forward in the second quarter, and Malone continued to spend a possession here and there guarding Yao.

"We even have told [Bryon] Russell to be prepared to play power forward tonight," Jackson said. "So it'll go down the list. He's ready. We obviously are smaller. We'll have to try our best, it's all we can do."

PACERS 108, CELTICS 85

The Indiana Pacers are so dominant that they keep beating the Boston Celtics with their backups.

The Pacers won 108-85 Friday night, the biggest margin in a lopsided series, to take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven matchup with a chance to complete the sweep Sunday on Boston's court.

Indiana did it with 58 points off its reserves, compared to 54 by Boston's starters. Substitutes Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender led the Pacers with 19 points each. Three days earlier, Indiana won 103-90 behind a 43-11 advantage from its backups.

"We have to remain humble and go out and do the job Sunday," Harrington said.

The Pacers' 27-14 road record tied Minnesota for the NBA's best, so remaining humble could be tough after they beat Boston by 16, 13 and 23 points.

It didn't help the eighth-seeded Celtics to return home and even they acknowledge they're seriously overmatched by the top-seeded Pacers who went 61-21 in the regular season while Boston went 36-46.

"They're a much more talented team than us," said Paul Pierce, who scored his playoff career low of nine points on 4-for-17 shooting. "We've got to somehow, some way, show some pride to come back on Sunday."

Indiana played outstanding team defense, and outrebounded Boston for the third straight game.

"Their bench just makes you marvel," Boston coach John Carroll said.

Despite the Pacers' domination, Jermaine O'Neal said they weren't toying with the Celtics.

"We're just going out and playing our style of basketball," he said. "Being 3-0 is a great opportunity for us but toying with a professional team is hard to say."

It was the worst home playoff loss in the Celtics' history, a span of 261 postseason games since 1948.

Ron Artest, who returned from a one-game suspension for leaving the bench when Boston's Brandon Hunter threw O'Neal to the floor in the opener, scored 15 points and played outstanding defense on Pierce, who is 16-for-53 with 56 points in the series.

"As much as I'd like to think that we're preventing him from making shots, we've been fortunate that he's missed a lot of ones that he normally makes," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said.

Ricky Davis led Boston with 16 points as part of a bench that scored 31.

"Whatever we seem to do, they seem to do better," Boston's Chucky Atkins said.
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