Artest leads hobbled Pacers into start of season

INDIANAPOLIS -- When the Indiana Pacers lost their third starter to injury in the preseason, one player rose up to provide the voice of reason and a calming influence.\n"We'll be fine. I'll make sure of it," he said.\nThat player, interestingly, was Ron Artest, who so often has been at the center of controversy during his six years in the NBA.\nBefore the season started, Artest changed his jersey number to 91 as an homage to the enigmatic Dennis Rodman, not exactly a sign that he is growing wiser and more mature with age.\nBut the Pacers are counting on just that.\n"Ron Artest is our main guy right now. There is no question about that," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We're going to need him to lead on the floor, we're going to need him to play great, we're going to need him to make the other players on the floor better.\n"He knows that this is an opportunity to really be the true focal point of the team for this period of time."\nArtest's abilities on both ends of the floor, and his ability to stay on it, will be a big factor in the early part of the season for last year's Central Division champions, who have been decimated by injuries in the preseason.\nGuard Reggie Miller (broken hand), center Jeff Foster (hip surgery) and point guard Anthony Johnson (broken hand) are all expected to miss the first six to eight weeks of the season.\nForward Jonathan Bender (knee) hasn't played all preseason, while All-Star Jermaine O'Neal (foot) and rookie center David Harrison (shoulder) have only played sparingly with nagging injuries that throw their availability for Wednesday's opener at Cleveland in doubt.\n"The thing that bothers me the most is these guys haven't been together as a team through most of the exhibition season," team president Larry Bird said. "It hurts a little bit."\nThe lack of cohesion will make it hard for the Pacers to repeat last season's 14-2 start, which propelled them to a team-record 61 wins in the regular season.\nBut the Detroit Pistons showed the Pacers that all the regular season wins in the world don't make a difference come playoff time.\nThe Pacers never lost more than two games in a row all last season, but still lost to eventual champion Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals.\n"That just doesn't happen very often," Carlisle said of Indiana's huge success in the regular season. "Our goal is to do that very same thing this year, but right now it's going to be tougher. But we still have a goal to contend for a title, and that's where we are."\nTo reach that goal, the Pacers traded talented but unsatisfied Al Harrington to Atlanta for Stephen Jackson, a clutch shooter and solid defender that the team sorely lacked last season.\nThey also drafted Harrison for an extra big body to throw at Shaquille O'Neal and tweaked the offense to get more motion and take advantage of the considerable athleticism of Jermaine O'Neal and Artest.\nThe changes have pleased Jermaine O'Neal, who finished third in the MVP voting last season.\n"We're not looking at getting to the Eastern Conference finals, we're not even looking at getting to the championship," he said. "We're looking at winning the championship. That's our goal."\nThe Pacers know that it is a long season, and some see the early injuries as a blessing.\n"I'd rather this happen in October or November than in April, May and June," Miller said. "Hopefully everyone can heal quickly, get out there on the court and help this team out."\nUntil then, it's up to Artest, Jackson and a bunch of role players to keep the team afloat.\nJackson will start in place of Miller at shooting guard, while Scot Pollard will start for Foster at center and Austin Croshere at power forward if O'Neal can't go.\nThe Pacers have long been proud of their superior depth, and they'll need it now more than ever.\n"We've got five or six guys that are healthy to play," quipped Pollard in only a mild overstatement. "Whatever we've got, we're going to roll with and we're going to go out there and try to hold 'em down."\nCarlisle is confident that the Pacers will be just fine.\n"This is just one of those times where we need people to step up," he said. "It's as simple as that. Guys like Croshere and Pollard, this is new territory for them."\nAnd for Artest, who will be "The Man" for the first time since he was a sophomore at St. John's University.\nBird thinks his young, and sometimes volatile, star is ready.\nAfter being suspended for 12 games during the 2002-03 season, Artest made big strides last year. But he still missed the occasional shootaround and had a costly flagrant foul in Indiana's Game 6 loss to Detroit in the playoffs.