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Pistons begin quest for repeat
By David Zizmor June 8, 2005 |
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After watching the close affair Monday called Game 7 between the Miami Heat and Detroit Pistons, the Heat just couldn't execute in the fourth quarter and the Pistons came out on top to repeat as Eastern Conference Champions. Now they have a chance to repeat as NBA champions and will try to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in a best-of-7 series that starts tonight. Last year, the Pistons were the underdogs. This year, they will most likely be underdogs again. San Antonio is a team that everyone thought should have been in the finals last year if it weren't for Derek Fisher. Fisher put the knife in the back of the Spurs with that last-second shot (.4 of a second, to be exact), in the Western Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs and Pistons make for a very, very interesting series. These aren't guys like the Phoenix Suns, who run-and-gun, these are the two most fundamentally sound teams in all of basketball. Both teams have guys who can play the open court, guys who are slashers. On the Spurs' side of the ball, you're talking about Tony Parker and Manu Ginoblli and on the Pistons side, you're talking about Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, and Lindsey Hunter, among others. There are a number of fascinating players in this series and we're going to get to see them - my guess is for a full seven games. Probably the best matchup everyone will be talking about is down low - Tim Duncan of San Antonio versus Ben Wallace of Detroit, or the big fundamental versus the big Afro. They are the two preeminent defensive players in the NBA and it's going to be an absolute battle around the rim. You have Hamilton on the Pistons' side of the ball against the Spurs' ever-present Robert Horry. Horry is always deadly from three-point range. Ginobili has been an excellent outside shooter in the postseason besides managing 20 points a game. Tony Parker can hit from the outside, Brent Barry is always fantastic off the bench. But we can look to the Pistons and they are equally good. This is an excellent team and from the outside your going to see guys like Hamilton and Billups throwing it down. Tayshaun Prince and Raseed Wallace can hit them from the outside, even Lindsay Hunter off the bench and Carlos Arroyo, acquired from Utah during the regular season. There is no shortage of quality players in this series. We are going to see one of the best, most fundamentally sound, and exciting series we've seen in a long time. This isn't going to be a rock 'em sock 'em series like you saw with the old Bad Boys Pistons in the early 90s. This is one of the first times in quite some time that the last two champions have faced off against each other - the Pistons won last year, the Spurs won the year before. When you see these two quality teams with this much title experience, you can't help but be happy. If you like basketball, this is what you want to see - the two best teams. Ziz's footnotes: Here's a peek at the upcoming schedule for the finals (all games to be shown on ABC - KGO, Channel 7, in San Francisco). Thursday @San Antonio 6PM PDT Sunday @San Antonio 6PM PDT June 14 @Detroit 6PM PDT June 16 @Detroit 6PM PDT xJune 19 @Detroit 6PM PDT xJune 21 @San Antonio 6PM PDT xJune 23 @San Antonio 6PM PDT x-if necessary |
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