ducks
11-19-2004, 08:52 AM
Indiana (6-2) at Detroit (4-3)
The Detroit Pistons are back to looking like the team that won the East. The team they beat to reach the NBA Finals is leading the conference despite not having all its pieces in place.
With Larry Brown, Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups all back with the Pistons, they'll face the Indiana Pacers for the first time since the Eastern Conference finals.
Detroit's 4-2 win was a hard-fought series that featured defense, with neither team scoring more than 85 points in any game. Indiana was held below 70 points three times and set a record for fewest field goals in a six-game series with 156 on 447 shots (34.9 percent).
The decisive Game 6 saw the teams shoot below 37 percent from the field and set an NBA playoff record by combining for just 60 points in the first half.
``I don't know if it was a classic in a lot of people's eyes,'' Brown said after that win. ``But I guess if the series was going to end, this is the kind of game it should have ended with.''
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Brown missed five games this season due to a hip problem as Detroit got off to a shaky start. The Pistons were 3-3 and had given up more than 100 points in back-to-back games -- Detroit tied San Antonio as the league's best scoring defense last season -- heading into Wednesday's matchup with Minnesota.
That game saw Brown return, along with Wallace and Billups, and Detroit won 93-85 against one of the league's elite teams.
``Having Chauncey and Ben back was more important than me, that's for sure,'' Brown said. ``Losing those two has a big effect on your team.''
Billups scored 15 of his 21 points in the third quarter after sitting out Detroit's previous game, Saturday's loss to Utah, with a sprained ankle.
Wallace made his usual contribution at the defensive end after missing two games due to a death in the family. He had four steals and three blocks while helping hold the Timberwolves scoreless during a key six-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
``That's our game,'' said Wallace, who also had 10 rebounds. ``Our legs were fresh and we were able to play tight defense.''
The Pistons' defense will have to be at the same level it was in the conference finals to stay with the Pacers, who have scored at least 100 points in six of eight games.
Indiana owns the East's best record despite being without two regular starters, Reggie Miller and Jeff Foster, who have yet to play this season due to injury. On Thursday, the Pacers learned key reserve Jonathan Bender will be out indefinitely because of his chronically injured left knee that had already caused him to miss six games this season.
``We're at a point where it doesn't make sense to yo-yo him in and out and for him to keep having the setbacks he's having,'' Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. ``We have to approach it a little differently.''
Starters Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest, as well as Scott Pollard, have also missed games.
O'Neal and Artest have helped the Pacers bounce back from their first two losses of the season, each scoring at least 20 points in the last two games, wins over New York and Atlanta. That duo combined for 49 points and 19 rebounds in Wednesday's 93-86 victory over the Hawks.
Austin Croshere added 13 points and 13 rebounds and came up with some big baskets down the stretch, as did Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley, to supplement O'Neal.
``That's been the story of our season so far,'' O'Neal said. ``We have too much offensively.''
STANDINGS (through Nov. 17): Pacers - 1st place (tied), Central Division. Pistons - 2nd place (tied), 1 1/2 GB, Central Division.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Pacers - F Artest, F Croshere, C O'Neal, G Jackson, G Tinsley. Pistons - F Tayshaun Prince, F Rasheed Wallace, C Ben Wallace, G Billups, G Richard Hamilton.
TEAM LEADERS: Pacers - Artest, 24.7 ppg; Pollard, 9.3 rpg; Tinsley, 8.4 apg. Pistons - Hamilton, 20.9 ppg; Ben Wallace, 12.2 rpg; Billups, 7.2 apg.
2003-04 SEASON SERIES: Pacers, 3-1.
LAST MEETING: June 1; Pistons, 69-65. At Detroit, Hamilton scored 21 points -- four after being flagrantly fouled by Artest -- as the Pistons advanced to the NBA Finals. O'Neal, slowed by a knee injury, scored 20 points to lead the Pacers.
ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Pacers - 3-1 on the road; Pistons - 3-0 at home.
INJURIES: Pacers - F Bender (knee); G Miller (hand); C Foster (hip); G Anthony Johnson (hand). Pistons - F Ronald Dupree (back); G Smush Parker (back); G Horace Jenkins (quadricep).
Updated on Thursday, Nov 18, 2004
The Detroit Pistons are back to looking like the team that won the East. The team they beat to reach the NBA Finals is leading the conference despite not having all its pieces in place.
With Larry Brown, Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups all back with the Pistons, they'll face the Indiana Pacers for the first time since the Eastern Conference finals.
Detroit's 4-2 win was a hard-fought series that featured defense, with neither team scoring more than 85 points in any game. Indiana was held below 70 points three times and set a record for fewest field goals in a six-game series with 156 on 447 shots (34.9 percent).
The decisive Game 6 saw the teams shoot below 37 percent from the field and set an NBA playoff record by combining for just 60 points in the first half.
``I don't know if it was a classic in a lot of people's eyes,'' Brown said after that win. ``But I guess if the series was going to end, this is the kind of game it should have ended with.''
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Brown missed five games this season due to a hip problem as Detroit got off to a shaky start. The Pistons were 3-3 and had given up more than 100 points in back-to-back games -- Detroit tied San Antonio as the league's best scoring defense last season -- heading into Wednesday's matchup with Minnesota.
That game saw Brown return, along with Wallace and Billups, and Detroit won 93-85 against one of the league's elite teams.
``Having Chauncey and Ben back was more important than me, that's for sure,'' Brown said. ``Losing those two has a big effect on your team.''
Billups scored 15 of his 21 points in the third quarter after sitting out Detroit's previous game, Saturday's loss to Utah, with a sprained ankle.
Wallace made his usual contribution at the defensive end after missing two games due to a death in the family. He had four steals and three blocks while helping hold the Timberwolves scoreless during a key six-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
``That's our game,'' said Wallace, who also had 10 rebounds. ``Our legs were fresh and we were able to play tight defense.''
The Pistons' defense will have to be at the same level it was in the conference finals to stay with the Pacers, who have scored at least 100 points in six of eight games.
Indiana owns the East's best record despite being without two regular starters, Reggie Miller and Jeff Foster, who have yet to play this season due to injury. On Thursday, the Pacers learned key reserve Jonathan Bender will be out indefinitely because of his chronically injured left knee that had already caused him to miss six games this season.
``We're at a point where it doesn't make sense to yo-yo him in and out and for him to keep having the setbacks he's having,'' Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. ``We have to approach it a little differently.''
Starters Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest, as well as Scott Pollard, have also missed games.
O'Neal and Artest have helped the Pacers bounce back from their first two losses of the season, each scoring at least 20 points in the last two games, wins over New York and Atlanta. That duo combined for 49 points and 19 rebounds in Wednesday's 93-86 victory over the Hawks.
Austin Croshere added 13 points and 13 rebounds and came up with some big baskets down the stretch, as did Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley, to supplement O'Neal.
``That's been the story of our season so far,'' O'Neal said. ``We have too much offensively.''
STANDINGS (through Nov. 17): Pacers - 1st place (tied), Central Division. Pistons - 2nd place (tied), 1 1/2 GB, Central Division.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Pacers - F Artest, F Croshere, C O'Neal, G Jackson, G Tinsley. Pistons - F Tayshaun Prince, F Rasheed Wallace, C Ben Wallace, G Billups, G Richard Hamilton.
TEAM LEADERS: Pacers - Artest, 24.7 ppg; Pollard, 9.3 rpg; Tinsley, 8.4 apg. Pistons - Hamilton, 20.9 ppg; Ben Wallace, 12.2 rpg; Billups, 7.2 apg.
2003-04 SEASON SERIES: Pacers, 3-1.
LAST MEETING: June 1; Pistons, 69-65. At Detroit, Hamilton scored 21 points -- four after being flagrantly fouled by Artest -- as the Pistons advanced to the NBA Finals. O'Neal, slowed by a knee injury, scored 20 points to lead the Pacers.
ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Pacers - 3-1 on the road; Pistons - 3-0 at home.
INJURIES: Pacers - F Bender (knee); G Miller (hand); C Foster (hip); G Anthony Johnson (hand). Pistons - F Ronald Dupree (back); G Smush Parker (back); G Horace Jenkins (quadricep).
Updated on Thursday, Nov 18, 2004