nyt: After a Surprise Defeat, the Pistons Look Inward

[boutons]

May 13, 2005


After a Surprise Defeat, the Pistons Look Inward

By JASON DIAMOS

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 12 - A day after the visiting Pacers surprised the heavily favored Pistons by defeating them, 92-83, to even their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game each, Detroit Coach Larry Brown suggested that his team might have subconsciously underestimated Indiana.

"We all said the right things, that we didn't think it would be easy," Brown said Thursday before the Pistons headed to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Friday night. "That team, they're close to 100 percent now. They don't have Artest, I understand that. But they've got all the other people."

Indiana is without forward Ron Artest, who was suspended for the season.

"They're a good team," Brown added. "And I think we all said the right things, but I don't know if we truly believed it."

The Pistons, after all, are the defending N.B.A. champions. Three times in last season's successful playoff run, they lost at home only to bounce back.

After a sluggish start this season, Detroit finished strong, winning 11 consecutive games before losing its final regular-season game. In the first round of the playoffs, the Pistons rolled past the Philadelphia 76ers, four games to one. Then they routed the Pacers here, 96-81, in Game 1 on Monday.

That gave them 16 victories in their last 18 games. And after one quarter in Game 2 on Wednesday night, Detroit led Indiana by 15 points. At the half, the Pistons led by 10.

But the Pistons, sensing another easy victory, seemed to become complacent in the second half, and the Pacers roared back.

Reggie Miller scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half. Jermaine O'Neal had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. And the unsung reserve center Jeff Foster scored 14 points, pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds and keyed an 11-0 run with less than six minutes left in the game as Indiana pulled away.

The Pacers have never been the same since Artest was suspended for going into the stands here during the brawl among the Pacers, Pistons and fans on Nov. 19.

But, as Brown pointed out, the Pacers added the veteran big man Dale Davis before the trading deadline.

O'Neal and point guard Jamaal Tinsley, who were hampered by injuries late in the regular season, are approaching full strength.

Although he shot 4 for 19 Wednesday, Tinsley had 12 points, 12 assists and no turnovers.

But it was Foster, with 10 offensive rebounds, who proved to be the difference. He scored three times on put-backs during the 11-0 run.

"Obviously, he was the unsung hero tonight," Miller said Wednesday night.

O'Neal said, "I think Jeff Foster did have a Ben Wallace-type of performance."

Wallace, the reigning N.B.A. defensive player of the year, had 16 rebounds Wednesday. But after scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in Game 1, he had only 1 offensive rebound and 3 points in Game 2.

Wallace was asked Thursday if he thought Foster had played like him Wednesday.

"He played his best game of his career, I think," Wallace said. "And what better time to play it than in Detroit, playoffs, trying to get a win to go back home and change the look of the series? So he definitely had a great game."

Even so, both Wallace and point guard Chauncey Billups said they thought the Pistons had let up after building the 15-point lead.

"There was definitely a letdown in that second quarter, and definitely in the third quarter there was a letdown," Billups said Thursday. "It was a false sense of security. It felt like the game was ours, the way we jumped out on them. But they've got some professional players on that team that are very capable. And they showed us that yesterday."

Wallace also said the Pistons had relaxed after building a lead.

"We can't afford to take plays off when we're trying to win a championship," he said. "We definitely can't take a whole quarter off. I guess you could say we did that last night, and we ended up paying for it."

After having his players dissect films of Game 2, Brown said the Pistons had been outworked from the start.

"This is unlike our team to get outworked like we did," Brown said. "I mean, the whole game was like that, even the first quarter."

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[pooh]

Technically, Indy is 100%. No Artest, being that he's gone for the year and such. Throughout the playoffs so far, when Indy has been whipped, they've responded with a clutch win. I don't know if they will win later tonight, who knows? It seems like Indy expands all their energy to get that "must win", then be totally out of gas for the next game. But we'll see...

Go Pacers!