Reply With Quote
Pistons notebook: Detroit expects to see tougher Spurs
Web Posted: 06/19/2005 12:00 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....2204ad14.html
San Antonio Express-News
Detroit center Ben Wallace knows there is no way the team the Pistons beat in Game 4 of the NBA Finals can come back to win the series.
But he isn't expecting to face that team again.
Wallace said even though the Spurs appeared to be a mess Thursday, he and the Pistons are preparing for a much tougher opponent.
"They looked a little discombobulated, a little defeated," Wallace said. "But we're not going to let that fool us."
Pistons coach Larry Brown agreed with that sentiment.
"This is the most important game we'll ever have played, and I really believe that," Brown said. "I think we're going to have to play our very best, because obviously (the Spurs) have not lost at home very much. We haven't won there in 10 years, I think. And they are a team that I believe everybody in our locker room thinks is unbelievably well coached and has great character and is going to compete at a high level."
Olympic flashbacks?: Brown said he was so disgusted by the Pistons' performance during the first two games of the Finals in San Antonio, it was similar to how he "felt like coming back from Athens." Brown, of course, was referring to his stint coaching the disappointing U.S. Olympic team last summer.
But Detroit guard Lindsey Hunter said the Pistons' dismal outings at the SBC Center at least had one positive effect — there wasn't a need for any strategic adjustments.
"We didn't have to change anything," Hunter said, "because we weren't doing anything."
Making them pay: Many teams' strategy against the Pistons has been to double-team Detroit's scorers by using the defender assigned to Wallace.
But against the Spurs, Wallace has foiled those plans by shooting 12 of 21 from the field the past two games.
"They try to make Ben into a scorer," Detroit guard Richard Hamilton said. "They leave him open a lot and things like that. But one thing Ben has been doing the last couple of games has really been making them pay for that."
King for a day: Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said he's excited about tonight's late start, because it means he'll have more time to enjoy the benefits of staying home on Father's Day.
"I am the king that day, I'm the man," Billups said. "It's a beautiful day, me growing up, being able to always do something with my dad and my grandfathers. It's been great, now, on the flip side. Me being a dad now, it's a beautiful day. I get spoiled, I get things and they just make me feel appreciated."
Playing for a perfectionist: Billups says he played for two very demanding coaches before he joined the Pistons. But he says neither Colorado's Ricardo Patton nor former Boston Celtics coach Rick Pitino compares to Brown.
"(Brown) is the toughest, most demanding, most relentless coach I've ever had," Billups said. "We can be up 25 with 19 seconds left, and he's going to chew you out if you take a shortcut.
"He's just going to hold your feet to the fire, and that's the reason why we stay so disciplined and the reason why my game has gotten so much better."
Billups' last season at Colorado was 1996-97. He played for Pitino and the Celtics as a rookie in 1997-98.
Mike Finger, Tom Orsborn
