Stein -- Foul ball: Spurs adjust, Pistons don't

[Kori Ellis]

Foul ball: Spurs adjust, Pistons don't

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...arc&id=1937861

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

They are the league's last two champions. They are the two teams widely predicted to meet in next June's NBA Finals. They are also tough to lump together these days, off to dissimilar starts that don't belong in the same paragraph.

San Antonio is 13-3 and has scored 100 points six times already, including in its past three games. The Spurs are actually becoming a running team, if you can believe it, feeling so emboldened by the dominance of their defense.

Detroit, meanwhile, is a sputtering 7-7, having allowed 100 points four times already -- as many times as in the entire 2003-04 season. Their coach has repeatedly complained that the NBA officiating edict to call games tighter on the perimeter was specifically enacted to in response to the withering defense Detroit played to win the le in June. And that's just one of the issues confronting Larry Brown.

Get used to this picture: you should see it again for seven games next June.
A compare-and-contrast breakdown follows, in advance of Friday's ESPN showdown at the SBC Center and the return of Ben Wallace from his six-game suspension:

THE WHISTLES

Teams were warned early that the refs would be trying to limit hand and arm contact away from the basket. Brown immediately railed against the movement -- and he's still railing. Meanwhile, armchair coaches in the Alamo City fretted that, say, Bruce Bowen wouldn't be as effective as he has been in recent seasons if the league was determined to make it easier for drivers to get to the basket.

So far, it's purely a Pistons problem. After having just seven foul-outs in 82 games last season, Detroit has endured 10 disqualifications one month into the new season. Rip Hamilton alone has fouled out five times.

With former Defensive Player of the Year Wallace missing eight of the first 14 games, Detroit is allowing 94.1 points per game. Of greater concern, opponents are shooting 45 percent from the floor. That puts the Pistons on the fringe of the league's bottom third in field-goal defense.

San Antonio? As if nothing has changed, the Spurs are the league's best in points-per-game allowed (85.2) and field-goal D (.409). Bowen and Manu Ginobili don't look any more beatable on the drive than they were before.

"It's because our philosophy was always not to foul, not to foul shooters, not to use our hands a lot," Ginobili said. "So for us it's great, because that's what we've always been doing. We are just trying to make guys make tough shots, with your hand in their face. We're not one of the teams that has a philosophy to go and foul if you get beat."

And ...

"Like every rule, what you pay on defense, you can take profit on offense," Ginobili said. "So we are just trying to drive more, try to draw contract or get some easy baskets, because that's how it is."

Even though the two clubs shared a shot-clock-era record last season for team defense, holding the opposition to 84.3 points per game, Brown thinks that the Spurs are better staffed to deal with the refs' perimeter vigilance. It's Brown's belief that, outside of Tayshaun Prince, Detroit doesn't have on-the-ball defenders with the instincts and speed of Bowen, Ginobili and even Tony Parker.

"We haven't executed the way we're supposed to," said Pistons forward Darvin Ham, not denying Brown's argument that Detroit defenders have been too easily beaten on the outside. "We haven't had a lot of alertness.

"But we're not out there trying to foul. We play an aggressive style. The way we play, we believe in getting into our man. But now if you breathe on a guy they're going to call a foul. It's a lot stricter than what we thought. I know the refs are human, but at the same time I would think that we would get a little bit more respect, being the defending champions, than what we're getting."

THE CONTINUITY

Detroit, frankly, hasn't had it -- continuity, that is. Wallace has missed more than half the season to date and Brown has also taken multiple leaves (totaling six games) to deal with a hip problem. Carlos Delfino, a key newcomer to the Pistons' retooled bench, has also missed six games with a knee injury.

The Spurs? Unlike last fall, when Tim Duncan went to training camp without David Robinson for the first time -- and without Stephen Jackson and Speedy Claxton, to name two other lost components from a le team -- Duncan and Popovich welcomed back every key contributor this October. The Spurs only added to their core in the offseason, bringing in Brent Barry and heady rookie Beno Udrih, whose court sense is drawing raves from Pop.

"Whatever you thought we were last year," Pop says, "we're the same thing this year with a little more depth."

The result? Unlike last year, San Antonio isn't using the first two months of the new season to learn Pop's defense. Instead the Spurs are trying new things, like pushing the ball upcourt. It remains to be seen if they'll be bold enough to push the pace against Detroit, knowing that the Pistons shouldn't have focus-trouble in a nationally televised game against a West juggernaut, but Ginobili insists this fast-break stuff isn't a phase.

"We are trying to do it a little more," Ginobili said. "I think we can do it even better. We've got a great defense, probably the best in the league -- in the top three for sure. We've got two 7-footers (Duncan and Rasho Nesterovic) who get a lot of rebounds. We should be able to run even more."

Said Popovich, "Execution-wise at the offensive end, (we're) better at this point in the season than in past years, to the degree on some nights that we've forgotten our iden y at the defensive end. So it makes me feel like I have a job. I can keep reminding them (about defense)."

THE HUNGER

Duncan was asked before the season's start how long it had taken to get past the hurt of blowing a 2-0 series lead against the Lakers and the Derek Fisher buzzer-beater on the Spurs' floor in Game 5. "I don't think you ever get totally over it," he said.

No surprise, then, that the Spurs have started with more intensity than we usually see from them in November, even after their foremost rivals were disbanded. They're trying to reclaim what the Pistons have, and Popovich hasn't been afraid to nudge them early. After a sleepy showing in Seattle in the third game of the season, when they clearly took the Sonics lightly -- before the Sonics had become the darlings of Month One -- the Spurs returned home to find that the coach had taped an oversized bull's-eye to each chair in the locker room to remind every Spur that he's a target in the new, Shaq-less West.

Brown's challenge has proven trickier. As much as he and his players have talked about warding off a championship hangover, they haven't been able to. And the inevitable letdown, to Brown, is as big a factor in Detroit's .500 launch as the injuries, the adjustment to the refs and the fallout from the ugliest brawl in NBA history.

Getting Wallace back should help immensely. Even though a team as deep as the Pistons are reputed to be should be able to handle one long-term injury or suspension, there's no minimizing Big Ben's impact defensively. It's true that the Pistons couldn't have won their rings without adding Rasheed Wallace to Ben, but as Ham points out, "Ben is the only guy in the whole league who can change the whole game without really touching the ball."

Without Big Ben, Detroit is just 3-5 and allowing 96.1 points on 47.5-percent shooting. With Big Ben freshly off suspension to face the Spurs, Ham expects the Pistons to start getting serious.

Said Ham, "I talked to Sam Cassell in the preseason and Sam was telling me and Chauncey (Billups) that, after Houston won that first (championship), come '94-95 the only thing on their mind was, 'Let's just get to the playoffs. We don't care what seed we are. We just want to get this regular season over with.'

"We're trying to fight that. It's human nature. It's human nature ... not to have a letdown, but to exhale a little bit.

"I think we'll be fine. Everybody's talking like they were expecting us to be 14-0. We're not happy at all with the way we've been playing, but at the same time we know who we are. We know deep down in our hearts that we're the best team in the world. We know it. My money's on the Pistons every time."

[FromWayDowntown]

I just read that piece. Interesting discussion -- pretty typical Stein stuff. I hadn't heard about Pop's "bullseye" motivation tactic, but it's a good reminder for them.

I'd expect that the Pistons defense will begin to get better soon. Would be nice to get one on them tonight, while they're still getting things together. They're not the most talented team, but Rasheed Wallace really helps them accomplish the things that they want to do on the defensive end, since he pretty much eliminates the need to double good post threats and allows Ben Wallace to roam on the weakside (when teams lack good centers). I'd expect the Spurs to lift Rasho a bunch to try to take Ben out of the lane.

[Manu20]

Already Posted.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Is there an echo in here?

[SPARKY]

Said Ham, "I talked to Sam Cassell in the preseason and Sam was telling me and Chauncey (Billups) that, after Houston won that first (championship), come '94-95 the only thing on their mind was, 'Let's just get to the playoffs. We don't care what seed we are. We just want to get this regular season over with.'


"We're trying to fight that. It's human nature. It's human nature ... not to have a letdown, but to exhale a little bit.

Cracks in the mortar. That Houston team could get away with such an at ude but these Pistons cannot. The Bad Boys certainly did not approach the regular season like that. MJ's Bulls certainly did not. The Spurs didn't. The Shaq-Kobe Lakers had their ups and downs but there was still a fixation on the prize early in the season.

[Manu20]

Kori, that is the second time we post the same article .

Anyway, IMO Detroit will get used to the thighter officiating in time and this past month it showed how much Ben Wallace means to this team.

[exstatic]

To me, the most amazing thing about this year's defense is that the Spurs are running more. What does this have to do with defense, you might ask? Running more leads to more possessions, since each one takes less time, yet SA's defense hasn't even taken a hit from having to defend more opponent possessions. This athletic team is just running teams off the court, demoralizing them in 2.5 to 3 quarters, leading to mucho garbage time, and gaining playing time and experience for our bench.

[FromWayDowntown]

True enough, exstatic, but running can also help the defense. If you run successfully (i.e., score on the break), you're more likely to get good looks (layups, dunks, etc. . . ) and shoot a high percentage. When you put the ball in the basket, the other team can't start until it pulls the ball out of the net, which gives the running team a chance to get its defense set up, to get another stop/turnover/rebound and run right back at them for another high percentage shot.

In that sense, running might actually help the defense. But I think you're right that it's pretty remarkable that the Spurs defensive numbers have stayed pretty much the same while the offensive numbers have gone up.

[Manu20]

Nice analysis FDW, I never thought of that. As long as the spurs score and don't miss a lot of shots the other team can't run. As a result they have to play a half court game against the spurs defense where they are at there best.

[JUUOT]

the thing is Spurs defend with their feet and their head. they do not just throw big muscles to other players. It is why, contrary to what people think, Spurs defense is so beautiful to watch it is Basketball with a big B. And if at the same time they can run from this defens and give us higlits every game why watching another team?

[Solid D]

the thing is Spurs defend with their feet and their head. they do not just throw big muscles to other players. It is why, contrary to what people think, Spurs defense is so beautiful to watch it is Basketball with a big B. And if at the same time they can run from this defens and give us higlits every game why watching another team?

That is what we/I have been arguing for years in this forum with our Laker fan friends. The Spurs are a very compliant team. They are typically near the top of the list, if not the best, at not drawing fouls. It makes a huge difference.

And no, Laker Lanny, it's not because they are the San Antonio Sterns.

[ShoogarBear]

Solid article by Stein.

(whoops, had to edit, I originally typed "Stern")

[boutons]

The season is young, DET will find their way back to top form.

[Rummpd]

Pistons not in finals this year mark it down = either a motivated and hungry Pacers without Artest and albeit not jail time for O'Neil, Heat or even Cleveland or any of a few hot teams.

Brown seems disinterested and keeping with history his teams seem to flame hot and then cool and his not developing Marko etc. is inane. He cost us the Olympics and believe me he is a legend for dissing players in the media. He may be a friggin smug genius but he is no psychologist and I believe the most-over-rated coach ever despite winning at the NBA and college level. He is abolutely hated by the media in Philadelphia and he did not seem to do much for the Spurs in his stint there.

MadDoc

[RobinsontoDuncan]

The Spurs have been a consistent defensive leader since they drafted David Robinson first overall in (1987?). Why would anyone be suprised that we do so again this year?

[T Park]

He cost us the Olympics

Funny I thought it was little es like Richard Jefferson and Carmello Anthony and other overpaid stiffs that were bricking shots and not playing D.

That was Larry Brown and Pop?? Interesting.

[ALVAREZ6]

dude, Detroit is gonna be in the finals, indiana screwed themselves over..

i dont care if they haven't played all that bad without their top 3 players, missing them is gonna catch up to them as the season proceeds

[BronxCowboy]

dude, Detroit is gonna be in the finals, indiana screwed themselves over..

i dont care if they haven't played all that bad without their top 3 players, missing them is gonna catch up to them as the season proceeds

None of that matters once the playoffs start. When Indiana gets their whole team together, they will be a much better team than Detroit. The only thing the suspensions will cost them is seeding going in to the playoffs. After that, it's a new season.