SPURS STEPPING UP, PISTONS AREN't San Antonio Is Just Playing
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SPURS STEPPING UP, PISTONS AREN’T San Antonio is just playing its normal game, and the Pistons are not handling them. One of the characteristics of a championship team, especially in playoff situations, is that someone steps up big and hits double their usual average, as both Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry did yesterday. Horry made the sort of contribution he’s been making for years, playing strong defense, going for loose balls, disrupting the outlet pass. If Horry and Bowen as well as Manu Ginobili are hitting from outside, the Pistons are in trouble. The Spurs already have three strong scoring options in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Ginobili, but when they add a fourth and fifth, how are you going to stop them? The Pistons have a reputation as a strong defensive team, but their individual defense has not seemed that good to me, because they’re not really taking the Spurs out of their game. The Spurs have spread their offense so they have open lanes to the basket and they have open shots from outside. They’ve been patient, they’ve made crisp passes and yesterday they didn’t allow themselves to be forced into turnovers. When a team has both its inside and outside games working, and they’re shutting you down at the other end of the court, you’re in trouble. The Pistons did a better job Sunday of creating movement and involving their big men in the offense, but they still aren’t doing two things I think they need to do in order to win: one, they have to make Tim Duncan guard Rasheed Wallace down low, and two, they have to get Ben Wallace going to the basket. On the latter count, I think maybe they aren’t because he hasn’t been a good foul shooter. But in order to have a chance against a team like San Antonio, you have to get their starters in foul trouble and make them sit down for a while. Otherwise, unless you’re hitting a fantastic percentage of your outside shots – and right now the Pistons aren’t hitting inside OR outside – you’re conceding the advantage to the other team. Unless the Pistons can settle down and play a much more relaxed and confident game on their home court, and get a lot more points from both their front line and their bench, this is going to be a very short series. I probably won’t see Tuesday night’s game, so I’ll be back at you later in the week. -- Michael O’Daniel also contributed to this report .