Alright, let's get this going.
"Heartbreak" takes us into the official coverage. I'm sure the Pistons know how a heart breaks. Ha.
They have some female chorus doing the National Anthem tonight. Best rendition of the series. Some of them look pretty good too.
9:12: *LMAOOOOOO* they are using the Undertaker's funeral theme to introduce the Pistons!!! Hilarious. The bell is definitely tolling for them tonight if they can't stop Duncan and Ginobili again.
9:20: They tip it off, and Ginobili sets the tone with a three pointer. However, Detroit gets back-to-back baskets to get an early lead. Tony Parker as well as Ginobili are afraid of attacking the basket so far. Sheed takes a chance to attack the basket and gets the foul, but misses the shot. Pistons lead 6-5.
9:29: Detroit is showing a bit on offense, as they've hit a couple of threes early in this game. Duncan just got his first points a second ago with five minutes left in the 1st. That's pretty late to get going. Sheed already has six points. Detroit leads 16-14 with four minutes in the 1st.
9:40: Both teams are focusing on their offense by taking advantage of open shots. Duncan has already blocked 2 shots, and he is making plays against Ben Wallace in order to force him to cough up the ball.
The Spurs have been able to get everyone in the rotation involved, while Hunter and McDyess have yet to score. The Pistons will need their contributions in order to hang with the Spurs tonight. However, so far they're doing well. The game is tied at 23 at the end of the 1st quarter.
Second quarter's starting now.
9:49: Tayshaun Prince is off to his best start in this series. He's making his midrange jumpers, then he's driving the lane and creating opportunities for other players, as he gives a good lob to Ben for the dunk. The Spurs are looking kind of lost defensive-wise. 30-25 Pistons.
9:55: This has the potential to be a high scoring game. Sheed hit another three, which continues his productive night. However, Ginobili and Parker continues to slash the lane and scoring layups.
Now we're seeing some emotion on the court, as the Pistons complain about a moving screen violation on Tim Duncan that wasn't called (and he was guilty). Hubie criticized Dan Crawford, who is probably the NBA's most visible and most hated ref. The Pistons try to get physical, and Sheed was called for a foul for roughing up Barry (and he was guilty too). Billups gave one of the refs a bit of lip for it, and was teched. Later, Sheed was almost teched as well for a foul called on a block.
And then after the refs called a pushoff on Duncan, Brown's over giving Crawford some more lip, and Crawford techs him up. So now two of the Pistons have their first techs, and it's almost guaranteed that Sheed will join them in another tech before the game is over. Not to mention they will complain about the refs during the press conference, especially if they lose this game.
Detroit leads 38-36 with six minutes left before halftime.
10:10: Detroit seems preoccupied, as they're concentrating on the refs more than they are the Spurs. Lucky for them, Parker is having a dry spell and thus the Spurs can't get anything done consistently.
I have to agree with Walton tonight (oh god). Duncan is the only one producing in the front court, while the role players aren't getting it done right now. Meanwhile, the Pistons continue to attack the basket, and we basically have very even numbers from all of the players in rotation. Game's tied at 42 with 3 minutes before halftime.
10:20: Halftime. 47-48 Spurs.
This has been a very sloppy game at times, but the fg percentages for both teams are pretty high right now. No doubt this is the highest scoring 1st half in this series. Both teams needs to knuckle down and make some defensive stops in the 2nd half.
The Pistons can continue to harp about fouls, but this officiating crew isn't playing games tonight. If they continue, they will be out of the game, and possibly going fishing altogether. You aren't going to win by fussing with the refs, so you might as well get your heads back in the game.
10:26: Stern is being interviewed about the new collective bargaining agreement that was negotiated and agreed upon today. Stern said the 19-yr old age restriction will keep the NBA agents out of the high schools. In your dreams. Stern claims the NBA had it's highest average attendance this year. I would like to see that stat.
Overall, I'm just glad they signed something, because the last thing sports fans need is another strike.
Second half coming up.
10:40: Second half is starting. Popovich thinks the Spurs are falling off on their perimeter defense, which is true because the Pistons have gotten a lot of open looks and have drilled them. LB is trying to his players' minds off of the officials. That's good advice.
3rd Quarter starts, and the Spurs have already had a 24 second violation. Not good.
10:46: Both Rip and Ginobili have started the second half pretty well. Rip is hitting his baskets right around the foul line, while Ginobili continues to drive the lane at will. Neither team has an answer for it. How long can either team keep it up?
10:49: Neither Popovich or Brown has been happy with the defensive performance of their teams. San Antonio can't handle the long range shooting of Detroit, which is a major surprise considering how this series has gone, and Detroit cannot figure out how to stop Parker and Ginobili from driving the lane, not to mention the constant second and third tries that the Spurs are getting from offensive rebounds. Game's tied at 55 with 6 and a half left in the 3rd.
10:55: Only 2 field goals from the Pistons have been made in the paint. Everything else has been from mid-to-long range. Billups and Rip have been excellent. However, the Spurs are still making plays in the paint at will. Ben Wallace's defensive presence is sorely missing tonight.
A Billups 3-pointer - his fifth of the game - puts the Pistons up by two with 3:44 left in the 3rd.
11:09: Duncan and Billups took a break at the end of the 3rd. I expect both of them to stay in for the rest of the game. While Duncan was out the Spurs went on another dry spell, missing several open baskets. The Pistons continue to dominate the perimeter.
In the third quarter, Rip and Billups combined for 19 points. The rest of the team scored six. That could be seen as a good thing, as Rip and Chauncey are red hot and don't look to falter down the stretch, or a bad thing as the rest of the team isn't participating in the game. Pistons are up 71-67 at the end of the 3rd. 4th Quarter starts.
11:20: Both teams are missing wide open baskets right now, so there isn't much going on. Detroit had led by as many as seven, but the Spurs cut it to three with a three by Horry and a lucky basket by Barry.
11:35: Detroit is finding ways to maintain this lead. If it isn't Chauncey, it's Rip; if it isn't Rip, it's Sheed, who is now stepping up. Duncan has been choking on his free throws, but luckily the refs aren't afraid to call fouls when Duncan posts up, so he's getting more opportunities. A big Duncan basket inside the paint makes it a one point ballgame; 87-86 Pistons with 2:15 left.
11:41: Prince gets a floater through traffic to make it a three point game, and now Sheed has made another basket, this time in the paint. The Spurs need to step it up, as they are down by five with 1:25 left in the game.
- Well folks, we'll see you on Thursday night. Ginobili tried to do way too much in the last few minutes, and he was expecting a whistle on plays that he would have gotten earlier in the game. Same way with Duncan, as he couldn't get it done either. Meanwhile, Rasheed Wallace will be considered a hero after he was slammed for the past few days. A decent clutch performance by him.
Meanwhile, Tim Duncan has become the antithesis of the clutch. This is his second straight bad performance in the 4th quarter, and you can guarantee that he will not escape the criticism tonight and tomorrow for what he should have gotten for Tuesday night. But another factor that should be noted is that he only took 10 shots in the first three quarters. That's unacceptable, and Popovich has to address the fact that Duncan has to lead this team to victory, not Parker and Ginobili.
Well, I was wrong. There will be a Game 7. And I will be here Thursday night to liveblog it. We'll see you then.
