Live from courtside, or close enough, in Philadelphia, where Commissioner Stern showed up, even though a lot of Philadelphia fans didn't seem able to make it. (I'd say the place is 10% empty, which is disappointing. There are empty seats courtside. There are empty seats in the nosebleeds. There are empty seats in between.)
Two minutes in, the Pistons have already taken a timeout, presumably to drink some coffee. They have not looked fully awake yet.
Before the game, Stern addressed the media. He talked about how great the playoffs are, that it will be nice to have some resolution to the Tim Donaghy thing, that he thinks the Sonics wll be in Oklahoma City sooner or later, etc. To my ear, none of it was earth-shatteringly new.
A few minutes before David Stern walked into the pressroom, the TVs were all showing Pardon the Interruption (without sound). It's all about Josh Howard admitting that he smokes marijuana once in a while, and it has roots in TrueHoop. He told me that a year ago, and I thought everyone took it admirably in stride. On Saturday, an update to my story was in the Dallas Morning News, and today that was on the Morning News Mavericks blog. That inspired a radio interview in Dallas, that featured heavily on PTI. Where does all this lead? I just hope that people don't rush to judge Josh Howard -- a good guy -- by this one thing. People who read the entire initial interview seemed to think he came off pretty lucid and balanced. If you care about this issue, I encourage you to read the whole thing. OK, back to the game ...
This is the time of year when coaches are up all night, and up all day, and they're watching film all the time, preparing every little detail. This is not a time when coaches have nice tans. Right? Well check out Flip Saunders. He's pretty tan!
In the Sixers' locker room, the white dry erase board has little one line game plans for every Piston. Everyone who can shoot threes gets a red star, because you have to know where they are. Most people have some specifics about what kind of move to watch for etc. But my favorite one liner was for Jason Maxiell. It said, simply: "Box him out."
Philly fan freaking love Reggie Evans right now. This town's sports fans adore the personality trait known as "scrap." It's getting loud.
If your whole team is very physical on every possession, you will get away with some stuff, because there is just no way the referees are going devote the entire game to calling every little thing. That's a reason to be "the aggressor." Rip Hamilton, who grabs, karate chops, or pokes just about every time the ball comes near him, has embraced this. Reggie Evans, who is so aggressive that for a second, he threw his body into teammate Samuel Dalambert (just in case) has also embraced this.
Thaddeus Young is fantastic. He is a little better at everything than you'd expect him to be. Some of his mediocre looking shots find home. His screens get people open. And his defense is frequently excellent. For instance: Theo Ratliff was mauling Jason Smith. Young, who is by nobody's estimation really a center, came in and gave Ratliff a run for his money, including preventing Ratliff from getting an offensive board on the half's last possession.
Detroit had a miserable first half, with Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups both struggling to find the rim. Meanwhile, Philadelphia hit some tough shots. You have to think that Detroit will be better in the second half. Philly, only up four, will have to be, too.
The Pistons seem to think that Andre Iguodala can be rattled. The way they're pawing at him time and again -- I think they're trying to get him upset. And it may be working. He just spent a long time pleading with the referees. He looked upset.
The fans are just dying to see Rasheed go insane. He turns regular basketbal fans into WWF fans. They just want to see him go crazy. After Wallace talked to the referee for a while, arguing what seemed to be a good call to me, Reggie Evans said something loud to Wallace. Part of it looked to me like "you never foul" or something sarcastic like that. By his body language, it was clear he was being aggressive. Sheed's response was muted and not something I could make out at all. But Joey Crawford gave them both technicals. Even though 'Sheed didn't to crazy, the crowd still ate it up. And with the home team up 14, it's loud like 2001 in here.
The only thing that can cool of Andre Miller is when he shoots threes. He's a nine percent shooter this season. Nine. Nine percent. Shoots a hundred, misses 91. And he just shot one. Can you guess what happened? He missed.
The Pistons have missed 14 straight, I am hearing on press row.
"Thaddeus Young has a bloody nose," said a woman in a pantsuit to press row, "and he will return." (For maybe the third time in my life, I am now certain I have just written a sentence that has never, ever, been written before.)
With a goaltend about two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Pistons got their first two-point field goal of the half. Their last field goal was a three with 10:41 left in the third quarter. 17 missed shots in that interlude. That's some good Sixer D, and some very cold Pistons who have bricked open shots.
Andre Miller! Maybe this game was still in play. But then Miller looked right, looked left, and drove into the guts of the Pistons defense. With a scream he elevated, sank the rightie layup, and put the home team up 21 with nine minutes to play. Ballgame.
The body language of Rasheed Wallace, after Dalambert scored over him: miserable. I actually feel sorry for the guy. He's sad right now. Somebody needs to give him a hug.
All right coaches: when do you put the scrubs in? Up 23 with 5:55 left? I'm thinking not quite yet. But soon. Both of these teams have quality benches. Andre Miller is still out there now ...
The Sixers go for the jugular. It's like they have Reggie Evans of the mind.
These Sixers fans are passionate! They love their team! They came, they saw, they conquered ... but who wants to get in a traffic jam? With two minutes left, they are bolting for the exits in large numbers. That is sad. Doesn't anyone have time to bask in the glory of a big-time blowout underdog playoff win anymore?
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
