"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Tuesday, June 15
Hitting On All Pistons
Damn. The Detroit Pistons beat the L.A. Lakers like a tin drum tonight, leading by over twenty points for most of the fourth quarter before winning 100-87 and taking home the championship. I kind of suspected that the Lakers were going to take this game. Now I'm kind of glad I predicted the Pistons to win.
You know who really played well in this series? Elden Campbell. Detroit's starting center is Ben Wallace (who played great), but no one man can guard Shaquille O'Neal, and Campbell, who is normally the third center, played really well. He scored here and there, including an impressive follow slam, and leaned on Shaq all series long.
This series was really won by coach Larry Brown. Case in point: the Pistons repeatedly ran a play where one of their low-post players set a pick for either Rip Hamilton or Tashaun Prince, who cut through the lane and then out to the wing. If the defender played behind the cutter, he got the ball in good position to shoot the 3 or drive to the basket. If he denied the pass, the picker slid up to the free throw line and got the ball, then hit the cutter breaking back to the basket. They did this more than once and caught L.A.'s defense off-guard every single time.
I thought Detroit had a chance to win before the series, but I never thought they'd beat holy Hell out of the Lakers like they did. I can't believe that the Lakers beat both the Spurs and the Timberwolves, then got whipped like this. The Pistons sure got better as they went along, gaining confidence with every win.
The Pistons' owner (name? who knows?) is also owner of the current WNBA champion Detroit Shock, plus the Stanley Cup winning Florida Lightning. Lions fans are screaming "Buy us too!"
