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Stakes are high in Game 5
June 19, 2005
Dwelling too long on the magnitude of this moment -- Game 5 of the
NBA Finals tonight, series tied 2-2 -- could be daunting for either of
these teams.
Not to be overly dramatic, but the legacy of the Detroit and San Antonio
franchises could be at stake.
A victory in Game 5 would put the Pistons in control of the series, set
them up to repeat as champions and leave historians no choice but to
place them among the memorable teams in NBA history.
At the same time, it would push the Spurs to the brink of another
collapse. After blowing a 2-0 lead and losing four straight games to the
Lakers in last season's Western Conference finals, the Spurs would have
to fend off such unflattering labels as soft and chokers and
underachievers if they were to have a similar meltdown.
But the script flips if the Spurs win tonight. They would be in command
and driving toward their third title since 1999.
And the Pistons would face the prospect of having to win two straight
games in San Antonio -- where they haven't won since 1997, 10 straight
losses -- and defending themselves against unflattering labels such as
frauds and one-hit wonders.
Other than that, and the possibility that it will be Larry Brown's last
home game as Pistons coach, it's just another game.
"This has been the wildest series," Brown said. "After the first two
games, I felt like I did coming back from Athens (the disappointment at
last summer's Olympics).
"And then to understand how important Game 3 was and then how important
Game 4 was.
"I told the guys today (Saturday) that I feel stupid for saying this,
but this is the most important game we'll ever have played. I really
believe that."
His players know they have the Spurs reeling from two blowout victories.
They stopped short of saying they have taken the Spurs' heart, but they
know they have them backpedaling.
"We are playing great basketball at the right time," Richard Hamilton
said. "Every team that wins a championship gets hot at the right time.
And when we have the pressure on somebody, we want to keep it on, you
know? We don't want to let off."
Every athlete knows when his opponent is beaten. The Pistons knew after
Game 3 last year that the Lakers were done.
Chauncey Billups doesn't see the same death of spirit in the Spurs.
"That team isn't going to quit," he said. "They play with a lot of
heart. Their coach (Gregg Popovich) is tough as nails, and he's not
going to let them let down. All we have right now is a little momentum,
and momentum can be stopped in just a couple of minutes."
From the sound of things, though, the Spurs seem to be challenging, if
not questioning, their heart. The talk the last two days has been less
about strategy and more about finding the wherewithal to fight back and
match the Pistons' physically.
"We just have to show our heart," Tony Parker said. "We have to show
Detroit that we want to win the championship, too."
The Spurs' to-do list is long, but at the top are taking better care of
the ball against pressure, re-establishing Tim Duncan and playing
smarter.
"It's a matter of being crafty and intelligent and just understanding
what's in front of us all," said Duncan, who has experienced the two
worst Finals performances of his career in successive games (16 and 14
points). "I think we have to attack the game with a little more
intelligence, understanding what they are doing, understanding their
physical nature and their great help-side defense and how we can use
that against them."
Manu Ginobili, held to 19 points total in the last two games, said the
key is to keep the ball moving and try to create cracks in the defense.
"We are holding the ball too much," he said. "Their pressure limited us
and then we just stopped. We cannot stop playing. We have to be very
aggressive, keep moving the ball and keep attacking the same way we did
in the first two games."
The Pistons are 5-2 in Game 5s coached by Brown, and 73 percent of teams
that have won Game 5s have gone on to win titles.
The Spurs know the odds.
"I think it's monstrous to try and get that fifth game," Popovich said.
"To say anything different would be disingenuous. Because in my heart,
we knew we had to get a game here. Sure, you would have wanted to get
two and all of that baloney. But, in this format, we know we have to get
one on the road."
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