The Bad Boys are hungry

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 6/09/2004

 Pistons dominate Lakers 87-75

  Los Angeles, CA — Maybe the Detroit Pistons collectively have had enough, and have decided as a group they are the only team left that can change things and do what other teams have failed to do — beat LA in the finals, and beat the Western Conference Champion. The NBA Eastern Conference has had a long history of being judged as the NBA’s backup conference. 

 The Bad Boys are back indeed! History lesson: The last team to beat Los Angeles in the NBA Finals were the Bad Boys. The original Bad Boys in 1989 swept the ShowTime Lakers 4-0 to win Detroit’s first NBA title.

 For five straight years, the Western Conference Champion has had its way with the so-called ‘Beast from the East.’ Former Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Chauncey Billips torched Gary Payton for 22 points and four assists to lead the Pistons to a convincing 87-75 game-one win in the NBA Finals.

 It’s the fifth straight game in which the Pistons have beaten the Lakers in the finals, and now they have grabbed the home court away from the heavily favored Lakers. “It’s unbelievable, the feeling that we have right now,” said Billips. “But it’s no time to dwell on that; we’ve got a long, long series ahead of us. We came in here to try and win game one, and we’ve done that. I thought we did a great job of taking care of business.” 

 Detroit refused defensively to double Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and the two stars combined to score 59 of the Lakers’ 75 points. The Pistons made six of 12 shots from three-point range and shut down the other seven Lakers starters and reserves, limiting them to 16 points. Gary Payton and Karl Malone, the other two future Hall of Fame Lakers starters, combined to score only seven points.

 The Pistons bench outscored the Lakers bench 19-4; that, more than anything else, was the difference in the game. “The game boiled down to shots that were made under duress at the end of the 24-second clock,” said Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson. Jackson is trying to win an unprecedented tenth NBA Championship.

 “Four of [those shots] were made in duress under the gun,” Jackson continued. “One of them was a three pointer — that was the difference in the ball game, literally. Defensively, it was a square-off. They played Kobe great. They had a tough time with Shaquille. They took everyone else out of the ball game. Their bench beat our bench, and we’ll have to find a way to help that.” 

 “It puts a lot of pressure on us for game two,” said O’Neal. “This is the type of team that plays aggressive defense. They played well; they just wanted it a little more than we wanted it tonight. We have to get everybody involved, and we have to act like we want it, and we’ll be okay for game two.”

 “We’re excited,” said Rasheed Wallace, the Pistons’ second leading scorer with 14 points and eight rebounds. “For the majority of the guys here, it’s our first trip to the finals. We still have to play; we’re not just happy to be here. Some people would be, but everyone in our locker room is hungry.”

 Dr. Jack Ramsay said, “The Pistons are the best defensive team in the league. They proved that in the playoffs so far, and in the regular season after they acquired Rasheed Wallace. But I don’t see how they can stop Kobe and Shaq, and if they can’t do that and score more than 75 points, I don’t think they can win this series.”

 Doc Rivers, head coach of the Boston Celtics, is working the finals with Al Michaels on ABC’s exclusive live TV coverage. “I don’t think the Pistons care who the Lakers are, I really don’t,” Rivers said. “That’s why I think this is going to be a compelling finals.

 “I don’t think they [Detroit] look at the Lakers like everyone else does. The bottom line is [that] if the Lakers don’t have great defense in every in game, and they allow the Pistons to get 85 or 90 points, it’s going to be a heck of a series.”