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Pistons Rout Spurs to Tie NBA Finals

Posted on: Friday, 17 June 2005, 09:00 CDT

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Lindsey Hunter, the Pistons' defensive specialist, registered his best offensive performance in nearly three years as Detroit evened the best-of-seven NBA Finals 2-2 with a 102-71 rout of the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

Hunter, who scored 17 points, hit shot after difficult shot as the Pistons ran coach Larry Brown's offense nearly to perfection; Detroit set a finals record with just four turnovers.

And Detroit's relentless defense was even better, crowding and shoving the Spurs into pure frustration. Tim Duncan, the two-time finals MVP, became so discombobulated that he forgot to slap his teammates' waiting hands while trudging to the bench in the final minutes.

"When we're good defensively and we do share the ball, it's hard for us to lose," Hunter said. "It was a great game. We had a lot of memorable games last year, but this ranks among the best."

In just five days, the NBA Finals have flipped. Although the series might be even in the standings at two games apiece, it now has a decided tilt to the east.

The Spurs were halfway to another title before they visited this raucous arena in the Detroit suburbs, where the defending champions wrapped up two outstanding performances with the most one-sided finals victory in five years.

"We were phenomenal tonight," Brown said. "I really believe in all honesty this is the best game on a team I've been involved with at this level, this is they best we've played. This was a pretty special game."

Though seven Pistons scored in double figures, they won with defense. Detroit held San Antonio to the fifth-lowest scoring performance in NBA Finals history while limiting Duncan to 5-of-17 shooting and harassing his teammates into terrible games.

Though Manu Ginobili still insists his bruised leg is fine, he was held to 12 points. While Duncan got 16 points and 16 rebounds, he spent the final minutes motionless on the bench.

"We're feeling good," said Ben Wallace, who again tag-teamed Duncan with Rasheed Wallace. "Everybody's got their legs back. Everybody is looking fresh. Everybody is coming out, looking to make plays. That's the way we've got to be from here on out.

"We know what it takes to win a championship. We've been there before. We're trying to get back to the top."

Game 5 is Sunday night at the Palace, where last season the Pistons became the first team in NBA Finals history to win all three middle home games in the 2-3-2 format. Over the last two playoffs, Detroit is 5-0 at home in the finals, winning by an average of 17.8 points per game.

The Spurs are in danger of becoming just the third team in NBA history to blow a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals. Only six teams have even lost after taking a 2-1 lead - and though the Spurs still can count on their considerable home-court advantage in the final two games, they've lost consecutive finals games for the first time in franchise history.

"I don't feel frustrated at all. There would be some other words that would be a lot more accurate," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "It's disappointing that their physical play and their defense has taken us away from everything that we normally do."

Detroit took control with a 14-0 run spanning the first two quarters, jumping to a 51-36 lead after what Popovich called the worst half of basketball in NBA Finals history. Hunter scored seven straight points in the third quarter while the Pistons stretched their lead to 19 points - and they emphasized every point in the fourth, outscoring San Antonio 28-14.

"We came out very flat in the first half," said San Antonio's Tony Parker, who had 12 points but just four assists. "Just missed shots, (made) a lot of turnovers, got beaten on the boards. All of the stuff that we talked about after Game 3 happened again tonight. ... We need to refocus. We have two days to think about it and come back strong on Sunday."

Notes:@ The Pistons had the largest margin of victory in an NBA Finals game since the Indiana Pacers' 120-87 win over the Lakers in Game 5 of the 2000 series. ... Darko Milicic, Detroit's slow-developing big man, hit a nice bank shot in the closing minutes for the first points of his NBA Finals career. ... Detroit joined the 1997 Utah Jazz as the only teams to win Games 3 and 4 of the finals after losing the first two on the road. Chicago won that series in six games. ... Brown won the 99th playoff game of his career, tying Red Auerbach's career mark. Only Pat Riley and Phil Jackson have won more postseason games.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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