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DETROIT 85, SAN ANTONIO 70: Just an Appetizer: Pistons Improve to 22-3, Downplay Holiday Feast of Spurs

Posted on: Monday, 26 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Krista Latham, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Free Press

Dec. 26--Here's a good rule of thumb about the NBA -- if there's snow on the ground outside the arena, the game played inside is likely of little significance.

But it sure didn't feel that way this Christmas afternoon.

Sunday's 85-70 whipping of San Antonio, the team that topped the Pistons for last season's NBA title, sure seemed like validation, as if the previous 24 games were just the evidence and this one finally hammered the truth home that, yes, this is the best team in the league.

Not that the Pistons would ever admit that.

"What does it mean at this point?" coach Flip Saunders said. "I don't think you put too much stock in it."

The NBA promotions committee sure didn't, pumping the nation's airwaves full of Lakers-Heat commercials all week. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich joked before the game that he took pride in playing in the junior varsity warm-up to the real deal.

"We're not only thrilled, but we think it's a huge responsibility to be playing the JV game," he said. "Because, you know, you've got to do well to keep the people around for the varsity game. So we're taking this very seriously."

And the Pistons players themselves were in downplay mode, even after enacting their bit of revenge for last season's Game 7 loss.

Center Ben Wallace called it just "another game in December." And Chauncey Billups said he cared little about anything besides adding to the team's rapidly growing resume.

"Just another win on the record," Billups said. "Just another win. Christmas. Get home."

OK, fine. So in a long 82-game NBA season, this was but one tiny blip on a busy radar screen.

Still, it felt like something bigger, if only for the way it went down, two defensive heavyweights perhaps previewing the matchup the nation will watch in June when the Lakers and the Heat are long forgotten.

"It was a very entertaining game," Saunders said. "You saw, both teams, who they are. Meat and potato teams. Maybe this is why the game wasn't hyped as much. This is what basketball is meant to be like. Play defense, play team basketball. Not turn the ball over, and make plays for each other."

The Pistons held the Spurs (21-7) to eight first quarter points, a San Antonio franchise record for fewest points in a first quarter. Detroit also out-rebounded the Spurs, 57-30, and scored 20 points off their 18 offensive rebounds, an effort generated by Ben Wallace, who finished with 10 points and 21 rebounds, his most since 2004.

"They outplayed us, honestly," said Spurs guard Tony Parker, who had 19 points.

The Pistons' primary concern Sunday was containing Parker, who, remarkably, leads the league in points scored in the paint. In the first quarter, it was clear why. Parker drove repeatedly into the lane, flipping up his floater each time and watching it fall more often than not.

But after an early timeout, the Pistons made an adjustment in their pick-and-roll defense, and from then on, Parker's once wide-open running routes were filled with Pistons defenders and their lengthy arms.

"He had to see a lot of bodies," Saunders said. "He had to see the Pistons' numbers and the Piston logo on the front of that jersey and know that there were people there to give help the whole time."

And really, who cares if one player finds his way to easy baskets if no one else can? After the first quarter, the score was Pistons 18, Parker 8, the rest of the Spurs lineup 0.

Meanwhile, Rasheed Wallace more than held his own inside against Tim Duncan, holding him to 9 of 20 shooting. Duncan finished with 18 points and 11 boards.

The Spurs shot just 40% as a team.

"We're still a defensive basketball team," Billups said. "I think that so many people are talking about our offense because it's the only thing new. That's the only thing new around here is our offensive presence. We're still a defensive basketball team, and when you play another great team like that, defense pretty much wins."

Billups led Detroit with 20 points, while four others also scored in double-digits, including Antonio McDyess, who had 10 off the bench.

The Spurs cut Detroit's lead to four in the fourth-quarter before an 11-4 Pistons run, capped with a three-pointer from Billups, gave Detroit an 11-point lead they protected the rest of the game.

The Pistons, who lost Game 7 of the last season's Finals in the fourth quarter, outscored San Antonio, 28-17, in the fourth quarter on Sunday.

"I think what we can do now is we can change our personality," Saunders said. "Defense can carry us at times. But I thought in the fourth quarter, our offense, we executed. To score 28 points down the stretch in the fourth quarter that's pretty impressive."

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Source: Detroit Free Press

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