Bulls 108, Pistons 92 – The Bulls played like a team with urgency; a team that wanted to get back in the series and eventually win it, while the Pistons relaxed, confident that they would eventually get to the Eastern Conference Finals after winning the first three games. Now, it’s a question whether or not Detroit has completely lost the momentum and the motivation. Chauncey Billups admitted as much after the game, saying the team relaxed and rested on a cushion. If Detroit loses in game six, I expect Chicago to steal this series from them. The Pistons are the better team. They need to play like it again.
Jazz 100, Warriors 87 – Sadly, the best story in this year’s playoffs is no longer with us, and boy, did it get ugly in the end, when Matt Barnes got called for a flagrant near the end of the third and Stephen Jackson clotheslined another Jazz player. The Warriors live by the three and died by it, making only six of 30 from beyond the arc and giving up a huge discrepancy in rebounds to Utah’s big men. The frustration spilled over throughout the Warriors, and if they want to be a playoff force down the line, they’ve got to learn how to use that emotion to drive their play on the court.
The suspensions to Robert Horry, Amare Stoudemire, and Boris Diaw? All called right by the NBA, as far as the rule book goes, but you might as well pencil in San Antonio for a game five win unless Nash, Barbosa, and Marion can pull something out of their collective hat. Horry is a roleplayer. Stoudemire and Diaw being gone for Game Five fucks up Phoenix so much more than Horry’s two game suspension screws up the Spurs.
(Photo: AP/Duane Burleson)
Filed under: NBA, NBA Playoffs
i know others have seen what duncan did in the 2nd quarter but i just have no idea why diaw and amare would be suspended for what they did (didn’t even go on the court but duncan did)!
Patrick – old NBA rule that if you leave the bench for the court, you’re gonna lose a game. Hopefully they revisit that for circumstances.