Basketball Basics: Beyond Dunk, Team First

Blogger's Note: The 2005 NBA Finals is bringing basketball back to what it should be: a game of two teams composed of five players each rather than superstars. A match of coaching strategies worthy of the match between Kasparov and Karpov, rather than the very boring isolation plays of basketball superstars. May the best team wins!

Pistons-Spurs showdown for the hoops purists
Few superstars in an NBA finals where teams focus on defense, passing
The Associated Press
Updated: 5:05 p.m. ET June 7, 2005

SAN ANTONIO - The NBA Finals will be more about substance than style, more about matchups than minutiae.

Neither the Detroit Pistons nor the San Antonio Spurs are all that sexy on the surface, but both are a sight to behold for basketball purists. And if one looks deep enough and factors in a few special subplots, there might just be that little extra something that draws in the masses.

One team is the defending champion. The other was the reigning titlist a year ago.

The only superstar in the series, Tim Duncan, seems dull but is quietly charismatic. The coaches, Detroit’s Larry Brown and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, are such good friends that “Pop” was the best man at the wedding of “L.B.” They speak on the phone nearly every day.

Both teams have made defense and team play their calling cards. Neither has a player who will make your jaw drop.

But for those who need a little va-voom to get interested, at least there’s Eva Longoria, the attractive star of the television show “Desperate Housewives” and the current flame of San Antonio point guard Tony Parker. Her show is on ABC, and the finals are on ABC, so we should see more than a little of her.

And then there are the cities, San Antonio and Auburn Hills, home to the Alamo and The Palace, scenes of two of the most epic fights in American history.

You’ve got Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace with his foul mouth and his championship belt, and San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili with his South American flair and his Olympic gold medal.

There are backup point guards from Slovenia and San Juan, wizened veterans in the far corners of each locker room, public address announcers with unique and distinct styles.

See? It won’t just be about X’s and O’s.

“I think you’re going to see another great series,” Detroit’s Chauncey Billups said after the Pistons defeated the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to earn the right to face the well-rested Spurs. “It’s going to be a tough challenge. You know, I just can’t wait, man, I can’t wait.”

Game 1 is Thursday night, and Game 2 is Sunday. The series then shifts northward for Games 3, 4 and 5.

All subplots aside, it shapes up as a fair match — maybe even the kind of series that will last seven games, something that hasn’t happened in the NBA Finals since 1994.

San Antonio has been waiting around since finishing off the Phoenix Suns last Wednesday night, and the Spurs finally got to go through a practice Tuesday knowing exactly who stands in the way of them winning their third championship in seven years.

That team, Detroit, is a formidable obstacle.

Start with Ben Wallace, because with the Pistons you can really start with anyone. They are a team built around the concept of being a team.

Big Ben stands 6-foot-9, or 6-11 to the top of his hair on nights when he blows out his ’fro. He’s just coming off a series in which he had to defend Shaquille O’Neal all by himself because he plays for a coach who double teams about as often as he makes lifelong commitments.
Wallace was the NBA’s defensive player of the year, and now he’ll be asked to stop a two-time MVP in Duncan whose low-post offensive game is much more refined and multifaceted than O’Neal’s.

“Duncan is a great player. He’ll eventually be a Hall of Famer. You know, Shaq is Shaq, man. That’s a tall task,” Wallace said.

Then there’s Richard Hamilton, the Pistons’ leading scorer. Never has there been a faster player on a slow-paced team, a guy who sprints 2 to 3 miles when he feels like having a good offseason workout. The man in the mask has scored at least 20 points in all but one of the Pistons’ 18 postseason games, and he gets his points the old-fashioned way by coming off screens and knocking down mid-range jump shots.

But Hamilton has a formidable obstacle trying to stop him, too, in Bruce Bowen, the Spurs’ defensive specialist who will try to stick to Hamilton like a sweat-drenched T-shirt.

It’s one of many matchups that will make this series so interesting from a tactical standpoint.

Centers will be guarding forwards, forwards will be defending guards, and the adjustments that will be made by the two wise old coaches will go a long way toward determining which team emerges on top.

Oddsmakers installed San Antonio as a slight favorite to win the series, a factor that the Pistons will undoubtedly seize upon as the latest sign that people still question their legitimacy.

“You know, we won the championship last year and people still didn’t give us that much of a chance in this series (against Miami),” Billups said. “I think our balance is what inevitably hurt them and beat them.”

Indeed, the Pistons have five starters who play well together, each of whom can hurt an opponent in different ways on any given night. Aside from Ben Wallace and Hamilton, there’s the floor leadership and steadiness of Billups, the inside-outside game of Rasheed Wallace, and the long-armed menace of small forward Tayshaun Prince.

The Spurs are built along the more traditional lines of what constitutes a championship team, their fortunes more often than not riding on the talents of Duncan rather than the contributions of their secondary scorers, Ginobili and Parker.

The Spurs proved in the Western Conference finals against Phoenix that they can adapt to the style of their opponent and still succeed, but now they’re about to go against an opponent that plays defense with the same abandon as the Suns did on offense.

“It’ll be a tremendous challenge for us. They’re the champs, and they’re the champs for a reason, so we’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s for sure,” Popovich said.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8133715/

Spurs vs. Pistons
NBA PLAYOFF MATCHUPS
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor

RESULTS, SCHEDULEGame 1: Detroit at San Antonio, June 9, 9 p.m. (ABC)Game 2: Detroit at San Antonio, June 12, 9 p.m. (ABC)Game 3: San Antonio at Detroit, June 14, 9 p.m. (ABC)Game 4: San Antonio at Detroit, June 16, 9 p.m. (ABC)Game 5: San Antonio at Detroit, June 19, 9 p.m., if necessary (ABC)Game 6: Detroit at San Antonio, June 21, 9 p.m., if necessary (ABC)Game 7: Detroit at San Antonio, June 23, 9 p.m., if necessary (ABC)

OUTLOOKThe Spurs and Pistons are ranked 1-2 in the NBA in defense, respectively. That should give you an idea of what type of series to expect.

Although these clubs pride themselves on defense, they also have exceptional balance. Each team has an array of offensive weapons. And both teams are experienced. The Spurs have the series’ lone superstar in Tim Duncan, but the Pistons have enough overall strength to compensate.

San Antonio might be the hungrier team, since it is coming off a disappointing showing against the Lakers last year in the conference semifinals. Duncan’s sore ankle seems to be holding up. He isn’t 100 percent, but he’s close, which is bad news for opponents, including the Pistons.

The Pistons, though, have a lot of pride. They’re the defending champs. They don’t always seem as if they’re peaking at the right time, but they manage to get the job done, as they did against Miami when they won the final two games, including a gutty performance on the road in Game 7.

These teams are almost mirror images of each other in terms of style, so it will come down to which works for the best shots, executes and doesn’t turn the ball over against the opponents’ frenetic defense.

SEASON RECORDSSpurs: 59-23 (1st in Southwest Division)Pistons: 54-28 (1st in Central Division)

SEASON SERIESSeries tied, 1-1Dec. 3: at San Antonio 80, Detroit 77March 20: at Detroit 110, San Antonio 101

HEAD TO HEAD PLAYOFF HISTORYNever met in playoffs.

KEY INJURIESSpurs: No serious injuries.Pistons: No serious injuries.

VEGAS ODDS TO WIN NBA TITLESpurs: 8-5Pistons: 2-1

OFFENSE/DEFENSE NBA RANKINGSpurs: 17/1Pistons: 24/2

PISTONS (Complete team statistics):F Tayshaun Prince: 14.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.0 apg, .487 FG%, .807 FT%F Rasheed Wallace: 14.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, .440 FG%, .697 FT%C Ben Wallace: 9.7 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 2.38 bpg, .453 FG%, .428 FT%G Richard Hamilton: 18.7 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.9 apg, .440 FG%, .858 FT%G Chauncey Billups: 16.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 5.8 apg, .442 FG%, .898 FT%

SPURS (Complete team statistics):F Tim Duncan: 20.3 ppg, 11.10 rpg, 2.64 bpg, .496 FG%, .670 FT%F Bruce Bowen: 8.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, .420 FG%, .634 FT% C Nazr Mohammed: 9.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.12 bpg, .480 FG%, .556 FT%G Tony Parker: 16.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 6.1 apg, .482 FG%, .650 FT%G Manu Ginobili: 16.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.9 apg, .471 FG%, .803 FT%

TOP BENCH PLAYERSPISTONS:F Antonio McDyess: 9.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg, .513 FG%, .656 FT%G Carlos Arroyo: 6.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 4.0 apg, .389 FG%, .799 FT%

SPURS:G/F Brent Barry: 7.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.2 apg, .423 FG%, .837 FT%F Robert Horry: 6.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg, .419 FG%, .789 FT%

COACHES:SPURS: Glenn Popovich (455-232 overall, 65-38 playoffs)PISTONS: Larry Brown (987-741 overall; 97-85 playoffs)

PLAYERS TO WATCH
SPURS: Tony ParkerHe has a quickness advantage against the Detroit guards, especially Chauncey Billups. When Parker is in a groove, he’s almost impossible to stop. The Pistons surely will come up with some sort of scheme to limit his penetration. But you can only hold Parker down for so long. If he asserts himself and has a superb series, it could make all the difference for the Spurs.

PISTONS: Ben WallaceOne of the keys to beating the Spurs is controlling the boards, and Big Ben is the Pistons’ best rebounder. He will be battling both Tim Duncan and Nazr Mohammed for rebounds. He has to keep Duncan from getting second shots when the Spurs have the ball, and he has to try and get as many putbacks on the offensive glass as he can. A formidable showing by Wallace inside will help prevent the Spurs from getting second chances, one of their strengths.

INTANGIBLES
SPURS: They will have had more rest than the Pistons, having dispensed with the Phoenix Suns in a fifth game of the Western Conference finals last Wednesday. Sometimes that works against a team, turning it stale. But in this case, Duncan’s ankle could use the time off. A healthy Duncan will be needed if the Spurs hope to outlast the tenacious Pistons.

PISTONS: Conversely, the Pistons will go from a Game 7 victory in Miami on Monday to Game 1 of the NBA Finals on the road at San Antonio on Thursday. For the Pistons, this is a good thing, because at times in this postseason they have seemed flat and uninspired. So turning around and having to play in three days will help to maintain Detroit’s competitive edge.

PREDICTIONThis is one of the most evenly matched NBA Finals in years. The teams are accomplished on both the offensive and defensive ends. And both are experienced. But although the Spurs have the home court, the Pistons will prevail, although it probably will go the full seven.
© 2005 NBC Sports.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8080330/