Motor City Sports Sports in Detroit and beyond

Wow – 11/19/2004

This is a blog post I wrote five years ago tonight, shortly after getting home from the Palace after watching Ron Artest turn the NBA upside down.

I don't know what to say.

First, the important thing. I'm basically OK. I got knocked over a table, which set off a minor bout of back spasms. My laptop got knocked onto the concrete floor at the same time, but seems to have survived intact. We'll have to see about that.

Here's what happened. The Pacers were wiping out the Pistons. With less than a minute left, Ron Artest shoved Ben Wallace in the back as Ben was going for a shot. Wallace turned around and shoved Artest in the face, and Artest staggered back. He eventually ended up on the scorer's table, lying on his back like he was relaxing.

Both benches emptied, there was a lot of pushing and shoving and general mayhem. The refs, incredibly, didn't have Wallace and Artest removed from the court, and eventually Artest, being a hot dog, grabbed a radio headset and started giving an interview while still lying on the scorers table.

That set Wallace off again, and he threw a towel at Artest, hitting him in the head. Things got tenser again, and Ben threw his headband toward the stands. I remember watching the headband fly through the air. At that point, this was probably the nastiest basketball fight I had ever seen in person, but that was it. It happened on the other end of the court and I was just trying to keep track of things for Larry.

Oh, yeah. Since it was a big game, both Larry and I were there. So he was in our front-row seat next to Mahorn, and I was sitting behind him in the second row of media seats. That got very important.

As I watched the headband fly, I saw motion out of the corner of my eye. I turned that way, and to my horror, Artest had charged into the stands and was trying to kill some guy. Seconds later, he was joined by Stephen Jackson, who laid out a guy with one punch. Instead of being at the other end of the floor, this was now happening a few feet away from me.

The second row of the media is back against the old hockey boards, so we were basically trapped. We couldn't go forward and we couldn't go back. It is a hard process even getting in from the sides, and that's not with massive NBA players going over you and around you and things flying through the air.

I was trying to duck and help protect Dana, who was right next to me. At some point, I got pushed into the table, which tipped over, sending laptops, phones and TV monitors crashing to the ground. Dana was begging Chauncey Billups not to go into the crowd, telling him it would only make things worse.

By this point, the arena was in utter chaos. We didn't see a lot of the stuff live, being worried with the insanity in our immediate area, but Jermaine O'Neal sucker-punched one fan, and could have easily killed him. Morons dumped beer and threw ice at the Pacers players and coaches, and one fucktard threw a chair.

Eventually, the floor was cleared and the game was officially ended. Dana and I went to the back, and then I headed for the Pacers lockerroom, where I listened to one of their assistant coaches try to talk the police out of arresting O'Neal. Within a few minutes, the media was removed from the area, except for Jim Gray of ESPN, which pissed me off no end.

Eventually, a decision was made to get the Pacers out of there. No players were arrested, but there is a good chance that warrants may be issued in the next few days after the TV tapes are reviewed by the police and by the Oakland County Prosecutor's office. I also expect that there will be charges filed against some of the fans that were involved, if they can be identified on tape.

There was also an incident in the tunnel, off-camera, where O'Neal allegedly injured a fan with a punch. That happened right in front of at least one police officer, and was what they were going to arrest him for, not for the incident caught on camera.

Obviously, we were never allowed to talk to the Pacers players, and the Pistons were told not to talk to us. They all left the arena staring straight ahead, not even acknowledging our questions. The only person that we talked to was Larry Brown, who called it the worst thing he has seen in his 40+ years in basketball.

I finally left the arena about 1:20, but Dana and I spent another 15-20 minutes talking in the parking lot. We were basically in shock. The last time I can remember something like this, other than a couple minor-league hockey games, is the time in the 1970s that several of the Boston Bruins went into the stands at Madison Square Garden in New York.

There's a lot of blame to go around. Artest started the incident with a chickenshit flagrant foul at the end of a blowout. The refs should have gotten him and Wallace off the floor immediately. Wallace should have not thrown the towel. Obviously, the fan shouldn't thrown the glass of beer at Artest, which is what sent him into the crowd in the first place. And after the Pacers went into the crowd, the behavior of many fans were utterly inexcusable. People talk about the "mob mentality", and how people do things they would normally never do, but it's terrifying to be in the middle of it.

Still, given all that, there's just no excuse for Artest and Jackson going into the crowd and attacking fans. They had no way of knowing if the fans they were engaged with had anything to do with the stuff that was being thrown.

I have no idea what happens next. There are going to be long suspensions - the Pacers' three best players are looking at possibly missing 15-20 games or more. They could also be facing criminal charges, as well as probable (definite?) lawsuits.

For the Pistons, I suspect that Ben Wallace will get 3-5 games, and Rasheed Wallace might get suspended for going into the crowd, even as a peacemaker. Six Pistons - Chauncey Billups, Darvin Ham, Darko Milicic, Derrick Coleman, Antonio McDyess and Elden Campbell - are also facing automatic one-game suspensions for leaving the bench during the original altercation. Tayshaun Prince was the only Piston smart enough to stay on the bench, so he should avoid any punishment at all. Smush Parker, Rip Hamilton and Lindsey Hunter were in the game, and shouldn't get suspended, unless Rip gets a game for shoving various Pacers during the first fracas.

(and no, they won't suspend everyone at once - they will stagger things so that the team can put a reasonable squad on the floor for every game. Usually, it is 2-3 people per game, done in alphabetical order.)

It's 3:24. I've been home for a little more than 90 minutes, and the adrenalin is just starting to wear off. I was supposed to go to the Science Center tomorrow with Angie and Britt, but that's off now. I'll be at Pistons practice at 11 am, and quite possibly at AHPD HQ at some point for a press conference. I'm hoping that I'll be able to go see a movie with them tomorrow night.

I'm just glad I got through it healthy - it could have easily been a lot worse. And, for all my doubts about myself at times, I did my job very well tonight.

What an unbelievable night.

Game Thoughts: Pistons vs. Bobcats, 11/11/09

Well, I was right about the Bobcats scoring 75 points. I just didn't expect the Pistons to get 98.

The game was just played just as slowly as expected, but Charlotte's defense collapsed. The Pistons got the ball to Charlie Villanueva early and often - he scored 30 points without playing in the fourth quarter - and the three guards combined for 54 points and 19 assists.

Villanueva was the star of the night, outscoring Charlotte 18-12 as the Pistons blew the game open in the third period, but they got big efforts from a lot of guys. Ben Gordon had 22 points and eight assists, and Rodney Stuckey had 16 points and seven assists on 10 shots.

Will Bynum, though, will be the one that people remember. He had a ferocious dunk over Tyson Chandler in the first half, and then an equally spectacular open-court slam in the second half. For a guy that is generously listed at 6-foot-0, he's got some hops. He even blocked a shot.

Ben Wallace played the ultimate Ben Wallace game. He didn't try a shot and he didn't score a point, but he had nine rebounds, three steals, three assists and three blocks without a turnover or a foul. He was the one player that Larry Brown praised by name after the game.

Charlotte's best player? Nazr Mohammed, I guess. He had 13 points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes. Other than that, the Bobcats did what the Bobcats do - they had a bad shooting night and they turned the ball over 20 times in an 82-possession game. If it hadn't been for Detroit's continued problems with fouling too much, they wouldn't have scored 70 points.

The Pistons have a good chance to get over .500 when they play at Washington on Saturday, but that's followed by a stretch against Dallas, Portland, Utah, Phoenix and Cleveland. They could play fairly well and still lose five straight.

Preview: Pistons vs. Bobcats

The NBA has seen a large number of high-scoring games this year, with three games on one night going over 250 combined points.

Tonight's Pistons-Bobcats matchup promises to not be one of those. As a matter of fact, with the league's two slowest teams playing, this game probably won't break 150 until the final few moments. I'm expecting a final score of about 78-75.

Both teams have been below-average offensively - the Bobcats have been horrendous - and both teams have been above-average defensively, with the Bobcats being outstanding. Hard to believe of a Larry Brown team, isn't it?

So far this season, Charlotte's Gerald Wallace has been playing like a more-extreme version of Ben Wallace. He's been the league's best defensive player, and an absolute disaster on offense. Ben basically stays out of the way on offense, limiting most of his shots to put-back attempts on offensive rebounds, and he's a decent passer. Gerald Wallace is much more involved, but not in a good way. He's shooting 33.3% from the floor and turning the ball over more than three times a game.

Despite that, he's actually leading the team in shot attempts. Raymond Felton, who is second, has almost as bad at actually making shots, and hasn't been great as a point guard, either. LB would be much better served getting more shots for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell, the only two players on the team that are actually hitting shots above the league average. Bell has just come back from injury, so getting him more time will help.

On defense, they are getting a really nice performances from Tyson Chandler and, off the bench, from ex-Piston Nazr Mohammed. Diaw is also an above-average defender, while Bell and Felton are about average.

The Pistons are in much the same situation. With Richard Hamilton still sidelined, their only solid offensive weapon has been Ben Gordon. Rodney Stuckey has scored 16 points a game, but has needed more shots to do that than Gordon has needed to score 24 points a night. Will Bynum is also struggling with his shot.

Detroit's biggest offensive problem, though, is the amazing lack of ball movement. During Flip Saunders and Chauncey Billups' final year, the Pistons had assists on 61% of their field goals, well above the league average. This year, they are at 44%, by far the worst total in the NBA. That's the reason that Charlie Villanueva hasn't had much of an offensive impact - he's never getting the ball.

To demonstrate the fact of how bad Detroit is at passing the ball, and how much they need a real point guard, Bynum passes the ball on approximately 60% of his offensive touches, and he's the only Piston over 50%.In contrast, the Celtics have Rajon Rondo at 82%, Paul Pierce at 54% and Ray Allen at 51%. The Lakers have four players - Odom, Artest, Walton and Fisher - over 60%.

On defense, the Pistons are among the best teams in the league at defending shots, and they have gotten their fouling under control. However, they are still giving up a huge number of offensive rebounds. Ben Wallace, while still a great defender and one of the best in the league at getting offensive boards, is not exceptional on the defensive glass, and, with Tayshaun Prince still sidelined, no one else is picking up the slack.

That could be a problem tonight, as the Bobcats are good at getting second-shot opportunities on offense, especially when Nazr is on the floor. The Pistons will also have to keep Wallace, Diaw and Chandler from getting to the glass after Charlotte's many missed shots. If Detroit does that, they should win the game.

One other storyline for the night - new Pistons coach John Kuester was, of course, an assistant under LB when the Pistons won the 2004 championship.

Game Thoughts – Pistons vs. 76ers, 11/8/09

Ben Gordon had another good game Sunday afternoon - scoring 23 points to help the Pistons beat the 76ers 88-81.

Once again, though, he wasn't even Detroit's Most Valuable Ben.

It's harder to detect Ben Wallace's contributions from a quick look at the scoreboard. While there was a "23" next to Gordon's #7, there was a "2" next to Wallace's #6. Looking at the box score, you start to figure it out. Wallace had 16 rebounds, including seven offensive rebounds. He blocked three shots and added three steals.

It goes deeper than that. This was supposed to be a terrible defensive team, and it isn't. Even with Tayshaun Prince out with a bad back, Detroit has done a good job of stopping teams from putting the ball in the basket, and a lot of that is because of Ben. He keeps players from getting to the rim, meaning they are ending up with low-percentage jumpers.

Even better, his hard work seems to be rubbing off on Kwame Brown, who has turned into a valuable post presence off the bench. He's never going to provide Wallace's defensive impact, but he's also a much better offensive player, so he can provide the Pistons with a more offensive look without sacrificing too much defense.

It's not a perfect team. They still don't get enough offense from the frontcourt, and they don't pass the ball. Worse, they are still prone to the lapses of concentration that have seen them get blown out of several first and third quarters.

Still, they are 3-4 even though Prince and Rip Hamilton have been out of the lineup and aren't expected back any time soon. No one has seen the high-scoring offense they were supposed to have, so they have had to win with defense.

And that's where Ben Wallace does things that no one else can.

Game Thoughts: Pistons vs. Magic, 11/3/09

The Pistons shot 38% Tuesday night, didn't make a 3-pointer, and had just eight assists. They did this against the defending Eastern Conference champions - a team that had looked invincible in winning its first three games of the season.

That should be a 30-point loss, not an 85-80 win.

Let's get one thing straight - the Pistons got a ton of breaks in this game. If they play at the same level Friday in Orlando, they probably will lose by 30. Dwight Howard's not going to foul out in 17 minutes, Jameer Nelson won't play like he had his shoes on the wrong feet and Vince Carter won't be running like an 80-year-old man. They certainly won't see Ryan Anderson miss 10 of 11 3-point attempts, because his teammates will have strangled him before he gets the fifth one off.

But give the Pistons credit. They caught Orlando having a bad night, and they did what they needed to do to take advantage of it and win the game. They attacked Howard, who was frustrated by a sore shoulder, and they got him off the floor. They made Carter try to guard Will Bynum on a bad ankle, and, well, they let Nelson implode. I'm not sure what happened there.

The tone of the game was set about 30 minutes before tipoff when the Pistons put out a press release announcing that Tayshaun Prince would be out for at least three games with a strained lower back. This was a bit of a surprise, since John Kuester had just told the media that he was hoping to keep Prince from having to play 40 minutes because of Wednesday night's game in Toronto. He hadn't given any indication that Prince was hurt.

So, for the first time since 2002, the Pistons were going to play a game without Tayshaun Prince or Rip Hamilton. That gave Jonas Jerebko his first NBA start - more on that later - but more importantly, it meant they were going to have to sink or swim with the Gordon/Stuckey/Bynum trio.

(Those three need a nickname, by the way. I don't know what it should be, but it definitely has to happen.)

Those three combined for 63 points, eight assists and, crucially, 25 free-throw attempts. They were attacking the basket - Gordon missed the only 3-pointer any of them tried - and either going for a layup or passing to Charlie Villanueva (12 points) and Kwame Brown (six). That aggressive style is what caused both Howard and backup center Marcin Gortat to foul out. In all, the Pistons took 38 free throws to Orlando's 16 and forced 30 fouls while only committing 17.

It's not an ideal plan. If they try it again Friday and Howard gets some calls, he could block a dozen shots and the Pistons will struggle to score 60 points. You aren't going to win a lot of games with one assist in the first quarter and one assist in the fourth, and in today's NBA, you won't get many victories without hitting a single 3-pointer.

But give them credit for taking advantage of an unusual set of circumstances and finding a way to win a game.

What happened to the revolution?

There is one thing that puzzles me about the Pistons. All we heard during training camp and the preseason was that they would have a great offense, but wouldn't be able to stop anyone. I know it has only been four games, but reality has been the complete opposite.

I know that Hamilton has only played one game, but this is a terrible offensive team. They can't shoot, they don't pass and they don't get many offensive rebounds. They still play at the plodding pace that dates back to Larry Brown, and now they've even lost the knack of avoiding turnovers.

At the same time, though, no one can hit a shot against them. They aren't a perfect defense - they give up too many offensive rebounds and they foul  too much - but they are fantastic at defending shots.

I said at the beginning of this item that this puzzles me, but I suspect I know the answer. It's Ben Wallace. People expected him to come back as a shell of his former self, and they were wrong. He still has as much defensive impact on a game as anyone in the NBA, and his presence on the floor still means you are playing 4-on-5 on the offensive end. Instead of being the offensive-minded team that takes its mindset from Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, they have become, once again, a Ben Wallace team.

Jonas Jerebko Watch

Tuesday, Jonas Jerebko continued his assault on the NBA record books. He now owns the career records for starts by a Swedish-born player (1), minutes by a Swedish-born player (25) and rebounds by a Swedish-born player (7). On Sunday, he should tie the record for games played by a Swedish-born player (5), and hopefully, he'll have found a way to break the record for points by a Swedish-born player (2).

Of course, the competition for these records is not fierce. Before this season, the entire list of Swedish-born NBA players consisted of Miles Simon, who followed up a memorable college career at Arizona with a five-game, 19-minute, two-point stint with the 1998-99 Magic.

(No, I don't know why Miles Simon was born in Sweden. His mother is from Norway, which is in the same neck of the woods, but his father is American. He grew up in Southern California.)

Once Jerebko knocks off Simon's remaining marks, his next goal will have to be the single-game scoring record for a Swede. Now, you may be asking how hard that could be, since Miles Simon only scored one basket, which would leave the single-game scoring record, much like the single-season and career scoring records, at two points.

That is quite true, but only if you have a limited imagination. Are there not other sports where Swedish players have been successful?

(If you answered "no" to that question, please open another browser window, go to Wikipedia and look at the Detroit Red Wings roster. See all those blue flags with yellow crosses - the ones next to most of the team's best players? Those are Swedish people. They are very good at hockey. Now come back to this window. Thank you.)

So, limiting ourselves to North American sports, what's the highest-scoring performance by a Swede? My first thought was that it would be Borje Salming. For some reason, I seemed to remember Borje Salming having a game where he had eight or nine points, but he didn't. I must have been thinking of Darryl Sittler's 10-point game. My second thought was Jan Stenerud, but he, like Miles Simon's mom, is Norwegian.

But I was on the right track on both guesses. It turns out that the All-Sport Swedish Single-Game Scoring Record belongs to Patrik Sundstrom, who had eight points (three goals and five assists) in a 1988 playoff game for the New Jersey Devils. That record was nearly matched by Washington Redskins kicker Ola Kimrin, who had seven points in a 2004 game.

So that's the record for Jerebko to aim for - a nine-point night and he becomes the leading scorer in Swedish history. If he stays in the league for 3-4 years, he should be able to take out Mats Sundin's career point total of 1,349.

And then he could go for the ultimate achievement - the greatest Swedish athlete in Detroit sports history. That one will be tough - after all, if he leads the Pistons to three championships, goes to 10 All-Star games, gets named First Team All-NBA eight times and gets elected to the Hall of Fame, he'll still be behind Nick Lidstrom.

Maybe he should just concentrate on scoring a point before he worries about that one.

Game Thoughts: Pistons vs. Thunder, 10/30/09

The home fans got their first regular-season look at the fresh, new Pistons tonight ... and it didn't go well. After a good start, they collapsed in the second half and lost 91-83 to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Yeah, the same Oklahoma City Thunder that started 1-16 a year ago and finished 23-59. Now, thanks to the Pistons and the horrific Sacramento Kings, they are 2-0. With Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and James Harden, the Thunder are nowhere near as bad as they were a year ago, but that doesn't excuse the Detroit performance tonight.

Neither does the absence of Rip Hamilton, who will also miss Saturday's game in Milwaukee with a sprained ankle. Yes, he's been their leading scorer for the last seven years, and yes, he had 25 points in the season-opening rout of Memphis, but he is a shooting guard. Since Detroit's next two scoring options - Ben Gordon and Rodney Stuckey - are also shooting guards, losing one just makes John Kuester's roster dilemma a little easier.

Stuckey is supposedly a point guard, but tonight's matchup with Westbrook showed what the Pistons are missing. Westbrook had 10 assists, Stuckey had two. Stuckey did score 21 points, thanks to a 12-for-13 night from the free-throw line, but driving to the hoop and getting fouled is usually more in the job description of a ... say it with me ... shooting guard.

In the fourth quarter tonight, Detroit went with Stuckey and Bynum. Do you know how many assists they managed? Zero. Not just those two - the entire team didn't get an assist in the final 13:56 of the game.

The Pistons do have a fairly talented point guard - Will Bynum. When he and Stuckey were on the floor together, it was Bynum who brought the ball up the court, while Stuckey and Gordon covered the shooting guard and small forward positions. That was a combination that worked well in the preseason, but has a few flaws of its own. First, it lacks a bit of size. Stuckey and Gordon aren't exactly big guards, and Bynum is approximately three feet tall. The only way that group can play together is by matching them with Ben Wallace and Kwame Brown, which turns you into a hockey team - Bynum in the center with Stuckey and Gordon as his speedy wingers, with Ben and Kwame as the hulking defensemen. The problem? Hockey teams have a goalie. NBA teams don't.

Playing all four guards worked in the opener, but it is hard to say if that means anything, because Memphis is terrible. Tonight, Oklahoma City knew that the Pistons were only going to get offense from their guards, and used that knowledge to take over the game in the second half. Detroit's starting frontcourt - Wallace, Tayshaun Prince and Charlie Villanueva - combined for three points in the second half. They missed seven of their eight shots, and couldn't help the offense any other way, managing just one offensive rebound between them.

In Ben Wallace's case, that's fine. The Pistons won an NBA championship in 2004 without Ben adding anything to the offense, and he can still do that. I'd argue that he was probably Detroit's best player on Friday with 12 rebounds, three steals, three assists and two blocks. He only scored two points, but he made the only shot he took, so he put together all those positive stats against the negative of one turnover.

But the Pistons can't win with two empty offensive spots in the lineup - that's why the Ben/Kwame combination can only work for short periods of time. Villanueva was brought in for exactly that reason, but he was terrible tonight. He went 3-for-12 from the floor, turned the ball over twice and didn't have a block or a steal. OK, he pulled down five rebounds, but five boards in 34 minutes isn't exactly spectacular from a 6-11 power forward.

This team was never as good as it looked against Memphis, and it probably isn't as bad as it looked in the second half. I don't think Hamilton/Stuckey/Gordon can be on the floor at the same time, because they will get in each other's way, but it did hurt the Pistons to not have Hamilton tonight. He's a better player than Stuckey and while everyone expected that he and Gordon would be as much of a mess as he and Allen Iverson, keep in mind that they both went to Connecticut. Huskies hang together.

Kuester is a rookie coach that has been handed a talented roster that doesn't work. His three best scorers are all shooting guards. He has three promising rookies, all of whom play small forward, a position already held down by Prince, and which is also needed to contain the overflow from all the shooting guards. He has Ben Wallace, an incredible defensive impact player that just takes up space on the other end of the floor. He replaced Rasheed Wallace, a 6-11 finesse player with another one in Villanueva - except that Sheed is also a great defensive player while Villanueva is also a 6-11 finesse player on defense. That isn't as useful.

Of course, there was also the crucial move of replacing Antonio McDyess, Detroit's best player last season, with Chris Wilcox. To use a car analogy, Antonio McDyess in his prime was an Aston Martin DB9. He wasn't a flashy Ferrari or Lamborghini, he was smooth and elegant and incredible. This is a man who put up 40 point/20 rebound games fairly often. I've covered the NBA for 20 years, and I've never seen a single 40-20 game in my life.

As a Piston, McDyess was playing on two bad knees, but he understood his limitations, and still performed at a high level at both ends of the floor. You might not want to use the older DB9 to commute to work, but it still works great for weekend trips, and people gawk when you take it to the Dream Cruise.

Chris Wilcox? A Chevy Cobalt. Nice car that will get you to your boring 9-5 job and will run the family to Sonic for dinner ... but no one is going to confuse it for the Aston Martin.

(That might sound more insulting to Wilcox than it is intended - my wife drives a Cobalt and likes it very much. Besides, Kuester apparently thinks less of Wilcox than I do, since he didn't even put into the game against Oklahoma City.)

Anyway, a bad loss to an improving team. I'd certainly take the Oklahoma City nucleus over the Detroit nucleus at this point. Durant just turned 21, and is already a better player than anyone on the Pistons. Green's 23 and Harden and Westbrook are both 20. Harden might very well be the Rookie of the Year - he didn't look like someone in his second NBA game when the Thunder needed someone to deal with Detroit's defensive pressure while Westbrook was on the bench.

The Pistons get right back at it on Halloween night with a visit to Milwaukee. Most people think the revamped Bucks roster is going to be a disaster. I'm not one of them, because I think they'll be a tough defensive team, but they didn't look great in Friday night's loss at Philly, losing 99-86.

Flip Flupped

I said yesterday that the Pistons might fire Flip Saunders, and I told someone this morning that I figured it might happen as soon as today.

An hour later, I got an email from the Pistons saying that he was gone and Joe Dumars would be holding a press conference at 2:00.

So, is it a good move? There's no way of knowing that until we find out if Michael Curry can actually coach. He's certainly liked by the players - he was the president of the union for several years, and he was a starter on the first of the six straight Pistons teams to go to the Eastern Conference finals.

But, on a team where effort and intensity is a problem, are the Pistons really better off with a rookie coach that is a peer to the players, not a authority figure?

It is certainly a risky first move for what Dumars promises will be a busy offseason. Trading Rasheed is the safe second move - trading any of the other core players will be the dangerous decision. It is going to be fascinating to see which way he goes.

Live from the Palace…

8:40: And we're underway. Rip Hamilton's in the starting lineup. We'll see how good he looks.

8:41: Billups misses his first free-throw attempt, and Ray Allen buries his first 3-pointer. Neither is a good sign.

8:42: Hamilton drains a mid-range jumper. That made every Pistons fan breathe a bit easier.

8:46: Celtics just had a possession where neither Pierce nor Perkins got across half-court. Nice hustle there. Still only 10-9 Pistons, though.

8:48: First Automotion routine of the night. They are in all white, because Automotion always makes you think of vestal virgins.

8:50: Speaking of white, why did the Penguins do a White-Out for Game 3? Did they not notice that it was the Red Wings that were wearing white for the game?

8:52: To clear up a common misconception, Rip Hamilton doesn't keep wearing his mask because he likes it - he actually hates it. Unlike Antonio McDyess, who got to ditch his fairly quickly, Hamilton is stuck with his permanently. He has broken his nose so many times that another break would require surgery and mean he would miss several weeks of action.

8:55: 17-13 Celtics. Anita Baker is here ... and Rip scores in her honor. 17-15.

9:01: If you find my blog boring, or you want some idea of what it is like sitting between Dana Wakiji and I on press row, you can read hers at http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/pistonsblog/index.cfm.

9:02: Two more baskets for Ray Allen. He's got 10 points in 11 minutes, which, as I mentioned, is not a good sign.

9:03: Rodney Stuckey at the buzzer to pull the Pistons within 24-23. I've been asking this since training camp - how did that kid fall to the 18th pick?

9:05: Or maybe not. Refs just looked at the replay and ruled the shot came after the shot clock expired, so it is 24-21 at the first quarter.

9:07: There's a fan behind me screaming that he hates the media, and they need real fans in these seats who will make some noise instead of watching TV.

9:11: Good lord, these quarter breaks last forever. Kid Rock is here - no idea if any of the Pistons will score a basket in his honor. Besides, he's never told me to tie my shoe, like Anita did.

9:13: Jason Maxiell with a turnaround jumper, just before Hamilton and Sam The Alien bank knees.

9:15: Ray Allen 3-pointer. Still not a good sign. Also might help if Rasheed Wallace scores a point in here somewhere.

9:17: Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is here. The drummer from the RHCP (Flea?) once played the national anthem for a key Pistons playoff game. On the drums. Just him. That was very odd.

9:20: Sam The Alien is matched up against Stuckey. If I've done the math correctly, Sam was 97 years old when Stuckey was born.

9:26: They are already breaking out the Rip "Rocky" video - he's from Philly, you see. And he has 13 of their 28 points. Prince, McDyess and Wallace have a combined three, which is not what you are looking for.

9:29: Billups hits a 3-pointer. Now he has 13, and the Pistons are down 32-31 ... except that Paul Pierce scored before I could finish typing. 34-31.

9:31: OK, this could be big. Garnett picks up his third foul with 3:11 left in the half. Pistons need to make a run right here.

9:33: And they start their big run with a 24-second violation. Nice job.

9:39: Billups hits one of two free throws to pull the Pistons within 39-36 with 1:11 left in the half. He's missed more free throws in the playoffs than he misses in four-month stretches of the regular season.

9:41: Detroit's starting guards have 31 points. The starting frontcourt? Three, on 1-of-11 shooting. McDyess and Wallace have 14 rebounds between them, which is something, but not much.

9:44: Boston leads 40-37 at the half.

9:47: The Pistons held Boston to 36 percent in the first half, outrebounded them 23-22 and had KG on the bench for the last three minutes, so they should be winning. But Prince and Wallace's combined 0-for-10 is killing them.

9:49: Kevin "Big Game" Garnett is 2-for-10 with one rebound and three fouls, and none of the Boston Big Three have gotten to the free-throw line. How is Boston winning this?

10:04: The second half is about to start. Way to market a game to East Coast viewers - a second half starting after 10 p.m. between two Eastern Time Zone teams.

10:06: Garnett and Prince start the second half by hitting jumpers, which should please fans of both teams.

10:10: Someone on press row just asked if we are seeing Rasheed's last half as a Piston. It's possible, although that's what we all thought after his meltdown last year. And, as I type this, he hits a 3. 50-47 Boston.

10:12: KG picks up his fourth foul, and a T on Perkins. A fifth on Garnett would be massive.

10:14: Sheed's bitching after getting his fourth. He needs to shut up before he gets the magic technical that would mean a suspension for Game 7.

10:19: Prince 3-pointer gives the Pistons a 56-54 lead - their first since 10-9. Garnett's on the bench - can they take advantage this time?

10:24: 62-58 Pistons, and the Celtics pick up an offensive foul. Garnett's still out - this is a key moment in the game.

10:30: Wow. I have no idea how the refs just called an offensive foul on Paul Pierce. It was the same play as the Brent Barry-Derek Fisher contact from the other night, but if they had given Barry a foul. To make it worse for the Celtics, he hit a 3-pointer that was taken down, and then the Pistons got two free throws at the other end. So what could (should?) have been a 64-61 game became 66-58.

10:33: Sam the Alien just called for traveling. He might want to retire right now. During the game.

10:34: Rip's late jumper makes it 68-60 at the end of the third. 15-6 run with Garnett on the bench.

10:39: Celtics start the fourth with a shot-clock violation. Garnett's back in, but can he take over a game? Actually, yes, he can, but will he?

10:41: Ten-point lead. Can the Pistons, to use their own phrase, step on Boston's throat?

10:42: Just for the record, Doug Collins is going to be Chicago's new coach. That's the most bizarre decision since the Pierce foul call a few minutes ago.

10:45: Rasheed picks up his fifth foul, and KG makes two free throws. 70-67 with 9:05 left, and Boston's throat is definitely unstepped upon.

10:46: Wallace is 1-for-8 with five fouls. Yes, he has nine rebounds, but this is a very small effort from him. On the other hand, he hasn't gotten ejected.

10:51: Pierce splits a pair of free throws, and it is 70-70 with 7:35 to go. Your Detroit Pistons, always making life difficult.

10:54: Maxiell with back-to-back baskets. Rasheed who?

10:58: Celtics, 75-74 ... make that 77-74.

11:00: Rasheed's back. Turnover and a missed layup. And two more points from Pierce. That's seven straight, and the Celtics lead 79-74. A 19-4 run, sparked by Pierce and Garnett, and the Pistons appear to be done.

11:07: Anyone put it past Rasheed to hit a huge shot in the last minute?

11:10: Celtics call timeout with 1:07 left. It's 85-79, and they have the ball. Sheed may never get a chance at a big shot.

11:13: Boston turned the ball over, but Hamilton missed a 3-pointer and this game is practically over ... except that KG just missed two free throws. Still six points.

11:16: That was Sheed's chance. Terrible miss.

11:20: Game and the season are over. See you in November.