0111290417
DETROIT FREE PRESS
011129
Thursday, November 29, 2001
METRO FINAL CHASER
1C
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Copyright (c) 2001, Detroit Free Press
YOU CAN'T JUDGE THE NEW PISTONS OFF ONE BAD NIGHT
Iwent to see the "new" Pistons on Wednesday night. You know the "new"
Pistons? The best shooting team in the NBA? The team that won nine of its
first 13 games? The team that has everyone in the city going, "How about those
Pistons? They're really showing up!"
I went to see them.
They didn't show up.
At least not in the first half. Instead, there was a certain "old school" feel
to the night, at least if "old school" means the past few years in Pistons
wasteland. The Palace, once again, was nearly empty at tip-off. The fans were,
once again, deathly silent early on. (Put it this way: At one point, I had to
ask the radio play-by-play man to keep it down.) Tommy Hearns, as usual,
arrived late enough so that people would notice.
And once again, the loudest cheers were for the ball races on the big screen.
As for the Pistons? They had two turnovers in the first minute and a 21-point
deficit by halftime. They made more bad passes than you'd see at a Scott
Mitchell convention, had a rebounding shortage that bordered on starvation,
and a shot selection that specialized in hitting the rim.
It was pretty bad basketball. And this was against a mediocre team, the
Charlotte Hornets. As the Pistons scored a meager 32 points in the half,
regular attendees were racing up and apologizing.
"Of all the nights to pick!" they said.
"They're better than this!" they said.
"Believe us!" they said.
Relax.
I've been watching the Lions all season, remember?
Reasons to like the Pistons
And true to billing, the "new" Pistons came back in the second half. They shot
better. They passed better. Unfortunately, as Jon Barry would later put it,
"It's pretty hard to spot a team a 21-point lead."
Besides, there was one other problem. The Pistons set a record Wednesday
night: 18 rebounds the entire game, lowest in NBA history.
Well. That's new.
"We're not proud of that," coach Rick Carlisle said after the 104-96 loss.
"Rebounding is effort. We had nine in the first half and nine in the second.
That dug us a huge hole."
It was pretty amazing. I mean, P.J. Brown of the Hornets had more rebounds
than the entire Pistons team. Charlotte could have been playing beach
volleyball out there. Eighteen rebounds? That's what, fewer than five per
quarter? Shaq gets that many caroms on a single free throw.
The funny thing is, the Pistons almost overcame it. They clawed back to within
four points several times. They blocked shots. They stole the ball. And they
weren't out of it until the very end.
Heck, even Tommy Hearns stayed until 1:34 left.
Here's what I like about this "new" team (and, give us a little credit, you
judge an NBA team by a single midweek game about as much as you judge a car by
its taillights.) I like the Pistons' big guys. Ben Wallace is an NBA rarity, a
major force who doesn't need to score. Zeljko Rebraca is a sleeper. And Cliff
Robinson is, so far, a steal of a pickup.
I like Jerry Stackhouse's scoring. I like the attitude that guys like Chucky
Atkins, Michael Curry and Barry bring. They are smart enough to know they
aren't superstars but gutsy enough to play with any superstar you put in front
of them.
And I like Carlisle, the new coach.
Then again, at this point, I like any coach who doesn't pull his quarterback.
No coasting for Carlisle
No, seriously, I like the way Carlisle didn't lose it when his team was
unhinging in the first half. I like the way he summed up the loss afterward:
"We didn't start the game with the kind of disposition we've had most nights
this year.
"We gotta remember who we are as a team. We're a collection of parts that's
equal to a bigger whole."
Translation: We're not good enough to coast. Back to work.
The Pistons were coming off a big win on the road against Orlando. They were
9-4 and perhaps, at tip-off time, believing too much of their notices.
If they're really a new team -- if they're really a good team -- that will
stop shortly after it starts. The truth is, an NBA record is less about the
big nights in the packed houses than about Wednesday nights when it's cold and
rainy and the place is half-empty.
You win those nights, you're gonna win a lot.
So forget Wednesday. Forget the (ugh) rebounding record. A 9-5 mark at this
point is plenty encouraging. And, given what people expected, there may indeed
be a change brewing at the Palace.
Of course, at one point during the game, a woman leaned over the rail behind
me and yelled to a worker, "Excuse me? Can I get a chardonnay?"
So it hasn't changed that much.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "Albom in
the Afternoon" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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