0000430703 DETROIT FREE PRESS 070518 Friday, May 18, 2007 METRO FINAL

NWS; NEWS

1A Photo KIRTHMON F. DOZIER / Detroit Free Press POINTING THE WAY: Pistons guard Chauncey Billups blows past Chicago's Kirk Hinrich in Game 6. Billups, who had 21 points and seven assists, went 3-for-12 from the field but 14-for-14 from the line. SPORTS, 1D By MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST SEE ALSO METRO FINAL ONE DOT EDITION, PAGE 1A;PISTONS 95, CHICAGO 85 | PISTONS WIN SERIES, 4-2 Copyright (c) 2007, Detroit Free Press MOVIN' ON! PISTONS IN THE EASTERN FINALS FOR 5TH STRAIGHT YEAR CHICAGO - Done with you. Done with your team.. Done with your guards, Hinrich and Gordon. Done with your big men, Deng and P.J. Especially P.J. Done with him. Done with your Wallace, who used to be our Wallace. Done with collapsing and head shaking and wondering. Done with the threats of an upset for all time. Done with you, Chicago. That's what the Pistons were thinking as they walked off the United Center court on Thursday night, bidding the Bulls good-bye, finally, after a game that shouldn't have been in a series that went too long, a series that threatened to push Detroit to the brink of embarrassing notoriety. "We definitely didn't want to face that kind of history," said Tayshaun Prince, who helped lock up the Game 6 clinching victory that squashed the two-game comeback from the upstart Bulls. "...We didn't talk about a Game 7." But make no mistake. When the Pistons left the court at halftime, trailing by five, the idea haunted them. They could lose this and be facing a deciding game against a team they'd had down, 3-0. After all, when P.J. Brown, who was born during the first Nixon administration and hadn't scored more than 15 points in a game all season - when that P.J. Brown had 20 points in the first half and was embarrassing a five-years younger Rasheed Wallace, anything is possible. But probable usually beats possible. And it was probable that the Pistons would remember who they were sometime before Memorial Day. They did. In the second half. They remembered their defense. They remembered their rebounding. They remembering their offensive strength and mismatches - Prince (eight points in the fourth quarter) chief among them. Also, you don't embarrass Rasheed for very long. "Bottom line, we know how to win in these situations," he told the media after his strong, 16-point, 13-rebound performance that closed the door for good. "We're a veteran ball club. We know how to win when it comes to those situations." Earlier, Rasheed had muscle-clasped Ben Wallace, his former teammate, as the two teams exited the floor. A TV reporter had asked him what was said. "I told him before we started what we got to do," Rasheed answered. Pistons 4, Bulls 2. That's what they had to do. Done with you. It's the 'Sheed Show "It's a great accomplishment," Chauncey Billups said, when asked about the Pistons' fifth straight conference finals appearance. "… It just shows dominance, man. We've had a headlock on this conference for a while and this validates that. … But that's not one of our goals. Our goal is to win a championship." In due time. This second round didn't come easy. It only was locked up once the Pistons were the Pistons again, starting in the third quarter Thursday, when they rediscovered defense and Prince caught fire and Rasheed was everywhere. He really was everywhere. Shooting. Rebounding. Defending. He simply imposed himself on the game. He hit the opening shot of the half, a three-pointer. Then he hit a turnaround jumper and got fouled. Then he hit a 16-footer. Then he blocked Brown, who seemed to remember what the word "journeyman" meant. He chased down rebounds. He blocked a Ben Gordon drive and caught the ball mid-air. True, Rasheed's head almost exploded over foul calls. He had more face contortions than a mime at Fisherman's Wharf. A kick call. An out-of-bounds call. The inevitable technical. No referee whistle was beyond his disbelief. But that is how Wallace behaves when he is totally into a game, and, in that second half, he was totally into the game. And when he got T'd up, the entire team rose to keep him in check. "I told him it's not the time," Prince said. And when Prince is talking, even Rasheed listens. The Bulls did not have an answer for him. Coach Flip Saunders spoke after the game about Wallace during the morning shoot-around, saying he had a "different aura" about him, a certain seriousness not seen in a long time. "We came to get something done," Saunders said. That something was the Bulls. Done with you. A case for the defense The broad strokes of this game are easy. The Pistons won because Prince went wild in the second half, because Billups took control again, because Rip Hamilton moved like a waterbug, scoring 23 points, hitting difficult, hanging shots. They won because they closed down the Chicago backcourt, forcing Gordon and Kirk Hinrich into 10-for-31 shooting. Chicago came back to Earth with its aim Thursday, hitting just 37%, versus the 57% in the stunning Game 5 victory at the Palace. A lot of that was Detroit defense, yes. And some of it was Chicago's young nerves on wide-open shots. But this should be said. Unless the Pistons make some changes, they likely will not beat this team next season. Chicago is already too fast, too young, will certainly be hungrier, more experienced and less prone to mistakes. The Bulls also have a lottery pick in this year's draft. Had they started this series with more confidence, it might have ended differently. The Pistons, getting older and prone to cockiness, should consider themselves warned. "They got our attention, man," Billups admitted. "Them coming and spanking us at home when we felt like we weren't coming back to Chicago. … "I think a loss or two wasn't too bad for us. Things were coming easy for us, we were just kinda running through the whole thing. … They got us to refocus and re-gather on things that slipped away from us. We came out today and locked them down. … "But we're gonna see them year in and year out. That team isn't going nowhere. … They're young and they're hungry. … I can see this as good, fun rivalry for a few years." That's in the future. By the time you read this, the Pistons will have forgotten the Bulls as quickly as you've forgotten about your winter coat now that the sun has emerged. You shed what you don't need. You 'Sheed what you do. You move ahead and you wave good-bye. So long, Chicago. Done with you. Let's see who's next. Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch Albom Show" 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Also catch "Monday Sports Albom" 7-8 p.m. Mondays on WJR. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch. THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE column