8901220881
DETROIT FREE PRESS
890530
Tuesday, May 30, 1989
METRO FINAL
1A
Photo Color STEVEN R. NICKERSON
MITCH ALBOM
NBA PLAYOFFS
Copyright (c) 1989, Detroit Free Press
AIR SHOW GROUNDED BY PISTONS DEFENSE
CHICAGO -- The bottle came flying from the stands. It narrowly missed the
Pistons' players and smashed on the court into a thousand pieces. The crowd
erupted into an ugly roar. Joe Dumars felt a ping in his back and spun
around. "Somebody threw a quarter at me," he said. "I picked it up and put it
in my sock."
War. Chicago-style. Deep-dish, grind-'em-up, arms, legs, bottles and
quarters battle. What do you do when you are attacked? What else? Whip out
your defense. With its reputation bloodied and its season suddenly in the
balance, here was the Detroit team that plugged its way to the best record in
basketball this season, doing, in the city of Al Capone, what Capone did best.
Stick 'em up.
"This was one of those games where you're concentrating so hard on
defense, you're even thinking defense when you're on offense," said Isiah
Thomas, who helped lead the Pistons to an 86-80 victory over Michael Jordan
and the Chicago Bulls, tying this Eastern Conference finals at two games
apiece. "Even when you're dribbling up court, you're thinking, 'That guy is
not going to score on me when we go down the other end. He won't score!' "
Steal the ball. Slap it away. Deny. Overplay. Tap, bump, shove if you can.
There are only so many ways to win basketball games when you shoot, as the
Pistons did Monday, only 36 percent from the field. One is to have the other
team's bus go off a mountain. The other is to play defense the way women
mud-wrestle: sticky, and all over your opponent.
"How did you stop Jordan today?" someone asked Dennis Rodman, who, along
with Joe Dumars, put the clamps on the NBA's reigning Mr. Wonderful, holding
him to 23 points on 5- for-15 shooting.
"Well, first you take away his first option, then you take away his second
option," said Rodman, who also had a remarkable 18 rebounds. "Then you try
and stop his third option. That takes a lot of concentration. But I would have
gone through a brick wall for the ball today. We had to have this game. We had
to come in here and tell these people, 'Hey, this is our gym for the next 2
1/2 hours, folks.' "
Stick 'em up.
Make no mistake. This was the critical moment in the Pistons' season. To
everyone's surprise, they suddenly trailed Chicago, two games to one. The
monster Bulls -- which the Pistons helped create with a sloppy loss in Game 1,
giving Chicago unexpected hope -- were threatening now to eat them alive.
Logic was useless. On Saturday, the Bulls had won a game they never should
have won, coming from behind in the closing minutes for a 99-97 buzzer
beater.
Down that stretch, it was all Chicago, every call, every bounce, every
critical shot. And Monday, in the fourth quarter, with the Pistons leading,
76-69, the crowd rose to its feet and began the war chant once again. Teeth
rattled. Eardrums bled.
"I heard them roar and looked up at the clock and saw 4:42 left and I said,
'Oh, Jesus, not again,' " Rodman admitted. "Let's not have that
nightmare."
All his teammates were thinking the same thing. Dumars thought it.
Thomas thought it. James Edwards thought it. These are the moments when you
face your athletic character. You either fold it up, or come out swinging.
Concentrate, was the Pistons' response. Lightning will not strike twice.
And it did not. This time, instead of Jordan throwing magic balls through
magic rims, it was Thomas sinking an 18-foot jump shot.
This time, instead of Vinnie Johnson being slapped with a questionable
foul, it was Johnson flying under the backboard for a reverse scoop that
almost took his arm off.
This time, instead of Bill Laimbeer drawing a controversial offensive foul
in the final seconds, it was Laimbeer swooping in from out of nowhere and
blocking a shot by Horace Grant with 54 ticks left.
This time, instead of Jordan slicing through the Detroit defense with
the referees in his pocket, it was Jordan shadowed by Dumars, Rodman, Edwards,
it was Jordan missing free throws, it was Jordan picking up his fifth foul by
bumping Thomas.
"We've been hearing a lot about how Michael Jordan is the best player in
the NBA and how he's going to take his team to the finals," Johnson said.
"Well, the guy is a great player, but no one player is going to beat our whole
team. We didn't win all those games this year just to lose to one guy, you
know."
They proved it Monday. In an unfriendly arena, with the series likely in
the balance, the Pistons did not score a basket in the last 3:57 of the game
-- and they still won. Hands in the face. Take a charge. Block a shot.
Body-check. Defense, defense, defense.
Stick 'em up.
It was not a pretty game," admitted Pistons coach Chuck Daly. "But if you're a
true fan, you know you saw a great defensive effort. When you have to work
for your points, bounce off screens, make shifts, stick your man, those things
can be kind of beautiful. Don't forget, that's how we got here."
That, and a great bench. Never was that more in evidence than Monday. Want
proof? Mark Aguirre and Rick Mahorn, the two starting forwards, played a total
of 29 minutes, with a total of six points. Rodman and John Salley, the sixth
and seventh men, played for more than an hour combined and did all the
critical rebounding and stopping. Johnson, the third guard, scored or
assisted on the Pistons' final four baskets. Edwards, the backup center, was
the offensive lift when the Pistons desperately needed one, scoring six quick
points at the end of the third quarter.
If you can't outshoot 'em, outdeep 'em.
And, as a result, the series is tied. Maybe better than that. It seemed
with Monday's game that the Pistons finally woke up, finally realized the
Bulls indeed are a formidable opponent (with some crazy fans), they must be
taken seriously, at least as long as the Pistons continue to shoot as if it
were Sunday night at the YMCA. Detroit's offensive woes are a concern, and
absolutely nobody on this team can be considered a hot shooter right now.
But dance with the one that brung ya. Defense tends to win big games in
almost all sports, and as long as the Pistons can smother, bother, poke, slap,
block, strip, bump and switch, they will be alive for an NBA championship.
Provided they survive the hurling objects of Chicago Stadium.
"Still got that quarter?" someone asked Joe Dumars later.
"Yep."
"What are you gonna do with it?"
"Dunno."
Maybe buy a helmet.
CUTLINE
Piston Mark Aguirre leaps off the bench in celebration Monday at Chicago
Stadium after Detroit beat the Chicago Bulls, 86-80, to even the Eastern
Conference championship series at two games. Pistons defenders held Chicago's
Michael Jordan to 23 points.
DPISTONS;BASKETBALL;GAME;CHICAGO;Pistons