9101190759
DETROIT FREE PRESS
910514
Tuesday, May 14, 1991
METRO FINAL CHASER
1D
Photo Color JOHN LUKE
:
When push comes to shove, Mark Aguirre takes it to Boston's
Larry Bird in the first half. Aguirre finished with 34 points.
Bird had only 13.
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1991, Detroit Free Press
PISTONS PUSH BACK
ON THIS NIGHT, AGUIRRE TRULY LEFT HIS MARK
When it's time to win, you forget about the talk. You forget about trade
rumors. You forget about arguments and reputations. You get dressed, you hit
the floor and you try to be the magic. You try to be the man. It was the
feeling every Piston had Monday night, walking out to face his destiny: I can
be the man. I am ready to be the man. Teamwork, yes. Defense, sure. But when
the spotlight shines, the man always wants the ball.
Here was the man Monday night. Here was Mark Aguirre. From the right side.
From the left side. From the middle. One long arching jumper after another.
Swish. Swish. Triple swish. Mark Aguirre. The same one they whisper about in
trade rumors. The same one who had that spat with Chuck Daly a few weeks ago.
That same one who sometimes makes faces that suggest a man with severe gas
pains. Mark Aguirre. The man. How good was he? On a night when the Pistons
needed a shooter the way Don King needs a barber, Aguirre took that basketball
and went to places he has never been before, not as a Piston. By the time the
night ended, he had 34 points, a career high here. Thirty- four points?
Off the bench?
"For a while there, I thought he had a Mavericks uniform on underneath
that jersey,'(at) Scott Hastings joked, after watching Aguirre lead the
Pistons past the Celtics, 104-97, tying this series at two games apiece and
keeping their dreams intact at least one more night. "I've seen Mark do some
amazing things with the basketball over the years. We needed him tonight. He
came through."
How much a relief was this? Imagine a man in the desert, after two weeks,
with no water -- and the last thing he ate was a bag of salty pretzels. How
much relief? That much relief. The Pistons, always defensive specialists, were
on the verge of becoming The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. The fans were
applauding when the ball hit the rim.
Aguirre didn't need the rim Monday night. He shot 16 times. He sank 11.
Thirty-four points.
Off the bench?
Moody? Then he's a Piston
"I knew I was gonna get the ball a lot tonight," Aguirre said. "Before the
game Joe (Dumars) said to me, 'You're gonna get it.' And at halftime, Isiah
(Thomas) said to me, 'You got to shoot it.' "
Hey. Those two tell you to shoot, you shoot. So here was Aguirre entering
the game with less than three minutes left in the first quarter. He scored
four quick points. Then the second quarter: running jumper, a jumper from the
corner, free throws, lay-up, jumper. Ten more points.
And then the third. He sat on the bench. He watched the Pistons try to
shake the Celtics the way they shake so many teams in the second half. It
wasn't working. In he came, with less than five minutes left in the period.
Bang. A three-point jumper. Bang. Another three-point jumper. Hey look, Ma!
We're scoring points. Free throws. More free throws. Another jumper. Ten more
points. And in the fourth quarter -- take a guess. Ten more points.
Thirty-four total. In just 29 minutes. For all you math majors, that's better
than a point per minute. It was also nearly a third of the Pistons' total
offensive output Monday night.
From the bench?
Wait. Let's talk a moment about Aguirre and this team. The out-of-town
press shake their heads at Aguirre, says, '=Not him again. We remember him
from Dallas." They make faces. They hold their noses. I don't know. They must
have seen a different Aguirre all those years. He can be moody, sure, but on
the Pistons, that hardly makes him unique. In this town, he has rarely had any
incidents. He has accepted sitting as a role player without complaint. "I
know sometimes Dennis is playing so well, they can't get me my minutes." He
has mostly been a gentleman about this, and that recent spat with Daly was not
as big a deal as everyone says.
"Hey, compared to the stuff that went on in Dallas," Aguirre said,
laughing, "that was nothing. You forget where I came from, man."
Even if no one else wants to.
Right player, right time
I guess the best thing you can say about Aguirre is that since he arrived
here, the Pistons have won two championships. Whether he helped through
contributions, through chemistry, through getting rid of Adrian Dantley, who
knows? But Monday night, he did it with shooting.
"Do you have a feeling before a game like this?" someone asked him.
"Not before," he said, "but once you get out there, and you let a few go
off your fingertips, you know it's there. Then you just want it all the time."
He got it. As a result, the Pistons stay alive in this chase. It was not
easy. And all is not well. How many nights can they hope to win without Isiah
playing? How many nights can they win when at least one of their guards seems
to be shooting at another basket? This was an evening where the whole city
held its breath, wondering whether this was the game when the whole wonderful
championship ride came to an end. We have had nights like this before. And we
are only in the second round. I have a feeling there will be more before we
are through.
Let them come. Aguirre was not the only hero Monday night. Dumars was
magnificent, playing all 48 minutes, scoring, driving, banking one lay-up
after another. Dennis Rodman, the Defensive Player of the Year, grabbed 18
rebounds. He was, as usual, a machine.
But what the Pistons needed most was a scorer on this night, and they got
it big time from a guy who seems to invoke as many whispers as accolades.
Personally, I give Aguirre credit. When it's time to win, you put that petty
stuff aside. You want to be the man, you step forward. You do something
special. Like scoring 34 points . . .
. . . off the bench?
"If I were giving out a game ball tonight," Pistons coach Chuck Daly said,
"I would give it to Mark."
He'd probably shoot it, from 20 feet.
All net, I'll bet.
COLUMN; MARK AGUIRRE; GAME 4; NBA; PLAYOFFS; BASKETBALL