9701080350
DETROIT FREE PRESS
970317
Monday, March 17, 1997
METRO FINAL CHASER
1D
MITCH ALBOM Free Press Sports Writer
Copyright (c) 1997, Detroit Free Press
WITH HARD WORK, PISTONS GO ONE UP ON LAST SEASON
Aaron McKie was chasing the ball the way a child chases a rolling Frisbee.
He dove for it, he poked it, but he couldn't grab it. He knocked it from one
corner of the court to the other, a defender racing him the whole time.
Finally, in front of the Pistons' bench, McKie scooped the ball up between two
opponents, and as he was falling out of bounds, he threw it to Joe Dumars.
Dumars whipped it to Terry Mills.
Mills drained a three-pointer that brought the crowd to its feet.
It was as important a play as there would be in this game -- even though it
was only the first quarter. That effort -- which Dumars later described as
"a winner's play" -- set a mood and a tone.
And you will notice that nowhere were the words "Grant Hill" mentioned.
That may be the most important part of all.
"I can't tell you how great a win this was for us," an ebullient Doug
Collins said after the 86-83 gritfest Sunday night against Seattle, last
year's Western Conference champion. Collins looked over the stat sheet, then
said, "I don't know where to start."
Here's an idea. Start with the one guy who was not a standout. Hill made
only three baskets all night. He didn't take his first shot until the second
quarter. He was attacked by the Seattle defense the way Brad Pitt would be
attacked at a California shopping mall.
And yet, the Pistons won. And if they're to go anywhere in the playoffs,
they'll have to have even more of what they had Sunday night.
Such as . . .
Inside and outside
Terry Mills. Responding to the challenge of playing inside, he looked like
a highlight film of his old Michigan in-the-paint days. Mills spun off of
defenders such as Shawn Kemp and Sam Perkins and hung in the air for short
bank shots. He tipped in a Grant Hill miss. He blocked two shots and grabbed
four rebounds.
And, oh, yes, he shot three-pointers. Or maybe hurled is a better word.
Hurled. Heaved. Drained. Whatever. In the first half he was 4-for-4 from
beyond the stripe, and 4-for-4 from within it.
Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside.
Then there were McKie and Michael Curry. Both off-the-bench guards, both
critical Sunday night because of effort and smarts. Curry sank four free
throws in the final 20 seconds, and McKie jump-started the game with his ball
chase and closed it with a steal of the inbounds pass from Kemp to kill
Seattle's last chance.
And then there was Joe Dumars, who, like Pacino or Springsteen, is more
fascinating to watch as he gets older. You can call Grant Hill the MVP of this
team, but it doesn't function without No. 4. Not only did he score 21 points,
including two huge, hanging three-pointers that put the Pistons ahead for
good, but he also directed the team through 43 minutes of floor time, yelling,
pointing and funneling Collins' plays as if he had a microphone behind his
ear.
And when it was over, he sat in his locker, almost giddy. Few people
realized that this victory, the 47th, officially makes this Pistons season
better than last.
And there's still a month to go.
"Winning No. 47 is really important to me," Dumars said, "because over the
summer, when we lost Allan Houston and we didn't sign the big free agents, a
lot of people said, 'No way you'll win 46 games again.'
"This only goes to show what you can do when you believe in yourselves."
He's right. So good have the Pistons become, and so resilient when they
have a few bumps, that you expect them to win -- even in games against the top
teams.
"Hey, for the first month, we surprised ourselves," Dumars admitted. "We
said, 'Man, we won again?' But somewhere along the line, we began to believe
that we were supposed to win. To me, that's the difference between winning and
losing. What you believe about yourself."
He smiled.
"We feel like we're supposed to beat Seattle when they come here. It's
that simple."
Route 55 or bust
Of course, nothing is simple in the NBA. Teams are running at Hill much
more now, pounding on him, doubling on him.
"The moment I dribble to my left," he said, "there are two guys, even if
the play isn't designed for me to shoot."
The opposing philosophy is: "We're going to dwarf Grant Hill; let's see if
Detroit has anything else to beat us."
Sunday, the Pistons did. The victory was also noteworthy because they had
just played Seattle five nights earlier. They made adjustments -- just as
they will have to do in the playoffs, when they face the same team as much as
seven straight times. Teams will try things. Detroit needs more than one game
plan.
For now, a tip of the hat to a team that, as Dumars said, was not supposed
to get to 47 victories, and now will be disappointed if it doesn't win 55.
What a perfect way to make such a mark -- with such players as Mills, McKie,
Curry, Dumars and Otis Thorpe leading the way, and Hill being allowed to be
human for a night.
They were not supposed to be as good as last season, and now, who knows?
Like McKie pursuing that ball from one end of the floor to the other, the joy
is in the chase.
Mitch Albom's radio show -- "Albom in the Afternoon," 4-6 p.m. on WJR-AM
(760) -- will broadcast live from Somerset North today.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
COLUMN; BASKETBALL; PISTONS