I thought first-round playoff stress was only reserved for the Red Wings and their fans. Kudos to the Wings for finally putting away those pesky Predators and advancing. But on the same day the Wings close out their series with Nashville, the Pistons decide they want to make things interesting with the Sixers. This veteran Pistons team has no business blowing a 15 point lead at home, no matter if it's game one of the playoffs or game one of the regular season.
Here's the numbers to prove my point. The Pistons starters entered this series with a combined 493 playoff games under their belts. The Sixers starters had a combined 30 playoff games on their resume. Simply put, the Pistons have no excuse for their lack-luster performance in the second half on Sunday. Chauncey Billups, the league's second best free throw shooters during the season, misses 3-of-4 at the charity stripe in the 4th quarter. Mister big shot, as he's affectionately known, was just 3-of-7 from the field in game one with only 14 points. Rip Hamilton was worse, with only 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
While the Pistons went ice cold, Philly players Andre Miller and Detroit native, Willie Green started heating up. Pistons got rattled, out of sinc, and were never able to right the ship.
Wednesday night had better be different. Pistons must come out and dominate this game from start to finish. The All-Star backcourt has to start playing like it and, if they get up by 15 again, they'd better go for the kill and win by 25.
Philadelphia is a decent young team, and they've already shown that they have no fear in this series. After all, they're not supposed to win.
The Pistons had better realize fast that their window of winning another title is quickly closing. There are too many other good teams in the NBA who want a ring. Up-and-comers like New Orleans. Don't think for a minute the Hornets won't start building around Chris Paul. The Lakers with Pau Gasol look unbeatable. The Cavs were there last year and head into these playoffs knowing what it takes. The Spurs are still very good and built to win titles for years to come.
Flip can't be blamed for Sunday's loss. He didn't have two high percentage shots to tie the game, like Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed had, in the final minute ot regulation. The shots were there but they were missed. Flip, however, needs to find a way to motivate this team and get them to stop playing-down to their competition. That happened in the Cleveland series a year ago, and it happened Sunday.
No question, Wednesday's game 2 is a must-win for the Pistons. And in my humble opinion, the game had better not be close.