The names are sure to draw shivers and cold sweat from die-hard Pistons fans.
Bernard King. Larry Bird and Dennis Johnson. Brian Scalabrine. Luke Walton.
And now, a new playoff villain: Daniel Gibson.
Maybe the above group should be categorized. For certainly King, who beat the Pistons by himself in a first round best-of-five series in 1984, and Bird and Johnson (The Steal in 1987) were genuine NBA stars who ate plenty of people's lunch in their illustrious careers. Perhaps it's unfair to them to place them in the same, unfiltered company as Scalabrine and Walton and Gibson.
Scalabrine, surely you recall, went berserk in Game 5 of the East semifinals at the Palace in 2004. He hit triples from all over the court, and it's not an overstatement to say that he alone willed the Nets to victory that night, in overtime.
Walton had his 15 minutes of fame in Game 2 of the '04 NBA Finals, when he was all over the court, offensively and defensively, making a nuisance of himself -- and helping to spur the Lakers to the "W."
The Scalabrine/Walton nightmares are only tolerable because the Pistons ended up on top in both of those series. It should also be noted that there hasn't been any proof that either player has had nearly as good of a game since, and we're talking three years ago. Each of them walked out of anonymity and into the black hat and twirling mustache of playoff bad guy. But both of their moments were fleeting, thank goodness.
Gibson, the Cleveland Cavaliers whirling dervish rookie point guard, terrorized the Pistons last night, and was a huge reason why the Eastern Finals are now knotted, 2-2. He hit three-pointers. He knocked balls out of Piston hands. He drew charges. He distributed the ball nicely. He was deadeye accurate on free throws. And he did it all with a grin curling his lips and an occasional chest-pump. He played with an annoyingly high level of confidence that belies his youth and inexperience.
Oh, there was Drew Gooden, too. And Zadrunas Ilgauskas. And, of course, LeBron James. The four of them -- these three plus Gibson -- basically outplayed the Pistons' top four guys, and made the crucial plays down the stretch. They deserved the win, no question.
Watching Gibson do his thing, I determined that he would NOT go off like that in Detroit in Game 5. Further, I submit that the Pistons will spank these unruly Cavs and send them to bed without dinner, to the tune of a 10-to-15-point margin of victory.
Enough of these Cavs already. Enough of the inability of the Pistons to get their big men and their guards all playing well on the same night. Enough.
Ahh, but it will be enough, at least for the next game. The Cavaliers have been awful in Detroit and I see no reason why that trend needs to change now. It's a whole lot easier to have fun and smile and chest pump when the arena's denizens are all behind you.
The Pistons are still in good shape; how can you NOT be when the series is a best-of-three with two in your building?
But, come on, Chauncey. Loosen up. Chris Webber, get involved. Antonio McDyess, please come back. Make Daniel Gibson have something else in common with Brian Scalabrine and Luke Walton: they each sucked after their 15 minutes were up.
THEN we'll see if Gibson grins.
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