Someday We'll Laugh ... Or Cry

You ever do something dumb, or experience something embarrassing, and think aloud, "Well, we'll laugh about this someday"?

I hope what the Pistons are currently doing will fall into that category, when they dispose of the suddenly pesky Chicago Bulls in this Eastern Conference semifinal, which they now lead, 3-2, thanks to two straight losses.

Maybe when they're bouncing basketballs at a morning shootaround during the NBA Finals, or squinting thru the confetti on a sunny June day on Woodward Avenue, the Pistons will look back on this strange series with the Bulls and laugh about it. Or at least grin sardonically. But that's then. This is now.

The Bulls blew the Pistons to kingdome come in Game 5 at the Palace, shooting a percentage that Pistons coach Flip Saunders called "demoralizing." Chicago was still around 70% in made shots in the third quarter. That's usually not a basketball shooting percentage, that's how much gas prices have risen in the past 18 months.

But seriously, folks... This is a series, and while the Pistons, Bulls, and anyone else who has cared a hill of beans for this matchup don't believe Chicago's basketball team can shoot anywhere near this proficiently in Game 6, it nonetheless gives some (and they would be Pistons fans) ghoulish thoughts that all start with "What if..."

What if the Pistons lose Game 6? Wouldn't they have lost all control?

What if the Bulls DO shoot that well again?

What if, gulp, the Pistons become the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 lead in a series?

OK, so maybe that last one is pretty much the ONLY "What if" that truly matters. It still seems unfathomable that the Pistons could lose four straight, but isn't that what fans of the 1942 Red Wings said about the Maple Leafs, and what fans of the 1975 Penguins said about the New York Islanders? Or, hey -- how about the 2004 Yankees and the Red Sox?

Over in the NHL Eastern Conference Finals, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said this about about his team's situation, down 0-3 to the Ottawa Senators: "These things (coming back from 0-3) have happened in our league about every 33 years. And we're about at that 33-year mark."

Interesting take on it. But Ruff wasn't talking about the Pistons-Bulls series.

I mean, he wasn't, was he?

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FUN FACT: While checking facts for this post, I decided to find out by what scores the 1975 Islanders, who were just in their third year of existence, dismantled the Penguins to win that series after falling behind 0-3. Then I learned something interesting: the Islanders did the very same thing in the next round, too -- but couldn't quite get over the hump.

They fell behind 0-3 to the eventual Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers, then won Game 4. And Game 5. And Game 6. But they finally bowed in Game 7 after giving the Flyers a scare. The Islanders came one win from appearing in the Finals in Year Three for them.

Those '75 Finals, by the way, featuring the Flyers and Buffalo Sabres, were the first ones to feature two post-expansion teams. It was also the Finals that boasted the famous "Fog Game" in Buffalo. I remember the players being told to skate aorund the ice as much as possible to try to rid the Auditorium of a fog brought on by warm conditions outside and high humidity inside.