The comparison is tempting, but it's slightly inaccurate.
The temptation is to call the Pistons' 90-86 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of their first round series a wake-up call. You know, because now the Pistons, it's presumed, are up-and-at-'em, ready to dispatch the 76ers swiftly thanks to the unfriendly alarm. The image is of the 76ers standing above the Pistons' bed, swirling a bucket of ice water, ready to pour it on the no. 2 seed.
Well, why in the heck would the Sixers want to do that?
Wouldn't it be a better analogy, for Philly fans anyway, if you were to compare the neophyte Sixers to that kid who wakes up early on Saturday morning and eats chocolate cake for breakfast and watches R-rated movies on DVD while his parents snooze? The LAST thing a mischievous kid wants at that point is a wake-up call for his folks.
Even Sixers forward Andre Iguodala said as much.
"That's Detroit. Sometimes they fall asleep."
Wow. Already being dissed by the seventh-seeded opponents after just one game.
But you can't get too mad at Iguodala's comment, as brazen and brash as it might seem. Because he's right. The Pistons do, indeed, fall asleep at times, and not always do they wake up in time.
Rasheed Wallace, for one, wasn't among the snoozers. Wallace played like a man possessed, especially in the first half, combining scoring prowess with octopus-like arms, batting away Sixers shots like a camper swatting flies at a picnic. It was sadly ironic, then, that it was 'Sheed who missed a potential game-tying "bunny" (his word) in the waning seconds, because if anyone kept his team in the game, it was Wallace.
The Pistons guards were outplayed by Philly's tandem of Andre Miller and U-D's own Willie Green. The shooting was frigid. The second half was almost as incomprehensibly bad as the first half was stunningly good. Give Philly credit. They were down 13 at the half, the Palace rocking. But this fuzzy-faced group (at least when it comes to playoff experience) looked at the deficit, looked around their locker room full of playoff first-timers, and must have collectively went "HA!", because they came out in the second half with a vengeance. As the Pistons nodded off again, the playful Sixers scored eight quick points to start the third, and before many in the crowd had returned to their seats with their nachos and beer, a basketball game had broken out.
And already the Pistons are forced to trot out their "we've been here before, we'll be fine" sound bites, after just 48 minutes of post-season ball.
The truth of the matter, though, is that they probably WILL be alright -- BECAUSE they've been here before. Unfortunately. I just think that over a seven-game series in the NBA (especially in the first round), the best team wins. And the Pistons are clearly the best team. But this won't be a cakewalk. It's kind of like the Red Wings and the buzzsaws they've run into in recent playoff history -- teams who've been in playoff mode for some time, fighting to even make the party. The Sixers fit that description, and they've picked up some big regular season wins in the past couple of months. This was an 18-30 team at one point. But a 22-12 closing run landed them in Auburn Hills Sunday. And the Pistons weren't much better than 22-12 in their final 34 games; then again, the Pistons weren't really playing for anything, either.
I agree with the trotted out sound bites. The Pistons will be fine. The pesky Sixers had their Saturday morning fun while mom and dad slept. They got away with a little. But the folks will eventually find out what mischief the kid has wrought, and will ground them -- in six games.
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By the way, kudos to Danica Patrick for her first Indy win on Sunday. I've always been a big Danica fan (and NO, not for THAT reason!), and I was wondering when she'd finally break through into the win column. Give the lady her due.
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I'll have my thoughts on the Red Wings on Wednesday (first round recap, second round forecast, etc). As you might have noticed, OOB takes Tuesdays off now -- just like the NFL players do during the season. I stole their idea.
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