Sure, Ben Gordon was amazing, hitting jumpers when there was no way he could have seen the basket on the way to a game-high 28 points.
“They go three quarters hitting dang-near 70 percent (67.3),” Pistons coach Flip Saunders marveled after witnessing the Bulls stampede his team in a 108-92 loss Tuesday night that cut the Pistons’ lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal to 3-2.
“It’s tough to shoot 70 percent with no one guarding you in a gym by yourself, let alone in a pressure situation.”
Likewise, Luol Deng was determined, driving hard at the basket for 20 points. And Tyrus Thomas appeared to be shot out of a cannon on the back side of the Pistons’ defense, getting 10 points and five steals, just two fewer than all the Pistons.
But it was Steve Nash who controlled the game for the Bulls, found the openings, made shots and harassed the Pistons’ best player, Chauncey Billups, into foul trouble again in an indifferent performance.
Sorry, did I say Steve Nash?
I meant Kirk Hinrich.
“Most of their shots came from Kirk running that pick-and-roll and just holding the ball,” Billups said.
“Running it two or three times on the same [possession] if he has to until the defense breaks down. It’s tough. He’s a really good player and he can shoot it on the pick-and-roll as well.”
Billups led the Pistons with 17 points, but he struggled to get them.
“When they got down 3-0 [in the series], their whole game plan seemed to me to push it, don’t let us get set in our half-court defense and just run drags, try to break down the defense: ‘Kirk, you keep the ball, keep it until they break down or you find someone open.’ ” Billups said. “In doing that, all those other guys had it cooking tonight and made it look easy.”
It looks easy when shots go in the way the Bulls’ did.
But it was as good a pressure game as Hinrich has ever played, running the offense virtually to perfection while changing defensive assignments onto Billups, making shots and showing the patience and decision-making of a classic guard.
Hinrich’s 17 points and 13 assists tell just part of the story.
“Their guards were fabulous,” Saunders said. “Hinrich really can control the tempo of the game and Gordon was phenomenal with his shooting.”
The Bulls’ principal change coming into Game 5 was to have Hinrich guard Billups.
It’s clear Billups is the head of that Pistons’ snake (sorry, we can’t forget the ’80s). When he got into foul trouble in Game 4, the series changed. The Pistons have no true backup point guard, or anyone else who truly can run their offense.
What happens is Rasheed Wallace starts pumping up three-pointers, as he did with a dozen in the Pistons’ Game 4 loss. Tuesday, when Billups picked up three fouls in a two-minute stretch early in the third quarter, the Pistons became unhinged.
Suddenly, a 70-62 Bulls lead went to 23 points late in the third quarter before Saunders brought Billups back. It obviously was too late by then.
Really, this seemed to be the Pistons’ game, even with that amazing Bulls first-half shooting of 72.2 percent.
Detroit got within 57-51 on a Billups three with 34.9 seconds left in the first half, and it’s generally a bad sign to shoot that well and be up so little.
But Hinrich, who often gets criticized for dribbling too much, which is a hallmark of Nash’s game, threw two terrific drop passes to P.J. Brown for short jumpers to open the second half and hold off the Pistons.
Hinrich and Gordon combined for eight of the Bulls’ first 12 points to open the game, delivering the Pistons a blow from which they never truly recovered.
“Their shooting kept us back on our heels,” Saunders said. “We never had an opportunity to get control of the game. And Chauncey’s going out hurt. He makes big shots for us. To fall behind like we did can be demoralizing.”
Detroit came out quickly in the second half, though, with three Tayshaun Prince scores and the opportunity was there to take back the game.
But after Prince hit a three from the corner to cut the Bulls’ lead to 65-58, Deng got free on a run-out and Billups had to foul him.
It seemed an innocent second foul. But Billups quickly added a third and two minutes later a fourth when Hinrich crowded him and helped trap him into a charge.
“They were trapping me on pick-and-rolls,” Billups said. “They made some adjustments. They’re trying to take me away early in game. It’s smart for them. They’re doing a good job of trying to take me away, trapping, making it tough for me to get the ball up the court, doubling.
“We have to make our adjustments and get back to doing what we do.”
It often has been relaxing with a series lead and letting a team back in. The Bulls are starting to play like they’re back in to stay.
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sasmith@tribune.com
