Thursday was a bad night for the Detroit Pistons, who fell behind 3-2 in the Eastern Conference finals to LeBron James after an amazing 48-point game in which he scored 29 of his team’s last 30 points, including 25 in a row.
It might have been a worse night for the Bulls.
The next monster — dare we say, the next Michael Jordan — is now in the Bulls’ division.
Fortunately for them, James’ contract only runs through 2009-10. Maybe the Cavaliers will trade him for Kobe Bryant and give the division a break.
“We’re still in awe of the performance,” Cavs coach Mike Brown told reporters Friday as both teams took the day off from practice. Game 6 is Saturday in Cleveland.
All of basketball is in awe of the performance.
Yes, Kobe Bryant and his trade flip-flopping is out of the media spotlight and basketball is back thanks to James’ remarkable performance in the Cavs’ 109-107 double-overtime victory.
Yes, this was the stuff of myth. You would not have predicted it against the East’s best team, a savvy, veteran group ranked all season in the top five in every defensive category and in its fifth consecutive conference finals.
It wasn’t just the 48 points; others have done better, though it was the most scored against the Pistons in the playoffs at home, surpassing Elgin Baylor’s 47 in 1961. It was two fewer than the most ever scored against the Pistons in the playoffs; Dominique Wilkins got them for 50 in a first-rounder in 1986.
Nor was it the nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals with a so-called supporting cast that seemed to be racing away from the ball and mostly made a mess of it when they were in possession. Since the Cavs went down 0-2, with James having a chance to tie or win each time at the end, he is averaging 35 points, nine assists, 8.3 rebounds and almost three steals.
It was the way James did it, with a breathtaking assortment of driving dunks, three-point shots, off-balance jumpers and pressure free throws.
The Pistons’ defense challenged him.
“We switched on him and he made some great individual moves, got by us so quick other people couldn’t help,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said.
Predictably comes talk of the next Michael Jordan. Who’s better? Was it the most impressive game ever played in a pivotal playoff game? All are arbitrary judgments.
But from midway through the fourth quarter, against a Pistons team playing well, it likely was the best playoff stretch run ever.
More significant, it might have made a statement about the game, one that ought to concern teams such as the Bulls and the Pistons.
When the Pistons won the title in 2004, maybe it was an aberration. Maybe you do need the omnipotent star, and that it was the Lakers self-destructing in ’04 that made that everyman Pistons’ championship possible.
It has always been a star-driven game, and the titles always went to the stars, from Russell and Chamberlain to Kareem, Magic, Bird, Isiah, Hakeem, Michael, Shaq and Kobe and now Duncan. And the way the game is played now, with more freedom of movement on the perimeter, there’s a chance for great individual performers to flourish in the playoffs. Look at Dwyane Wade last season.
After Thursday’s devastating loss, Pistons insiders say players cleared coaches from the locker room and there was a heated exchange, with Rasheed Wallace shouting the loudest. Of course, it was Wallace who missed on weak-side help most of the time when James attacked the basket in the overtimes and the end of regulation. So much for that playoff no-layup rule.
But this was hardly a Pistons meltdown.
Chauncey Billups seemed to have it won on a three-pointer for a two-point lead with 22.9 seconds left in regulation, and then Chris Webber seemed to have it won with a three-point play with 1:28 left in the second overtime. Each time James, still only 22, responded with a remarkable shot or drive that further marked his arrival as a superstar for this era.
No doubt, no more.
But this isn’t quite over. The Pistons in 2004 came off the floor to beat the Nets after a triple-overtime loss put them behind 3-2 in the conference semifinals. And in the last round the Cavs went home with a 3-1 lead over New Jersey and lost.
“We were one stop and one bucket away from being really happy today,” Saunders said.
The rest of the NBA now is worried. Did Thursday mark the start of the next great era?
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sasmith@tribune.com
*Series glance in SCOREBOARD
