It seemed to simply slip away
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - They had it within their grasp, up 8 points to start the fourth quarter. Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton were both recovering from injuries sustained during the playoffs, yet both were hitting on all cylinders. The Pistons were rolling and appeared oh-so-close to forcing Game 7 against the Celtics.
But something changed. None of the players were able to pinpoint the exact moment, or even how it happened, but their vise grip loosened minute by minute during the fourth quarter until, finally, they let go. And, like so many times before, the Pistons found themselves on the outside looking in as the Celtics advanced to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals with an 89-81 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals last night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
"I don't know," said Pistons forward Jarvis Hayes when asked what happened in the fourth quarter. "I just don't know."
The Pistons are left to ponder questions this offseason about the future of the franchise and whether this team, as assembled, can contend for another championship.
"That's not a good question to ask," coach Flip Saunders said when queried about the team's future.
The Pistons have made the conference finals each of the last six years, and the Finals twice in that span, winning a championship in 2004. But they haven't been able to cross the finish line since, falling to Miami, Cleveland, and now to Boston.
"That team is good," Billups, who finished with a game-high 29 points and six assists, said of the Celtics. "They go out there, they're focused. They stay together."
Perhaps solidarity is what the Pistons lacked in recent years. During their championship run, it was their camaraderie that carried them. Each player took a role and played that role. Teamwork was their identity.
That identity has been missing since, and the teamwork and camaraderie recently hit rock bottom. Heading into Game 6, Lindsey Hunter and Hamilton criticized Rasheed Wallace for hugging the Celtics' Kevin Garnett after Boston's win in Game 5. "We're at battle," said Hunter. And how did Wallace respond to the criticism? By putting together his worst statistical game of the series and, if not for Game 3 of the Philadelphia series, of the playoffs. Wallace finished with 4 points on 2-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 fouls, and 3 turnovers.
The identity is lost and it's up to team president Joe Dumars to find it.
"He probably will because there is no more excuse on why we didn't go back to the Finals this year," Antonio McDyess said of the possibility of Dumars making changes. "We played together for so long and just get to the Eastern Conference finals and not come out with a championship . . . I can't assume on what he is going to do, but it will probably be pressed on him."
