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The NBA Finals matchup of San Antonio versus Detroit is not surprising to Basketball Spotlight readers. Detroit had a slightly tougher time with Miami than I expected, winning in seven games instead of six, and San Antonio beat Phoenix faster than I predicted, prevailing in five games instead of six, but we have arrived at the Finals confrontation that I envisioned in my April 21 First Round Playoff Preview article, which can be found here: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/bask...
Overall, my record is 9-5 in picking playoff series winners; in five instances I also correctly predicted the length of the series.
2005 NBA Finals San Antonio (Western Conference Champion) vs. Detroit (Eastern Conference Champion) Regular season records: San Antonio, 59-23; Detroit, 54-28 First Round Result: San Antonio def. Denver, 4-1; Detroit def. Philadelphia, 4-1 Second Round Result: San Antonio def. Seattle, 4-2; Detroit def. Indiana, 4-2 Conference Finals: San Antonio def. Phoenix, 4-1; Detroit def. Miami, 4-3 Head to Head: Tied, 1-1 Team Playoff Leaders: Scoring-San Antonio: Tim Duncan (24.9 ppg); Detroit: Rip Hamilton (21.3 ppg). Rebounding-San Antonio: Duncan (11.7 rpg); Detroit: Ben Wallace (11.7 rpg). Assists-San Antonio: Tony Parker (4.8 apg); Detroit: Chauncey Billups (6.6 apg). Analysis/Prediction: The Detroit Pistons' playoff runs during the past several seasons have a James Bond-like quality to them-just when it seems that there is no escape they find a way out. The Pistons overcame a 3-1 deficit versus Orlando in the first round of the 2003 playoffs and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before getting blitzed 4-0 by New Jersey; last year Detroit gave away home court advantage to Milwaukee by losing game two in the first round before closing out the Bucks with three straight wins. Then, in the 2004 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Detroit trailed New Jersey 3-2. Detroit advanced to the NBA Finals only after beating the two-time defending Eastern Conference Champions in New Jersey in a close game six and then routing the Nets 90-69 in game seven. In the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals, Detroit lost game one to Indiana before taking four of the next five contests. This year Detroit trailed Indiana 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals before reeling off three straight wins. So, when Miami took a 3-2 lead in this year's Eastern Conference Finals and many people broke their legs jumping off of Detroit's bandwagon, the Pistons were probably thinking to themselves, "What's the big deal? We do this all the time." Reversing the order of what they did to New Jersey last year, Detroit won a game six blowout and a game seven nail biter to return to the NBA Finals, becoming the first team to win an Eastern Conference Finals game seven on the road since Julius Erving and Andrew "Boston Strangler" Toney led the Philadelphia 76ers to victory over the Celtics in the Boston Garden in 1982. Suffocating defense and resiliency are the trademarks of the Detroit Pistons. They do their best work when their backs are planted firmly against the wall; while they may seemingly give away a game early in a series, they simply will not beat themselves once they face elimination.
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