GAME 2: Pistons 72 – Pacers 67
INDIANAPOLIS – No, Rasheed Wallace is not Mark Messier now. But Rasheed’s Game 2 guarantee held up, despite his nightmare offensive showing last night. He should remember to thank Tayshaun Prince, however.
Rasheed had a team-high five of the Pistons’ franchise-record 19 blocks on a night the Pistons’ defensive legend grew when they held the Pacers to 27.5 percent shooting. But the biggest rejection was by Prince with 17.9 seconds left, one of the timeliest defensive plays in playoff history – and one that just might turn this series around.
Prince stunned the crowd at Conseco Field House when he caught up to fast-breaking Reggie Miller from behind and rejected his layup attempt before it hit the glass as he crashed into the crowd.
The block – his fourth – prevented Miller, the Game 1 hero, from tying the score. And it allowed the Pistons to escape with a 72-67 victory that knotted the Eastern Conference Finals at 1, heading back to Motown.
“The majority of the time I don’t foul because I jump away,” Prince said. “It’s a matter of getting there in time.”
Rasheed, booed all night for guaranteeing the Game 2 win, held Jermaine O’Neal scoreless in the second half. But Wallace shot just 4-of-19 for 10 points.
“I guarantee for Games 3 and 4 we’ll go back to Detroit to play,” joked Wallace.
“I thought our defensive interior was incredible, Rasheed couldn’t guard better in the second half and Tayshaun made one of the best hustle defensive plays I’ve ever seen,” coach Larry Brown said. “He bailed us out.”
Wallace was 0-for-5 in the fourth, his final shot blocked by O’Neal with Detroit leading by two. That sprung Miller, as Jamaal Tinsley heaved the ball ahead. Miller tried to lay the ball off the glass, but Prince slapped it away before it touched. Prince believes Miller had “six steps on me.”
“When he first saw the ball get up to him, I didn’t know if I’d get there,” Prince said. “But I saw him, just for split-second, he kind of slowed down just a notch,” said Prince. “If he had kept at the same speed, I wouldn’t have gotten there.”
Said Miller, who had only six of his 21 after halftime, “I saw him in my rearview mirror. In hindsight, I should’ve dunked. I thought I had a few steps on him.”
The Pistons’ Richard Hamilton (game-high 23 points) knew Miller might be in trouble. “If you watched a lot of games this year, Tayshaun, gets one of those about every four or five games,” Hamilton said. “I knew when Reggie was running down the court he was going to catch up to him and I was thinking to myself, Reggie better dunk it because Tay is going to get it.”
The Pacers’ shooting percentage and point total was the lowest in their playoff history. They also totaled just eight assists.
Blame Ron Artest, who was hounded by – yes – Prince. The Pacers were doomed by Artest’s awful night. Forcing shots and reluctant to pass, he fouled out with 1:38 left after shooting 5-of-21, making him 11-of-44 for the series.
“We didn’t pass the ball at all tonight,” Miller said.
And O’Neal couldn’t get untracked in the second half. “I had open shots and didn’t make them,” he said.
In breaking a 59-59 tie, Hamilton scored three straight hoops midway through the third, on a fast-break layup, a driving layup over O’Neal and a pull-up jumper for a 65-59 lead with 4:30 left. That seemed like a 20-point lead in this offensive quagmire of a series.
“Detroit hung around in both games here, I hope we do the same there,” Miller said.