King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Wallace smacks Shaq. Will it inspire a huge Pistons comeback? Plus: Clemens returns. The nerve! And: Sabres-'Canes Game 7, Lance Armstrong "exonerated."
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June 1, 2006 | I'd figured there was a pretty good chance the Detroit Pistons, down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference finals, would put a whupping on the Miami Heat at home in Game 5, even though they'd looked so bad in Games 3 and 4.
That's what happened, and it's not exactly analysis you can't get anywhere else for me to say that it's up to the Heat now to close the Pistons out in Game 6 at home Friday, because NBA teams almost never win a Game 7 on the road.
And if a team's going to win a Game 7 on the road, it's not a great bet that it'll do so in Detroit against the two-time conference champs, the regular-season win leader, a team coming off two straight backs-to-the-wall wins.
If Detroit does sweep the last three games, it'll be a comeback for the ages, and the signature moment will be Ben Wallace's block of a Shaquille O'Neal dunk attempt Wednesday. O'Neal was rising up for the slam, but Wallace somehow got his hand on the ball and pushed down, sending Shaq sprawling.
Incredibly, but properly, Wallace wasn't called for a foul, and he beat O'Neal on the ensuing jump ball. The play sent the Palace crowd, already excited, into a frenzy.
If the Pistons win twice more, Wallace's block will be remembered as pivotal, the moment at which the Pistons turned things around. It wasn't.
The Pistons were leading by four with about eight and a half minutes to play in the third quarter when Wallace made the play, and the Heat stayed within six, and mostly closer than that, until there were three and a half minutes to go in the game, when Detroit, in control all night but unable to pull away, went on a 9-0 run to end the game.
But what a play. In the same way some people know what the first line of their obituary will say when they're still in their 30s, we can rest assured that Wallace's block on O'Neal will play on an endless loop on the highlight shows the day Wallace retires.
You just don't see that play, Shaquille O'Neal stuffed legally, sprawling miserably on the hardwood. The Pistons will draw inspiration from it from here on out. Inspiration can take you places in the NBA, especially when you're a team like Detroit, which relies so heavily on its defense. That's an emotional thing, relying so heavily on effort.
We'll find out Friday if it can take the Pistons past Shaq and Dwyane Wade in front of a frenzied crowd in Miami. Inspiration and emotion are powerful things in basketball. Hitting your shots helps too.