Yeah Dan Nied's heart was pulled out of his chest when Kobe Bryant hit his miraculous trey in game 2 of the NBA Finals. But confidence in his Pistons remains intact.
Note: this is the third installment of a special NBA finals series. check back to 210 West after every finals game to get Dan Nied's column.
After three hours of intense mental trauma and nut-busting basketball I came to one definite conclusion after Tuesday night’s game 2 of the NBA Finals:
That Kobe Bryant kid is a pretty good player.
Everything else is a blur. From 9 p.m. to midnight I watched what may have been one of the greatest NBA playoff games of all time and my entire memory of the game goes like this: Tip off…Lakers by eight at half…Lakers up 11 early in third…Pistons up six in the last minute... Pistons up three with 11 seconds left. It was at that point that I realized my Pistons would be coming back to Detroit with a decisive 2-0 series lead, poised to pull off an improbable upset and win the NBA Championship. But then that god$@*^ Kobe Bryant stepped in, hit a three pointer to send the game into overtime (where the Lakers would win 99-91) and gave me the only memory of the night I needed to pull me back to earth. The series is knotted at 1-1.
I have pieced together a semblance of what happened in that final minute of regulation. Apparently everybody’s favorite Irishman Shaquille O’Neal was fouled on a layup and hit the free throw. Apparently Larry Brown decided not to foul in the last 10 seconds, letting Bryant pretty much become the Michael Jordan of this era. I hear Chauncey Billups missed a wild shot while hoping to get a foul that never came. In the overtime it seems that the Pistons managed only two points and stood around while Bryant and O’Neal did handstands on their way to the rim.
Actually, I’ll come clean now. I remember every bit of it. It’s just that I’ve spent the entire day trying to forget it.
I will admit it’s been hard to shake the thought of Shaq standing unmolested, with the ball and 8 seconds left, beyond the three point line looking for Bryant. “FOUL THAT FAT BASTARD” is what I think I yelled at the time. And I will admit that the thought of seeing Bryant’s shot 10 years from now on ESPN Classic has sickened me all day.
But trust me, I’ll be ok. It’s easy when you force yourself to look on the bright side. It is something I’ve learned to do in a mini 12-step type program I’ve used throughout the playoffs.
The first thing you have to do if you are a Pistons fan is accept what happened. Yes, the Pistons let game 2, and maybe an NBA championship slip out of their hands in 37 seconds. While I am not fine with that, there is nothing I can do to change it.
Next, you must draw on past experiences. Look, I had already written the Pistons off twice this postseason: Once after the triple-overtime game 5 loss against New Jersey in the second round and again after getting blown out in game 4 by the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, forcing Detroit to win for a second time in Indiana. They survived both times. I can take another stomach punch loss. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Then you need to keep things in perspective. Going into the series most thought that the only way the Pistons could win the title is to take one of the first two in Los Angeles. Well, mission accomplished. Theoretically the Pistons are right where they need to be. Sure it doesn’t help when you vomit a certain 2-0 lead all over the court, but hey these things happen, right?
Next it is important to look on the bright side. 1) The Pistons proved they can play with the Lakers no matter what. While LA didn’t play a perfect game Tuesday, they turned in a complete performance with Kobe and Shaq hitting on all cylinders. Luke Walton played out of his mind. They even got some key minutes from role players like Kareem Rush. 2) The next three games are in Detroit and, while no lower seed has ever taken all three games in the finals, I like Detroit’s chances of going back to LA with a 3-2 lead.
The most drastic step of all is called “Wait ‘til next year”. See, this Pistons team wasn’t supposed to even sniff the title this year. But they have proven that with just a bit of tinkering they will probably be the pick to take it all next year. In fact, Sports Illustrated has already named them the early title favorites for the 2004-05 season. Unlike the Lakers, who will almost definitely be dismantled after Kobe leaves as either a free agent or a convict, the Pistons future is bright. And after all, we always have Darko.
It took me about 10 minutes to complete each step Tuesday night. And here I am, optimistic as ever. But still there is that lingering feeling that Kobe’s shot may have turned the tide of this series so dramatically that the Pistons will never recover.
But even if that is the case, I can take it. I just fear seeing it on ESPN Classic in 2014.