Here We Go: Good Job, Pistons!

Those of you that know me, know that I'm a fair-weather Lakers fan. And I'm on record (so to speak) for predicting a runaway championship for Los Angeles. Well, with results like these (Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Pistons 88, Lakers 68), it appears that I could be mistaken.

But in the spirit of staying positive, instead of pointing out the Laker's inconsistencies, I want to give credit where credit is due: the Pistons are playing as if they really want to win this championship. Who would have guessed that Rasheed Wallace would calm down enough to be effective? Who knew that Chauncey Billups (who?) would be a scoring machine? Who, other than his father, expected Richard Hamilton to be so...Kobe-esque?

Perhaps the credit should really go to Larry Brown, who was defeated in the finals by the Lakers a couple of years ago, even though he had the magical Allen Iverson in his toolbox. Looks like Larry has figured out the triangle.

And how about that Detroit defense holding L.A. to 68 points? The Lakers are used to scoring 68 points in a half!

Here's the problem for L.A.: they HAVE to win this championship, or their entire season, what with the Malone/Payton experiment, will be deemed an abject failure. Karl, at least, has an injury to blame for his poor performance. Gary "The Glove" has yet to appear in this series...c'mon Payton, put it in place!

More later...
Paul