on Jun 6 2005 4:33PM, EMC wrote:
I wont be there to see the results, but Im going out on a limb. The Pistons will win tonight. I dont care if I look stupid come midnight. There is a sense of calm about this, something I havent felt about this team since Game 5 of last years NBA Finals. The season has been so turbulent, you wonder if its worth the headache of being defending champions. Then you remember what it was like. Where you were when they did win it. I asked awhile ago: Is this really it? Is this the end? And it was less a question of panic and more of one of shock. Is it possible the Pistons dont win the 2005 title? Ive been hard on them, and I questioned Gar Heards ability to win it when it if Larry Brown didnt return. But I forgot one of the truths the 2003-04 Pistons, I thought, taught me. Its not about being perfect - have every basket go in, have every player play perfectly. Its about just getting it done, and the process of doing that with fill in the holes, the chinks in the armor. Maybe its complacency; the arrogance to be the fan of the defending champions, but I just dont see it. It can happen, but Ill be mystified. Because there has been few times, maybe twice in 14 years, I have felt this comfortable about a game and the Pistons didnt win. Game seven in Miami. No Pistons team has ever done it before. Do you feel it? Will they? Ill miss the first hour, so at least youll know before I do.
