Auburn Hills, Mich. – In their fifth NBA Finals appearance, the defending champion Detroit Pistons find themselves in unfamiliar territory, trailing 2-0.
Pistons coach Larry Brown nevertheless sounded confident Monday his team would snap out of its funk against San Antonio before the hometown fans tonight.
“It is obvious (San Antonio) dominated both games in just about every area, outcoached us, outexecuted us, and did all of the things that are necessary to win, but we are still the champs,” Brown said. “We are coming home. We have to win (tonight) and take care of our home court like they did.”
In its previous four Finals appearances, Detroit never fell behind 2-0. The Pistons led the Lakers 3-2 in 1988 before losing the final two games. A year later, they swept the Lakers and in 1990, they defeated Portland in five games. Last year, Detroit drummed the Lakers, 4-1.
“We are going home, where we play very well,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “We’re very happy to be going home. (San Antonio) came out and took care of business. We’ve got to try to do the same.”
Only two teams have come back from 2-0 deficits to win the NBA Finals.
In 1969, the Boston Celtics came back to beat the Lakers in seven games. In 1977, the Trail Blazers beat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games after trailing 2-0. Boston and Portland lost the first two games on the road.
Giving Detroit some hope is its proven ability to rally from playoff deficits this season. The Pistons trailed the Pacers 2-1 before winning the next three games. They were down 3-2 to Miami before winning the final two games in the Eastern Conference finals.
The next three games will be on Detroit’s court.
“We know that they’re going to play with a lot more confidence (at home),” Spurs guard Tony Parker said.
Since the inception of the 2-3-2 format in the 1984-85 season, last year’s Pistons are the only team to win the three middle games at home.
Pistons president Joe Dumars said the team’s focus is clear. “It’s as simple as this. You can’t win Games 4 and 5 on Tuesday. We can only win Game 3 on Tuesday. So that’s the way you focus.”
But the Spurs are the team that has shown the laser-like intensity of a champion in this year’s playoffs. San Antonio is 6-2 in road games, including three wins in Phoenix.
And, with an average winning margin of 18 points through two games, Detroit is the team that must prove it can play like a champion, starting tonight.
Footnotes
Asked if composure was an issue with his players, Brown said: “There’s a simple statistic where we’re 1-7 with one referee and were 11-1 with the rest. I think sometimes we focus in on things that we don’t have any control over and we’ve got to just keep playing.” While Brown didn’t get specific, the Pistons are 0-4 when Ron Garretson has officiated in the playoffs and 1-3 when Dan Crawford has. Garretson officiated Game 1; Crawford did Game 2. …
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t expect his team to be too confident about being ahead 2-0. “I don’t think we ever had a problem getting too excited about wins or too down about losses,” he said. “I think that they have been very business-like for quite a few years now, as far as playing the game and being able to live with whatever comes.” …
Neither team practiced Monday. …
Music legend Stevie Wonder is scheduled to sing the national anthem for Game 3.
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
