PISTONS, SPURS, DRAW FIRST BLOOD IN CONFERENCE FINALS

 

 

So, it's Conference Finals time. We're starting in the East where the Pistons and Cavs are the last two left to fight it out. Top two seeds in the Conference, the biggest difference between them is their history, the Pistons are regulars at this stage, the Cavs haven't been here since the early 90s. The Cavs are the classier team, the Pistons have the experience and home court advantage. Game 1 was in Detroit and it looked to be an interesting rumble.

Well after a tight start the Cavs went on a hot run in the first quarter though the Pistons eventually reigned them in to before the road team pulled away again with Larry Hughes leading the way. In the second quarter, it was all about the Cavs maintaining a clear lead in what proved to be a low paced part of the game. The Cavs were never under any serious threat and the Pistons knew they needed to raise their game in the second half with the Cavs up 41-35 at half time.

The Pistons hit the ground running early on in the third and soon took the lead. The Cavs switched it right back though and maintained it for the few minutes only for the Pistons to hit the front again mid quarter only for the Cavs to reeel their opponents in before the end of that quarter and retake the lead in the fourth, leading 66-62 mid quarter. The Pistons didn't look like breaking them before Chauncey Billups hit a crucial three pointer. The Cavs fought for the lead till the end but their last minute play went wrong and the Pistons won 79-76.

Out West, the rumble was between the Spurs and the Jazz. The Jazz do have history in the latter stages of the playoffs but only from the late 90s and the experienced Spurs looked likely to finish this series off relativly quickly. OK, so the Texan sides had just come off the back of a tight semi final series against the Suns while the Jazz had been lucky enough to only deal with the minnow Warriors. However with Game 1 in San Antonio, a Spurs win looked assured.

Well credit to the Jazz for leading 7-0 at the start up the game, I can't give them much more than that. Manu Ginobli soon took over the game for the Spurs, starting with feeding his teammates, then gorging himself on shots either side of the three point line as the Spurs took the lead before ripping the Jazz apart in the second quarter with the home team occassionally making moves that took the mick out of the opposition on the way to leading 54-36 at half time.

The Jazz stepped up a slight gear in the third but the Spurs were happy to settle into cruise mode at that point, job done, they let their double digit lead just tick over with the visitors never seriously threatening. It was more of a scrabble in the 4th with the Jazz nibbling the lead down to eight with less than three minute to go. However the Spurs still survived, thanks to Michael Finley hitting a large batch of late free throws. Final score 108-100.

That's just for starters.

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