PISTONS FIRST EASTERN TEAM IN CONFERENCE SEMIS
The Detroit Pistons regular season dominance of the Eastern Conference is beginning to be reflected in the playoffs. Taking the Milwaukee Bucks back to Detroit for game 5 of their series, Flip Saunders's crew battered the oppisition with Rip Hamilton leading the way with 40 points and though the Bucks outscored the Pistons in two quarters the home side's devastating numbers overall wrapped up a 122-93 win to win the series 4-1 and face the winners of the Cavs-Wizards series in the conference semi finals.
That series returned to Cleveland for a very tight game 5 which pretty much turned into a duel between Le Bron James and Gilbert Arenas. Arenas was the one laughing at the end of the first quarter with the Wizards 27-25 up only for the Cavs to swing it round and lead 89-85 at the end of the third before the Wizards came back to force overtime tied at 108. The James-Arenas duel continued in overtime with Arenas in theory settling it with two late three throws to give him 44 points only for James to make a last second layup to make 45 and a 121-120 win. Cavs chase the Wizards back to Washington one last time looking to finish them off.
Elsewhere in the East, the Heat-Bulls series returned to Miami only for Dwayne Wade to pull up hurt in the second quarter allowing the Bulls to get Shaq in to foul trouble and take a 61-59 lead late on in the third quarter. Wade then made his comeback allowing the Heat to explode into a 12-0 run going into the fourth quarter and win the match 92-78, a sequence of events which the Bulls will surely live to regret this late in the series though the Heat do need to work out how to win in Chicago in game 6.
The Nets-Pacers series returned to New Jersey up in the air but it's the Nets that have Vince Carter, formerly 'Air Canada' in his Raptors days. Vince also has some pretty solid backup to call on and the Pacers simply found themselves outclassed in game 5 no matter what the final 92-86 scoreline might say. Given that neither side has been able to really count on home court advantage in this series, the Pacers should be worried.
Out West, the Spurs-Kings series returned to San Antonio with the reigning champions glad to be back on home turf after a poor games 3 and 4 on the road. The Kings were still the side with momentum though and came into halftime 46-43 up. However that was the point when the Spurs stepped up a gear led by Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli. The Kings had the game tied with three minutes left but another Spurs spurt gave the home side a 109-98 win but they could still do with a win in Sacremento in game 6.
Elsewhere, the Suns were facing a last stand in Phoenix against the Lakers but once back on home turf they came up with the goods to fight another day with Boris Diaw leading the scoring as the number 2 seed turned up the tempo. The Lakers lost their flow as a result and the final score was 114-97, which forces a game six back in LA.
Five first round ties going to six games? That's certainly not normal.
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