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Let's discuss a few things

There are a few things that need to be said.

1. The stat of the day has to be Chauncey Billups's astounding 47-for-49 in the fourth quarter of playoff games this year. To say he's a cool customer is really understating it.

2. Ben now has two unbelievable tip-ins in this series, where he's reached from behind the rim, while going the other direction, to tap one up and in.

3. Duncan has a strange free throw pre-shot routine. He gets in shooting position, then appears to pause for a random amount of time (between 1 and 5 seconds), then quickly releases. It's like he's trying to trick some kind of invisible boogeyman who's been interfering with his shots.

4. I really think that if Rasheed could be could be prescribed some kind anti-insanity, concentration-enabling drug cocktail, he could be one of the best power forwards of all time. His basketball skills, athleticism, and intuition are amazing. The only problem is that he's totally nuts.

5. Rip Hamilton quietly had his best game of the series. He didn't force as many shots as in previous games. Perhaps he's finally getting settled into the rhythm of bodying up Bruce Bowen for 48 minutes a night.

6. Where was Robert Horry tonight? That's the funny thing about that guy. The Spurs could have used him. Nazr Mohammed is undersized and overmatched.

7. At the end of the game, we finally saw the Pistons big men cut off and deny Ginobili and Parker driving into the lane. Ben's last block, when he swatted Manu on the way down with two hands, was an intelligent play. If you watch a replay (and I did, many times), you can see he reads Manu's drive from the top of the key, and takes a perfect angle to cut him off at the rim. He gets there at just the right time and proceeds to block out the sun, forcing Manu into a feeble double-clutch.

8. Last year, when the Pistons won it all, I came surprisingly close to shedding a tear of joy. When I heard Larry Brown in the huddle with 3o seconds left, saying to his team, "by the way, I love you guys," I just, well, I just was quite touched by the moment. What a team.

9. Screw the Sports Guy.

10. Wooooooooohoooooooooo!!!!!!!! Bring on Game 7.

posted by The Bird @ 8:55 PM