Article:It Could Have Been A Preview of The NBA Finals

Let's see. The Detroit Pistons were in the NBA finals three years ago and the Dallas Mavericks were there two years ago. It's not a far stretch to see them in a Finals together some day.

Having said that, what would it take to get a great game out of these two teams? They played on January 9th of this year and the Mavericks blew out the Pistons. Now they meet again three and a half weeks later and it's another blowout. Perhaps the schedule makers screwed up when they scheduled these two games at the beginning of back to back games for each respective team. All I know is the effort level of the loosing teams, in both instances, was less than mediocre.

This afternoon's feature started with a little back and forth scoring. Half way through the first quarter the Pistons applied a little pressure and opened a lead. The Pistons reserves entered the game and had similar success. Actually they played quite well through the end of the first quarter and into the second.

When all starters were back in the game the Mavericks offense sputtered. The Pistons continued to lengthen their lead. By the half Detroit led 44-38.

Play resumed in the second half with listless play on behalf of the Mavericks. The majority of the play was predicated by the Pistons and their lead grew. At one point the Mavericks went more than four and a half minutes without scoring.

I was happy for the Pistons. They're my team. I love to see them win. But I was expecting more. The 'Superbowl was starting in a while and I was looking for some pre-football intensity.

There wasn't any to be had. The Pistons were cruising and the Mavericks were going down with their worst offensive performance of the year.

Detroit emptied their bench and there was nothing left but for the final score. The Pistons would go on to win 90-67 and my focus would change to the greatest sporting event of the year.

The one redeeming feature of this game was the confidence and professionalism that the Detroit bench played with. There are real weapons developing here.

In retrospect both teams have improvements to make if they want to reach the ultimate in their sport. The Finals

Notable scorers were:

 * ===Detroit Pistons===


 * Rasheed Wallace -  21 points


 * Tayshaun Prince -  16 points


 * Rodney Stuckey -  11 points


 * Richard Hamilton -  10 points


 * Jarvis Hayes -  10 points


 * ===Dallas Mavericks===


 * Dirk Nowitzki -  15 points


 * Josh Howard -  15 points


 * Brandon Bass -  14 points