The Detroit Pistons advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1991, as Chauncey Billups scored nine of his 28 points in overtime to lead them to a series-ending 93-89 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.
Billups, who missed Games 2, 3 and 5 with an ankle injury, gave the Pistons a 92-89 lead with 15.2 seconds left in overtime on his third 3-pointer of the extra session. He scored Detroit's first six points of OT on 3-pointers.
Detroit will play the defending East champion New Jersey Nets beginning Sunday afternoon for the right to go to the NBA Finals.
PHOTO: AFP
The Pistons, who set an NBA record by going 8-0 in overtime games during the regular season, improved to 2-0 in overtime in the playoffs.
After Allen Iverson missed a driving layup with 10 seconds to go, Chucky Atkins made a free throw to ice it with six seconds left.
Iverson scored 38 points -- including six in the row in overtime to tie the game after Detroit went ahead 89-83.
Richard Hamilton scored 19 points, Corliss Williamson had 17 and Tayshaun Prince added 14 for the Pistons, who had lost 14 of 15 road playoff games.
The Sixers had a chance to win it in regulation after Billups made two free throws to tie it at 81 with 14.6 seconds left.
A 14-2 run by the Pistons tied the game at 30 with 4:24 left in the first half. But the Sixers outscored Detroit 14-6 to take a 44-36 halftime lead. Greg Buckner hit a 3-pointer and Derrick Coleman got a fast-break slam just before the quarter ended.
Philadelphia opened a 20-8 lead in the first quarter with a 16-0 run. Iverson scored six straight to start the run on a 14-footer and two layups. Three-pointers by Aaron McKie and Coleman sandwiched around a 20-footer by Iverson closed it. Detroit went scoreless for a stretch of 5:58 before Hamilton made a turnaround jumper.
Phil Jackson upbeat
Phil Jackson is feeling good about his own health, as well as the future of the Los Angeles Lakers.
"I think I would have been a little more defeatist at another time," Jackson said following the Lakers' 110-82 loss to the Spurs that ended their three-year run as NBA champions. "I have to feel better about my own personal health and the direction I'm going. We've had a great run."
Jackson's self-described most difficult season as a coach ended Thursday night five days after he underwent an angioplasty to unblock an artery to his heart.
The 57-year-old Jackson said he intends to return next year and fulfill the final year of the five-year, US$30 million deal he signed with the Lakers in June 1999.
"I would suggest that next year there will be more changes than in years past," general manager Mitch Kupchak said. ``We'll do everything we can to upgrade this team.
CTV will broadcast Sacramento at Dallas (game 7) at 9:30am today.
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