With a hobbled Chris Webber making this playoff series against Philadelphia a little easier for Detroit, coach Larry Brown and his defending champion Pistons knew they had one hurdle standing in their way. That hurdle stands 6 feet, wears cornrows and holds enough NBA scoring records to rival Wilt Chamberlain.
If the Pistons could contain Philadelphia's Allen Iverson, they reasoned, the first-round series would be theirs. It turns out, Iverson largely contained himself Tuesday night in Game 2 and Detroit soundly defeated the 76ers, 99-84. Detroit leads the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series, 2-0, with Game 3 set for Friday night in Philadelphia.
The Pistons maintained their momentum from Saturday's 106-85 victory over Philadelphia and never let the 76ers get too far ahead, as they did early in Game 1. The Pistons were also mindful of their stumble against Milwaukee last year.
PHOTO: EPA
After beating the Bucks in the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Detroit narrowly lost Game 2. The Pistons came back to win the next three games and won the series.
Game 2 on Tuesday was a different story. They led the Sixers by six points at halftime, 42-36, then extended their lead in the second half. Detroit led by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter.
Richard Hamilton scored a game-high 23 points for the Pistons. Chauncey Billups added 20 and Rasheed Wallace finished with 15.
PHOTO: AFP
Wallace, who had 29 points in the Game 1 victory, was called for two fouls in the first quarter, then spent time on the bench. But he was back on the court in the second half, committing a technical foul and scoring 11 points in the third quarter.
The first quarter was tight, with the Pistons and the 76ers never more than four points apart. Although the 76ers led, 23-20, at the end of the first quarter, it was Hamilton who dominated. With nine points, Hamilton helped reduce the impact of Samuel Dalembert, Webber and Iverson, who scored six points apiece in the quarter.
In the second quarter, Iverson was hardly a factor. He attempted 11 shots, made two and committed two fouls. Iverson, who scored 30 points in Game 1, scored a team-high 19 points.
PHOTO: AP
"The only way to guard Allen is with your offense," Brown said.
Detroit went ahead for good with less than four minutes left in the first half as Hamilton made a 13-foot jump shot to give the Pistons a 35-34 lead. Iverson attempted three more shots before halftime, including a 24-foot 3-pointer, but missed them all.
With a limited Webber, who was recovering from knee surgery when he sprained his left shoulder a few weeks ago, the 76ers have to look to Iverson to hold back the Pistons' Hamilton.
"I'm not 100 percent yet; I think I'm going all right at whatever percent I'm on," Webber said, adding that he knows the Pistons will breathe a little easier because he is limping. "I hope it isn't the expectation that my knee is going to fall off."
As much as the Pistons may have taken comfort in the fact that Webber was not himself, though he did score 15 points in 32 minutes of play, they still had to keep Iverson from being himself.
"This has been rough," said Iverson, who had 10 assists. "We just can't stop them. That's it. We've got to come with something."
Sixers coach Jim O'Brien was hopeful that his team, and Iverson, could turn the series around at home.
"I'm sure Allen will come back with a vengeance on Friday night," O'Brien said.
Miami 104, New Jersey 87
In Miami, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade combined for just 31 points but former Net Alonzo Mourning came off the bench to score 21 with nine rebounds as Miami defeated New Jersey 104-87 for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Despite the struggles of Wade and O'Neal, Miami hardly looked in trouble. The Heat opened the contest with the game's first seven points and scored the final eight of the first quarter to seize a 26-16 lead.
When the Nets got within 32-30 midway through the second quarter, Mourning had the final four points in a 14-4 burst. Mourning, a 13-year NBA veteran, showed a lot of emotion on both ends of the floor against the team he started the season with.
With O'Neal enduring one of the worst postseason games of his career, Mourning took over, posting his highest point total this season.
"My game is not a surprise to me, I feel like I'm a Hall of Fame player," Mourning said. "We want to kill the thought of this being a one or two-man team. We know what we're capable of doing."
O'Neal had 14 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes, admitting after the game he felt "slowed." Wade had 17 points and 10 assists for Miami, which has won 21 of its last 22 games at home.
"We just did what we're supposed to do, which is win at home," O'Neal said. "We're a pretty good road team. ... We can't mess around with this team. We've got to do what we have to do."
"They did their job, they've won two games on their home court," Nets forward Jason Collins said. "Now it's our turn to go back and do the same."
Seattle 105, Sacramento 93
In Seattle, Ray Allen scored 26 points and had a pair of critical plays in the final 67 seconds as the Sonics shut down Peja Stojakovic and held off the Kings.
After enduring Mike Bibby's awful three-point effort in the series opener, Sacramento saw Stojakovic -- who did not play in the final quarter -- score just nine points.
With their leading scorer mired in a funk, the Kings trailed 88-62 at the end of three quarters.
The Kings' reserves, led by Bobby Jackson, staged a furious comeback that got them within 95-85 with 4:58 left.
Allen buried a long three-pointer to temporarily stem the tide. Jackson kept firing away and Sacramento was within 100-92 with 67 seconds to go when Allen found Jerome James for a jumper. Allen added a three-point play 26 seconds later and the Sonics cruised from there.
Houston 113, Dallas 111
Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming established themselves on Monday as the Western Conference's new dynamic duo after they teamed up to take the Rockets to a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.
During a timeout with 26.4 seconds left and Houston up by two points, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy asked McGrady whether he wanted to stop the clock again if Dallas tied it. No way, McGrady said.
McGrady surprised the Mavericks by charging up the court, going around Yao and nailing a 2-pointer with 2.2 seconds left.
"We shocked them a little bit by not calling timeout," McGrady said. "My teammates didn't even know. The only people who knew were me and Yao ... I saw them scrambling on the defensive end. We caught them off-guard pretty good."
With the next two games in Houston, starting Thursday night, the Rockets -- who've won nine straight -- can move even closer to getting into the second round for the first time since the days of Hakeem Olajuwon. It also would be a first for McGrady.
"We've got to stay grounded," he said. "We haven't done anything yet."
McGrady and Yao are now the new Shaq and Kobe.
The preseason hype and hope surrounding their union became a reality with Yao scoring 33 points -- making 13 of 14 shots, his only miss arguably a turnover -- and McGrady scoring 28 with 10 assists, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
"We've got to find a way to stop him," said Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 26 points but struggled with his shooting again, making just 8 of 21 shots.
Pacers 82, Celtics 79
At Boston, Indiana evened its series by winning Game 2 behind Reggie Miller. The 18-year veteran, who's retiring after the playoffs, scored 28 points, including the last basket of the game.
"He is the guy you want on your team this time of year," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. "We'll keep riding him as long as we can."
He scored only seven points on 1-for-7 shooting in Boston's 102-82 win in Game 1, but in Game 2 Indiana overcame its biggest deficit, 75-68, in the last six minutes, thanks mainly to Miller.
But he's not feeling more emotional because he plans to retire.
"Not at all. I'm locked into a great playoff series," he said. "I'm very encouraged how we played, for the most part."
The Pacers played much better defense down the stretch when the Celtics allowed critical open shots.
"We gave this game away," Boston guard Marcus Banks said. "We were up by [seven] with six minutes to go and basically we were playing not to lose instead of going out there and playing the way we did the other day."
A Detroit Pistons fan was arrested Tuesday night after the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson was struck with a coin at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The incident did not escalate into a confrontation on the scale of the Nov. 19 Palace brawl involving Pistons fans and Indiana Pacers players.
Iverson was hit while sitting on the bench with about two minutes remaining in the 76ers' first-round playoff game against the Pistons, Auburn Hills police Sgt. Rick Leonard said in a written statement. Other fans pointed out the suspect to police and Palace security.
The man, identified only as a 31-year-old Michigan resident, was released pending a review of the incident by Oakland County prosecutors, Leonard said.
Iverson scored 19 points in the 99-84 Detroit victory that gave the Pistons a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
In the Nov. 19 brawl, Indiana's Ron Artest rushed into the stands and began beating a man he thought had thrown a drink on him. Some of his teammates joined him in the stands and also clashed with fans on the court.
Five Pacers players and four Pistons fans are charged with misdemeanor assault and battery. Fans William Paulson and John Ackerman are to go on trial July 11. John Green, the fan who prosecutors say sparked the brawl by lobbing the drink at Artest, is to be tried along with David Wallace, brother of Pistons center Ben Wallace, on July 15.
The Pacers players are to be tried separately, starting with Artest on Aug. 1 and followed by Anthony Johnson, David Harrison, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson in that order.
Yao Ming a model
It's official: Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is a "model worker."
Communist China's cabinet, the State Council, awarded the honor to both Yao and Olympic gold medal hurdler Liu Xiang, Zhao Jiaxiong, spokesman for Shanghai's Office for Choosing Model Workers, said Wednesday.
The model worker nominations of Yao and Liu, a gold medalist in the men's 110m hurdles at Athens, had sparked criticism among some Chinese who argued the award was meant to honor ordinary workers, not sports stars.
Yao described the honor, usually given to workers in more proletarian fields like industry, mining and public services, as "one more honor and encouragement from society," Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Yao's agent Zhang Chi.
"But compared to the contributions other winners had made to the motherland, there is still large room for me to improve," Xinhua quoted Yao as saying.
For decades, the model worker award has been turning unknown miners, teachers or factory workers into celebrities in the state media.
Yao became one of China's biggest sports heroes after joining the NBA in 2002 as the No. 1 draft pick. He won praise back home by returning during the NBA offseason to play with the national team.
Yao already has twice received a local version of the award from Shanghai. He also is an official spokesman for promoting the city.
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