Montreal Ravens @ Detroit Pistons 85-102
May 10, Detrot – With Detroit, the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference, playing the 4th seed, Montreal, you would’ve thought they’d have the series advantage by now but recent struggles by key players from the Pistons squad left them down in the brink of elimination. All series long, the Pistons relied on their bigs’ presence down low with Ratliff and Dele doing all the work and we saw the Ravens respond to their type of play by employing more perimeter plays which led to three-pointers from Bryant, Hardaway, Curry, Parker, etc.
But with them facing elimination this early in the playoffs, the Pistons decided to try something new. Detroit attempted 34 three-pointers in the entire game and knocked down 24 of those. The game was clearly over after they closed out the 1st quarter with 43 points, a team and league-high in points in a single quarter while managing the Ravens to only 19 points, a team-low in the playoffs.
Derek Fisher of the Detroit Pistons single-handedly outplayed Bryant and Hardaway with his shooting from beyond the arc. He ended with 32 points, a career-high, while shooting 8-12 from the three-point line, also a career-high.
“This is good. We’re on a roll. If we just keep up this momentum, we can still upset them.” Said Fisher.
The Ravens relied on Bryant in offense but was shut down by Aaron McKie and was denied of the ball in the post. Despite the defense that the Pistons deployed on Bryant, he still managed to score 33 points but shot 41%.
“Oh, we’re not worried at all. No. Obviously we just have to regroup and watch the tape so we can see where we messed up. No worries on our end.” Assured Bryant with his team still leading 3-2 in the series.
Player of the Game: Derek Fisher (32 pts, 2 rebs, 7 asts, 8-12 3PT)
Ravens:
K. Bryant (33 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts, 2 stls, 1 blk)
K. Garnett (18 pts, 13 rebs)
T. Hardaway (11 pts, 2 rebs, 6 asts, 2 stls)
Pistons:
G. Hill (28 pts, 7 rebs, 2asts)
A. McKie (11 pts, 2 rebs, 6 asts)
B. Dele (8 pts, 10 rebs)
