NBA PLAYOFFS : Pistons Plan to Restore NBA Order in Palace

By MIKE DOWNEY

May 23, 1989 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

DETROIT — After the Palace coup, after the Chicago Bulls had pulled off another of those stunts of theirs where they go into an opponent’s arena for a playoff series as serious underdogs and then win Game 1, the Detroit Pistons were playing it cool, playing down the panic angle, professing to have the situation totally under control.

Wonder what they will say if they don’t win tonight?

Should Chicago somehow take Game 2 of the National Basketball Assn.’s Eastern Conference finals at suburban Detroit’s funky fun house, the Palace of Auburn Hills, imagine what state of mind the Pistons will be in, having to go to Chicago Stadium trailing two games to none.

While it might not be the end of the world--remember, Detroit defeated Chicago twice on the road during last year’s playoffs--the thought of needing consecutive victories at the House of Jordan is something that ought to give the Pistons enough incentive to come out playing this 5 p.m. game as if their basketball lives depended on it.

Because they just might.

No way Detroit can endure another of those first-half traumas in which it falls behind by 24 points, as it did in Sunday’s 94-88 loss to the Bulls.

No way Detroit can depend on its obvious bench advantage being sufficient to overcome another 11-for-45 combined shooting performance by the usually accurate backcourt trio of Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson, none of whom Sunday could hit the broad side of a 21,500-seat barn.

And, if Detroit should happen to lose here again--unlikely as that prospect remains--the jackals are really going to have a good time with this business of Michael Jordan’s having predicted that his Bulls would eliminate the Pistons, farfetched as that notion might seem.

Without meaning to offer a Joe Namath-Pat Riley guarantee, Jordan told a few sportswriters before Sunday’s game that if the Bulls should win the opener, watch out: “We’re going to win--I bet you.”

Just to make sure they were taking notes, Jordan ended the brief session by calling out over his shoulder: “Remember what I said now, OK?”

After the game, Magic Michael neither repeated his proclamation nor elaborated on it. It had not escaped his notice, of course, that even though Chicago had thrown the kitchen sink at Detroit in the first half, the Pistons had erased their entire 24-point disadvantage in the virtual blink of an eye, from part way through the second period to early in the fourth.

The only reason the Bulls held on to win, to be truthful, is because nobody on Detroit’s side could make a shot. John Salley blew two dunks. Thomas, with Jordan draped all over him, went three for 18. He was throwing air balls out there.

Only Rick Mahorn, of all people, scored as many as 17 points, and it was Mahorn who missed two free throws and committed a fatal turnover in the final minute.

“We were awful,” Piston forward Dennis Rodman said. “Worse than awful.”

Salley said: “We took eight days off and it really showed. We were too relaxed, or something.”

And said Coach Chuck Daly: “We’ve pretty much had our way since October. But now, like the old cliche says, I guess we’ll see what we’re made of.”

Detroit had won 12 games in a row, including seven in the playoffs. It had won 25 consecutive at home. It had lost three games since February.

This Chicago buzz saw, though, the one that cut through Cleveland and New York, is making mincemeat of predictions that the Bulls would be easy pickings. The Bulls won the first playoff game on the Cavaliers’ court, then the first playoff game on the Knicks’ court, now the first playoff game on the Pistons’ court. They have turned into road warriors.

Partially because of defensive switches that put Jordan on the much smaller Thomas, and forward Scottie Pippen on Detroit center Bill Laimbeer, Detroit was limited to 34 points in the first half, the worst half in the franchise’s playoff history.

“The thing I was most concerned about was cutting off Laimbeer’s outside shooting,” said Chicago Coach Doug Collins, who decided he did not want to send his own center, Bill Cartwright, 20 and 25 feet from the basket to try to bother Laimbeer’s shots. Laimbeer still made six of 11, but had to work for them.

Jordan did not deny Thomas his shots, but hounded him, poked at him with those long arms of his, and could plainly see that Thomas’ shooting was not up to snuff, probably because of that broken bone in Thomas’ left hand that has not completely healed.

The Pistons maintain it was just one of those days.

“We got the sort of shots we usually pray for,” Thomas said. “We just couldn’t knock them down.”

Said Piston forward Mark Aguirre: “They played good, but we just played bad. We got what we wanted offensively. We just couldn’t stroke the ball in.”

To a man, the Pistons said they would be ready and rarin’ to go tonight, and still found it difficult to conceive of the possibility of Chicago beating them four times. After all, against Detroit during the regular season, the Bulls were 0-6.

Any reaction to Jordan’s prediction that the Bulls would win if they won Game 1?

“No,” Laimbeer said, and walked away from the person who had asked.

If Chicago wins Game 2, though, a lot of people might be reviewing their predictions.