It’s amazing what a difference 22,000 screaming fans can make.
The Detroit Pistons were down 2-0 in the NBA Finals after San Antonio had managed to make their vaunted defense look about as tough as Canadian border crossing in a pair of double-digit victories down in Alamo country.
But the move back to Motown, where the raucous crowd included local celebrities like Eminem, Kid Rock, Anita Baker and Thomas Hearns, was Red Bull for the Pistons’ soul as they picked it up on the defensive end and crushed the Spurs 96-79 and demolished the 4-point spread.
The homecoming was enough to rouse the Pistons from their somnolent opening to the Finals, but oddsmakers didn’t seem to get the wake-up call.
They still seem to doubt Detroit’s ability to defend their home court. Most sportsbooks knocked half a point off the Pistons’ handicap down to –3 ½ points for Game 4, , even after a 17-point win on Tuesday.
Has nobody noticed that San Antonio hasn’t covered the spread in this building since 2003?
The Pistons were 29-21-1 ATS at The Palace over the course of this season and they’ve improved that to 8-2 at home throughout these playoffs. Reporters asked Gregg Poppovich about the significance of home-court advantage in the this series, but he wasn’t conceding anything.
“You're asking the questions of the ages,” he said. “I mean, who knows? If given an opportunity, one would say, I'd like to have home-court. Let's just put it that way. But beyond that, make up whatever you want. I don't know what that means.”
But maybe Pop just doesn’t want to admit what is looking painfully obvious at this point: the Pistons are a much better team at home.
The Pistons were lacking energy and punch in the first two games, but on Tuesday, they played hard on defense and fed off the crowd energy to fuel offensive momentum. And most importantly, they excelled all the way down the stretch – the same point where their game fell apart in San Antonio.
“We’ve seen three blowouts in this series,” says Covers Expert Ted Sevransky, “but don’t forget that these were really three competitive games that turned into blowouts in the fourth quarter.
“I was surprised how poorly San Antonio played in the fourth quarter [in Game 3] and I don’t expect to see that again. I expect Game 4 to be a closer game that will come down to the fourth quarter – and I suppose the home team has an advantage there.”
Detroit has been down 2-1 in their last two series and both times they came up with big wins in Game 4.
San Antonio was up 2-1 in their conference semifinal series with the Sonics and lost a 20-point heart-breaker in Seattle to tie the series.
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