NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE Pistons are desperate to avoid 0-2
Detroit regrets letting the Nets spurt early in a Game 1 loss.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- The Detroit Pistons are desperate for a win. The New Jersey Nets are greedy for another.
Jason Kidd's fadeaway shot gave the Nets a 76-74 win -- the fewest points the team ever scored in a victory -- in Game 1. And the last thing the Pistons want to do is lose Game 2 tonight before playing two straight in New Jersey.
"We haven't been down 0-2 in the postseason, and we don't want to be either," Detroit's Chauncey Billups said Monday after practice. "That puts an extreme amount of pressure on your team when you lose two home games.
"We feel like we've got to win. We felt the same way in the first round against Orlando when we lost the first game."
Opponent better
But Detroit knows New Jersey is not as inexperienced or one-dimensional as the Magic, who allowed the Pistons to become the seventh NBA team to win a series after trailing 3-1.
The Nets swept Boston in the second round, winning the final two games on the road, after advancing past Milwaukee with a win on its home court in Game 6.
"Our team has proven that we want to be greedy," Richard Jefferson said. "We know they don't want to go to New Jersey down 0-2. But then again, we didn't come here trying to just get a split."
Billups was the only Pistons player who would even answer a question about how difficult it would be to trail 0-2 against the Nets. His teammates bristled at the thought.
"My mind-set is to be 1-1," Corliss Williamson said. "I don't want to think any other way. I don't know what 0-2 is."
Ben Wallace said the Pistons have only themselves to blame for allowing New Jersey to take an 18-6 lead -- exclusively on fast-break points -- and to win after trailing by 10 late in the third quarter.
"We should've played with a sense of urgency from the start," Wallace said. "Now you either get a couple wins, or you're going home."
The Pistons are desperate for a win at The Palace because they have won just two of their last 16 road playoff games -- Game 6 at Philadelphia and Game 6 in Orlando this season.
"We have to win this game," Mehmet Okur said simply.
Hoping for some Magic
The Pistons are drawing upon their comeback against the Magic, and their two straight wins over the 76ers -- after losing a 2-0 series lead.
"Adversity is no stranger to this team," Detroit coach Rick Carlisle said.
Meanwhile, New Jersey feels that it can build upon its experience of winning Game 1 against the Celtics.
"Our goal is to get two games, period," Lucious Harris said. "That's what we did when we went to Boston. We can't relax just because we got one win. But we're not going to be desperate about it. All the pressure is on them. They don't want to go down 0-2."