Concerned Daly Puts the Knock on His Pistons

A funny thing happened to the Pistons on the way to their three-game Silverdome sweep.

Sometime, not long after Dennis Rodman confided that stopping James Worthy wasn’t that difficult, and after even Chick Hearn allowed himself to be quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying, “Nine good men can beat seven good men,” which didn’t sound like an endorsement of his employer’s squad, the teams actually took the floor in the Silverdome, with its high temperatures, hostile fans and shimmering shooting background.

Voila! The home team came apart and took one between the eyes, losing to the Lakers, 99-86. Coach Chuck Daly couldn’t stay for it all; referee Earl Strom bade him an early adieu and, for good measure, pinned a technical on Bill Laimbeer, too.

So, what did the Pistons have to say after this one?

We wuz robbed?

The Lakers played zone, got all the calls, cheated, cheated, cheated?

Are you sure we’re the ones with the nine good players?

Actually, what Daly said was in essence, “Help!” After all those giddy days last week, suddenly, he never felt more like singing the blues.

Forgoing the standard complaints, the Piston coach took a hard look at his team and decided it would have to play a lot better to beat theirs.

That is, if his could keep themselves together long enough, which he seemed to consider an open question.

“I saw some things I’m unhappy about in terms of guys worrying about playing time all of a sudden,” Daly said.

“Oh no, nobody said anything. But I can always sense those things.

“It does surprise me. At this point in the season, everybody has to think along the lines of worrying about winning, not the other thing.”

Is that the pressure of the finals?

“Possibly,” said Daly, breaking another rule--Thou Shalt Not Acknowledge Pressure, Except to Insist It Lies on Thy Neighbor’s Head.

“Hopefully not, but we’ve got to decide collectively to try to get back in this series.”

Daly didn’t say which player had frowned his way, but the candidates would have to start with Rick Mahorn, who has glared at Daly once or twice in their time together. Mahorn played only six minutes Sunday.

The Pistons have other troubles, like making shots. Since Adrian Dantley went wild in Game 1, the Lakers have started double-teaming, daring some other Piston to beat them.

No one else has stepped up. In Games 2 and 3, Vinnie Johnson is 7 for 25. Joe Dumars and Bill Laimbeer have gotten their 10 points a game. Isiah Thomas played well Sunday but has yet to explode.

“We can’t get Adrian Dantley any more shots,” said Daly. “When he swings (passes) the ball, we’ve got to hit shots.

“Basically, most everyone all year has double-teamed him. When that happens, we’ve got to make shots. I think Vinnie was 3 for 11. Bill was 5 for 12. I said from the outset of this series, you must shoot well against this club to keep their transition game under control.”

While the Pistons are popping away from the perimeter, the Lakers, of course, were running fast break after break. How? Good Laker defense, feeding on stagnant Piston offense, and Magic Johnson.

The 6-foot 9-inch Magic chewed up the 6-3 Joe Dumars, Detroit’s tallest guard. Daly let the 6-8 Rodman, who is a better physical match, try Magic later, and was asked why not earlier.

“That’s a complicated issue,” Daly said. “If you’re getting double-downs on Dantley and he swings the ball, Rodman’s not an open floor shooter.

“We’ve got matchup problems with them, there’s no question about it.

“They only double one of our players. We have to double three or four of theirs. That creates a lot of opportunities for them.”

Opportunities notwithstanding, this was the Pistons’ series before Sunday. They were counting on a sweep here, so much so that they started talking about one even before leaving Los Angeles. Thomas had said: “If we win our three home games, we’ll be NBA champs. It’s as simple as that.”

Maybe the Pistons were counting their turkeys before they hatched?

“We’ve had that problem here,” Daly said. “Surprisingly in the playoffs, we’ve lost to Chicago here, to Boston and now L.A. I’ve said it before, we don’t always play with the same determination here.”

Look for them to be very determined campers, indeed, on Tuesday.

But what about all the players saying they came out flat for the second half? Whose fault was that?

“Well, I have 12 minutes in there (at halftime),” Daly said, dryly. “I guess it was my fault. Maybe I didn’t do a good enough job of talking to them. You know, when we come out and play very well, they say I did a good job, and if we don’t, they say I didn’t do a good job.

“It’s the wrong time, I can tell you that. Timing was bad.”