Trailing Blazers Look for a Little in Reserve

It wasn’t so much about revelations as affirmations, the Detroit Pistons having shown a superior bench to beat the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the NBA finals.

The Trail Blazers proved they could stay with the Pistons, starter against starter. But getting past the first five is tapping into one of the great Detroit resources, the depth that has helped the Pistons to three consecutive trips to the championship round.

Portland didn’t answer in kind and was outscored, 26-7, and outrebounded, 19-9, by the Piston reserves in a 105-99 defeat Tuesday night.

“I know that’s been part of our success the past four or five years,” Detroit’s Vinnie Johnson said. “We’re very experienced at that. I’m not sure they are.”

It didn’t appear they were in Game 1. Portland’s Danny Young had three fouls, two turnovers and three points in 16 minutes. Drazen Petrovic lasted all of four minutes in the first half before getting the hook for good after three fouls and a turnover. Cliff Robinson and Wayne Cooper, the big men, combined for two points and eight rebounds.

In Game 2 tonight at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Trail Blazers know that must change. They spent a good part of Wednesday answering questions about the one area of inferiority that could swing the series.

“We didn’t get any point production off the bench,” Coach Rick Adelman said. “I thought Danny Young did well on defense and Cooper did his part on defense and the boards. But (the Pistons) have capable people on the bench who can score a lot, like Vinnie and (Mark) Aguirre, though I thought John Salley hurt us a lot with his blocks and rebounds.

“Our bench has been up and down this season, and a lot of that is because we have some young people. I thought we should have won (Tuesday) night and we just didn’t get it. We lost it in the last six or seven minutes, and it wasn’t the bench that did it.”

But it was the Detroit bench that played a major role in the Piston comeback. Johnson struggled to a zero-for-six shooting night, but Aguirre had 18 points and eight rebounds and Salley contributed nine rebounds and four blocked shots. There were more subtle roles, too, such as Salley’s assignment to face-guard Buck Williams every time the Trail Blazers shot.

That helped the Pistons shoot 37.4% and still win. Meanwhile, the starters were resting for the fourth-quarter charge.

“We call our bench the A team anyway,” Salley deadpanned. “We start the B team just to fool everybody.”

But seriously, folks . . .

“They don’t look to Danny to score a lot of points,” Salley said. “They look to Petrovic to score, but we are very conscious of that. He likes the three-pointers and to be able to drive a lot. Our attitude is that as soon as he goes, I’m going to go after him and block his shot.”

That Petrovic didn’t even create many opportunities to have his shot blocked was the problem. The Trail Blazers’ only real scoring threat off the bench labored through the three minutes, his playoff shooting dropping to 44.9%, still better than Young’s 38.3%.

“I didn’t play so much like the other games,” said Petrovic, the rookie from Yugoslavia.

The NBA’s third-most accurate three-point shooter, he was at 48.5% overall during the regular season, including a solid 49.4% after the All-Star break. He said the pressure of playing in his first final series did not effect his game.

“I think we have a strong bench,” Petrovic said. “If we didn’t have a strong bench, we wouldn’t be here.”

The question now, if the bench doesn’t get better, is how much longer will they be here?

NBA Notes

Joe Dumars reported occasional discomfort from his strained left groin, though the Piston guard said the injury is improving. He scored 20 points in Game 1. . . . Portland’s Terry Porter is wearing the initials L.P. stenciled on his sneaker in memory of his mother, Louise Porter, who died April 6.

Detroit is 12-0 in postseason games when it has held opponents to fewer than 100 points. Over the last two years, the Pistons are 27-6 in sub-100 playoff games. “Our championship rings from last year don’t say offense,” John Salley said. “They have our record and the word defense. “ . . . The Pistons are 10-0 at the Palace during the playoffs and 12-4 overall. The Trail Blazers are 2-6 on the road, 11-6 overall.