Mark Aguirre felt like he couldn't miss, and maybe the Detroit Pistons can't, either.
"It's going to take a team to play perfect basketball to beat them," New York forward Kenny Walker said after the defending champions defeated the Knicks 95-84 on Tuesday night, advancing to the Eastern Conference final for the fourth straight year. "They're the best defensive team in the NBA. People don't realize how good this Piston team is."The Pistons held Patrick Ewing to 1-for-10 shooting in the second half after trailing by 14 in the first quarter. Aguirre scored 17 of his 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the second period to give Detroit a 51-49 halftime lead.
"When something like tonight happens, it feels like you're in the perfect place at the perfect time," Aguirre said. "I felt like this is where I was supposed to be on this Earth.
"You just get in your rhythm and feel like it's going in no matter what. It felt great in my hands, like I couldn't miss."
The Pistons, bidding to become only the third franchise in history to repeat as NBA champions, now trail only the Los Angeles Lakers' eight-year stretch (1982-89) in conference finals and Boston's two five-year runs (1972-76 and 1984-88). Philadelphia was in the Eastern Conference final from 1980-83.
Detroit, which swept four regular-season games from New York before eliminating the Knicks 4-1 in the playoffs, will meet the winner of the series between Chicago and Philadelphia, which the Bulls lead 3-1.
Over the last two seasons, Detroit has held playoff opponents to less than 100 points in 22 of the last 25 games.
"This is a defensive-minded team," said Isiah Thomas, the Detroit captain. "We just play defense and wait for someone to get hot. Then we just ride the wave."
The Pistons' bench outscored the Knicks' reserves 44-17 in the game and 164-104 for the series. Detroit had a 44-34 rebound advantage in the conclusive game, including 18-4 by its reserves.
Their superior bench strength was especially effective against Ewing, the heart and soul of the Knicks.
Ewing had been averaging 30.2 points per game throughout the playoffs and 28.5 points against the Pistons. But the Detroit game plan called for first Bill Laimbeer, then James Edwards, then John Salley - and sometimes all three - to badger and harass Ewing.
Finally the pressure and the lack of rest began to tell on Ewing. He played all but 1:59 of the game and finished with just 22 points. Ewing hit only 7-of-23 shots, missing his last eight.