<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Boredom was happily appreciated Sunday night after the first two Wings' playoff games had Detroit thirsting for air one moment and then for an airsick bag the next. The Pistons restored order -- the top dog feasting on its humbled prey. As far as they're concerned, their last game was last June in the sweltering sauna that is a San Antonio summer. The past six months were a preamble, taking care of the mundane clerical details before they really got down to business. Any worries that the Pistons might coast into the early phase of their championship push were put to ease when Rip Hamilton stuck to Milwaukee star Michael Redd as though he were a sock out of the dryer loaded with static cling. Redd turned red faced, vanishing in the midst of another methodical Pistons dismantling, unable to find the slightest breathing room -- not to mention, his shooting stroke. "We got caught up early in trying to look pretty," said Hamilton, "and it took us awhile to realize that that isn't our game. We're all about playing tough defense and we went back to that when we needed it." And when Hamilton plays perimeter defense with the ferocity he displayed on Redd, it's scary what the Pistons can become. "Phenomenal" was the first word that came to Lindsey Hunter's mind when assessing Hamilton's effort following the Pistons' 92-74 series-opening yawner. "He pretty much stayed in (Redd's) jersey for most of the game," Hunter said. Redd averaged 30 points against the Pistons in the regular season, but only mustered 11 in Game 1, including a damning zero field goals in the fourth quarter. But it's a different animal now. Intensity elevates and sometimes morphs into anxiety. And the Pistons were a little apprehensive, looking for the home run to excite the crowd and forgetting that, in baseball parlance, they're a singles team that manufactures runs. Hamilton fought through an ankle sprain in the fourth quarter that remained sore and swollen after the game. His shooting touch was off (he shot 5-of-18 from the field), but it was a willing sacrifice if he harassed Redd into an off night.</div> Source
