So which Detroit Pistons team will show up for Thursday night's Game 6 against the Philadelphia 76ers?
The Pistons, especially coach Flip Saunders, have fielded plenty of questions the past few days about
the team's tendency to seemingly turn good play on and off, i.e. flip the switch.
Game 5 showed off the good. Game 3 revealed the bad.
"People talk about a switch, but we just know how to play basketball in desperate times," Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince said. "Good teams can do that."
OK then. Oddsmakers think the good Pistons will show for Game 6, as they are 5.5-point betting favorites (over/under: 178) on WagerWeb.com.
Turnovers clearly play a big role in Detroit's success; they are the worst among the playoff teams in committing 17 per game.
"When we don't turn the ball over, we're pretty good," Saunders said.
The Pistons scored on eight straight possessions in the first quarter of Game 5 and the outcome was all but decided with three quarters left. Now the Pistons lead in the series for the first time.
The prevailing theory is that when they were trailing by 10 points at halftime in Game 4, the Pistons suddenly got motivated. They have won the last two games.
The Sixers remain confident, however. They're heading home -- where they split Games 3 and 4 -- and Andre Iguodala is coming off his best game of the series with a career playoff-high 21-point outing in Game 5."The series is over? C'mon, you've got to be kidding me," center Samuel Dalembert said.
Detroit is 23 for 68 from beyond the arc, while the Sixers are 8 for 34. With 11 treys in the series, Detroit's Rasheed Wallace has three more than the entire Sixers team. Wallace also is averaging four blocks per game, tops in the playoffs.
Wallace said it is important for Detroit to end this series as soon as it can and move on to the Orlando Magic.
"They're (Orlando) resting up now," Wallace said. "They're resting up their horse (Dwight Howard), trying to get ready for us."
Since the 2003-2004 championship season, the Pistons are 11-3 in games in which they can eliminate an opponent. In those 11 wins, the average margin of victory has been by 12.5 points.
On the injury front, forward Jason Maxiell will start for Antonio McDyess tonight for the Pistons. McDyess is still on limited minutes while he heals from a broken nose. McDyess did score 10 points off the bench in Game 5 after having surgery to repair his broken nose suffered in Game 3. But he was the only reserve to score for Detroit.
Philly will need another big effort from Iguodala tonight. Prince's defense has held Iguodala to 10.5 points on 22 percent shooting in the series.
"I have to try to turn it around," said Iguodala, who averaged a career-best 19.9 points in the regular season. "Hopefully, we can work some things in the offense to get me open. I need to be more patient and try to get better looks."
Betting trends: Under is 8-1 in Pistons' last 9 road games. ... Pistons are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall. ... Sixers are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall. ... Favorite is 15-7-1 ATS in the last 23 meetings.
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