Don’t get in a big hole early

The Pistons are going to be jacked up for this game; the Bulls have to withstand an early offensive barrage if they’re going to win. The Pistons jumped out to big leads early in Game 1 and 2, which caused the Bulls to tense up, force shots, and make bad passes. One way to negate a quick Pistons run is by Gordon and Hinrich driving it to the hoop early in the game. Gordon is one of the most pure shooters in the league and Hinrich’s jumper is more then steady, but the two should try to drive in and draw fouls if the Pistons jump to an early lead in the first quarter. The Bulls just can’t risk a slow shooting start in Game 6, if it happens this game could be over fast. If the Bulls can at least hang with Detroit for the first half, they have a good shot at sending this series back to Detroit.

Speed up the tempo

Coming from Vaughn McClure’s article in today’s Sun-Times:

The Bulls have scored 100-plus points against the Pistons four times this season. And, to no surprise, the Bulls are 4-0 in those games.

The Pistons generate most of their offense from half court sets; the Bulls need to be able to run off turnovers and missed shots. That’s not to say they should rush their offense, something the Bulls did early in Game 2 and late in Game 3, but they should make a conscious effort to dictate the pace of the game. A quicker tempo could negate Chris Weber and Antonio McDyess, players that have had good success earlier in this series, by making them tired and possibly more prone to fouls. People say the Pistons, as a team, are old. That isn’t entirely true, but their bigs certainly are. A faster tempo might take those guys out of the game and that would be a big advantage for the Bulls.

Keep Hinrich on Billups

The idea that Billups is the Pistons most important player isn’t a new concept, but Hinrich’s success guarding him in Game 5 have made people wonder if the Pistons can only go as far as their point guard takes them. Via Matt from the great Blog a Bull:

Just how important is Chauncey Billups to this Pistons team? He was the only Piston this season with a PER over 20 (sorry Watson, Amir Johnson doesn't count) and is a premier defender at his position. Most importantly, Billups leads the team and is usually the guy with the ball when they need a score, and that score often comes from the foul line.

It was good to see Hinrich finally get his due this season, as he was named NBA 2nd team All Defense. The league started to see signs that he was a great defender last season when he stifled Dwayne Wade in the first round, but his job on Billups during game 5 might have been the finest effort of his career. Besides for scoring 17 points and dishing out 13 assists, Hinrich shut down Billups in the first half, helping the Bulls get off to a quick start.

Make Shots

Everything else is great, but the game really rests on whether the Bulls can continue their hot shooing from Game 5 or revert back to the form they showed in Game 1 and 2. It’s like golf, you can hit the ball great all day, but it won’t matter if you can’t drain your putts. The Bulls don’t have to be as perfect as they were last game, shooting 67% through the first three quarters, but they have to consistently make big shots if they are going to win.

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