Sprinter’s Starts

With the lure of their favorite road eatery to bring them together in foreign locales diminished, the first link in their bond of unity might break – and there go the Pistons as we know them.

“There’s no Cheesecake Factory here, so that’s the biggest thing,” Hunter said Wednesday by way of explaining his team’s success away from home before the Pistons hit the road for Thursday night’s Game 3 of their first-round playoff series with the Orlando Magic, who trail 2-0. “Go on the road and find a Cheesecake Factory and we’re comfortable.”

So unless Orlando’s Cheesecake Factory is shuttered or the Pistons pick up a case of food poisoning while bonding over a round of strawberry lemonade, all systems should be go for the Pistons, who’ve used hot starts in games 1 and 2 to take control of the Magic.

And no one has been more responsible for those hot starts than Rasheed Wallace, who made Flip Saunders bite his lip a few times over the course of the season when word got back to him that Wallace had intimated in one way or another that the regular season commanded something less than his full attention.

That all seems like a very long time ago these days.

Wallace scored 10 points in the first quarter of Game 1, including a pair of 3-pointers, and came back in Game 2 with eight points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots in the first quarter. The Pistons led 28-16 after a quarter in Game 1 and were ahead 28-22 through one quarter of Game 2.

Wallace is averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the series while shooting 48 percent, up significantly across the board from his regular-season totals of 12.3, 7.2 and 42.

“Sheed’s been unbelievable,” Saunders said. “He’s played these first two games better than he played last year in the playoffs. Defensively, he’s been phenomenal. Offensively, he’s gone inside, he’s gone outside, he’s gone mid-range where we’ve used him against the zone. He’s kept his head.”

“Sheed has been setting the tone,” Tayshaun Prince said. “He’s been shooting the 3-pointer well to open the gaps up for us. The first quarter has been good for us and Rasheed has been stepping up in the first quarter.”

A Game 3 win isn’t solely dependent on another hot start or another big game from Wallace, of course, but it sure wouldn’t hurt. The Pistons know that they’re going to get Orlando’s best shot – or at least the Magic’s best attempt at a best shot – in the opening minutes of Game 3. And they know Orlando’s home crowd will be as raucous as it will ever get early in that game.

But they also know that if they can withstand that initial emotional wave – and not only withstand it, but perhaps repel it – the spirits of both the team and the crowd could be broken.

“We know they’re going to come out with a lot of energy,” Hunter said. “We know they’re going to come out and try to make big runs. We just have to withstand all of that and play our game and stay focused.”

The longer the Pistons hang around, the greater the sense of unease in Orlando’s building. The Magic are acutely aware of Detroit’s resume and capacity for playing the fourth quarter of a playoff road game without exhibiting so much as a nervous tic.

“On the road, you’ve got to take care of business in every category – limit turnovers, keep those guys from second and third opportunities,” Prince said. “We’ve been a great road team and I feel we can continue to do it.”

As long as they don’t have to wait too long for a table at the Cheesecake Factory.