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AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Richard Hamilton was finally guarded by Ron Artest for an entire game.
And it worked — for a quarter.
The Defensive Player of the Year held Hamilton to one point in the first quarter, but Hamilton finished with 21 to lead the Detroit Pistons past Indiana 69-65 Tuesday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.
“Being able to play for a world title is crazy,” Hamilton said with a smile he didn’t try to hide.
The Pistons will go on the road for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Beat L.A.! Beat L.A!” the crowd at The Palace chanted following the final buzzer.
After the game, with red, white and blue confetti flickering and fluttering in the air, Hamilton hugged Pacers star Reggie Miller, who was a basketball role model for the shooting guard.
“He just said, ’Keep going,”’ Hamilton said.
Hamilton never seems to stop, as Artest found out chasing Hamilton as he ran tirelessly all over the court and around screens. Miller had been the primary defender against Hamilton previously in the series.
“I wish I would’ve. ... I don’t know,” Artest said. “He just played great.”
Hamilton was 7-for-15 from the field and 7-for-8 from the line. His teammates were just 20-for-67 from the field and 4-for-7 from the line.
“In the second half I slowed down, and I started hitting some shots,” said Hamilton, who missed just two of seven shots after halftime.
The Pistons didn’t have a scorer in double figures until Hamilton’s two free throws gave him 10 with 3:26 left in the third quarter, and pulled Detroit within six.
Heading into the game, the Pistons were 0-6 when trailing after three quarters in the playoffs.
Hamilton made sure the trend didn’t hold.
Artest may have been overcome by frustration when he put his forearm in Hamilton’s face with 3:57 left and was called for a flagrant foul.
Hamilton, who wears a plastic face mask to protect a nose that was broken twice this season, got up and made two free throws to put the Pistons ahead — for the first time — 61-59.
“It certainly had an impact,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It was a tough call.”
With Artest chasing him a couple minutes later, Hamilton’s basket gave Detroit a 65-61 lead.
Hamilton scored at least 20 points for the 28th time in 35 playoff games with the Pistons, who acquired him from Washington two years ago for Jerry Stackhouse.
“We’d be lost without Rip and we’d probably be home by now without him,” Corliss Williamson said.
The Pistons’ latest series-ending win allows them to take another step in the playoffs, just as they have the previous two seasons.
In 2002, Detroit advanced to the second round for the first time since 1991. The next season, the Pistons made it to the conference finals, then fired Carlisle and hired Larry Brown.
“We had gone as far as we were going to go,” Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said. “That team was not going to come back this year and beat Milwaukee, New Jersey and Indiana. I knew that. That’s why it was time to shake that team up.”
Brown has Detroit in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1990, the year the Bad Boys won their second straight title.
“Coach Brown has done an excellent job from Day One, doing everything possible to get us where we’re at right now,” Hamilton said.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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