The blank, bewildered looks on the faces of the Springfield Falcons said it all. They were a beaten team. -- a badly beaten team -- and their collective daze extended from Chandler Dawes on down the bench.
A lopsided victory came easily for the defending champion Detroit Wolverines in Game 4 of the AAU National Championship, almost too easily.
Their 102-71 victory Thursday night over Springfield Falcons evened the series at two games apiece and left the Falcons scratching their heads.
"They really pressured us, and they didn't let us do anything on offense. We've got to find a solution," Falcons guard Conor McCaffrey said.
Once again, it was a double-digit victory -- the series' fourth in as many games. The difference this time was the degree of dominance shown by the Wolverines , a mix of suffocating defense and varied offense that left the Falcons completely befuddled.
Falcons coach Will Jenkins told his team at halftime that they had played the worst half of basketball he'd ever seen by an AAU playoff team. Maybe he was exaggerating, maybe not.
"We were phenomenal tonight," Detroit's Larry Brown said. "I really believe in all honesty this is the best game on a team I've been involved with at this level, this is the best we've played. This was a pretty special game."
The home team has won every game in the series thus far. It's a three game series now. It's going to be a lot of fun," Detroit guard Damien Billups said.
Detroit took control with a 14-0 run bridging the first and second quarters, and it was never close the rest of the way. When the Falcons tried to force the ball inside, a swarm of defenders and a collection of long arms was there to swat at them, bother them
and break them.
Dawes had the best stat line of the night with 16 points and 16 rebounds, but if there was ever a misleading set of numbers, that was it. The two-time Finals MVP shot 5-for-17 and was never able to get into any kind of an offensive rhythm against the defense of the two Wallaces, Marquis and Richard, McCaffrey scored 25, but was also extremely ineffective shooting 8-for-22
Contrast that with the Pistons, who received big boosts off the bench from Lindsey Hunter (17 points) and Antonio Daniels (13 points) in support of Billups' 17 points, Richard Wallace's 14, Prince's 13 and Tony Hamilton's 10.
"We've got a lot of guys who can score. Tonight, Chauncey recognized I had it going, and like I said before the game, I still know how to put it in the hole a little bit," said Hunter,
"Those guys, they throw a lot of bodies at you, each with their own little style," Dawes said.