I'm guessing you guys are also Lakers fans, but I must say, I'm pulling
for the Spurs on this one?
Why? It's certainly not because I have any particular fondness for the
Spurs. They've been contentious rivals for years, and under normal
circumstances, I wouldn't want them anywhere near an NBA Title.
But against the Detroit Pistons (and the Miami Heat had the Heat
advanced to the finals), the Spurs are the lesser of two evils.
The Lakers and Spurs have taken turns eliminating each other from the
Finals in recent years. Discounting 1995, when neither the Lakers nor
the Spurs were Finals ready (it was an upset when we took them as far
as we did in '95), the Spurs swept the Lakers out of the Western
Conference Finals in '99. No biggie. That was the lockout-shortened
season, and the Lakers just didn't have all their pieces in place yet
anyway. The Lakers eliminated the Spurs in glorious fashion in '01
(most satisfying playoff performance by Lakers in recent memory), and
also dispatched them in style in '02. The Spurs got us in '03, but we
returned the favor in '04 with Fisher's .04 - our last hurrah of the
Shaq/Kobe era. That means that in recent history, the Lakers have been
3-2 against the Spurs in elimination situations, with the Lakers having
prevailed most recently. Moreover, although they're pesky rivals, the
Spurs (other than possibly Bruce Bowen) are nice guys and clean players
that are hard to *really* work up much hate for. You hate them after
they eliminate the Lakers from the playoffs, or maybe during the
playoff series, but it's hard to hold a lasting grudge against the
Spurs.
The Detroit Pistons is a different story. They swept the Lakers in '89
after Magic Johnson and Byron Scott both went down with hamstring
injuries, and they humiliated the Lakers *last* year. Moreover, the
Pistons have that Bad Boy/thug reputation that makes them easy to
dislike anyway (if you happen to not be one of the team's fans).
Finally, since direct revenge for '89 and '04 isn't in the Lakers'
foreseeable future (by the time the Lakers return to title contention,
the Pistons likely will have fallen out of it again), vicarious revenge
through the Spurs is probably as close as we're going to get.
So, for now only... go Spurs!