Piston swarm Pacers for 3-2 series lead

The Detroit Pistons played like champions at home with swarming, relentless defense and unselfish offense.

Ben Wallace had 19 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks to lead Detroit to an 86-67 victory Tuesday night over the Indiana Pacers, and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The defending NBA champs can close out the pesky Pacers on Thursday night in Indianapolis.

The Pistons held Indiana without a field goal for a stretch of 10:39 -- including the first 6:26 of the second half -- turning a tie game into a 22-point advantage. The 30-4 run by Detroit over the second and third quarters turned the game into a rout.

"I think it's probably one of our best performances," Wallace said. "When we play like that, we're a tough team to beat."

Of the previous 123 best-of-seven series tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 advanced 103 times (84 percent).

"This is going to be a true test of our will," Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal said. "If we can't win a game on our home court, we better be ready for next season."

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle used all four of his second-half timeouts in the third quarter, trying to slow down the Pistons.

It didn't work.

The outcome was a foregone conclusion by the fourth quarter, but the final few minutes provided a couple of oddly entertaining moments.

League rules require that each team calls a timeout in the fourth quarter, but because Carlisle didn't have any left, the Pacers were called for a technical foul with 2:17 left.

"I've never seen that. It blew me away," Pistons coach Larry Brown, whose NBA coaching career started in 1976, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I asked (official) Joe Crawford if he's ever seen it, and he said he hadn't in his 28 years."

Seldom-used Darko Milicic, the second overall pick by the Pistons in 2003, made the technical foul shot.

"It wasn't that big of a deal," Carlisle said of the quick second-half timeouts. "But at the time, I felt like if we were going to have a chance to stay in it, we needed to stop the game."

O'Neal had 14 points and Stephen Jackson scored 12 for the Pacers. Reggie Miller was held to eight points -- his third single-digit scoring game of the series -- and Jamaal Tinsley scored just two.

Tayshaun Prince had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Pistons, Chauncey Billups and Richard Hamilton each scored 13 and Rasheed Wallace added 10.

Detroit's reserves -- led by Antonio McDyess and Carlos Arroyo -- keyed a 15-2 run late in the first half, giving the Pistons a 42-33 lead.

"Things kind of snowballed from there," Carlisle said.

The Pistons' starters -- all back from last year's title run -- put Indiana away with a 15-0 burst to start the second half.

Spurs 103, SuperSonics 90

Manu Ginobili and Nazr Mohammed made sure the San Antonio Spurs didn't have to sweat it out in the closing seconds of this Game 5.

Manu Ginobili celebrated his return to the starting lineup with a career playoff-best 39 points and Mohammed scored nine of his 19 points during a 17-3 third-quarter run, sending the Spurs to a home victory over the SuperSonics and putting them within a victory of the Western Conference finals.

The cozy win was a relief to San Antonio fans remembered the Spurs' last two pivotal fifth games of the second round. Playing the Lakers both times, the Spurs won on a Los Angeles miss in the closing seconds two years ago then lost last year on Derek Fisher's amazing buzzer-beater.

Ray Allen led Seattle with 19 points, but he was practically invisible in the first and third quarters -- the ones coach Nate McMillan called "the most important quarters of our season" prior to tipoff.

Allen was scoreless in the opening period and his only point in the third was a free throw with 4.2 seconds left. He missed three foul shots that quarter after being 55-of-59 from the line in the postseason.

Sonics forward Rashard Lewis missed his second straight game because of a sprained left big toe. He may return Thursday night for Game 6 in Seattle, when the Sonics will be trying to extend their season.

The good news for Seattle fans is that the home team has won every game this series. The bad news: Coming into Tuesday night, Game 5 winners have won 103 of the 123 seven-game series that were tied at 2. San Antonio has followed the trend each of the last two years, with both series ending in Game 6.

Tim Duncan had 20 points and 14 rebounds for San Antonio, while Tony Parker was 4-of-13 for just 11 points on his 23rd birthday.

Ginobili is San Antonio's energizer, but he'd been doing it off the bench since the Spurs lost the playoff opener. He started all 74 games he'd played the regular season and coach Gregg Popovich downplayed the importance of the move.

Starting again, Ginobili was 10-of-15 from the field and 15-of-17 from the line. He also had six assists and four rebounds. Mohammed was 8-of-10 with seven rebounds while also posting his career playoff-high in points. He had just 19 points in the series coming into Game 5.

Antonio Daniels scored 17 points for Seattle and Nick Collison scored 14 off the bench. Luke Ridnour had 12, Jerome James 10 and Damien Wilkins nine, but the Sonics never led and were tied just once: 50-50 at halftime. They've led only once in the three games in San Antonio -- 4-2 in Game 2.

McMillan stressed the importance of a good start because the Sonics trailed by 12 and 13 after the first quarter of the first two games on the Spurs' court. Between the locker room and court, they must've forgotten.

Allen threw the ball out of bounds on the opening possession and Seattle missed its first seven shots. James had two fouls before the Sonics finally scored on a layup by Daniels with 7:49 left in the quarter. As bad as they played, though, they trailed just 7-2.

The Spurs led nearly the entire first half, but never by more than eight. It was 49-41 with 2:34 left until the break when Allen led a 9-1 run with two driving layups and a 3-pointer. Duncan missed three straight foul shots in that stretch and the game was tied at 50 at halftime.

San Antonio showed its aggressiveness from the start of the second half, with an immediate offensive rebound, then tight defense on Allen that produced a steal by Ginobili and two free throws for the Argentine. Another Seattle turnover led to a dunk by Mohammed and a timeout by McMillan.

The Sonics' next possession featured four misses before James made a jumper. Ginobili answered with a 3 and a few minutes later hit another, that one making it 67-53.

Seattle got within 80-75 with about 10 minutes left, but never got any closer. The lead was back to 10 on a Duncan jumper, then Ginobili fed Robert Horry for a dunk. Frustration got to the Sonics, with Damien Wilkins getting called for a flagrant foul when he slammed Ginobili down on a drive with 4:22 left. Seattle also picked up two technicals in the third quarter.

Notes: Ginobili and Mohammed combined for San Antonio's first 24 points of the third quarter. ... Dominique Wilkins, aka "The Human Highlight Film," had to be smiling when his nephew Damien faked Horry on a 3, then drove past several Spurs for a dunk that brought everyone on Seattle's bench to their feet. ... The Spurs had nine turnovers after committing 23 in Game 4.