NBA Finals Notebook

By GREG BEACHAM

AP Sports Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - If you thought the festivities and musical numbers before Game 1 of the NBA Finals ran a bit long, you weren't alone. Players from both clubs were a bit surprised by the snail's pace of the series opener.

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The pregame production included Alanis Morissette singing the national anthem and Will Smith performing his new single, ``Switch,'' with a group of dancers. With that much star power moving on and off the court, the game didn't tip off until approximately 8:23 p.m. local time.

``I was amazed when I heard that Will Smith was performing,'' Robert Horry said. ``I thought it would be at halftime. ... It takes a while to get that much stuff on and off the court. I guess that's part of how they sell the games these days.''

The NBA has featured musical acts before and during games for several years, and the teams took it in stride. What's more, Smith's appearance allowed the Spurs to crack jokes at the expense of Horry, who bears a striking resemblance to the rapper-turned-actor.

``We thought he was doing double duty last night,'' Brent Barry said. ``He did the opening rap, and then he was going to play 25 minutes for us.''

The teams made up for lost time when the game finally began. The defensive-minded clubs' tendencies toward long possessions kept things moving despite the extra-long timeouts of finals games, and a lengthy halftime show featuring Canadian rocker Bryan Adams.

Neither team would use the delays as an excuse - not for San Antonio's slow start, and not for the Pistons' fourth-quarter struggles.

``It ran long, but it isn't an excuse for what we did,'' Detroit's Antonio McDyess said. ``Both teams had to wait around. But it was definitely long.''

The game ended in 2:34 - longer than nearly any regular-season game, but not exorbitantly lengthy. Plenty of additional differences were noticed by the players who hadn't been to the finals before.

``There's a lot better-looking people in the front row,'' Barry said with a laugh. ``It's much more chaotic in this round, but it's up to us to keep our focus.''

Game 2 will feature Kelly Clarkson singing the national anthem by satellite from the Persian Gulf, where she's on a USO tour, and Stevie Wonder will perform before Game 3 in Detroit.

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FROSTY WALLACE: A day after his technical foul preceded the Spurs' decisive fourth-quarter run in Game 1, Ben Wallace was doing his best to forget it.

Wallace was called for a blocking foul on Manu Ginobili with 10:23 to play. The subsequent technical for throwing his headband helped to kick-start San Antonio's 19-4 run.

Though the NBA's defensive player of the year finished with seven rebounds and three blocked shots, everybody wanted to know Friday whether Wallace felt his frustration had hurt the Pistons.

``We never got frustrated,'' Wallace said. ``We got outworked before that, and we got outworked after that.''

When asked if the foul was a turning point, Wallace replied: ``Next question.''

Wallace has lost his temper at the SBC Center before. On March 25, 2004, he was called for a loose-ball foul on Malik Rose with 6:08 to play - and after he argued with referee Steve Javie, he was ejected from the Pistons' 84-75 loss.

Javie also worked Game 1.

``I don't know. I don't think they like me here,'' Wallace said.

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DICE ROLLED: Antonio McDyess thinks he worked too hard for too long to perform so poorly in his first trip to the NBA Finals.

The hard-luck power forward went 1-for-8 and scored just two points in Game 1. His poor shooting was the biggest reason Detroit's bench managed just eight points behind its struggling starters in one of the lowest-scoring finals performances in NBA history.

McDyess, picked up in the offseason to provide depth for the defending champions, was frustrated and embarrassed - but he believes the Pistons were a bit exhausted from their grueling seven-game Eastern Conference finals victory over Miami.

``It was ugly. Our legs weren't there,'' McDyess said. ``We weren't as energized as their guys were. In the second half, we just ran out of gas. I talked to a couple of guys, and they were tired also. I thought it was only me at first.''

McDyess thought about retiring last season after years of injuries, but joined the Pistons for a chance at a championship.

Even acknowledging frustration is unusual with the Pistons, who famously love to claim nothing bothers them - not a 3-2 series deficit in the conference finals, and certainly not an early loss in San Antonio. Though McDyess might be the Pistons' most important reserve, he doesn't have the same confidence yet.

``I worry, because they've got a ring and I don't,'' he said with a grin. ``I just want what they've got.''

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