The nice thing about a best-of-seven series is that, eventually, the better team prevails.

We saw that theory in action on Tuesday night, when both the Spurs and Pistons rolled to one-sided victories that snapped 2-2 deadlocks. The outcomes were hardly surprising despite the tie in games, as both San Antonio (+26) and Detroit (+14) had outscored their opponents badly through the first four games.

While it seems likely that each series will come to a close tonight, both the Sonics and Pacers still have reason to hope. We’ll start with the San Antonio-Seattle series, which is clearly the more interesting of the two.

For the Sonics, the big mystery is why they didn’t go small sooner after halftime in Game 5. Seattle began the game in a daze as the Spurs raced out to an early lead, but that changed once Nate McMillan went to a small ball lineup in the second quarter. Using a makeshift lineup that had Damien Wilkins at power forward, Ray Allen at small forward, and Antonio Daniels at shooting guard, the Sonics outscored San Antonio 25-19 over the final 9:27 of the second quarter to tie the game at the half.

At the start of the third quarter, however, Seattle seemed to forget what had been successful in the first half. What the Sonics did is all too common in the NBA: There seems to be some kind of code among coaches that regardless of what happens in the first 24 minutes, they have to begin the second half with the same five players who started the game. In this case, McMillan followed that rule right down the toilet. He ignored the effectiveness of his smaller lineup and began the second half with his usual five. Predictably, the Spurs dominated – just as they had in the first quarter.

By the time McMillan finally got Wilkins back into the game, the Sonics trailed by 13 points … and they lost by 13, 103-90. For the evening, the Sonics were +6 with the small lineup and -19 the rest of the time. The Sonics had been similarly effective with that lineup in Game 4. Thus, if Seattle is without Rashard Lewis again in Game 6, it’s imperative that McMillan go small early and often. Otherwise, the Sonics can start unpacking their golf clubs.

In contrast, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made a decisive move that worked out much better. He reinserted Manu Ginobili into the starting lineup, and Ginobili responded with a brilliant effort, scoring 39 points and handing out six assists. The irony is that Popovich’s logic in making the switch had more to do with Tony Parker than with Ginobili.

During Seattle’s 101-89 win in Game 4, the Sonics put Luke Ridnour on Brent Barry and had the taller Antonio Daniels guard Parker. Daniels harassed Parker into a 5-for-13, four-turnover effort, and Popovich didn’t want to see a repeat. By starting Ginobili instead of Barry, the Spurs forced Daniels to guard Ginobili (Ridnour is too small for that matchup) and put Ridnour on Parker.

Theoretically, that should have made life easier for Parker, but it didn’t. He played worse, shooting 4-for-13 and scoring just 11 points. Perhaps Ridnour had nothing to do with it – no doubt Monsieur Parker was distracted by reports of Eva Longoria canoodling with “Star Wars” lead Hayden Christiansen in Cannes. (And in Parker’s own country, no less! Sacre bleu!)

But even without an improvement from Parker, Ginobili’s return as a starter made sense. One of the reasons for starting Barry in the first place was that he tends to play much better as a starter, but he was bad enough in Games 3 and 4 to have folks wondering if he was still secretly on the Sonics’ payroll. Meanwhile, bringing Ginobili off the bench meant the Spurs’ second-best player was seeing fewer minutes. The trade-off only helped the Spurs if it could bring about improved play from Barry, and it didn’t.

Thus, the agendas are clear for both sides heading into Game 6. The Sonics need to go small sooner and get the big men to help more when Ginobili runs a screen-and-roll. The Spurs need to get Parker’s head back into the game and find a way to get some production from Barry. My guess is that the Spurs will be more successful with their to-do list and finish off the series.

Like Seattle, Indiana must face rapidly diminishing playoff prospects. Things looked promising after the Pacers took a 2-1 lead in the series, but since then, reality has hit them like a ton of bricks. With star forward Jermaine O’Neal limited by a shoulder injury, the Pacers are utterly incapable of scoring.

It doesn’t help that Indiana insists on running play after play for O’Neal despite his wayward shooting (35% for the postseason). Unfortunately, Rick Carlisle’s offense doesn’t offer many alternatives. Indiana’s other top three scorers haven’t been awash in accuracy, either: Stephen Jackson and Reggie Miller are shooting 41%, while Jamaal Tinsley is at 39%. Choose your poison, coach.

In short, Detroit should be able to close things out fairly easily in Game 6, unless you subscribe to the theory that the law of averages will catch up to Indiana’s shooters.

With an apparently anemic offense going up against such an impressive defense, Indiana has suffered prolonged scoring droughts in all five games of the series. On Tuesday night, they went over 10 minutes without making a basket while Detroit went on a 30-4 third-quarter rampage to blow the game open. Expect more of the same tonight.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be worth watching, however. The fourth quarter may not provide much drama on the court, but it will be the swan song for one of the best guards of the past decade, Reggie Miller.

While his status as a great player is perhaps over hyped, it’s not hard to understand why fans admire Miller so much. Between his intelligence in drawing fouls and getting himself open, his amazing longevity, and his utter fearlessness in taking big shots, Miller has been fascinating to watch for the past two decades. Considering how many of Miller’s best moments were authored in the Garden, it wouldn’t hurt to stand up in your living room and add to the applause when Miller checks out of Conseco Fieldhouse tonight.