The Pistons are in Boston

Statement game. Pistons 95 Boston 88

I just finished listening to an interview with Brian Windhorst who covers the Cavs for the Cleveland Plains Dealer.

For what it is worth he is almost postive that Dyess will be returning to the Pistons.

If we win tonight and finish this brutal 4 game stretch at 3-1 I will be very impressed.

Kwame needs to knock KG on his wallet put him out of the game.

That will make a real big statement

Let’s do this.

AI 3

http://www.justin.tv/psnk4

Gonna be a very tough game for the guys tonight coming off that energetic game last night and given Boston’s bigger frontcourt and D

Tough, sure, but a win.

And this is why we got AI.

Very good aggressive start. Strange being on the other side of these slow starts.

Mean D by Sheed on KG!

That was a really pretty pass.

Sorry Sheed but as far as Kwame goes

Hollywood Cake>>>> Coffee with no cream

Love that pass! Sheed for 3!

Kwa-may Brown taking the charge! So is he, like, our official starting centre now?

what a start..

13-2

“Kwa-may Brown taking the charge! So is he, like, our official starting centre now?”

Yeah, it looks permanent. Curry likes how it allows Sheed to go back to PF, and he pointed out how Amir’s speed isn’t as needed in the starting lineup with AI around.

It’s kind of funny how things work out.

Damn Ivy got Rondo’d….

Get him AI

My son calls Sheed “Rasheed Walrus”. Not a bad name really. Big. Loud. Ornery.

..Likes to flap around, has large ugly teeth, ball dont lie for either?

smart act job by KG there – u knew Sheed was going to put himself in a position to pick one up

stones look really serious tonight

wish they’d call that hook on pierce when he drives, it’s very annoying

PP… lovein’ it! Big teeth +1.

But we love Sheed, and we love walruses as well…

Yup.

Speaking of acting job, we just got a brutally late whistle on that Rondo foul on AI.

Sheeeeeed from deep!

what has gotten into sheed man?

Now thats getting aggressive Rip

Sheeeeeeeeeed!

I made Matt Watson a present – click here to see it!

Yah, is good so far

ROb G, is nice!

Now that’s rebounding

But that aint ball handling

GOOD D.

Rob G: Seamless integration into the background image! It’s almost like the ad was meant to be there in the first place.

BAD O.

GOOD REFLEXES BY SHEED THERE.

KG: So aggressive, he drinks 2 cups of Gatorade at a time.

@Garrett – a marriage made in marketing heaven! A heaven where they serve CC on the rocks, that is

Not a bad start at all.

Or marketing hell, depending on your perspective.

Side-note:
lol@ Leverage

Can I make a confession? I don’t really know how to say it….. and I wasn’t sure if this was the best time to say it…. but I really need to get it off my chest. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I guess I’ll just say it: I HATE THE CELTICS SO MUCH.

Nice to see Afflalo getting some credit on national TV. He’s been unreal for Detroit this year with some sick +/- numbers that come entirely on the defensive end. He’s like a stronger Michael Cooper.

(also Rob G: your GMU stuff sounds really interesting)

Garrett, we feel your pain. We really do. Feel free to speak openly and without fear of consequence. Just get it off your chest. Say what you have to say. Experience the catharsis. Breathe. We are here for you.

Did Max just air a FT?

Yuck.

Please don’t let Tony Allen have another good game against us. I hate him.

Glen Davis has the facial reactions of a female contestant on any Reality Game show. Seriously, what America’s Top Model shit was that Big Baby. Mouth all wide open like a disable child. Get it together

……..yes.

I hate the Celtics too. And I hate ESPN (not related to this game, but since were venting). And I hate TNT tonight. I want Blaha. And I dont want a story about the Celtics running their mouths, thats nothing new.

Scalabriene? Really Detroit, you gonna let them do that to you?

matt watson, your series of questions remind me of don rumsfeld. have the celtics beaten the pistons alot this past year? sure. do we still hope that the pistons can beat the celtics? of course. will we be disappointed again? maybe.

Time to free Amir!

Time to play some better interior D. Hey, Amir can do that.

pistons havent scored yet in the 2nd qtr? with the big 3 on the bench… ugh that’s really frustrating
i don’t wanna see a repeat of the last 2nd qtr, jesus

Boston is the defending NBA champions and has 3 Hall of Famers yet the thing that gets the fans out of their seats is Brian Scalabrine. Odd.

@Lucas:
Against the Celts? lol, go on then….

I hate it was crappy players do well against us. When I played ball, I used to get offended when someone crappy guarded me and I probably played even better than I normally did. I wouldn’t let some scrub show me up. Mind you, my game is reminiscent of Jeff Hornacek, but still.

Wonder if we’ll see Will By’em.

Scalabrine got tired of waiting to be picked at the rec and joined the Celtics instead.

JoeJoeJoe, it’s because he’s got red hair.

Definitely against the Celtics (whats he going to do… air a free throw and then let Boston get easy points in the paint?)

My game combines the tenacity of Jeff Van Gundy with the physicality of Stan Van Gundy.

The NBA Cares: Where the fans not really giving a shit happens.

/Hellbound

Leon Powe is an intelligent, in control, more disciplined version of Jason Maxiell

Breathe Stones. Breathe.

@joejoejoe:

Sounds like you may spontaneously combust just wathching a 7 game series.

@Forty – it’s hard not to like Powe

Forty, don’t you mean Leon Powww? Phil Jackson’s really high on him.

Dos Equis amber is one fine beer. A 30 year Canadian Club would certainly be finer, but still.

I mean all things considered its not a disaster. Yeah we were up big, but of course you knew the Celts were gonna comeback.

I too like Powe.

Is Tony Allen going to put his name on the Glen-Davis-Kendrick-Perkins-Tony-Allen Cup again?

I like Powe almost as much as I don’t like Perkins.

My game is like Sheed’s minus the talent.

I have more size and strength then most people that I ever match up with, but I’m decent at shooting the 3 and I play like a 2 trapped in a 5’s body. Nobody likes it either.

Poo.

Even though I hate House, he’s money from 3.

Leon Powe is good. He beats paying a 31 year old James Posey $25M for 4 years.

Holy shit, that was an impressive 3! Im not even mad!

dammit

Ummm. I don’t like any of this. Tay got Tayed.

why… whyyyy… whhhhyyyyyy

Fuck what do u do when they are better?

Thanks Prince, instead of being down only 4 the team is down by 11.

They’re not better. Just tighter. Let it develop.

Cause its Boston

Yeah, Prince, stop shooting that negative 7 pointer…

Doug Collins is whacked. How is Prince supposed to take it harder to the hoop when he’s airborne? Once you are in the air you can’t generate more momentum and Prince was 5 feet from the hoop when he got blocked. Next time I guess Tay should wear shoes with afterburners.

We all need to relax… with a tumbler of CC

Collins criticizes Tayshaun for not going strong to the basket, but when he did earlier in the quarter he didn’t get the call. This is a situation where not going the basket is a symptom of the way the game is being called (on one side of the court), not the other way around.

Their bench is better than most starting lineups…

The big three have combined for 6 points right now. They combined for only 32 points when they beat us last time. Boo.

this game is almost an exact replica of last night’s first half.

hope it’s an exact replica of last night’s 2nd half as well.

or i don’t. whatever. (reverse psychology still in full effect.)

Stuck is out of sync. We need…………….. BYNUM!

Stuckey has been a disaster today. He starts out with Pierce on him and should attack immediately. He does not. He finally gets to the rack and picks up a bad charge (come on, if you don’t think Boston’s bigs are going to step in front of you, you haven’t watched much film – gotta dump that off to a big or kick it). Then he completely stops being aggressive.

i understand that stuckey’s game is about attacking the rim… but that doesnt mean he cant pass the fucking ball… he holds the ball for entire possessions it seems… i dunno

Well as long as we dont lose by 20….

/Projectz’d

About time Prince dunked something.

Calm down peoples. If opposition bench shoots 66% for the game on the road you are going to lose against Memphis or Boston or St. Mary’s. Most benches end up cooling off a bit.

Bynum vs. Garnett, round 2. Bring it.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM TAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Curry, steer the ship! No Amir? No Hermann? Stucky looks like garbage, so where’s Will Bynum?

Kwam takes it!

Q-Brown! Yeah baby!

Coffee no Cream!

Wow. That was a really good move by Kwame.

Kwame taking it to the rim like that? He needs to do that EVERY TIME. He’s so big and fast.

The announcers are sucking on Kevin Garnett like Jenna Jameson in most of her porn videos.

as much as there are those of us who overhype amir, we are as guilty of doing the same with stuckey. kid has had horrible moments this season thus far. high, high peaks and low, low valleys with him.

That was poor D Etroit Pisons….

I’d love to see a stat that says how many lay-ups teams get against us. It seems like our defenders trail guys for an entire play…….until he gets to the rim. Then they part and there’s always a clear path with nobody jumping or stepping in the way.

Afflalo has been the best young player this year for Detroit.

Bynum. Where are you?

If Kevin Garnett is so great then how come he hasn’t had a Championship until he’s on a team with 4 other all-stars? Face it he suck. He’s not that great or dominant.

Herrmann?

@Jackdutch:
He was like that last year. I mean he’s still a developing player, he hanst even played a full NBA Season yet. Hence why I was a bit suprised that Joe D thought he was ready to take the next step without being guided by Billups. Unless he thought, Iverson could mentor him on another aspect of his game with the scoring.

Garrett – I think we are way too aggressive with going for blocked shots. In today’s NBA the money play is the charge, not the block. It’s not “gritty Detroit defense” but it’s effective. It has the advantage of always getting you the ball and adding a PF to the other team. That’s basically what Boston does with their second string bigs – and suddenly you can’t drive.

HB has a point. Though “suck” (sic) is obviously too strong.

Here we go, Rip vs. Ray begins

Yes.. move the ball!

Is Boston exempt from the 3 second defensive rule?

AI take this game over. Right now. Do it. Right now. Blow up.

Forty: I definitely agree — drawing charges is where it’s at. We just seem to part and leave the rim wide open after playing pretty good D all possession.

Pierce is an elite player. People don’t give him enough credit. I don’t know if he has a bad rep from being on some truly stinky Team USAs or what but Pierce is damn good.

Also, Rip seems a tiny bit frustrated with his new ’I’m the offense on the second unit’ role. It was only a few weeks ago that he was the offense on the first unit!

This game is looking more like the Cavs game from last night. How did that turned out?

lol@ Charles knocking Wade out of his Top 5 for Yao.

Thats probably the new commercial

agree, joejoejoe. spellcheck has been a revelation. i can see that kid starting by 2010.

About Bynum….i was browsing through some videos the other day…and in like 2 of them he had a nickname “Will Da Thrill Bynum”…i kinda like it.
Give him some minutes!

Why wouldn’t they lead the league in techs? They always get a raw deal from the refs. That finals against the Lakers? Puh-lease.

The guys have no plan on offense. Tay is struggling, Rodney is stuggling.
We are not winning this game. And let me call it in advance: Fuck you Boney if you think otherwise.

What’s up with that shove from Perkins on Maxiell?

Celtics is getting cocky aren’t they?

Boy could Perkins be more of a dickhead?

Garrett, that mother## got a tech out of it.

despite the horrid, horrid 2nd qtr… we’re still in it..,. but what an ugly 2nd quarter… let’s hope for a comeback like last nite’s game

We’re fortunate to be down 9. I hope we have another second half in us like the one last night.

For those of you watching the feed at http://www.justin.tv/psnk4, check out the photo of Tracy McGrady in the banner at the top! Haha! Is that T-Mac or Beetlejuice?

9 points down isn’t awful.

@ Garrett:

I mean its Perkins, what do you expect.The guy stays looking like someone took his ice cream.

Max has been brickin’ shots too, that doesn’t help

we were down 11 last night at the half. it’s a carbon copy!

HB: Yeah, glad the refs caught it (it was a pretty late whistle for the tech). But it just seemed so……out of nowhere. And Max didn’t even react to it.

Perkins learned all his bad sportsmanship from the king: Garnett. I think it’s funny that a guy like Rasheed is an asshole while KG is everything that’s right with sport. Rasheed is whiny, but he doesn’t try to show guys up or do all the cheap shot bullshit that KG does. Did anyone see KG running down the floor clapping in Jose Calderon’s face the other day? He’s such a poor sport it’s almost comical.

9 points = no biggie

Dammit, why does Kwame have the highest +/- by a mile?? It doesn’t help my case for whining about his minutes every night when he goes and plays well like a big jerk.

Garrett – if you watch the replay, Max walked towards him and was yapping

Forty – but he yells! Hes so intense! Hes passionate about everything!!!

Garrett – I think they cropped out part of T-Mac’s noggin in that photo. T-Mac doesn’t usually look like a Sam Cassell with a shrunken head.

Didn’t Garnett and McDice got into it a couple of years ago? Garnett is a thug. He’s no great player that the announcers been talking and sucking on his balls all night.

They’re really pushing this Yao/Chuck/Wade commercial – that’s some great marketing right there, a bit like plugging a delicious ice cold Canadian Club

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I HATE all of the after-the-whistle stuff Garnett (and now the rest of the Celtics) do. Blocks shots, pulling them out of the rim, slapping the ball away. Some ref needs to T them up one day for unsportsmanlike conduct.

@ Forty:
Im glad you mentioned that KG-Sheed comparison, cause someone had a great article about that during the ECFs last year. I cant remember who (Maybe Stein on ESPN) but it was basically about attitude and caring on the court and how they arent always mutual and talked about there careers over time since the 95 draft.

Man I want what the TNT crew is eating. I just ate but I want a helping of that.

@HB that Mac and Cheese looks tasty

Where’s Boney at? We need some acerbic comments

Rob G, damn I want them fried chickens.

HB – I bet it would go down well with some smooth Canadian Club.

I think this is the restaurant that served Kenny and Chuck the food.

http://www.beautifulrestaurant-atlanta.com/

I had something like that for lunch.

Well there’s no comparison on the court between the three main PFs from that era: TD > KG > RW. Gap pretty big between all of them IMO. I just hate the after the whistle horseshit, swatting shots away, pounding your chest, cheapshotting Zaza Pachulia in garbage time when your team is about to advance, punching Bogut in the face, spiking McDyess with the ball, etc. Amare does a lot of the same chest pounding but manages to be kind of endearing and not trying to embarrass the opposition. Garnett manages to just be a complete douchebag. An incredibly gifted douchebag, but a douchebag nonetheless.

Canadian Club is the only whisky for the DBB squad. Smooth. Refined. Like our basketball analysis.

Get the win baby!

Let’s do this!

We are moving in slow motion.

Sheed two bad passes in 30 seconds.

What happened to Ray Allen? Is he on the court tonight?

AI got schooled!

I spoke too soon. There he is!

The whole team just got schooled.

WTF?

Boy Rasheed really dogged it on two consecutive plays. Made no attempt to rotate to Rondo (despite the fact that he was covering Perkins – there’s no way you stay home there) and then little attempt to contest with the Allen run-out.

Ambush!!!

Sheed looked lazy there.

Liberate Amir!

KG scolded that Angry Turkey!

Kwame Brown looks like a meaty Cliff Robinson with his new short cut.

AI = Absolutely Invisible.

This is not a night of magic.

We ran the Washington Generals offense on that play.

Ummm defense?

Rasheed looks completely disinterested. And Rondo is mollesting Iverson.

Didnt we use to have a high energy starter that played hard and helped us get fast break points?

As Doug Collins might soon say, our body language looks terrible out there.

Bynum? AA? Amir? Hermann?

C’mon MC is there a method to your madness?

Mix it up!!!!!

Bynum? AA? Amir? Hermann?

Haha! Doug Collins is so much like Tobias Funke it’s not even funny. Quote of the night? “How would you like to be Kevin Garnett’s wife tonight?” Ha!

We either rule.

Or we suck.

No middle ground.

We have to get Rasheed off the floor – he doesn’t give a fuck right now

Our pick and roll defense is terrible right now.

Curry needs to snap and yank these guys.

This game is Phoenix 2.0.

Rashthreed. Needs to leave the game.

Sheed rather hug Garnett than kicking his ass right now. TRADE RASHEED.

@Garrett; Collins isn’t an analyst, nor a therapist – he’s an analrapist

If I was Michael Curry I would pull all the regulars and scream out SUMMER LEAGUE BABY!

Too bad Max wasn’t in there to absolutely CREAM Garnett on that after-the-whistle alley-oop they just did. I would have loved to see that.

Ug. I guess the good news is that this loss is all about the Pistons not showing up and not at all about Boston being a better team. On the other hand, that’s the most frustrating thing about this game. The Pistons that played out west would be womping Boston.

Joe D should have put Rasheed in that trade package with Billups to Denver. McDyce is shorely missed. At least he gives a damn. Rasheed is just standing there watching.

Boston is better now, no doubt. I still want to see how we gel as the year goes on and especially in a seven game series.

And now I shut the TV…

Seriously if they aren’t going to cover and save my $5 bet (seriously, a 7 point spread??), at least free Amir and Bynum.

Ugh so frustrating. Kwame has been the only bright spot. And what does Amir have to do to get minutes? He was tremendous against Boston in the first game. He should have been in for Sheed as soon as Rasheed stopped trying.

Now guys, I realize that all of the Canadian Club that we have been enjoying has been fantastic and really hard to put down… but we dont need any more trades. We’re going to be just fine.

egad. shut it down, boys. live to fight another day.

the only thing this could now be good for is for curry to analyze this tape and find an incredible game plan that would serve us well in a 7 game series. analyze!

What’s this? Stomp the Pistons Night in Boston?

SUMMER LEAGUE! Get me some Amir!

Does Curry have a daughter that he caught Amir nailing (after lending her some fine Canadian Club) or something?

JackDutch, good point. But right now all of us want the Pistons to win and not lose badly.

This game reminds me of one time when I went to the liquor cabinet, opened a bottle of CC… but when I went to pour a glass, it was empty! Goddamn!

I’ve got a trade: Stuckey, Maxiell, and a salary filler for Devin Harris.

JD: The game plan to beat Boston in a series is just to give a damn. If the Pistons had bothered to show up for more than a quarter we’d be winning.

Man…the era is really over. Sorry folks, but greener are no where in sight.

And you wouldn’t believe how much this site has fallen off since that Sauce guy stopped posting…he had a certain edge that can’t be replaced.

Oh yeah, Canadian whiskey is garbage.

This game is the morning after too much Canadian Club…

@Forty, I’ve got a better trade.

TRADE EVERYONE. Including the coaching staff.

You know all I asked was that we didnt lose by 20. Thats all I wanted.

Fuck you Pistons. sigh…oh well like I said during the last Celts game, its a work in progress. Get back to me in Dec/Jan.

*greener pastures

Greeners can be found just about everywhere…

When Sheed is one day interviewing for head coaching jobs, if one of the questions is “How do you react to being down by 15 in the third quarter against a major conference rival,” and his response is “I stop giving a @#^&” I wonder what job he’ll get. My guess is the Milwaukee. He’d care three quarters longer than the players or fans.

I’m done for now. I can only watch so much basketball and I’d rather watch the first 12 minutes of the Lakers-Suns than the last 12 minutes of this disaster. The only positive from this game is the soul food restaurant in Atlanta I learned about at halftime.

This Celtics team is going to be a nightmare until we get a guard who can contain him on the dribble. And I have no idea why Stuckey can’t live in the paint with Pierce guarding him. It is beyond me.

My prediction was wrong. Sorry.

Really though.
We’re down 22 and we’ve only gone eight deep?

I know they say roll with the guys that got you there, but that’s when you’re winning.

HB- I know its hard, but put the CC down.

WLM- youre pessimistic bc you dont have any canadian club, very understandable.

sorry him = rondo

Also there was some nice Thursday night TV (for me at least) elswhere that kept my mind off this game.

BRING BACK FLIP1

…just kidding.

This game is disgusting. Rasheed is a wimp. No one showed up today. Detroit’s morning papers are going to to have a field day ripping them a new one.

im miserable… very miserable… we started off moiving the ball so well… then got selfish… everyone wants to do so much dribbling and be “d-wade” out there… it’s annoying… seems like only time we make passes is if we think it’ll show up on the boxscore as an assist… no swinging the ball around… waaaay too much dribbling, and running into people (cough cough stuckey)… he’s starting to annoy me… we need people to drive to the basket and not just take jump shots, but we still need to pass before we do that

Has anyone other than Kwame played well this game?

why do we always play like crap against the celtics?

@Lucas, only from my cold dead hands.

I wonder if Curry is going to crack some heads after this game. He is looking for attitude, and this is the worst attitude I’ve seen from the Pistons all season.

@Rick – Sure, Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen, KG…Powe’s been pretty good too.

When Stuckey’s playing this poorly, why the hell not Will Bynum?

Point well take Shinons.

By’em is in!

They freed Bynum tonight. YAY! 36 minutes late is better than never.

Oh, there he is.

Way to contest that shot Rasheed, that was beautiful, btw.

Playing without any heart is the worst offense you can commit. Sure, some days your shots don’t drop, but can always TRY.

Why is Sheed still in this game? Do we think he’s going to make 8 3 pointers in a row?

There are a few ways to beat Boston, and we are incapable of all of them. 1. Get a great player to break down their defense and create for teammates, destroying their defensive concept – this is how Cleveland beats them. 2. Make it rain from three and stretch their defense. 3. Overwhelm them with athleticism – this is how Atlanta bothered them, with a combination of Joe Johnson and method #1.

WTF? nothing is falling right now.

Work in progress fellas, work in progress. Team hasnt even practiced much with Iverson and we still managed to gets wins out of the Cavs and Lakers, so lets see how things turn out. Games like this certainly expose the one weakness we all felt was gonna rare its ugly head, but lets see what some extra work brings.

Having said all that, I think this is the first time in a long time Ive seen the Pistons lose this badly.

House just hit a 26-footer. I’m done.

Should Mike Curry watch or burn the tapes to this game?

Opinions anyone?

Hey, remember how Flip was horrible about making adjustments? Gee, I sure am glad that’s over with.

I still like the trade and the team. Plan A is working well for the Pistons on offense but the team is still new enough that when A doesn’t work they don’t really B in mind. That kind of adjustment and flexibility will come with time. Kwame Brown didn’t look awful tonight and if you add McDyess and a little (a lot) more effort the Pistons are right there with anybody in the league. I’m not going to pout because the team layed an egg in Boston after beating the Cavs and Lakers. It’s the NBA. Where flat stinkers happen.

Facing Boston is a bad time to not show up and not care. This is embarrassing.

@Garrett, me too. I’ve turned off my tv set. If it wasn’t so cold outside I would throw it out the window.

You guys are all a fantastic job making me feel at home here btw.

I think the Iverson trade made us a worse match-up for these guys. You have to have people on the floor who can take advantage of their gang rape you in the paint strategy. Iverson for three does not equal Billups for three. I would also love a guy like Harris who can D up Rondo and create in the paint…

That layup attempt was just sad.

I’m off to bed, someone post the final score which I’m sure someone would care.

Yay! We shut it down (officially)!

I wonder what AI thinks of this kind of play? He’s gotta be frustrated.

I find it depressing that the most the Boston crowd got into this game was Scalabrine hitting a long 2…

That one-handed maneuver was almost as pretty as he is.

Anyone else watch anything good on TV tonight? 30 Rock was funny.

Nice shot Maxiell.

I like slam dunk shots.

See, that’s the crap I hate about Amir. If you’re going to foul a guy on the shot, do something! Don’t slap an elbow and expect it to alter the shot! Where’s Boney when we need him?

The Office wasnt up to its standard, but it was still funny.

The fuck are the Celtics bench so enthusatic about? We get it, your winning.

Keegan – you have to care to give a hard foul…and no one seems to tonight

Curry got outcoached tonight. Doc controlled the tempo of this game with his subs. Stuckey has to learn to kick out after the penetration (or at least try to do it before he is trapped between two).

Oh yeah. How about another big who can shoot a midrange jumpshot. Maybe a guy who gives it his all whether we lead by 15 or trail by 15. Anyone like that available?

Forty: You’re overestimating Boston. Even more than the last game this is just us playing (very) bad. The only thing the Pistons are missing tonight is effort.

I like a good layup, with the and 1, because of a chintzy-assed foul on Amir.

On the plus side, I hear Lindsay Hunter still brings the effort.

Enthusiastic? They looked like they were about to get in a group brawl.

I’m watching last night’s Ultimate Fighter episode and it’s way less violent than the Celtics/Pistons massacre.

The Sports Gods are just doing this to me to make it fair when they give me my Michigan upset and Texas Tech domination saturday.

I get out of class, and I’m like “Oh boy, gotta get home and watch the rest of the game,” and BAM! we’re down 20.

Well, at least we can look forward to Joe picking up someone like Tony Delk or Dale Davis again, acting like it’ll make a damn bit of difference.

I generally try to stay positive, but this crap just annoys me.

YEAH BYNUM THROW IT DOWN

I love the announcer acting like he knows something about Walter Herrmann, that was cute.

LOL Bynum makes his poster dunk in the trash time.

Have to work with what youre given.

TNT has got to be kicking themselves for picking up this game. Yikes!

LOL Amir gets his poster in too.

Michael – they’ve beaten us 8 out of the last 10 times we’ve played them, right? Is it really fair at this point to say we just have to want it more? Certainly effort was a problem tonight, but part of the reason they weren’t trying is b/c Boston’s superiority sucked the life out of them.

MFWB!

Nice jumpshot - poor defense

Bring on Future Pistons Chris Bosh and that LeBron James guy!

Time for me to go back and watch the Twilight Zone with my wife. Maybe there Amir will get a little quality playing time.

And living in the west rocks. It’s only 8:42 – still have a chance to salvage this shitty night.

full time out at :51 FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not quite ready for prime time.

As Rob G would say, this was not a night of magic.

Maybe LL Cool J should throw that Old Spice Swagger Amir’s way.

This whole effort thing that Amir and Herrmann bring seems like it could have been useful earlier. I’d actually like to see more Herrmann and less Afflalo against Boston. Afflalo can’t handle Pierce. And there’s no one else for him to guard, is there? You guard Ray Allen with your team not an individual – it’s just about constant vigilance on the various pick and rolls.

Kwame experiment is working out pretty nicely, so it’s kind of hard for me to say I wish Amir took all his minutes…at this point I wish he took more Maxiell and Tay the 4 minutes…Maxiell has really been bad this season…

Also, Stuckey has to shake this funk off. We need more MFWB until he does (I love that I’ve done a complete 180 on Will and Kwame — what the hell do I know about this stupid game).

How come the Pistons look scared when they face the celtics…quick shots, silly fouls, shooting a lot of jumpers…Where’s the hard nosed, gutsy bad boys style of play when we played the cavs and lakers…im sure espn will make a feast out of this game! damn you JJ Adande and Chris Sheridan!

Even though it’s only November, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that this current incarnation of the Pistons just isn’t going to get it done if they meet up with the Celtics in the playoffs.

“And living in the west rocks. It’s only 8:42 – still have a chance to salvage this shitty night.”

An excellent point. Just don’t rely on any Canadian Club to assist you in the salvation.

Hey, Forty. Based on what I’ve seen from Detroit this season it’s certainly fair. Last game against Boston the Pistons had one awful quarter and outplayed Boston for the other three. As for tonight, the Pistons couldn’t go three possessions without making an unforced turnover, clanking an open shot, or standing around on defense. Those errors had nothing to do with Boston. The way they played tonight any team in the NBA would blow them out.

I really don’t see how more effort would put this team over the top in this matchup. There is such a glaring weakness at 2 key positions: Pierce vs Tay and Rondo vs AI. At what positions are we better than them? I’m really not seeing it.

We just have to hope that Dumars’ plan for that cap space comes to fruition. Otherwise we’ve already seen the peak of this team for the far foreseeable future.

We have a chance of coming out of the East though – I think we get the #2 seed and play the winner of Boston-Cleveland. Cleveland outscored Boston in the playoffs last year and looked much better than anyone else against the C’s. Now the Celtics are going to have to put Pierce and….Tony Allen??? on LeBron. That’s murder. Add Mo Williams’ three point shooting to the mix and you have a very tough match-up for Boston. I think Cleveland can beat them in a 7 game series. And I think we can beat Cleveland.

Certainly not saying it happens – the money bet is clearly Boston to win the East. But I wouldn’t be shocked to see us pull it out (unless we play Boston – which I think is a 5 or 6 game series).

Michael – would you say our inability to score in the paint against Boston is more an issue of our effort or their phenomenal defense?

Shooby – KG vs. Sheed is also advantage them. I’d marginally take Perkins over Kwame. And I’d take Ray Allen on their team over Rip Hamilton on ours. In general I prefer Rip, but head to head and with their current roles (Ray as run around ball screens on the wing and jack threes dude, Rip as…I don’t know what Rip’s role is right now), I’d take Ray.

Unfortunately there is a Utah in our conference now.

This game didn’t mean much, it was over before it started. We need Dice and the ZOO CREW. Having said that we aren’t gonna win in the end with 2-3 aloof starters (rip&prince&kwame)I am ok with prince but rip&kwame need to T-Bag up! It’s still waayyy to early. We got 2 wks of practice. P R A C T I C E!!!!

hey pistons, way to lay an egg again against the team we will most likely meet up against in the ECF again.

The Pistons are definitely the No. 2 team in the East (and probably the League). The Celtics’ bench is highly superior to the Pistons’.

House
T. Allen
Poe
Big Baby

These 4 guys play with more conviction and energy than our entire bench. Joe Dumars needs pull off another trade and maybe get a veteran guy (other than Dice) to add to our bench.

I think Mike Curry still needs to figure out the best rotations and combinations. I noticed that whenever Stuckey and Iverson are on the floor together our offense looks like crap, but when Afflalo and Iverson are paired up our offense is quicker.

Michigan beating UCLA by 4 midway through the second half!!! Suddenly I’m happy again :)

“Rip as…I don’t know what Rip’s role is right now”

Something I’ve seen some people point out, but not lose their minds over yet.

Just think about it…

Our leading scorer for the past umpteen seasons is now clueless to his role in the offense.

That’s not a little problem, that’s a HUGE PROBLEM that needs to be addressed. I’m not sold on the “they just need more time” reasoning since Rip really benefitted and relied on the execution of a very solid and efficient point guard.

“We just have to hope that Dumars’ plan for that cap space comes to fruition. Otherwise we’ve already seen the peak of this team for the far foreseeable future.”

The other main justification for the trade: the cap space it created.

Call me a cynic, but something tells me Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, or even Amare Stoudamire won’t be enough by the time they get here to make the Stones some kind of unstoppable monster. I just don’t see it, but, in one of those rare instances, would love to be proven wrong…

WLM1 – a guy like Stoudemire would be completely transformative. He would be our best player by a mile – and able to be so for many years due to his youth.

Well, basketball has actually been good today (to me). Michigan is up against UCLA (#4) right now, and Texas Tech scored 167 points tonight.

Seriously.

167 points.

I swear I havent had that much sweet CC. 167.

But who would be surrounding him? How would they play? Who’s the coach going to be by then? There’s too many variables to just assume all will be well if we landed a guy like Amare. I’d agree that he’d have that transformational POTENTIAL, but potential doesn’t always result in success. Amare has been surrounded by a fair amount of talent for his entire career and he hasn’t made it out of the Conference Finals…just saying. I catch your drift though.

MF Stu Douglass!

What. The. F.
That game was not fun to watch.

Indeed Forty, KG and Perkins are probably a bit superior as well. I just didn’t want to give them a complete sweep of the starting 5 if you count Ray Allen too.

The thing is though, you’re probably right. The Celtics’ starting 5 is better than ours top-to-bottom. It’s tough to admit. But it’s most likely true.

Here’s a question I’ve really been struggling with lately: much of our hope for the future is pinned on Stuck. But is he really any better than Rondo? I’m not so sure he is.

They don’t get a complete sweep – Iverson’s contract is the best player on either team

Sims backdoors his man and dunks in the new era of Michigan basketball. We’re back baby!

I just got back from the bar where I was watching the Steelers & Pistons & Wolverines. 2-3 on a night like tonight is HUGE. I know the Pistons got embarrassed, but duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, holy crap did Michigan Basketball have a monster night. That back-door cut with like 30 seconds left was unfreakingbelievable. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Also, that 1-3-1 we unleashed was hellacious. It had mixed results last year, and I watched it early thinking I preferred Manny up top, but Stu Douglass was terrific up top. That was awesome. I’m really happy.

As I saw Sims start to cut, I felt that special feeling you are lucky to get once every two or three years watching sports…a sort of transcendent moment when you know your team just stepped into a new territory. What a win for this program. Duke doesn’t have a chance tomorrow :)

Can we be patient with Rich too now?

Hey, I’m driving the Rich bandwagon. I was severely, severely wrong about this season, but I have faith in him. He’s won everywhere he’s ever been. And he has more resources in Ann Arbor than he has ever had.

But yeah, I hear you on that cut, I leapt over my coffee table and started yelling. Even my girlfriend was standing up with a look on her face like, “did that just happen? I have no idea how to react.”

I can’t wipe the grin off my face

The 8 hour drive from Philly to Columbus tomorrow just got a whole lot easier!

I cannot stop smiling either!

I AM FIRED UP! LETS GO BLUE! LETS GO BLUE!

You guys are dreamers

I have been a Bruins fan for decades and this Bruins team stinks.

They are not even a top 20 team.

Collison is the most overrated PG in the country.

The Bruins have two good players, Holiday and Lee who will develop as the year goes on. Everyone else is medicore at best.

The Bruins will be lucky to get into the NCAA tournament this year.

Duke will crush Michigan tomorrow.

Mike, Duke may crush us tomorrow, but for tonight we beat you. You will be a significant win on our resume for the remainder of the season. On selection Sunday, if we’re on the bubble (unlikely, but please please please) they will mention this as a marquee win on our resume. We are allowed to dream tonight.

For those of us who have hung with this team for years (raises hand), you cannot begin to understand the magnitude of what we just watched. We were all thinking “oh no, we’re going to dribble out the shot clock and take a horrible 3 and then lose.” To see that backdoor cut, in that situation, seriously I can’t stop smiling. This ain’t your older brother’s Michigan.

Umm, Collison doesn’t count as a good player? Saying he’s overrated is very different from saying a pre-season All-American isn’t even good. True, a team with as many talented freshman as UCLA will look very different in March. But saying they are awful, or that a program that has been as down as Michigan basketball shouldn’t be happy with the win is silly.

Even if Duke destroys Michigan and when OSU blots our football team off the map on Saturday, I’ll still be smiling about this game. We just beat a top 5 team on a neutral court. Our 2009 recruiting class is the best thing we’ve brought in since the Jamal Crawford class with Blanchard and Gaines. DeShawn Sims just backdoored Michigan basketball into relevance!

Just reread your post – I think you meant Shipp and Collison as the two good players, sorry I misunderstood.

And wait wasn’t Holiday like one of the best high school guys in the country? Given that no one can go straight to the NBA, doesn’t that mean he’s a badass?

I had a good feeling about that UM-UCLA game. Beilein’s a really good coach and I think Manny Harris is a born leader. I’m bullish on UMs bball team. Even if they get clobbered by Duke.

This thread has kind of gotten way off topic but to get it back on the game tonight I’m of the thought, that while very early in the season, the two horrible losses to the Celtics should be, at the least, really alarming to Piston fans.

I read essentially everything that gets posted on here. I know there is great enthusiasm for Walter, Afflalo, Amir, Maxiel, Bynum, but I barely ever read it for Rodney Stuckey. At one stretch in the game tonight Stuckey threw the ball out of bounds, left his man open for a 3, got stripped going to the hoop, got burned by the pick and roll, and then committed a charge – all of this in succession. Then of course it was his shift in the 3rd quarter when House hit back to back wide open 3’s (granted one was in transition). Any one that knows the basics of the game can see how awful Stuckey is at playing man defense. On offense, I don’t see what he brings to the table that Bynum doesn’t? He seems to makeup his mind up that he’s going to attack the rim the moment he touches the ball (no matter the flow of the game) and most of the time he’s blocked, commits a charge or misses the shot. I think Chauncey’s arrogant misplaced swagger has fallen flat on Stuckey’s shoulders. It seems as though the Pistons are dead set, no matter what else happens or how else he plays, to give him a bulk of minutes no matter the level of his play. I guess I just want to know if I’m alone in my intense frustration over this? Stuckey is easily my least favorite Piston and he seems to be treated with kid gloves while most of the other bench players are treated with boxing glvoes by Curry. Amir gets benched and gets DNP’s after just playing mediocre as a starter for not even ten games. Rip sits out the 4th because Afflao is playing well. Maxiel only gets a handful of minutes in some recent games. Hermann plays a lot, then he only plays OK for a game, then doesn’t play meaningful minutes since. I think Curry would be much better suited to just get a set rotation and stick with it for at least a string of games. The substitutions are so erratic and non-sensical that I don’t feel like he’s even made any worthwhile judgments of evaluations on what we have and what we need to do. He subs guards for our PF or C – then we get killed on the boards – then he calls a TO and puts in a big. It’s as if he doesn’t know the five positions, why they exist and and what their functions are. Perhaps, he should attend a Pistons youth clinic? Just at thought. I know a team can play small but usually that is for teams built like Atlanta, where 1-5 can shoot, board, and handle the ball – we’re not really built like that – at least not without very particular lineups. Players are in his good graces one game and then after one bad game are banished. Bench players aren’t going to shoot well every night. Doesn’t he remember when he use to play? I do. I do well. I do know that Stuckey gets minutes no matter how badly he plays (worst shooting on the team, 39%, and fouls as much, the most on the team, as Amir Johnson, and cannot cover a pick and roll to save his life). Why in the world Stuckey is saved from Curry’s retarded subbing is way beyond me, but it is hurting the team.

As for the Celtics. Iverson and Stuckey cannot cover Rando. Just can’t. Our pick and roll defense is horrible. God awful bad. Honestly I think the only lineup that would work is Affalo on Allen and Rip on Rando (or vice versa). Iverson and Stuckey cannot stay in front of him – that’s not going to change after playing together longer (or whatever excuse they give). What they should have done is let A.I. attack Rondo and get him out of the game – because Iverson can cover House at least – and Rando cannot cover A.I. The KG Rondo pick and roll will kill this team in the playoffs. The array of Rando layups. I vomited on myself. Twice.

Also, we are way way way too small. Brown has been good. Wallace is playing well, but against Boston you need more than 2 bigs because one will almost always be in foul trouble guarding KG. Amir doesn’t play anymore so he doesn’t count. Maxiel is 6’6" but because he’s fat he plays PF. He reminds me of Big Nasty, especially now that he has a decent jump hook. But Corliss was always a matchup nightmare on both ends. The big PF’s couldn’t guard him but he couldn’t guard them and because of the physicality of the playoffs he hurt the team more than he helped. Maxiel can’t box out Perkins or Davis. I’m sure the response will be that McDyess will solve that, but isn’t that what we tried last year? Yes, it was. And it didn’t work. It seems Boston’s bigs and bench are even better now. When it comes down to it, not including Tayshaun, we have three guys that our over 6’7" and one of them doesn’t really play and another one of them is Kwame Brown – who is now our best post player inside and out. Yeah, Rasheed has 10 boards a game but to me that doesn’t mean much because he’s usually the only guy trying to rebound. I mean Bierdens is averaging almost 15 – he’s not the best rebounder in the game – he’s just on a team where he’s the only guy that tries to get rebounds. I just don’t understand how a team with only two legit big men, I’m talking just over 6’7", plans to make a extended playoff run?

I mean LA has Gasol and Bynum and then they bring Odom and Ariza, two 6’9-10" guys in. How do we counter that with Rasheed Wallace and Kwame Brown? It’s absurd.

Stuckey will be fine. He will have moments that will make you tear your hair out, but he only has a half a season of top level ball under he belt. That being said, Bynum does deserve minutes too and a little healthy competition never hurt anyone.

“I mean LA has Gasol and Bynum and then they bring Odom and Ariza, two 6′9-10″ guys in. How do we counter that with Rasheed Wallace and Kwame Brown? It’s absurd.”

Didn’t they just counter this a week ago? Without McDyess?

Pistons fans are a strange breed. They simultaneously want and fear change. This team is going to have serious growing pains, but it’s a long season.

They’ve played almost every game on the road so far (even some of the home games don’t count as home games because they were sandwiched between road games and involved travel). This was a brutal stretch of games, in general, let alone while acclimating to a major trade. Let’s all relax a little.

This and the Phoenix game were scheduling losses just as the Cavs game was a scheduling win.

What QD said. And if Stuckey is getting a pass on criticisms, I think it’s because the general opinion is that he’s going to be a good player in this league, so it’s just a matter of getting through his growing pains. And this isn’t just hardcore homers saying he’ll be good — he has impressed players and league officials all over the place. So I think sometimes we might take him for granted a bit: when he does good things, we don’t get too hyped because we expect it; when he does bad things we don’t get too down because we think it’ll be corrected and he won’t do it again. Amir, on the other hand…………

Also, here’s a quote from Rivers about KG’s douchery:

“Kevin’s just verbal,” Rivers said. “But he’s been verbal his whole career. But he plays that way. So, you let Kevin be Kevin. The last thing I would do is ask Kevin to change. You don’t want to change his way.”

Ugh. That’s just the way he is, so it’s okay.

Juicebox…I gotta disagree with the Pistons and Curry being dead set on giving Stuckey minutes no matter his play. Coming into the season Curry called him his 6th starter and said he would play 30 mpg…well he’s only playing 20 mpg right now.

I do agree he has been a little dissapointing this year so far though. At the same time, there has been a lot that’s happened over these 1st 12 games with the AI trade, the really tough schedule, Stuckey missing two games for his dizziness thing, the hard foul by Shaq on him and loss of McDyess who would be playing with Stuckey a lot to help spread the floor with the second unit.

I don’t think we’ll have a true handle on this team until around the all star break. By then we’ll have had a couple months to jell with McDyess and Iverson together.

I really don’t get the excuse-making for Stuckey paired with head shaking for Amir. There just seems to be double standards for them. I mean, Stuckey is older than Amir, got more playing time to develop in college, and has more minutes logged in the NBA than Amir. Yet people who complain about Amir’s lack of progress overlook the fact that Stuckey’s numbers so far this year are actually worse than his second full month as a pro (the first month was pretty bad). As I mentioned yesterday, he has only one career 20 point game and has spent 8 of his 9 months as a pro shooting 40% or lower from the field. I understand being skeptical of Amir, but being skeptical of Amir while counting on Stuckey to be an all star? I just don’t get it.

On another note, our average margin of victory is 8.75. Our average margin of loss is 13.75, and we’ve lost two of our last three by 18 points. That’s not a sign of good coaching. Last night MC stuck with an 8 man rotation until the game was out of reach, left our high energy guys on the bench while we were getting killed on…umm…energy. Totally unresponsive. All the feel good pre-season stories are great, but at this point MC doesn’t look like a particularly good coach.

And in other news, the U.S. has lost its preeminent place as the world’s superpower, aliens are gathering on the moon for a full-on body-snatching invasion of the Earth, and ice cream just doesn’t taste as good as it used to.

Calm down, people. Once the team wins again – and I guarantee you they will – Y’all will type up stuff like “MC is great!” and “Wow, Stuckey!” and “RASHEEEEEED!” Hell, the Pistons might shock you and win like, at least 45-50 games. Maybe more! Crazy talk, I know. But it will happen.

For serious. There is definitely cause for concern, but it totally makes sense that the pistons are totally uneven and look like world beaters one night and doormats the next. What matters is how were playing at the end of the season. If MC can put it together and Stuckey plays up to expectations and Amir fulfills at least some of this potential – then we will be really freaking, scary good. Hell, I’d love to win 82 games, but it is not going to happen. The Celtics are ridiculous and made us look silly. We won’t know until the last third of the season what kind of team we are. The Celtics are what they are – The Champs. Go pistons! Stay Positive DBBers. Have Faith. At the very least, this is going to be an entertaining season.

I didn’t mean for mine to be overly negative – it was more that I’m annoyed at people being overly negative toward Amir. Dude still hasn’t gotten a real chance.

The truth is that we’re still pretty solidly the #2 team in the EC, same as before the Chauncey trade. Probably the #3 team in the league, considering how many are getting killed with injuries. Vegas certainly agrees with those statements. #3 in the league isn’t a bad place to be, especially when you’re rebuilding on the fly and stashing cap space for one or two years off. Maybe we’ll get some breaks in the playoffs and win it all again – isn’t that the best we could have asked for even before the trade? It’s still entirely possible that some combination of the big three breaks down, LBJ sprains an ankle, Kobe’s pinky falls off, or all of the above, and poof just like that we’re favorites.

Agreed Shinons – #3 is a far more fun place to be than #4-30, especially when you are rebuilding on the fly and have a reasonable expectation of signing an excellent player in a year or two.

All we could ever have asked for this season was to be in striking range, should one of the better teams stumble. And we are.

If so much of the future hope is pinned on Stuckey, I have to ask – is he really any better than Rondo?

I ask that because Bostonians don’t go around planning their entire future around him. And if he’s better than our best young player, aren’t we headed for some really dark times? I just don’t see that much upside.

“And in other news, the U.S. has lost its preeminent place as the world’s superpower…”

As an example of unfounded hysteria, an actual fact doesn’t really work.

WOW – Detroit got PWNED!

Your Piston team checked out early last night, which was kind of disappointing. (I was at the game). I liked the way Detroit came out, efficiently building an 11-2 lead, but once the Cs pushed, they really never pushed back. I can see why Pistons fans are disappointed. I know they had a rough back to back, but laying down against your biggest rival is inexcusable.

That said, I think Detroit could be a very good team once AI gets fully integrated and everyone steps into their roles (especially if Dice returns). They have shown they can beat the best teams in the league besides Boston with their wins against the Cavs and Lakers.

The problem for the Pistons is that the Cs match up so well against defensively, especially without Dice on the team. KG can handle Sheed in the post and plays out on the floor better than any PF in league history. Sheed doesn’t seem to want to be a high volume post player at all. When he hits his first three attempt, he seems to stay near the arc the rest of the game. Ray Allen does a decent job on Rip, and now that Chauncey isn’t there to set the table for him, Rip will have to make some adjustments in his game to be as effective as he’s been.

Pierce is strong and smart enough to handle Prince, who has been very good as a point forward tyep setting up the halfcourt offense from the top since the trade. His devastating backdown game that overwhelms a lot of smaller covers doesn’t work that well on Pierce. Dice gave Perk trouble because he could step out, and Perk likes to be in help position instead of tagging his man 18 feet from the hoop, but Kwame doesn’t pose that kind of threat.

Off the bench, Powe and BBD can match up physically with the very strong Maxiel, and Tony Allen cal play solid defense on most everyone in the Pistons backcourt. (Last night he had a few steals and was the defensive catalyst that turned around the game after the Pistons’ hot start).

If Detroit can get to a point where their offense ran with some of the efficiency of the Chauncey led teams, they might be able to take the Cs in a series, but right now, they don’t have that clear match up they can exploit like they did with Billups. That could end up being a trade that helps both teams, but if Stuckey doesn’t step up, and Rip doesn’t adjust to not having Billups, it will probably help the Nuggets more.

The March 1 matchup in Detroit against the Cs will be interesting. I think the Pistons will have AI fully integrated by then, and I also think the Cs will be playing very well. (They haven’t played particularly well offensively so far, even though they are 11-2). I’m still hopeful that Dice will end up in green, but as it creeps closer to the 30 days, it looks like he will be back in Detroit.

Shinons: Just like you’re annoyed with people being overly negative of Amir, I’m annoyed with people saying he hasn’t had a chance. Obviously we disagree on his development here, but I think those on the disappointed side would say that he’s been practicing with pros for 3 years now and that’s gotta count for something. If I scrimmaged against Rip all day I think I’d learn a thing or two about being a 2-guard. If he scrimmages against Sheed, Ben, and Dyess all day, he’s gotta learn a thing or two about being a pro player. And yet he still falls for bad pump fakes. So yeah, I’m negative on him but I truly hope for the best for the team! I was psyched when Amir was announced as a starter because I really want him to reach the potential that we all think he can. I just get frustrated watching the baby steps.

Pretty big NBA trade going down today:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3717209

My knee-jerk reaction is I think it helps both squads. I really like Crawford and Harrington, personally.

@TripleOT:
I always appreciate that you’re not a nasty fan from another team coming here to talk trash, but I’m scratching my head with a few things you said:

“KG can handle Sheed in the post and plays out on the floor better than any PF in league history.”

If Tim Duncan does not exist and the “league history” only goes back two years, I agree with you.

“Ray Allen does a decent job on Rip”

If “holding Rip to 53% shooting in the playoffs last year” = “a decent job”, then I might make a “decent” backup center for Boston. I know you don’t mean that Ray Allen has done a good job offensively against Rip, I remember how terrible he played against DET last season.

That said, I’m with you on most of your thoughts, and appreciate you being a level-headed contributor… even though your colors are wrong ;)

@Garrett – It’s not the being negative that bothers me – it’s that the “Well Stuckey’s going to have some bumps in the road along the way” combined with “Amir’s never going to develop!” attitude. I really think Amir and Stuckey are in the same situation – they need some game time to develop, they both may be great, both may be average, but they’ve got to get 82 games at 25-30 minutes a game before we know. Like what Chicago is doing with Ty Thomas or Portland is doing with Oden. Even if it costs them some games, they’re getting those guys out there and finding out what they have in a real game before giving up on them. We have even less of an excuse than they do not to get our young guys some time – we know we’re making the playoffs. Amir has had only three games out of 12 with more than 20 minutes, none with more than 25.

I don’t have a problem with the opinion “Amir’s frustrating.” I agree, he is frustrating. But he’s not going to un-frustrate himself with practice time + 8 garbage minutes per game. Chicago didn’t figure out how to use Tyson Chandler, Orlando didn’t figure out how to use Ben Wallace, etc.

Jamal Crawford is in my Fave Five Non-Piston players. I would have hoped he would have gone to a good team because I think he has All-Star potential if he was put in to a better (i.e. non-sucky) environment. That said, he’ll put up huge numbers in GS.

TripleOT! I told you to git!

@joel – I realized that as soon as I typed it…

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3717223

I guess this is what Curry meant by “smashmouth” basketball?

TripleOT, I love how every Boston fan seems to ignore the fact that KG was allowed to set moving pick after moving pick all of last season without any kind of resistance. Not that I’d expect the average Boston fan to know what a moving screen is (you’re excluded seeing as you were definitely not one of the millions of douchebags to become a Celtics fan last year), but it is worth noting.

Detroit forced the league to alter some rules after they brought team defense back to the forefront. I was frustrated by that but at the same time I have no problem with a more finesse-driven game as long as both teams are allowed to exert the same level of physicality on defense.

If people can’t see that Boston is allowed to play a more physical brand of defense than most of their opponents, they’re simply drining too much green kool-aid.

I should mention that I don’t blame non-calls for last night’s loss, the Pistons just got their asses kicked, end of story…

*drinking (unless we’re talking Canadian Club)

So apparently Donnie Walsh isn’t done dealing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/2008/11/21/2008-11-21_knicks_trade_jamal_crawford_for_al_harri.html

The deal (in principle) is Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley.

Wow. The Clippers have gotten two big time interior players (Camby and Z-Bo) for next to nothing and will still suck. That’s just awesome.

concerned piston fan here…….if we cant beat boston in the regular season how will we beat them in the playoffs?? by the way its looking if we meet up with them in the ECF again they will probably sweep us.

Mike Payne – Ray Allen actually lit us up in that series last year. He slumped against Atl and Cle, but he was on fire vs Det and LA. Go back and look. He was right there with Pierce as far as offense goes. It was KG and Rondo who kind of stunk for them.

@Mike Payne.

I believe Kg defends on the perimeter better than any PF in the history of the league. I don’t know if what I wrote conveyed that properly. If you can think of someone ho defends out on the floor beter than KG, let me know.

As far as me saying that ray Allen is "decent’ at defending Rip,Hamilton had a big series against the Cs, but Ray Allen wasn’t at the top of his game at all. I think he does a decent job of playing Hamilton, who is a tough cover in general, but isn’t the type of player who has the ball in his hand all the time and can gt 20= shots a night. So even if Rip has a bit of an advantage on Ray, it’s not like a Chauncey type who has the ball all the time who has the advantage.

Regarding the Knicks, they are officially the New York Longrebounds with the addition of Al Harrington, Cat Mobley, and Tim Thomas. Put these three guys on the floor with Q and Duhon, and nobody may even step inside the three point arc on offense.

Well, NY is taking initiative to get ready for 2010. Right before the NO/OKC game, Jalen Rose had an interesting opinion. He said with conviction that LeBron James and Chris Bosh will both go to the Knicks. After being run so poorly, I’m not thrilled on the idea of NY getting them both just because it’s NY.

I have been racking my brain trying to think what the Stones need to get the edge over Boston. A player, preferably a big, that can consistently hit the 18ft shot. When AI drives he can dish to a guy that can stretch the D even more. Someone that can open the lanes for Stuck and play some good D against Bostons bench.
We just need Dice back. Thats it.
Add him to the second unit and the team becomes even more potent offensively and stronger defensively. Its so simple, why didn’t we think of it before!
;)

Speaking of FPCB, have you guys seen his video challenge with Baron Davis? Check out the video on his site http://www.chris-bosh.com. Further proof that CB4 is awesome.

I don’t really understand the regular posters and Pistons loyal fans defending last nights loss so vigorously. I posted on here last night and the response was completely dismissive. The general comments are that A. it’s early/A.I. is new to the team and B. it was just one game, you don’t win all 82.

Well, first to the it’s just one game theory. That’s not really true. I didn’t post on here after they lost to NJ because that was just one game. It was a game where Boone was allowed to post 18 and 14, which signifies this teams problems – but you let that slide because, shit, it’s the Nets. But now early in the season they have lost twice, by huge margins (the first game was a blowout that Bynum just made look respectable) to not only the team that ousted them last year but also their main rival again this year. No one says it was “just one game” after winning the game. If we won this game the fan base would be cocky and confident, so if we lose I think they should be concerned and at least inquisitive. It was a measuring stick for this team. It’s an indicator of where this team is. Losing to Phoenix or NJ doesn’t really do that for this team but losing to your rival two times in a short amount of time – well that is important.

As for the it’s early/A.I is news. That’s also weak. This would be relevant if say A.I. was driving to the hoop and outletting to where he thought guys were and it ended up going out of bounds. Star players know how to play the game of basketball. Yes, things will get better. There’ll be more easy baskets. There’ll be better communication. But to write off two blowouts to team familiarity I think is being overly generous. I think, and this has been said before this game, that Iverson has made a seemingly smooth transition to the team. Most importantly, the big reasons for the losses aren’t attributed to time playing together. Early in the season? The core of this team, yes down to three starters now, has played more games together than any other team. Maxiel and Stuckey are also familiar with this Boston team.

Then of course there is the McDyess lovers who forgot that he was on this team last year and got straight up outplayed by Kendrick Perkins – both on the stat sheet and the things don’t show up to.

Fact remains, Iverson and Stuckey cannot cover the pick and roll that Boston was running. They ran the same play, the same variation six times in a row and scored either Rando himself, Pierce on the outlet or Perkins on the dump off every time. Iverson could play with this group for four hundred years – fact remains that both him and Stuckey are familiar with the pick and roll and how to, at least attempt to defend it. Curry watched them run the same play over and over, build the lead, then called a timeout and made one substitution, Stuckey for A.I. The very next play then want back the play and scored again. This was a poorly coached game. The other fact is that no team with 2 guys bigger than 6’7" can compete with a big physical team like Boston.

As far as the Amir and Stuckey conversation. Stuckey has just looked plain bad all season. I’ve watched every game. He forces when it’s not there. He makes bad decisions with the basketball. His stats are horrible. Amir was pulled as a starter after seven games. The team was 5-2. When he was a starter he never got back into the game in the 2nd or 4th quarter. I’m not saying Amir played great, or even particularly well, but he played better than Stuckey has. Here’s the most important part of this situation. We need Amir because we need a post prescience. If Stuckey got injured and was out for the year Bynum could step in. Prince can run the point. Iverson is more than capable of playing a strong 40 minute game. This team has no interior depth. Even when McDyess returns to the team we shouldn’t be satisfied with that. That’s why to me, the situations are very frustrating. Stuckey can play however he wants and get minutes. Amir was given a very small opportunity, apparently he was required to blow minds, in order to retain any real playing time. Even more is the fact that Afflao plays great defense every time he plays and his minutes seems to be the most sparatic.

I like the idea that Amir shouldn’t fall for pump fakes because he attends NBA practices. That’s great. Yes if you practice with Ben and Rasheed he should be as good as them. That makes sense. Wow. Everyone in the league falls for pump fakes. I think Amir playing isn’t about the fouling as much as it is about the fact that we have someone on the court that will try to block shots, that will try to play defense – and yes, will sometimes get abused. After Rando and Tony Allen got to the rack so easily, I don’t see how fans cannot want a guy under the rim at least trying to block some shots, whether he fouls often or not. The team needs that. Amir’s prescience on the floor shouldn’t always be about stats or efficiency but about the fact that we’ve got a guy out there trying to do the things we need to get done.

Let’s pack it up gang… this season is over

/doing what all the Celtics’ fans would do if they had 4 losses at this point in the season

@Juicebox, whats your point? The Pistons suck or the Celtics are the best? We defend the loss because the Celtics are the benchmark and we want our team to eclipse them. Its called being an optimistic fan. I like to think that things will sort themselves out. Its a new coach with a very different team from training camp. Chemistry is not automatic, defensive integration and positioning comes with time. We have changed PG on the fly, a position that sets the table at both ends of the court. This teams identity is different and will evolve over the season. All the minor niggles such as Amir and Stuckey will also iron out with time. Its an exciting time to be a fan.

Also, hows this for awesome luck. My wife just found half a carton of beer on the front porch from a party we had over a month ago.
Score!
:)

How’s Amir’s arm? I think we need him to qb against the nuts tomorrow…

@Juicebox:
LawyerBoy, is that you? All I saw was blocks and blocks of text.

MP: You’re jumping to conclusions almost as severely as Amir jumps at a pump fake. Your lack of restraint is rivaled only by our favorite human shooting foul.

LB: I expected better, but you caked on the put-back like your good pal Kwame Princess Hands.

Juciebox: Since that was me who said Amir practicing with Sheed, Ben and Dyess has to count for something, I’ll respond. I didn’t say it would turn him INTO Ben, I said it should help him learn how to play in the league as a big man. And from what I’ve seen, he’s still falling for bad pump fakes so it makes me wonder about his development. Sure, lots of players fall for pump fakes but the majority of those fakes come from guards. When Varajao is pump faking you out of your shorts from 16 feet out and you’re sending him to the line, that’s a problem.