Where a full house beats a king

Boo on NBA officiating

we better win this game I hate the freakin cavs.

is anybody home?

I’m here Jason, not much to say yet though…

Well, aside from the fact that Lebron is a bitch, but that kind of goes without saying…

HOLY THEOMOLE!

Am I an evil person for wanting a hard foul on lebron everytime he gets near the basket?

Well, not every time… but good… welcome to Flips world where we have an escort with red carpet to the basket for LeBron. Foul his ass!!!

implement the Jordan rules on LeBron… pretty much, within 8 feet of the basket he smacks the floor. I don’t care if he’s 260 lbs, be physical. He won’t stop going to the hole, but he won’t hit all his FTs.

I was saying this last year in the ECFs, but WHY DON’T WE RUN ON CLEVELAND?!? They don’t get back on D.

Totally fell apart in the end….

This is the same exact style of lazy play that Detroit brought against Cleveland last year in the playoffs. This game looks identical in style to the final games of the season last year.

Improved bench and a renewed focus?

Nope, just the same ol’ Pistons.

No progress from last year at all. Sad.

Good news: Detroit outplaying the Cavs by a decent margin.
Bad news: Down 7 at halftime. What gives? The Pistons, while not playing their best game, are playing well enough to be up 7.

Brad, not that any of your points are without merit, but I’m pretty sure if we gave a real hard foul on LeBron, David Stern would force the Pistons to move from Detroit and ban everybody on the roster for life. Or something like that, anyway.

I think it has alot to do with the way Ben has played Sheed. He’s 1 for 7 right now. If Roscoe puts it together in the second half we’ll win this one, if not it’s gonna be a tough finish.

By the way, am I the only one that gets a ton of enjoyment out of Stephen A screaming that somebody is a “total abomination”? It might be one of my favorite things about ESPN, and I’m not being sarcastic in any way.

I’ve never been so pissed at Detroit… the end of that half was deplorable. Makes me sick. Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. I’m sorry, we’re coached by Mr. Flop… I mean Flip. The guy who doesn’t adjust… ever.

I never understood why we don’t run against Cle either. It drove me nuts last year.

Classic Tayshaun facial!

Goes to NBA.com
Buys Tayshaun Prince jersey

That was awesome.

Run.

Of course, running is predicated on making our layups.

And, since we only seem to allow our bench to run, that’s a relatively shakey proposition.

Favorite moment so far: the Theocraslam.

(And the Jordan Rules don’t work anymore — that kind of fouling nets flagrants, if not flagrant 2s at this point. (That said, I’d love to see us pick up a half-dozen or so of right-on-the-line-between-flagrant-and-regular fouls dropping LBJ to his knees)).

Btw, the officiating has been TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRIBLE. Apparently there’s no such thing as a foul in Cleveland. We had 2 FTs in the first half… and the second half seems to be just as ridiculous.

On cue comment from Brad.

How is a guy landing on your foot a foul?

Please, no more references to Walton. Makes me cringe thinking of him.

I hate Walton too… btw UTEP, I bow down to you on your observations of Flip and the Pistons last week. You pretty much said everything I wanted to much more succinctly, elegantly, and poignantly.

I dont think we’re lazy in this game. I just think the cavs defense is better…….?

Its kinda frustrating cause it seems we cant beat the teams that matter in CLE and Bos despite improvments elsewhere.

The Cavs look awful, I mean, AWFUL, yet it doesn’t matter. The Pistons can’t seem to figure this team out for whatever reason(s).

57 points after three quarters? Come on, Cleveland’s defense isn’t that good, not even close.

Of course, a little hustle might help. There has been at least three times that the Pistons force the Cavs into a poor shot with the shot clock winding down, then they don’t box out at all and let themselves get beat by 2nd chance points from Anderson Vagina.

This game is evidence of just how soft Detroit really is.

Something about Barry saying that the Cavs offense has been awful all game and the fact that we are down is cruely mocking :(

Okay, let’s not get into the whole Flip OMG WE’RE DOOMED! DOOMED! debate. Especially when there’s still 25% of the game to be played. I think tonight is way more about not playing well offensively than having problems on D. Cleveland is shooting 38.5% through 3. This game is pretty close statistically. They’ve shot twice as many free throws than we have. That’s basically the difference.

Through 3 quarters, anyway.

The starters should be forced to sit for the whole 4th quarter. They haven’t earned the right to try to steal this game away.

White boy Wally is getting better shots in the paint than Sheed.

Are these guys really just going to rely on their game plan from last year to try to beat this team!?

Detroit has had 5 FTA’s… didn’t Dwayne Wade average 40 FTAs against Dallas in the finals afew years ago. And the NBA wonders why the general public thinks its rigged.

Game Over….

“They’ve shot twice as many free throws than we have. That’s basically the difference.”

If you can watch this performance and blame it on a free-throw disparity, you’re in some serious denial.

It’s one thing if Cleveland is playing WELL and LeBron is going off, but that’s not what’s happening here, not in the least. These Pistons are simply getting out-hustled by players with less skill than them. Same thing that got them bounced last year.

Well as much as I try to pride myself at being a Pistons fan I must say I have run out of excuses. Looks like the same old Pistons we’ve watched fall out of the picture year after year and by the looks of it, it will never change. They just give up.

Maybe if Detroit pressed the issue inside they’d get to the line a little bit. Playing through the refs bad calls is nothing new for this team, so find a new excuse besides a lack of attempts at the charity stripe.

smh@ Flip being more concerned about his water than getting the offense going….

One shot and done, lazy passes, lack of energy and too much Z spell our doom in this one.

I hope I’m wrong.

Why the hell is the camera focusing on the douche couple in the stands?

Completely off-topic (I’m not calling the Cavs losers), but I don’t feel like dedicating a post to it - the Pistons aren’t the only ones who have trouble getting up for losing teams. Here’s Jerry Sloan bemoaning (Detroit nemesis) Utah’s performance:
-
Coach Jerry Sloan made members of the media laugh prior to Wednesday morning’s practice.
Asked about the Jazz’s tendency to play well against top-notch opponents like the Lakers but perform sluggishly and lose to teams wallowing below .500, Sloan launched into a monologue about the responsibility players have to the game, their teammates and the fans.
“They get paid the same amount whether they play the Lakers of any other team,” Sloan said. “I don’t think anybody gets paid more for playing the Lakers. If they do, I’m not aware or it. Are you guys aware that their contracts have changed and they get more for playing the Lakers? If they do, then something’s not fair here.”
The Jazz are 45-24 heading into Thursday night’s game against the Lakers. Among the opponents who have beaten Utah this season: Miami, New York, Charlotte, Indiana, New Jersey, Chicago, Minnesota and the L.A. Clippers.
“When you take the job of being a basketball player,” Sloan said, "you should play [hard] against everybody. … You are supposed to be the same guy every day. …
“Those are disappointing losses. We get excited about playing certain teams, but the job should be the same, regardless of who you play. [But] I realize it doesn’t happen all the time because the emphasis is on the star atmosphere in basketball.”
Looking around, Sloan saw 10 or 12 media members attending the pre-Laker practice.
“We had three or four people here before we played Toronto,” Sloan said. “Now, we have a lot more … just because we’re playing the Lakers, I guess.”
—

See what I’m saying…. “Stuckey got whacked… Ya, but they didn’t call it.”

My only hope is that the Pistons purposley are feeling out the Celtics and the Cavs which is why they have played the way they did in the last 2 televised road games against those teams.

So Rip said no more “buddy ball” before the game? Well, if this performance is any indication, I’ll take the “buddy ball” back in a heartbeat.

And yes, my RSS reader has become more interesting than this game …

I wish I could coach the Pistons JUST against the Cavs…. Flip has no clue

In fact Im sure thats the reason cause Rip and Chauncey aint out there….

The funny thing is, everyone is saying Same Old Pistons. I actually they tried to bring it tonight (No slow start) but they’ve just been frustrated by the Cavs bigs on D. I will say this though, I would have preferred if Sheed had gotten more in the paint.

Well look on the bright side fellas, this Cavs team is designed to beat Detroit……..and Detroit only. I dont think we’ll have to face these guys in the ’offs

The most frustrating part of all of this seems to be that the fans are more enthusiastic about getting a win over Cleveland than the Pistons are. I’d trade the Boston win for this game in a second. Why?

This is the team that forced Pistons fans to leave their Pistons jerseys in the closet all summer. This is the team that forced Pistons fans to listen to how great “King James” is and how he single-handedly defeated the Pistons. This is the team that the fans want the W over in any situation. Especially when the Cavs aren’t even having a good game.

*sidenote: Varejo just blatantly travelled on that behind the back crap, but no call.

This was a terribly disappointing game considering how badly the true fans wanted this one.

I was speaking statistically. Through 3 we gave up 12 offensive boards and got 8 ourselves. They shot 12 FTs to our 6, we turned the ball over a couple more times than they did, and they had 4 more O boards. That equates to a 6 point difference.

I think we’ve been bad offensively. Not nearly enough ball movement. Not enough hustle. It seems like with the Pistons one spurs the other. I’m not sure which it is, but we had been moving the ball and hustling early.

And that was DEFINITELY a travel on Varajao. How he doesn’t get called is unbelievable.

Hit him Chauncey, hit Sideshow now! Whats a couple of games suspension? lol

Soft, real soft…

I also wish we had guys on our team that would get pissed off…. Clevelands a joke and yet we’re trailing. I have no idea why people chastise us Pistons fans that say this team is flawed. We can’t even beat fucking Cleveland. CLEVELAND. FUCKING CLEVELAND!!!!

STOP IT SHEED JUST BLOODY STOP IT!!!!!

I should re-phrase, “we had been moving the ball and hustling” is in reference to earlier this week.

Look on the bright side Brad, we wont have to worry about Chicago or Cleveland in the Playoffs.

I mean we’ll probably let Orlando blindside us in the 2nd round somehow, but it wont be Cle or Chi.

Brad, holy hell, settle down. It’s a regular season game. One we didn’t particularly play well in. If we bring our best game, we’re going to beat Cleveland, even the most partisan Cavs fan will admit to that. Like I’ve said, down games happen. I’m all for dissenting opinion around here, but you overreact to every bad thing that happens. Sample size is your friend.

Lebron is a beast though

You know we probably would have been closer had Sheed not decided to chuck it up.

I F’ing hate it when announcers say “it’s too early to start shooting 3s, there’s plenty of time left” when there is 2 and change to go and your team is down 12 or so. I don’t fault Sheed for trying to hit those shots, it would have been the only way to win.

This loss sucks! It isn’t Flip out there throwing bad passes and not rebounding. You need to pin this loss squarely on the team.

just one other thing. Jon Barry is annoying. He’s the most PC friendly commentator in the universe. Simply annoying. I hate to disrepect an ex-Piston like that… but he’s a dink.

lol….Detroit really give a fuck about this game in the 4th.

Pardon my french

Does anyone here remember how the Bad Boys treated Air Jordan? I know this is a different era of basketball but why are we scared to be physical with King James? Not dirty ala Laimbeer but just good physical play and an occasional ‘knock him on his ass’ foul from our bigs. We are still ok but I still don’t want to face Cleveland and that Freight train #23 or the Celtics in the playoffs. Hell, I might just not watch after the first round :-)

I am REALLY REALLY hoping these Boston and Cleveland games were not examples of how we play them in the offs a la Chicago last year. Thats all I can say.

7 FTAs all game. I’ve NEVER seen that… EVER!!!! Beyond ridiculous. But, hey, LeBron got a win so all this will get swept under the rug.

E-Double, you cant exactly knock Lebron on his ass either. I mean all have to do is look at Tayshaun-Lebron defensive matchup to see that.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2008031905

That tells you all you need to know. We were terrible offensively. You can probably chalk it up to Cleveland’s defense, but I think we rushed some possessions, settled for some pretty bad shots. Not enough emphasis on ball movement, I don’t think. Rasheed was awful. Probably at least twice as bad as the box score indicates.

I’m calling BS on every player in the league since not one person has had the Stones (hehehe) to just lay LeBron flat on his back. Where is that guy that gets paid the league minimum that can’t stand all of the attention this guy gets and decides its time to test him? Are players really that afraid of upsetting the Queen that they’d allow him to dunk over them in an effort to avoid a confrontation? That’s where I look when I say that Kobe and LeBron aren’t cut from the same cloth as Jordan. Jordan would take hard shots and go about his business. These guys get a slightly aggressive hip-check and look around like they’re insulted.

I REALLY HATE CLEVELAND AND AGREE WITH BRAD, THIS TEAM IS FLAWED.

Doesn’t sound like many here will agree, but it still looked to me like the Pistons were playing better basketball than the Cavs. I think that Varajao behind the back layup pretty much explains the way this game went. Not for the possible travel not called, but for the ridiculous luck of it. The Cavs had a lot of unlikely coincidences go their way that can’t really be explained by “hustle”.

I guess my question is what is more important at this point in the season, scoring more points than Cleveland, or playing better basketball than Cleveland? Beats me.

Here are the facts

Last 10 games including playoffs against Cavs, Magic and Celtics and Ben

Cavs 1 – 5
Magic 0 – 2
Celtics 0 – 2
Ben 1- 8?

With Amir in the rotation (4 minutes tonight does not count as being in the rotation)

we are 16 – 3

without him in the rotation

we are 33 – 16

He is no longer in the rotation

It’s not about the Pistons playing a bad game tonight or the Cavs playing a good game tonight. Plain and simple, the Cavs are better than the Pistons, which really pains me to admit. I don’t know what happened after game 2 in the Eastern Conference semis two years ago, but something clicked for Cleveland, and ever since then, when it matters, the Cavs can and will beat Detroit.

All of these games since that game 2 are virtually identical, slow grind it out games that the Cavs eventually win because they have Lebron James as their closer, and while the Pistons are more balanced they really lack a closer. Wallace has never been one, Prince flat out dissappears against the Cavs, Hamilton struggles because he’s usually got a bigger defender in Pavlovic or James on him. And Billups isn’t really the type of player like a Nash or Baron Davis who can just takeover a game by himself. All in all, its just a horrible match up for the Pistons, but fortunately it looks like they won’t meet up until the finals this year assuming the Cavs beat the Celtics, which I doubt will happen.

My question to Flip Saunders is: the Cavs have a blueprint to beat you, stay close through 3 quarters in a grind out slug fest, then give it to Lebron in the 4th. Why not push the tempo from the outset and try to get up as many as possible or at least get the offense in gear so when the final 2-3 minutes rolls around you won’t have to worry about Lebron taking over. It’s like they submit to playing at the Cavs pace. I understand that’s how they prefer to play, but it just doesn’t make sense considereing the Pistons are more talented offensively at 4 other positions.

One more fact

The 73 that the Cavs gave up tonight was the fewest that have allowed all year.

Cleveland really has Detroit’s number. They join Utah and Boston as teams that Detroit will always struggle against, at least under Flip Saunders.

The Cavs defense was the key tonight. Thy smothered Detroit on every. single. possession. No matter waht the Pistons tried to run, it got caught up in a million Cavs bodies and arms and hands all over the place. That was the major factor.

Lebron getting to the rim is stupid, he should be stopped somehow. But they need to let him get his points and stop the other players. They can beat the Lakers and Kobe. They can beat Denver, Miami, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, New Jersey and Toronto. Those teams have the top 10 scorers in the league, and Detroit has no problem pulling out wins against them. Even blowouts at times. But when is the last time Detroit blew out the Cavs where Lebron played the whole time? Or Boston (only 3 games, I know). We won’t even talk about Utah.

It’s about making severe adjustments for these teams who have proven time and time again that they have your number. And until Flip Saunders does that, Detroit will lose in the Playoffs.

For the Piston’s sake, I hope the current Playoff positioning sticks. And even then, Detroit’s championship will be a win over Boston. Anything after that will be a guaranteed win, I say.

I hate losing to inferior teams…

I could rant alot but really, my heart just isn’t in it so all I’m going to say is this:

March 19th, 2008 is a day that will live in infamy for me. Two of my favorite teams got “Ohio’d” inside of 24 hours.

Dear Pistons, jesus thanks for coming out huh?

Dear RichRod: THIS IS WHY YOU GET THE DAMN SIGNATURE ON NATIONAL SIGNING DAY. You’re 0-1 vs The Sweater and we haven’t even played a GAME yet in the post Lloyd Carr era.

Too disgusted to post anymore tonight. Ciao

I think half of you live and die by a regular season loss…

that’s it Matt, tomorrow’s game wrap up? throw up a picture of the titanic!

It seems to me that Flip made a big mistake tonight when he took AJ out after Lebron scored on a drive to basket that AJ fouled him one.

The game was still close. Then the Cavs went on that run to at the end of the second quarter.

AJ never did return.

I like Theo, but not playing ahead of AJ. I think the Pistons are making a big mistake by doing that.’

It is bad enough that they have castrated his offense by trying to turn him into a low post back to basket player but on top of it they never give AJany touches when he out there.

He was a great face to basket wing player on offense. They have turned an offensive stallion into a gelding.

doggdetroit,

In response to asking what Flip’s doing to do because Cleveland has a blue print, in one of the time outs he was imploring our guys to get out and run off our defense. He said we had to get out and run and really push the ball up the floor.

He was saying the right things. I just wonder if we haven’t tuned him out.

I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat it until the season is over, we need to hold off on judging this team and overreacting until we see what happens in the playoffs. Yeah, we have some flaws, but just about everybody does. If we get KOed in the playoffs again, I’ll come over and say that something has to change, be it the players or the coach. But let’s hold off on that judgement until the season is over. Can we please not make the remainder of this season unpleasant because hating on our chances is the new chic thing around here?

For those concerned that Detroit can’t beat Cleveland, don’t forget that we were on our way to defeating them in our previous game this season before Lebron left the game.

Also, as painful as it is to remember last years conference finals, Detroit did take the first two games (and nearly the next 3) despite being on the wrong end of some of pretty lousy officiating and playing the crumbiest basketball of their whole season.

All of us fans are disappointed, but I don’t think that meeting the Cavs in the playoffs spells doom for the Pistons.

Mike, Offensive Stallion? What have you seen from AJ that tells you he can be a go to scorer right now?

As for the doomsday crew, I’m starting to lean to your side. I know this is a regular season loss and the second of a back-to-back. And I didn’t actually watch the game, but…

My two big problems with this team.

1. The offense just wilts against good defensive teams. Motion and ball movement stops. The Larry Brown era teams didn’t exactly light up the scoreboards but those teams wer great defensively. A couple of years on the legs, the loss of Ben Wallace (who wouldn’t have been effective anyway) and some new defensive rules have made this team less dominant defensively. While still good, the defense is not good enough to make up for the kind of bad offense we see from this team against Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and Utah.

2. The Pistons are the consummate team. There’s no part more important than another. I think that can be a problem. There’s no accountability. Jordan was a prick to his teammates but he got them to bring it every night. I think sometimes you do need that one guy to be the leader and keep everyone in line.

AJ has scored at every level even with us last year when he scored 20 in one game.

But he has always played face to basket. I do I know this. Because I have seen him play. He didn’t get to be Mr. Basketball in CA but not having a game on offense.

That is how I know.

You might say that he couldn’t play face to basket on the elbow in the NBA. I say that would be supposition only, without any basis in fact or any proof to support that statement.

Just to clarify.

I did not see him play at Westchester High, but rather in the D-League.

I watch Al Thornton play a lot because I live in L.A. AJ had the same type of game on offense except AJ was better going to basket but not as good from long range.

Thornton will become a big time scorer in the NBA before his career is over.

for some reason i’m not really worried about this loss. maybe i’m moving past the live and die by regular season game mode. i’m starting to bottom line it: joe d has assembled a fantastic squad from 1 to 15. now it comes down to flip to figure out how to win with the deepest squad in the league. so you either think he can do it. or you think he can’t.

I’ve been critical of the Piston’s focus previously, but I’m willing to call this a schedulng loss. It was their 3d game in 4 nights, while Cleveland rested yesterday. But, yeah, a lot of those number look troubling, especially because I think we’ve got the better talent 1-10.

I don’t think anyone was expecting a great game coming off our best offensive performance in years… However, the celts are like 14-3 in back to backs and it says something. I mean really who can we hate more than the cavs? This game wasnt as bad as the final score but you can’t overlook how bad we look on offense for long periods of time. flip isnt a good coach and today was just more proof of that. This loss wasnt all flips fault either. We made too many poor choices and we didnt hustle enough. Are you kidding me about the whole can’t foul lebron thing? we have jason… let him wack mr yankee fan on the arm a few times. You really have to do something nasty to get a flagrant 2. and if you do… so what who gives a crap its the regular season. Besides even if you just stop him from making the basket, guess what his weakness is… he can’t shoot free throws. besides good nites from bron and Z we still could have won if we showed up on offense. 73 points, including a majestic 13 point second quarter. absolutely inexcusable.

Where does Billups go when the Pistons play the Cavs? He seems to be a non-factor in most Cavs/Pistons games.

Chris, part of what I noticed last night . . . Billups was getting LeBron as his defensive assignment. Also, the Cavs did things, like traps, a lot. It’s almost the exact same game plan from last year. Chauncey still hasn’t figured out what to do with Cleveland.

Sauce1977:

Thanks, I only watch the Pistons play when they play the Cavs as I am a Cavs fan. I just wondered what the Cavs do differently than other teams against Billups. It seems strange that other teams do not try to trap him and get the ball out of his hands. Last year everyone attributed the success against Billups to the length of Larry Hughes, but Hughes is gone and it seems like we had the same result. Cavs have extreme difficulty with smaller/quicker point guards, but they seem to do ok with Billups. Should be an interesting post season if (big if) the two teams meet in the playoffs.

I liked reading the blurb from Sloan, especially this:

“Those are disappointing losses. We get excited about playing certain teams, but the job should be the same, regardless of who you play. [But] I realize it doesn’t happen all the time because the emphasis is on the star atmosphere in basketball.”

Yes, a dubious emphasis, indeed.

I read and enjoyed this Jordan link from Ziller’s “David Stern Does Not Need You” post.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3243645

“David Stern hates when I say this, but in some ways he created his own problem. Look at the way the league markets its players. When I came in, they marketed the athletes themselves, how they performed, what they accomplished. To reinvent someone is very difficult. When you say a player is today’s Michael Jordan or today’s Magic Johnson, the first thing the public will do is compare him to the real Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson. When the public doesn’t see the same degree of success, you’ve just dug yourself a deeper hole.”

Yeah, I think the league’s starting to get past Jordan (sheer time, memory turning into legend into forgetful fog), but at the same time, Kobe and LeBron get pegged right into the Jordan category. Why can’t they just be themselves? When I think of Tom Brady, I don’t automatically think of Joe Montana. I didn’t hear “The Next Walter Payton” when Barry Sanders or Emmitt Smith started racking up great careers. The NFL doesn’t work that way, and look at the Lions, of all teams, tripping over themselves in profits off a dubious set of seasons. The NFL is about the team.

Well, I don’t need David Stern, lol.

Chris:

Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, Utah, San Antonio, Philadelphia. Can you name other teams that have a difficult defense to navigate?

That’s the reason why other teams can’t do this to Chauncey. The other reason is that a 6’8 260 lbs. freak of nature guarding a 6’3 200 lbs. point guard isn’t exactly a mismatch . . . it’s a nightmare. Billups usually gets guys smaller than him (Kirk Hinrich, et cetera).

Why the hell can’t we beat Cleveland? I mean they are one of the least talented team in the NBA. All they got on that team is Lebron James. I think there is a mental frame of mind whenever we plays them that we can’t stop him. I saw we can. Cleveland is so lucky that Detroit is so weak and tired from the night before when they played Denver.

Lebron is a matchup nightmare for most teams. Players who are strong enough to guard him are too slow and players who are quick enough are too small. There is no way that Prince can guard Lebron if he is on his game. I think against the Cavs, teams have to shift the defense toward Lebron (like everyone does) and hope that his supporting cast does not show up. Given their “average” record, the supporting staff fails to show up alot. They can be a dangerous team if their roll players can knock down shots.

Yeah, I saw how wonderful Wally World and Ben Wallace have been working out for the Cavs. Sarcasm intended. You hit it, Chris, we are definitely happy as fans that LeBron’s surrounded by junk for players.

Zydrunas is actually the closest thing to a running mate that LeBron has. It’s an odd couple, but since Z’s been healthy, it works very well. Gibson’s not too shabby, either. Those screens Z sets for the cutter are deadly.

Detroit couldn’t guard Jordan, either. The Jordan Rules, and all the other fun times, like when Mike blew up for a ton of points here and there, that’s all to be expected from LeBron. It’s not really about stopping him . . . more like, containment.

I’d rather just leave Prince on LeBron, Billups on Gibson, and work some sort of zone with those assignments. I think if Detroit takes away Cleveland’s perimeter pop options, and they force LeBron to do something with the ball when he has it, then Detroit can silence the Cavs.

I’m still unsure what West provides Cleveland. I haven’t decided if the defense is better, worse, offense is better . . . it seems like West just gives it to LeBron a lot still, and LeBron’s still the point forward.

I think the Cavs have better players and more depth than they had before the trade. I believe West is an upgrade over Hughes and I like what Joe Smith has been able to do for the Cavs off the bench. I think that Wallace has made the game easier for Z and if Wally could find his shooting stroke, he can help also. I think that the best player the Cavs gave up was Gooden. I never liked Hughes passive style. I want some guys with some fire.

To me the Cavs offense looks like a bunch of 40yr olds playing pickup BB at the local YMCA. Not enough ball movement. Everyone waits around for Lebron to do something. Brown needs to design an offense that the point guard runs. Set some off the ball picks for Lebron and let him catch the ball with a defender already out of position. He is not going to catch and shoot like Rip does for Detroit, but he becomes even more difficult to guard if you are out of position and have to run out at him.

If they meet in the playoffs, it could go either way. I think Detroit will shift to defend Lebron and it will be up to the rest of the Cavs to win or lose the series.

As for Other Matt and QD, they’re speaking truth. The doomsday vs. wait and see’s a pure aesthetic – to each his or her own. I cast my lot this way:

Prove it, Detroit! Don’t feed me that “under the radar” crap, and you Pistons have done a lot of talk, so you gotta walkin’ to do this season.

QD’s #1 of things that bother him is also my peeve. I’ve got another one.

When Detroit’s jumpers clank, every player (even the announcers, coaches) seem to buy into the ‘shoot out of it’ mentality. Something, at least to me, seems really wrong with that idea, especially against a good defense.

It’s fine to know that a jumper will eventually hit the mark against a soft defense – the player will get more open looks, and the theory of shooting out of it should apply. Against a team like Cleveland, which did a great job of clogging our perimeter . . . such defensive play is often how Detroit’s offense comes unglued. I liked Larry Brown’s inside-out strategy against tougher defenses. I really don’t think it’s wise to keep running a strength against a strength when the other team’s strength is stronger, meaning, Cleveland seems to take away Detroit’s open looks, so it’s time for Detroit to respond to perimeter clogs with some screens, cuts, and post-ups.

Detroit has to get dirty, is my short answer for what it needs to do against better defenses. Instead of complaining when a non-call happens, do it again and again. Force the referees to recognize they have to call contact, since you’ll be going in there a whole lot more. Even if it’s at the blessed expense of Flip’s precious turnovers, the players have to slug it in the paint. The lack of free throws was largely due to terrible shot selection from contested jumpers after a handful of inside tries didn’t work for the Pistons. Detroit gave up the paint to Cleveland, and that seems to be on the players, not the coaches.

Chris:

Larry Hughes worked well for Washington because the Wiz pace was much faster. Wiz don’t exactly play a ton of half-court. Apparently, Larry Hughes needs uptempo. I’m sure if you forced Steve Nash to play half-court, his numbers wouldn’t look half as good, either. That one’s on Ferry, though.

The guys I absolutely see giving Detroit fits are Varejao, Ilgauskas, Gibson, and LeBron, of course. The rest, especially Ben, are a huge negative in that playoff matchup. The worst thing Ferry did was dump Hughes, in a sense, for Ben Wallace, if you can believe that. That kind of motivation should keep Detroit focused to have the series advantage. Detroit enjoyed every moment of the four wins it dropped on the Bulls, at least, is what I’m trying to say.

Gooden was an 8th-man-quality foul machine. After all these years, he never really improved his game. It was time for him and his duck-tail patch and his beard to mosey on along to some loser’s club (wink: love ya, Paxson!).

At this point, it appears Cleveland will meet Boston in the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs, if I’m not mistaken on projections. Detroit is sitting in the easier seat of #2. The players don’t think about it, but the fans do. I’m expecting an ECF of Detroit vs. Boston, actually.

I think you will see Detroit vs Boston in the ECF, but I think the Cavs can make the playoffs interesting. I think they are built more for the playoffs than the regular season. They can beat anyone in a half court, grind it out game. It will come down to who wants it, who gets lucky and who gets the calls.

Oh, by the way, if it comes down to Detroit v Boston, Go detroit. I can’t stand any team from Boston.

Chris, I’m in agreement with you on Cavs for playoff build.

The only other teams I know besides Boston that commands the opponent to do what they wish most nights . . . in terms of pace . . . Cleveland and Detroit. Especially Cleveland. The one-speed bike pace Cleveland always seems to front is impressively difficult to change. And half-court and defense win a majority of championships this decade, if you forget about that Miami team, lol.

If it’s any other team besides Cleveland, Boston, or Detroit in the ECF, it’s going to be weird. I wouldn’t expect it. These three teams have a really good record against the West.

Chris, you preach to the choir here. BAHSTAHN C’S, vomit. I hate ’em, every last one of them. From the moment Bird to Johnson happened, it was set. I would never like the Celts. Ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43DrapEn5QA

Anyone remember 05? Im pretty sure the Spurs had an average record on back-to-backs. In a playoff series, you dont play two nights in a row. Im just hoping that the Pistons are keeping a little something to suprise Lebron with later.