The Cavs are holding back. They are not showing us the most important part of their playoff game plan: Never under any circumstances allow Damon Jones anywhere near the court.

Dyess just givin’ it to Sauce!!!!

let me just settle in here….

yeah, this feels better, matt.

thanks.

I love the stare-down by LeBron, resulting in him being late down the floor. Nice!

Afflalo just knocked down Lebron and Varejao in one sequence!

Does Varejao remind anyone else of the Brazilian guy from Street Fighter? Blanca?

Hot damn that was a good first quarter!

They’re playing like Trader Jack and Chuck Daly gave them the pre-game pep talk!

He’s like Carlito from WWE.

Good first quarter. Play like you give a shit boys. Looking good, or should I say sounding good. Anyone have a leage pass link to the game??? At least it could be Blaha I’m listening to. Screwed all the way around.

audio only again? why, chansurfing, whyyyy?

yeah i got nothing on a link to this and wish i was living back in michigan about now.

Theo just ate a baby. “Tits” can’t stay with Stuckey.

Let’s agree: Stuckey, from now until the end of his career, will violate Daniel Gibson repeatedly.

When the Pistons get offense from the PF position they are tough. Max and McDyess are a combined 6-7 with 12 points and 10 boards and the 2Q just started!

Keegan: Varejao maximizes his (minimal) skill set, even if he does it in an unethical manner. Carlito is talented but lazy.

For the game, excellent start all the way around. Jarvis didn’t real make a huge impact on the box score, but he did all the right things. Maxiell looks like he’s kicking it into an extra gear for the playoffs. He is leaping out of the gym for those offensive boards.

They spend an equal amount of time with their shoulders on the ground.

The “real” team showed up tonight, nice to see them again.

Maybe “Daddy Rich” or Trader Jack DID give the pre-game? Makes sense.

Sure, tap it away…I’ll drop a 3-bomb in your grill Sideshow Bob!!

What was that about no effort from the starters? I’m pretty sure that’s a save of a possession for Rip AND Tay. Man, Sheed is so dominant when he brings it. He really is the most talented player on the team.

Q Dog – LOL. I just deleted a comment calling Varejao “Sideshow Bob” because I wasn’t sure if it was Varejao or Joakim Noah who looked more like a circus act.

Wow, well played Keegan. Give Carlito a chance though. Once/If he grows up, he’ll be very successful.

Dang, nice feed to Theo, Stuckey.

Stuckey: Nice blow by on Lebron.

Rip has been awful offensively. Great defensively.

Has everyone on the Cavs team hit the floor?

Awwww, LeBron’s getting upset. Two for the price of one.

YEEEEAAAH! Total Meltdown!

joejoejoe, you half expect Varajao to have Kelsey Grammer’s voice when he speaks!

I’d love to see the boys hold Cleveland to under 30 for the half!

lord, i want to see this. lbj is 3-11, turning the ball over, and picking up a tech. come on, channelsurfing!

QD: Nice thing about Rip is that he doesn’t struggle offensively for long. He always finds a way to score, whether it be FTs or finding the feel on his midrange during the course of the game.

Way to go, Bruins. Man, that Pontiac G8 “Spy Hunter” commercial was a blast from the past.

I hope good Pistons efforts come in 4 quarters. I seriously wanna see this game, when Ben Wallace is the only guy on your team who is not missing a shot, it’s not necessarily a good thing.

From the comments above, is Stuckey taking Gibson to school? If he is, this might be just the worst game to miss watching.

Did Jack McClosky just talk trash to the Cavs?

Local feed showed the half-time ceremony for Jack McCloskey . . . and I wiped tears. It’s kind of silly. I’m just a fan. But as a child, those championship clubs, Isiah, Joe D, and the Bad Boys . . . they meant a lot to me. Those teams Jack put together meant a lot to me. Jack means a lot to me. I’m glad I got a chance to see Jack’s tribute.

Eat it, Boston. Suck on it, Cleveland. We own this. Detroit.

Need4sheed.com has a great picture of Varajao that you should check out — pretty funny

Ha! Blaha just said that “the sky is falling.”

was that first quarter the best basketball dyess has played ALL SEASON?

(answer is “yes.”)

scratch that. best GAME of his season after that long jumper.

Can McDyess capture this magic and ride out each game until the end of the season with the same intensity? I’d like him to bring this level every night.

Maybe he just needs a couple easy ones early.

damon jones > delonte west?

mike brown failing at remedial math.

they need to run the first few plays for dyess like lb used to do for ben.

West is hurt.

that explains it

Add Ben Wallace to the list.

superstar foul. that was less a foul than the one bron-bron flipped out about earlier.

i was confused because delonte was healthy enough to help ben off the court.

and dyess continues best game of season.

Yahoo just said that McDyess had a double personal foul. What the hell does that mean?

Boy, it’s pretty pleasant around here tonight!

Does anybody else think the feeds from WDIV are significantly worse than the ones from FSD?

dyess and sideshow got tangled up underneath and they didn’t know how to call it. jumped it up. it was as exciting as it sounds.

b23, they called a double foul on Varejao and Dyess because they were fighting for a rebound and didn’t know who to call a foul on. Then Dyess won the jump ball.

This thing looks like it might get a little chippy. Rip is really d-ing up LeBron. Impressive.

Then Dyess and Varejao joked around together about it. I didn’t like that.

i want stuckey to destroy chesty gibson off the dribble just one time. really really soon.

how had joe smith not gotten in until now?

had to watch the stuckey glasser twice.

i would think dyess would barely be suppressing murderous rage when playing the cavs after last year. he’s the one with the most to lose.

nice d, spellcheck. good to have him back in the rotation.

Yeah, I really like Rip’s defensive effort on LeBron tonight too. Tons of energy, very aware of the screens they set, avoiding them well, hands in the face, crowding and cramping LeBron’s style. Thumbs up.

Operation Rollin’ 20 complete. Maintain the lead.

hell, rip had a week off. he better be playing some d.

kind of lovin’ that jmax hasn’t missed a shot and all of his shots have been jumpers.

Afflalo is just houndin’ Lebron.

if dixon comes back and knocks spellcheck back out of the rotation, i’m going to be really really pissed.

I couldn’t enjoy Afflalo’s d on LeBron any more

Amen JackDutch. And as much as I hate to say it, I sort of feel the same way about Lindsay…he’s not better than Afflalo at this stage of his career. Although as soon as I say that I hate myself.

Here on out . . . Detroit . . . no more mister nice guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNDC9RxVxLc

what an asset for spellcheck to have michael curry on the bench. that guy would have incredible games without scoring a single bucket.

the cleveland lebrons appear to have quit this one…

Flip’s emptying the bench early.

Will that Tayshaun block on Reggie ever get old? I could watch that over and over and over. I wish there were more highlights from when he just destroyed Philly in the playoffs the year before. Happy times.

Michael Curry was a defensive black hole. He didn’t score, but it didn’t matter that much because neither was the other guy. I liked Curry.

that stuckey blow-by is coming, chesty…

Ah. A foul on each. That makes more sense than Yahoo’s nonsensical seeming-claim that Dyess had somehow earned two fouls on a single play.

Even League Pass AUDIO blows tonight. I’m glad it’s not close and I’m glad that the Cavs will have to think about this one next time they come to the Palace.

Yeah, Kobe’s the MVP.

I almost can’t believe my eyes. I swear I keep checking the score expecting Cleveland to climb back in it………. 4really THIS is Piston’s basketball.

DEFINATELY no complaints about effort tonight from me.

I live in Boston, so I have to share a little story about the Boston broadcasters from last night. It turns out they are not just ridiculous when we play them on League Pass.

Note they were playing the Hornets.

Great moment 1:
Play by play: Well Tommy, what do you think of the MVP race? Most people think it’s between LeBron, Kobe, Garnett, and Paul.
Tommy: Well, I think you can just take LeBron and Kobe out of the conversation. (no further explanation).
Play by play: Well who would you take then?
Tommy: I’m going to go with Paul Pierce. He’s adapted, blah blah.
Play by play: Who’s next?
Tommy: I think you have to take Kevin Garnett. But you also have to give a big tip of the hat to Ray Allen, who has done everything he’s been asked.

So to recap: LeBron and Kobe are so undeserving it doesn’t require further discussion. And Paul doesn’t get a mention (although lucky him for not being in the LeBron and Kobe second tier area). And somehow Ray Allen managed to come up.

Great moment 2:
Play by play: Well in two games this year, Rondo has 40 and 10, while Paul has 41 and 17. You have to say it’s been a wash.

Are you serious? That’s almost 2x the assists!

Great moment 3 (my favorite):
Tommy: We’re going to enjoy these duels between Rondo and Paul for years to come.

It’s a free for all in garbage time.

See, how come Detroit doesn’t do this every night . . . the starters get to sit early, the kids can close out the game and play a ton more minutes. Plus there’s more Walter Herrmann.

heinsohn and the other old chowderhead are the WORST. the only guy even close to those clowns is johnny redd kerr.

THIS was pistons basketball, folks. us in the 80s, then in the 70s. love it. good night, kids.

I realize this adds NOTHING to the discussion but I’d like to nominate Forty’s post as the funniest thing I’ve read about basketball since umm… yeah forever.

well, the Rockets broadcasters are pretty bad too. They’re my home team and all, but damn, every time the Rockets were on their way to winning a game, the broadcasters made it sound like they were ’95 Rockets or something.

The box score is really interesting tonight. No Piston scored more than 14. But 5.5 guys in double figures (Sheed with just 9). But 11 Pistons scored. And Cleveland shot just 37%. Also won the board war.

But line of the night: 4-17, 13 4 and 5, with 5 TO :) :) :)

We also were 1-12 from three.

No complaints here. That’s what I call proving it.

This biggest thing I came away with after watching this game is that this is NOT the Pistons team that got kicked out of the playoffs by LeBron last year. At one point there was a lineup of Theo blocking shots, Stuckey playing good scramble D, Jarvis hitting a J, and Maxiell gobbling up babies….I mean offensive rebounds. Last year’s team had nuffin’ on these guys.

Theo blockin’ em vs. Chris getting on a poster. I’ll take Theo.

Flip coached a hell of a game tonight, give props!

PG4L – unfortunately, what Forty described is pretty much the norm out here in Boston with the Celtics’ slappy broadcasters.

Nice win against a Cavs team that looks in disarray and mentally defeated. I think that they still had a hangover from that last second loss at home to N.O. earlier this week.

I wouldn’t read to much into this win for us.

Major props to Rip and Afflalo for playing some of the best D I have ever seen against LBJ. And I love the fact that JMax and Dice have rediscovered their short jump shots. Badass game!

Got what I wanted Pistons win and Afflalo plays great defense against James

Hopefully DICE is on a roll which will continue all the way to our ’Ship

man, this team could still get to 60 wins. have you seen the sked in april? minnesota twice, miami, home for new jersey, home for the knicks, home for the wiz and the raptors. toughest games are at philly, who will be in the hunt for seeding, and at cleveland for our last game. it probably won’t happen because once that 2 seed is locked, they’ll start resting a bit, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

of course, i’ll take 52 wins and a trip to the finals over 60 wins any day of the week…

There are 9 games left. Detroit plays Minnesota twice, the Knicks and Heat, 4 games vs. teams with position/playoffs on the line (NJ, PHI, DC, TOR), and they have a final game of the season vs. Cleveland.

For posterity, Detroit should avoid losing the 4 games vs. Team Tankit, at least split the Fighting Four, and probably smack Cleveland in the face again just because.

If they finish less than .500 down this stretch, then the optimal effort’s still not there, and good luck turning it on and off in the 2nd season because they’ll need it.

I don’t think Detroit will hang 60, but I think that’s a neat goal for their team to try and snag. I’m not encouraging balls to the wall exhaustion in fighting for these wins, but the team should have a better clue of when the hustle isn’t there.

I’d love to see Detroit win every game. Go into the playoffs on a winning streak, like champions should.

Boston did to Miami what I expected Detroit to do . . . thumped them hard, all the starters played no more than 25 minutes, and the entire team played at least 10. This is what I think a lot of Pistons fans wish would happen in such 2nd half mismatch games:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=280330002

I was at the game last night and one things that REALLY stood out to me, was the spectacular defense Rip Hamilton played. He was in Lebron’s face the whole game, very impressive I must say.

Rip’s D reminded me of 05 when he hounded DWade into submission. Afflalo seemed to have some of that bulldog in him, too. I love how he has consistently gone straight at the superstars in the league, from KG to LBJ.

I fuckin’ hate paul pierce. from nba.com:

“Kevin Garnett offered polite praise of the Miami Heat before Paul Pierce interrupted the postgame news conference and said, “Man, I am going to tell you the truth.”

Then he did.

“They got D-Leaguers out there, so I think we just handled our business,” the Boston forward said, listing some of the five Miami players who spent time in the NBA’s developmental league this season. “We’re supposed to do that. We knew this was a game we were supposed to win, and we just focused from the jump and went out and did it.”

Then he slapped Garnett on the head and said, “Let’s go.”

It’s funny enough when we laugh at it but you should give some respect to the other team. there is no rivalry there, just one man’s inflated ego. i hope someone fouls that ego outa him

Honestly, the only celtics whom I don’t hate is Ray Allen. Paul Pierce is a jerk, just a year a go, his team was worse than the Heat…he seems to have a very short memory.

Why Real Piston Fans Prefer Blogs (or should)

From Mlive
Ratliff proving his worth with Pistons

from Freep
How Pistons’ acquisition of Theo Ratliff is paying off

from detnews
Frontcourt excelling on both ends of floor

seems to be that all the “big 3” do is cut and paste from Piston press releases – they all write the same stuff with a few small changes

That is why my first stop is this blog and then pistons.com on to need4sheed

Great stuff – this is my big 3

If I have time I skim the so called big 3

Heinson is godawful but I think that the analyst for Cleveland is almost as bad. He sounds like he’s Boobs’ drunk dad telling a television audience how good his son is.

In the first half McDyess and Billups went back to their favor pick’n’roll from 2 years ago, with Dyess rolling to a WIDE open 15 footer on the baseline. That used to be his sweet spot but I haven’t seen that play in a while.

Only two things could have made that game better for me:
1) I wish Ben wouldn’t have gotten hurt. I felt awful watching him get carried of the court with his head looking straight down at the floor. I just wanted him to pick his head up and show some pride in himself… he just looked like a beaten shell of himself.
2) If someone would have kicked Varejao in the nads and then knocked out his front teeth with an uppercut. Perfect

They use Varejao like a roaming thug now in their defensive set. Ever notice how Sideshow Bob will be on his man or in a set, and then out of nowhere he’ll skitter over to the ball carrier and take a couple ninja-swipes at the ball?

If by “ninja swipes,” you mean “awkward, gangly, pouting swipes,” then, yeah, I see it…

When ever I hear ninja defense, I think of this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XhTjSrZi91Y

Bowen for DPOY!

you watch that dropkick on szczerbiak and the linked movies are all entitled
Bruce Bowen kicks Ray Allen
Bruce Bowen Kicks Amare Stoudamire
Bruce Bowen injures Steve Francis Bruce
Bowen Knees Steve Nash
Bowen kicks Paul

what the hell is the league waiting for? a death?

Great win. In terms of the rest of the schedule, in addition to the “keeping up the intensity” vs. “getting some rest” factors, the Pistons should keep in mind home court advantage in potential NBA Finals matchups. I don’t think they should talk about it in public for risk of being accused of “looking past” Eastern Conference opponents (and they really shouldn’t be looking past Eastern Conference opponents).

But if Detroit reaches the NBA Finals, the W-L record will actually count for something besides pride. The top teams in the West are not only bunched ridiculously close to each other, but are bunched just barely behind where the Pistons are now. I remember the 2005 series against the Spurs, and if there is a Finals game 7, I would rather it be at the Palace than in San Antonio, LA, New Orleans, Pheonix, . . . .

Toledo Joe: I agree wholeheartedly re: value of W-L record. The nice thing is that if you look at the West’s contenders’ schedule in terms of tough games left for teams who could catch the Pistons as the Pistons finish off their last 9 it looks like this:

LAL (2.5 back, 8 games left) – Hornets, Spurs
Spurs (1.5 back, 8 games left) – Warriors, @Utah, Phoenix, @Lakers, Utah
NO (1.5 back, 10 games left) – @Magic, Warriors, Jazz, @Lakers

The Rockets and Suns are each 3 back of us with 8 games left. The only reason I put the Lakers on this list at 2.5 back is because they have an extremely easy schedule to finish out the season. I’m just eliminating the Rockets and Suns from talk for sake of efficiency. Also, I left the Dirk-less Dallas squad off from what I considered a “tough” game for the West teams even though Dallas is in the same spot as GS right now.

Our toughest games both come on the second night of back-to-backs, @Philadelphia (next Wed.) and a week later we end the season @Cleveland. I think it’s somewhat safe to say that if we are fortunate enough to make it to the NBA Finals, we’ll hold home court advantage.

The WC teams are going to be fighting for a top 2 seed, though. There is a big difference between playing Denver and playing Phoenix in the first round. That said, four of our last nine are against teams that are actively trying to lose. If we take even two out of the other five, we should finish ahead of the WC teams in the standings.

Speaking of the T-pups, I am looking forward to finally seeing our boys in person. I scored tickets five rows behind the Pistons bench for $50. Thank you, Kevin McHale.

HAHAHA.

Yeah, in hindsight, “ninja” was probably the incorrect descriptive term. I would opt for “child-like flutters” as an alternate to "awkward, gangly, pouting swipes," lol.

That Bruce Bowen kick on Wally World rules, and it’s also great as a YTMND.

http://bowenkombat.ytmnd.com/

I love that clip because Wally World deserves it. I hate him, lol.

LawyerBoy: Thanks for writing all that out!

I would like to thank garret for that youtube link

you can get some decent ’za in Detroit man… I was surprised. Trip was a bit ruined because of the opening day loss, but everything else was cool