Pistons Blazers Game Thread

I thought Sheed was “unlikely” for tonight’s game? (from Mccosky blog).

It would be nice to win this one without putting rip and sheed on the floor. I have a feeling that if sheed plays hurt he will just stand by the arc and jack up a dozen 3’s.

I have a feeling that if sheed plays healthy he will just stand by the arc and jack up a dozen 3’s.

I love him regardless and want him in to jack those 3’s up.

Natalie’s blog says Sheed won’t be playing. Whether he plays or not, I’ll be at the game tonight and hopefully the team can continue to play well minus Sheed and Rip.

I have amended the post. Thanks for the heads up.

This could be a tough one for us with no Sheed. Here’s hoping for a Stuckey to Amir oop.

So it looks like

Kwame on Oden – Could be interesting

Does Curry put Johnson or Prince on LA.

It seems to me that it would be better to put Prince on LA and Johnson on Batum. I think that there is too high a risk that Johnson would accumulate 3 fouls in about 3 minutes trying to guard LA.

We shall see

Well, we take the undercard in OT.

Whoa Kevin Sawyer rockin the all-in-white “look at my comment i’m an author now biatch” post. Just remember I knew you when man, I knew you when ;)

I noticed the all-in-white too, but he dropped the ball with no hat tip.

Lucas – like Michael Curry, he’s learning on the job. Unlike Michael Curry, he understands basketball :)

Well, I’m sufficiently amped up after the Michigan-IU game. WOOOOO LETS GO PISTONS and stuff. Hopefully I’ll be watching something other than the worst game ever played.

Is his face silky smooth?

OM – do we get a basketball fan hustle award for today?

Other Matt – you dont like watching tons of missed free throws, teams being unable to inbound the ball and clutch moments featuring players stepping out of bounds with no defender in front or even directly to the side of them?

Also OM – I thought the liveblog was decidedly less poisonous on umhoops than mgoblog for football. May the Walmart Wolverines never show up. It’s still no DBB though.

We freaking should. Although, I’d probably win the lifetime achievement award. I was a 4 year ticket holder at school and never left a game early (the entire Daniel Horton era). Sometimes that meant I was the only one sitting in the bleachers while Wisconsin’s student manager hit 3s and Tommy looked confused. Tonight was a throwback to Amaker-ball. I don’t miss him.

MGoBlog is irreparably broken. I used to comment over there with a different handle before he hit the big time and there was an influx of unbelievable stupidity. The content is still as good as ever, but the sense of community is long, long gone.

Yeah, I don’t know what’s worse: the nonsense by the Walmart Wolverines or the completely over the top, unnecessary vitriol from the “regulars” toward both the idiots and one another – DBB on a bad day isn’t as bad as the mgoblog forum on a good day. Content is unreal though…

Wisconsin and Northwestern are challenging the Michigan-IU game in terms of awfulness.

Yeah, I really like all the people that comment here. DBB in my opinion, is one of the best kept secrets on the intertubes.

O/T, but does anyone else hate the new ESPN site as much as I do? They dispensed with drop down menus, and the whole thing is glitchy and not IE friendly.

40 and OM, after the last few years of UM basketball, I’ll take any win.

yes new ESPN sucks….i hate change

I think Amir should play for Beilien for a year to work on his jumper.

I want to work with Beilein on my jumper.

Kevin Sawyer
Jan 7th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

O/T, but does anyone else hate the new ESPN site as much as I do? They dispensed with drop down menus, and the whole thing is glitchy and not IE friendly.>>

Switch to Firefox or Chrome.

Alrighty, time to give the Blazers an education. And also time for the Rose Garden to give the Palace an education: seriously, Palace, time to step it up pre-auto recession style.

Dicky V giving CB1 some love

Boston loses again. Not championship material at all. Ha.

OT: is the LBJ dance in the State Farm commercial a crab step?

Forty: It’s the world-famous Kid ‘N’ Play dance! That dance is classic.

In all seriousness, the crab dribble story is far and away my favorite NBA story this year

stream?

hey does anyone have a link for the game tonight

Is that a scorpion tattooed on Amir’s throat? It would seriously hurt to get something tattooed on your throat.

Is Rondo hurt? He’s been terrible the last few games, and I still think he’s the man…

Forty: Has anyone covered why it’s called a “crab” dribble? I don’t get it. I remember the “spider” dribble, but I was not familiar with the “crab” dribble.

LB: I actually read in today’s David Thorpe chat something to the effect that he didn’t make up the term. But Thrope was a bit vague and unclear. I just like that crab dribble has suddenly entered the NBA lexicon. And both LeBron’s (it’s “staying in the arsenal”) and the Wiz’s (Caron Butler: “I couldn’t do that in high school, I couldn’t do that in college”) reactions have been excellent. I love that there’s a rivalry between the best team in the league and the worst. It’s hilarious.

I’m going to get this out of the way early: the pronunciation of Batum’s name is really irritating.

LB, I’m not Forty but Detroit great and one of my favorite ballers, Jalen Rose gives the low down on the “crab” dribble.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpQBD672HkQ

Late whistle on Amir

How much must AI love that the Blazers put their perimeter defender on the other guard?

Diablo – come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40!

http://www.justin.tv/trever1982/trever1982">link

I haven’t watched a game since Stuckey’s 40 point game. This is an excellent start from him.

That was a silly, silly foul by Amir. Really silly.

Damnit Amir that was absolutely retarded

And the game…

http://www.justin.tv/trever1982

Man, Stuckey is playing great.

I’m gonna go on a limb and say that’s one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen Amir make…

Is that Oden guarding Tay? That was a serious mis-match.

What a Buckeye

Ooo Laughton beat me to it…

Forty: lmao…nice!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjF93E4LjlA

Forty: I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Amir did something similarly stupid when he launched himself onto Beno Udrih to end the 3rd the other day. Maybe I’m just a sour puss.

Rebecca Harlow is my new bicycle.

@LB:
“Maybe I’m just a sour puss.”

Yep.

LB – I thought this was worse…decidedly less costly, but a worse decision IMHO

Hey, Kwame caught a bullet pass and finished. That was kind of weird.

And Kwame tosses a cake in the hoop!

I love this start, especially the hustle.

Pretty good D by Amir and Stuckey to turn “Aldridge on Stuckey” into “crazy Blake shot over AI”

How did Rip get Inspector Gadgets jacket?

Maxiell a deep mid-ranger..

I can’t get the Trever link to work. It brings up the site, but no game. What am I doing wrong?

Great steal by Tay.

@Iverson:
No more jump shots from 20, please. Thanx.

I fucked the link, use Diablos it should work.

Kevin welcome back to being part of the unwashed masses. Why give up the fancy white box around the comments?

The link works fine, but no game…

Try this one..

http://www.justin.tv/trucklive

forty, please don’t call amir retarded.

afb – i still love him, he and i made up over the timeout :)

please, not another bad shooting night from AI.

some great baskets and some pretty dimes by stuckey to start the game… tayshaun also playing very solid… and our bigs have done a pretty good job (amir, maxiell and kwame)

Max, that was ridiculous.

This one is working well for me

http://www.justin.tv/kennyg1055

Maxiell is hungry!

Thats what I’m talking about! All day Maxy!

Babies!!!

I feel like Aldridge shoots 80% against us every time we play.

Wow, nice move Kwame.

Another cake dunk!!!

Watching this game gives me a new appreciation for the total ineptness of John Paxson. You think Chicago wouldn’t kill for Aldridge? They traded him for Tyrus Thomas straight up. Hilarious.

i like the attitude

With as much zone as we’ve seen in the last few weeks you’d think we’d be all over it. Why does it always look like the Pistons are totally baffled by it at first? They just pass around the perimeter and jack up a jumper. They should be able to recognize it instantly and go right into a series of zone busting plays. Have guys cutting base line, and top of the key. It’s real frustrating. Am I the only one who sees this?

Walter for 3. The future Mrs. Other Matt is very excited.

OM: Aldridge for Thomas is looking like one of Paxson’s least awful moves. Take a look at what he got back for Eddy Curry (yeah I know, he’s awful, but still), Jamal Crawford and Tyson Chandler. At least Tyrus Thomas has suited up for Chicago a lot of times. That’s more than can be said for what Paxson got back for any of those three.

Boy the blazers are a joke on offense when la is out (and roy is hurt)

It’ll be nice to get Rip and Sheed back so that we stop seeing zone defenses all game.

Didn’t he let Chandler walk to open up minutes for Thomas? That makes the whole Ty Thomas thing doubly hilarious. I think getting Crawford and Chandler for Eddy Curry is actually doing pretty good. It’s not like Curry has done diddly since they dealt him.

Don’t they look way, way better with a core of Rose, BG (I know he’s leaving), Deng, and Aldridge? I mean, that’s a disastrous decision, they are dying for a big man who can score.

OM – I think the answer is yes ;)

OM, I think LB meant that Paxson didn’t get anything for Aldridge OR Jamal Crawford OR Eddy Curry (unless you count Tyrus Thomas and Ben Wallace).

Blargh. There must be some setting that I don’t have that’s making it impossible to watch stuff on Justin…

When I watch IA play defense it really pisses me off. He just sags off his man when his guy doesn’t have the ball. Then when they swing the ball back to his man everyone needs to shift to cover and eventually someone gets open or there’s a foul. Sometimes it’s hard to see that IA initiated the defensive breakdown, but he is the culprit many times. The worst part is.. if he just stayed with his man none of that would happen. His little sag off, and all his gamble overplays on passes rarely pay off in steals. Just play good position defense.

OM: Regardless of the dude’s attitude, the Bulls got J.R. Smith back for Chandler! That would’ve been fine, especially since Gordon is totally walking this summer, if six days later they didn’t send Smith to Denver for Howard Eisley and two picks that became JamesOn Curry and Aaron Gray. Bad call, John Paxson.

I am impressed with our effort on D, granted portland seems rather inept but we are playing with good energy and preventing a run even when our offense sputters. Keep it up fellas.

TOronto deserves some chiding for passing on Aldridge too. Especially considering he used to work out with FP Chris Bosh.

kevin s. you using Firefox?

Antonio McDyess potty-trained your puppy.

is kwame better than oden? he is definitely better looking.

I’ve tried both Firefox and IE… It brings up the site, and all of the user information for the channel, but no clip.

LB, you’re right, everything he’s done is hilarious. My bad for the misunderstanding on Crawford and Chandler. The point remains the same, we would all like to personally thank John Paxson for crippling the Bulls short term future through a string of hilariously bad moves.

You still think a big man can’t sell?

These Blazers announcers are just terrible. Just unbearable.

If we are talking about bad trades, how about the last two draft day deals Mchale has made. Trading Roy for Foye and Mayo for Love. A core of Mayo, Roy, and Jefferson would be nasty.

Lol portland announcers, please iso outlaw on amir every play

@Dafa

What do you mean? Rasheed didn’t play tonight because he’s scared to play against Aldridge. Yeah that sounds right.

My theory is the same on Bill Simmons has, there are about 4 GMs who actually know what they’re doing.

Amir is quietly playing very well, I think.

Man, Afflalo really got up on that jam after the whistle. Didn’t they have a contest last year to see who could dunk more in games between him and Billups?

kevin s. dunno man, maybe re-install activex or something?

Om – and bill simmons is decidedly not one of them hehe. Remember when he said we could get amare for sheed? Or that stuckey was meh?

Forty, the Portland announcers are a guilty pleasure. They’re so bad. Like Mario Impemba-Rod Allen level bad. But I like the Blazers and watch their games when I’m up later, so I have no problem with them.

OM: Have fun with the majesty of John Paxson’s career as Chicago’s GM:

http://hoopshype.com/general_managers/john_paxson.htm

Oh, Simmons is definitely wrong about a lot of things, just not about the number of non-terrible GMs. I loved it when Chad Ford took him to school in their pre-draft column. It was beautiful. I do like to read his NBA stuff for entertainment value. I hope somebody hires him to be GM, it’d be great to see him be Matt Millen level awful, because he certainly would.

That three seconds call would be made by maybe one other ref besides bennett – ridiculous. Not that by the book he did or did not stay in there for 3. But you almost never see the call made in that situation.

LB, thank you.

But the nba is the “no balls association!” Hehe I do have to give him credit for being funny and jump-starting a genre of blog/on-line column.

Also, after the wolverines game, I did not need to see another unforced step on the sideline.

Good half overall, but I feel we should be up more.

Yeah Jim, def annoying to shoot 60% and lead by only 7

That was a disastrous end to the half. Yuck.

This is my favorite John Paxson moment:

October 6 2006
Waived center Eric Chenowith.

This implies that at some point he signed Eric Chenowith, which is completely and utterly inexcusable seeing as how he was a considerably less talented version of Greg Ostertag.

the defense has to step up. it’s not likely that they’re gonna be shooting 60% the whole game.

OT: Utah is out-rebounding New Orleans 51-25 right now, 2:30 left in the 4th. Milsap is a Monster.

I don’t know what’s better about this quote: that the defending champions are claiming moral victories or that Rivers thinks it’s good that his team admitted defeat before the game was over. Listening to Boston talk about how they knew they’d play “82 game 7’s” makes the if it ain’t rough it ain’t right Pistons meme seem palatable.

“In our last timeout, you could see it in our guys’ eyes. Like, ‘Shoot, we’re going to lose this home game,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “It bothered them. You could see that. And I was thinking ’That’s a good thing.”

Sun Yue is in for the Lakers right now.

“kevin s. dunno man, maybe re-install activex or something?”

No dice. It won’t let me view the chat room or the stream. This makes no sense.

I am a Knight of Kwame Brown. His play pleases us.

The Blazer announcers seem ok. No homerism, respect the other team.

I have to say that MCIAFI is coaching a good game. He has the players ready most of the time on D.

Gotta agree about these announcers. They aren’t homers.

Rob, I think the effort has been excellent tonight. Not too much to complain about. I kind of like this Kwame-Amir combo. I think we’ve been really good defensively with them in there together. I’m impressed with Amir. Other than that bonehead foul on Oden’s dunk, he’s been pretty good.

Rob G: Don’t get used to it. When Rasheed is healthy, Curry will glue Kwame to the bench. I think Kwame’s stoic demeanor does him in. It makes him look like he doesn’t care or isn’t trying, when he’s just not that emotive, but he still makes a play like when he cleanly waylays Blake on the pick.

Not really off-topic, these announcers have inspired it— has anyone here seen the chart of NBA announcers and objectivity/knowledge? It had kelser as the most objective/knowledgeable color guy, with einsohn and red kerr being the worst. I’d like to see that, if anyone has a link… I have a theory.

My theory, in short, is that the worst a team is, the more frequent the salesmanship by the announcers. In other words, they talk up the team and talk down the competition more often when the home team is bad, solely to sell more tix. Want to see that chart for a quick glance of affirmation before I research further…

LB: The Knights of Kwame lay in wait, ready for any opportunity. The code of chivalry demands that we stand proud, whether our leader is benched, starting, or tossing cake.

You know, Tay has been really good tonight, too. Too much is going right. I expect a frustrating 8 minute stretch in this game.

Prince is lethal when his shot is falling like this

MP: yeah, find that chart, I remember it

wtf?

Obvious hook by Aldridge

That foul called sucked balls

Aldridge has a sick stiff-arm

MP, in your theory is Red Kerr an outlier? I mean the Spurs have been one of the best teams in the league over the past decade and he’s still horrible. If I recall correctly, Marv Albert ranked very highly and the Nets have mostly been bad in the past 10 years (the few J-Kidd years excepted).

Tayshaun! WOW!

Tay would like to be a part of the baby eating action.

AGGH KWAME

Then Tay sees his own progeny devoured…

I think that frustrating stretch is now.

Kwame’s hands rating is plummetting on 82games

i LOVE how curry was upset there… not at the refs… but at our players… getting in their faces… hopefully that pumps them up

Stuckey please take it to the rack… over and over, for all eternity.

As long as Kwame’s hands rating doesn’t drop below Stubby McGee’s. McGee’s hands really sucked.

Agreed mannie I liked curry’s reaction a lot actually

The team left Prince hanging on that fast break.

Bayless with some absurd hand-checking there – bruce bowen thinks that’s a bit much

Uh, yeah it was a foul. It’s called hand checking isn’t it?

Someone needs to hammer bayless

Nit pick: I’m pretty sure had Rasheed yelled in someone’s face like Bayless just did he’d get T’d up.

@OM:
I was referring to Johnny “Red” Kerr, color guy for the Bulls. He is fucking obnoxious— I lived in downtown Chicago for 8 years, had to listen to that guy on local TV when I wanted basketball. He’s so bad, he cheers on the Bulls under his breath on plays “oh! Gordon, mm… make, shoot! ohhhh, that was a bad call by that ref, how could you say that was a foul?”

Its like feeding me 16 beers, punching me in the head twice, then asking me to do Pistons color when we play the Celtics.

…now that I think about it, that might be a smart move by Pistons media. Hire me, Billy D, buy me beer and watch my mouth go.

Withstand this run, then push back.

WTF transition d anyone?

Yikes on that defensive lapse

If only Tay could live forever, always backing someone down, perpetually hitting baby hooks…

No more McDyess, please.

Ahhh..

This is getting… upsetting.

As soon as this game is over I can resume my Jerryd Bayless fandom. Right now, he is the enemy. He must be destroyed.

Thank god for Tay!

no need to panic

time to go to bed

The bad boys would have wiped bayless off the map…I wish teams still played like that

Great hustle by jb though, he changed this game

Dagger by Prince!

AI!!!!!

Give AI that shot all day.

Oh, Amir.

MP, my bad. You’re right I hate the Bulls guy. I think he used to do radio for them and he would refer to everybody by their first names. It was horribly irritating. “MJ to Scottie, looking for Luke underneath. Misses the shot, Horace with the rebound.” It cemented my hatred for the Bulls.

How in god’s name was that not on joel p? That was a run block.

I still like us here. Although I have been wrong before.

Is that a foul?

lol Blazer announcers… Mike Curry is old school

Boy bayless using his hands with impunity right now

Bayless is the leader in the clubhouse for the Cup of Mediocrity, right?

What’s with Stuckey, he’s been fumbling the ball all game..

They lost that quarter.

wow, that quarter sucked…

bullshit play by stuckey… not the first time. needless TOs

Detroit gives up another lead? You don’t say…

Remember the days when we sucked in the 1st quarter and dominated the third?

why can’t this team put an opponent away?

We need to sit Stuckey for the start of the 4th, put AA on Bayless and run the offense through Tay.
Or thats what I think.

turning out to be a bad game for stuckey… but if we can sneak away with a win, playing w/o rip and sheed again… then im happy… this is a big 4th quarter coming up for us

Amir’s last two fouls both looked like they should’ve gone the other way.

If the pistons can chill and realize they just took portland’s best shot and only got outscored by 4 in the quarter, we’ll be fine. Let’s calm down. Portland crowd a factor right now.

Announcers suck.

Kindly kill Bayless.

when cleveland wants to, they win by thirty

I agree Laughton. AA on Bayless will end his little coming out party.

Michael – his first one was also very late (tho perhaps warranted). I think he got squeezed today.

volume down on homers

These foul calls are fucked!

What? Where’s the offensive foul?

Offensive foul?

I want to complain about the officiating, but I honestly don’t think it’s been that bad.

WTF is happening!

All the Blazer announcers talk about is intimidation.

i hate stuckey right now

Dyess definitely pushed Pryzbylla on that rebound attempt. It was a good call.

“Stuckey can jump well but not as well as Pryzbilla” wow

Refs are ridiculous tonight, it’s like portland has 6 guys out there

OMG IMPLOSION

Dyess has not been good at all tonight.

shit

Man, Stuckey needs to stop turning the ball over like he’s Chauncey Billups and its the playoffs.

We are missing two all stars, Dyess is injured, we are on the road, AI and Stuckey are having their worst games ever, and we trail by 1.

I’ll take it.

this game has been officiated very poorly :(

I had really hoped curry would be the type of coach to headhunt and call for hard intimidating fouls. Kwame should have nipped bayless in the bud after he yelled in dice’s face.

The Pistons have been getting terrible calls since I tuned in (mid 3rd quarter). Has it been this way all night?

Sheed needs to go get dressed.

“…like he’s Chauncey Billups and its the playoffs.”

-Hahaha, priceless.

Darius Miles still plays?

Snowflake!

Arron I love u

SPEEEEELLCHEEECK!!!!!

Spellcheck. Nuff said.

MONEY!

Spellcheck FTW!

Diiiiiiice!

DYESS

Etroit returns

Just gotta get the ball to that inconsistent 3 shooter, AA

These refs are really annoying me.

They missed a call stop complaining, is it just me or do these annoucers suck?

Way to take it inside, finally

Kwame you turd

God blazers reaching on everything. Love the fire kwame, we’re getting punked, stay yappy.

Haha second blazer stiff-arm tonight!

Um, AI? Could you get hot please?

AI: Please, no more jumpshots.

WHAAAAAT

are you fucking kidding me

Yes, Kwame! Raise your banner high! Joel has insulted your honor. Duel!

ouch.

AI… learn to shoot

im a nervous wreck right now… this game is too tight… and im always thinking prince will miss his next shot… he’s single-handily kept us in this game

We need to ride Tay the whole way here. He has the poise to do this.

Iverson is a terrible three point shooter. He should NOT have the green light.

As of right now, Iverson is 37.6% from the field in the last five games, including this one.

Might be something for the “Rip to da bench!” wagoners to consider. A group I am absolutely not a part of.

Close game considering the Pistons are without Rip, Sheed, Ai and Stuckey tonight.

AI 5-16

Before we hate too hard on AI, let’s remember stuckey’s performance too

portland wants this one

There, I just said a prayer. First one in three years. So it should count extra.

Thank God Oden is back… the Blazer D will die

ai can save his skin with another game winner

PortlanD

Gawd, the announcers really suck!

Where is Stuckey’s explosiveness? He let Fernadez swallow his shot up.

I think we should run the shot clock out every play on isos. Portland has no answer.

Saunders’d

This Piston team looks confused… like conference Finals elimination game confused…

why did he take affalo out?

Surprised at all the complaints against Stuckey. Sure, his shot isn’t falling ideally, but he’s done a good job of getting to the line and distributing. The TOs suck, but he could be doing much worse. How much worse? See Iverson, Allen.

We need G2.

We’re only an awkward billups wiggle shot and a rasheed tirade away

I kinda saw this comin from Stuckey. Iverson is having a bad couple of games. Hopefully he can come around in these last few minutes.

Forty nobody here will start hatin on stuckey… it will always be ai

TAYYYY

C’mon Tay. Do this.

Prince!!!

Compton Kid with the good stuff

Tayshaun, knocking down a tough one.

Aldridge terrifies me right now

Stuckey’s d has been outstanding here

Close this shit out. Now.

And that is why we have Kwame..

This is the most exciting game I have watched so far this season. Not that I have seen that many :)
Win this, please Tay. You da man!

K I’m thinkin Tay post up, draw a double, kick to Stuckey, drive And 1

whether we win tonight or not… i wanna marry tayshaun and bear his children… yes, i said it

RISE KNIGHTS! RISE AND SALUTE YOUR LIEGE!

Kwame Brown… clutch?

And my league pass goes out…sweet

ooo Tay had a chance to put a nail in the coffin.

This is making me uneasy.

definitely the most exciting game ive seen this year by far… talk about back and forth… my heart is racing… wow

Kwame my lord, thou art most clutchest of clutch. I anoint thee Sir Cake-A-Lot.

Honestly, I would not mind if they retired Dyess’s number. That guy puts his body and heart on the line every game.

a little cake, and see what the man can do? he’s like a beautiful princess pony on a magical birthday. throw it down, big pony, throw it down.

LOL Laughton

SH*T!

Damnit. Defense, please play Defense!

im SCARED

We needed a goal tend on that shot…

Put Tay on everyone. Clone him now!

damnit! i remember when A.I. used to make shots like that blindfolded.

Why not shoot with 34 seconds left and get the final possession in case they score?

Can I please get status update? I’m dieing right now :(

This would be exciting if Portland had got by into it by playing better, rather than by getting better calls. As it is, this is just irritating.

I predict a steal and foul. I hope :)

Bench AI for Afflalo?

Put AA in. Heck put Dave Cowens in!

Outlaw=lucky, not good

Outlaw scores with 8.3 left – 84 – 83 Blazers

Yep, I was right. But damn, Afflalo can’t get a break on defense.

prays for a goaltend

Someone show that tape to Lebron. No travel needed.

Tay please!

bites nails

Mannie32 wins this thread.

Hermann!

Blazers win. It happens.

Damn.

NOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks Comcast. And thanks Bennett. What a stomach punch loss. F me.

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

why AI with the shot??

Announcers suck big time!

Why?

NO GOALTEND! What the hell?!

Naw, I’m kidding but man, did they celebrate like they won a playoff series.

Rats. Pistons deserved this one.

A most exciting game and a shame we couldn’t pull it out. But that kind of game is why I love basketball: its edge of the seat fantastic.

Interesting that Michael Curry decided to go to Iverson for the last shot. Probably not the wisest decision he’s made, seeing as Iverson has been our weakest link in 6 straight…

Crap, I don’t like this… Denver and Utah looming.

Oh well, the Celts lost… again.

good game nonetheless… but big disappointment down the stretch… hopefully sheed is back for next game… and cant wait for rip to return as well… but man, we almost had this… i feel like tay should have taken that last shot but ah well… just one game in a long season

that being said, we had a golden opportunity to become 4th seed in the east and missed it

Kobe > Jordan

i LOVE isolation basketball. love it. that whole making the extra pass, finding the open man thing is overrated.

Well that’s what you get for not putting a team away.

Sad part:
Atlanta lost earlier tonight, and as a result we moved to the 4th seed in the East. With this loss, we’re back down to the 5th seed. We were in the 4th slot for a few hours though…

I can’t believe it went down like that. I’m glad they trusted AI on that, but maybe it was good that he missed. He needs to go to the gym and take like 5000 shots in these next two days. Honestly, I didn’t expect a big game from Stuckey. I like him, but I didn’t see him going off on Rudy Fernandez. AI surprised me though. I thought he’d be the reason they’d win it. He’s just shooting to bad.

bad idea for iverson taking the last shot since he only shoots about 20% from the field. i would have gave it to tayshaun or rodney.

K Iverson… 6 for 19

5-18 at the time… and he shoots the game winner?

What about Stuckey, Prince, I woulda given it to a wide open Herrmann!!!!

I’m with Mike Payne. AI was weak. If he’s taking over the fourth that’s one thing, but if he’s sucking, c’mon he’s not a magic trick. That should have been Prince’s shot.

Wish I could prove it- But the second I saw Spellcheck matched up with Outlaw I knew that was where the Blazers were going. AA is a very good defender, but Outlaw is not a good match-up for him (way to tall+athletic), and if you followed the Blazers last year you know they go to Outlaw at the end of games. Tay was matched up with Rudy… That didn’t make sense to me. Tay vs. Outlaw and AA vs. Rudy seems like the logical defensive match-up… I have no clue why we didn’t go that route. Might not have made a difference, but IMO it was a dumb way to match-up.

Iverson needs to go to the gym and shoot about 22 million jumpers.

10 TO’s for Stuckverson. 3 for rest of team. Our bigs outrebounded Portland 40-28. The only non-guard who didn’t shoot over 50% was McDyess at 2-6 (who did a few other things for us). Our starting backcourt just absolutely blew.

man… still cant believe we lost… so so close… by no way a knock against the pistons… sure portland was playing w/o roy… but pistons were playing w/o rip and sheed… and a pretty banged up dyess… and stuckey played like crap (he’s due for games like that once in a while, no player has solid games 82 times a year)… and it was still a one point loss… and we held them to 84 points… just frustrating, b/c we almost had it despite all that

Well if we have Sheed we win this one easily. We missed his interior D and screen and pick and roll skills badly, as well as his dagger three to silence the crowd. Having Rip take that last shot wouldn’t have hurt, either.

Gabe – completely agree. I love me some Afflalo. But I want Tay on the guy who’s going to get the ball…esp. when said guy is a 3.

The bad thing about Utah, is that they will be fighting hard for this win against us. Right now as it stands they are out of the playoffs if it started today and they have a 21-15 record, a half game behind Portland (6th place). Ya, not good…

all travis does is hit gamer winners, i’m with Gabe, excellent point

oh and diablo…. don’t forget utah is our kryptonite to begin with

And, as mannie pointed out, we haven’t beat them since like ’02. lol

But we did win Sunday.

Look at the past few games. All those big shots, and all of a sudden he misses one down the stretch, and everyone’s back to hatin him again. He’s the worst player ever all of a sudden. He’s been shooting badly lately, but he has done well in the other aspects of the game. On defense, and getting assists, and somehow even rebounds for his size. Also, big shots and game winners. He had 7 assists this game and 10 in the last one. In every game, no matter how he’s been playing, he hit those big shots. Finally, he has a big game and misses the big shot and every1’s against him again.

I hate Boston… from NBA.com…

“Houston led 83-81 when Artest fouled out with 3:14 left. Pierce pointed him tauntingly to the sideline, while Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck stood at his courtside seat and waved goodbye.”

Those classless fools deserve to lose.

The nice thing about this streak though is it showed us that if we play the right rotations even when we’re healthy again, we can be an interesting team. I don’t think a contender. But very interesting…kind of Orlando Magic spoiler level.

I strongly hope AI is the one who hits the bench. 1. Rip needs maximum minutes alongside Stuckey 2. Rip is better defender 3. Rip is our best three point shooter 4. AI is a defensive liability, who could be better hidden against the other team’s second unit 5. AI can dominate the ball more with the second unit.

I don’t think you need to make a value judgment about AI or Rip at all. It’s just a question of synergy. And AI/Afflalo and Stuckey/Rip are our best combinations. Plus I have visions dancing in my head of AI getting guarded by the Eddie Houses and Jose Bareas of the world…can you even imagine what a wrecking ball he would be?

Iverson’s shot wasn’t bad, just didn’t fall. No biggie

Yahtzee: I swear, I saw Pierce wave goodbye too. Maybe it was Grousbeck’s hadn I didn’t understand. They sure are sore losers. Didn’t see us sticking it to Portland tonight when they started to turn the tide.

EntityAbyss,
I’m not seeing the hate for AI. But it would be nice if he would make it every single time. He missed and now I’ll lay awake with unsettling sadness. And this will compromise my performance at work tomorrow. If AI understood the negative impact on the already hurting Michigan economy, I think he might think twice before missing that shot.

i agree with you forty… BUT realistically, b/c of how much time rip has missed might be a hard sell to the team… does curry want to change the starting lineup when it has played so well? do u bring rip straight back to starting from his injury? … but yea, in a perfect world where i’d agree, makes most sense to starter captain rip and have ai off the bench

Entity – to be fair though, people were bitching about AI’s game WAY before he missed the game winner. He was terrible tonight. And to suggest that AI has made up for a lack of offensive production with his defense is crazy.

I’m not saying it’s all AI’s fault. And I’m certainly not upset with him getting called on for the game winner after his late game performances the past few games – nor would I ever get to bent out of shape over one missed shot. And I think Stuckey was every bit as bad, and came more unglued during the Blazers decisive run than anyone (good lord with the TO’s Fiddy!) But I don’t think it’s fair to say “oh here we go again with the Iverson criticism” – he earned it tonight (and, realistically, over the last few games – dude’s shooting percentage has been awful).

why not have a SUPER bench with AI and Rip, and start AA ;)

EntityAbyss – by us saying AI shouldnt have taken the last shot is not to be mistaken with AI hating… but he (and stuckey, as much as i like him) stank up the arena… all game long, including the 4th… having him take the last shot was questionable when u had a red hot prince and an herrmann who can knock down some big 3’s if a kick out is needed

at the end of the day, was a good effort by detroit tho… as i said, so many factors against them, yet it came down to a one point game in the low 80’s… i’ll take that

He shot a couple air balls and most of his shots were contested, if those are not bad shots I don’t know what is…

But I’m not the one to hate AI nor am I on his bandwagon, I’m glad he stepped up in the clutch but I hope it’s just the beginning. Because he is a superstar caliber player who needs to step up more and shooting poor shots is not what I was expecting from him…

LB – ur right, pierce was waving goodbye which i thougt was a dick move… pierce definitely was doing that… so happy they lost

I honestly think he’s shooting way to much. I understand taking open shots and working with the offense, but he needs to get to the rack and get to the freethrow line. There’s a reason he led the league in free throw attempts last year.

Amir quietly finishes +8 to lead all Pistons

It’s not AI missing the last shot that bothered me, it was the forced shots he took all game long. I know he had 7 dimes, but he shoot 6 for 19. I’m just saying that perhaps he should have deferred instead of trying to force his shot down, especially down the stretch. However, when Sheed and Rip return and more shots go to them and less pressure is on the guards, all will be good. Without Sheed we have 0 post presence and very little outside shooting. Funny how he counts for both, eh?

I want AI to jack up as many shots as he wants…when he’s playing next to Arron Afflalo, Jason Maxiell, Walter Herrmann, and Amir Johnson. Go to town little man! Put it up everytime down the floor. That group will cover up for your atrocious defense and you can cover up for their offensive shortcomings. It’s like having the 2001 Sixers as your bench!

I hate Boston… from NBA.com…

"Houston led 83-81 when Artest fouled out with 3:14 left. Pierce pointed him tauntingly to the sideline, while Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck stood at his courtside seat and waved goodbye."

Those classless fools deserve to lose.

AMEN TO THAT. I SAW THE END OF THAT SHIT ON LEAGUE PASS, AND ARTEST DIDN’T EVEN FOUL HIM ON HIS 6TH. “PAUL PIERCE”, WITH THAT ANNOYING ASS BOSTON ACCENT, WAS ELBOWING ARTEST AND TRYING TO MOVE HIM BACKWARDS WHILE “ATTEMPTING” TO ESTABLISH POSITION, AND THE STUPID BOSTON ANNOUNCERS DESERVE TO ROT IN HELL. THEY BITCH ABOUT THE MOST RIDICULOUS SHIT. PIERCE WAVED BYE BYE TO RON RON WITH A CAMERA ZOOMED IN ON HIM, AND EVERYONE IN BOSTON GOT ALL HYPE. BUT OF COURSE, WITHOUT TMAC, BATTIER, AND THEN ARTEST DOWN THE STRETCH TO COVER PIERCE, THEY STILLLLLL WON. BALL DONT LIE!!! BUT WHAT REALLY GETS ME IS THE ONLY REASON THEY WIN HALF OF THE GAMES THEY DO, OR USED TO I SHOULD SAY, IS FROM BEING OVER PHYSICAL, AND GETTING AWAY WITH IT. ESPECIALLY INSIDE WITH GARNETT AND PERKINS GARGOYLE LOOKING ASS, AND NOW ITS HILARIOUS THAT ACT LIKE A BUNCH OF BABIES WHEN SOMEONE DOES IT BACK TO THEM… FUCK THOSE CLOWNS, GO PISTONS!

The new Pistons is all about Stuckey. AI has had significant time with Stuckey. Let’s see a few with Hamilton. We’re still checking things out right? My main concern about Stuckey/Hamilton is Rip coming off curls only to repeatedly see Stuckey going to the hole. Stuck wants to shoot. What does that mean to the whole “who gets benched” debate?

In this case, I think regression (or progression) to the mean will benefit AI. He’s not going to shoot like 30% for the rest of the season. We’ll be fine. We’ve won 7 out of 8 including a Sunday game. 3 weeks ago we’d have all taken that no questions asked. We’re still feeling this thing out, I think. I see some signs that we’re starting to get it. Hopefully this small ball thing is dead and we can spend the rest of the month and February working the rotation out before we hit the stretch run.

Kobe > Pistons

He also had 4 TO’s to go with those 7 dimes…we paid for his ball-dominating facilitating dearly.

I want a poster of Stuckey dunking on Chauncey friday so i can hang it up on my wall after i get it lamenated.

OM – stop being calm and reasonable! I want to bitch and moan like Kevin Garnett.

Tim, remember 2004?

Pistons>Kobe and Shaq

I love Kobe, but the ‘Stons have a winning record in the Finals against your Lakers. Take your hatin’ to the Celtic boards, those punks are the ones who deserve it.

Kobe > NBA

Kobe & Pistons > Sex… and yes, i have chosen watching pistons and lakers over sex

Kobe > sliced bread

Carry on Forty, carry on…

Kobe > Colorado Hotel Staff

Kobe > Jesus

Kobe > Law

I love the DBB response to Trolls!

Kobe > The Insuperable Gortat

Tim < Kwame

I thought he shot terribly too. Besides his shooting though, I think he played a good game. PLaying within the offense. I think he’s shooting too much though, and not taking it to the rack. As for the last shot though, I think he was the right person to take it. Even though a player is good, and another is shooting bad, that scorers make those shots. Same thing happened on Sunday. They gave to Tayshaun nd he fell, and then they gave to AI who was shooting 6-21, and although he got goaltended, it was going in. Scorers do that. Not all the time, but I’d trust.

Regardless of all that though, players will play bad sometimes. They couldn’t stop POrtland though. Portland shot 48% and Aldridge went off again. Amir got in foul trouble again. They got to get the ball out of people’s hands sometimes.

oddly enough id bet a million dollars that the phrase “kobe > jesus” would spark up, even if said seriously, less debate than the phrase “kobe > MJ” or “kobe > shaq”

just my random thought of the day

Detroitbadboys, where all hail kobe happens.

dbb > kid rock

Cake>Kid Rock>Paul Pierce

Herrmann’s hair > Kobe’s nicknames

Dyess with 13 boards…

Kobe’s Guitar Hero Commercial > John Paxson

Chris Paul > Kobe Bryant

Just look what Tim started.

Ah well, as Sheed would say, both teams played hard. Night all.

Thank you, Tim the Troll, for taking our minds off a loss.

Tim the Troll < Harry Potter with the Ascendio Charm

Forty: Not cool. No one or thing is better than John Paxson. His exploits as an NBA GM are nothing short of legendary.

+100 to Forty

(pick any of his last five comments, but I specifically meant this one)

@Entity Abyss:
“Look at the past few games. All those big shots, and all of a sudden he misses one down the stretch, and everyone’s back to hatin him again. He’s the worst player ever all of a sudden. He’s been shooting badly lately, but he has done well in the other aspects of the game. On defense, and getting assists, and somehow even rebounds for his size. Also, big shots and game winners. He had 7 assists this game and 10 in the last one. In every game, no matter how he’s been playing, he hit those big shots. Finally, he has a big game and misses the big shot and every1’s against him again.”

I, officially, am hating on Iverson. Have been for many games.

He’s shooting less than 40% from the floor in the last six. He’s settling for jump shots, 3 pointers when its not his game. He’s not getting to the line. He’s abysmal on defense. He’s not doing anything to justify so many shots, let alone his starting position.

He failed a game-on-the-line shot tonight. He likely would have missed his game-winning-shot-thanks-to-al-thornton on Sunday, but was bailed out (after he failed on the possession prior).

I am staunchly in support of the Billups/Iverson trade, and I want the best out of Iverson, but he’s failed continuously game after game. Funny enough, he played his best ball NEXT TO rip, and has failed in his absense.

I agree with Forty, move Iverson to the bench. let him play with the ball in his hands with our second unit and take it to the basket every time, whether he wants to lay it up or dish it.

For every outside jumper he takes, he should be forced cut off a corn row, basket or not.

Just to temper that long-winded opinion, I should say that all of that blame doesn’t rest on Iverson’s shoulders, but the coaching staff as well. I only hope that if Rip were healthy, the staff would recognize this problem and manage it accordingly…

McDyess’s Manners > Kobe’s Wife’s I’m-Sorry-Ring

This will put a smile on your face.

MIKE PAYNE IS OFFICIALLY A D-BAG! NO FURTHER DISRESPECT TO FUTURE HALL OF FAMERS WILL BE TOLERATED ON THIS BLOG, ESPECIALLY ONES WHO’VE HIT MULTIPLE BAILOUT GAME WINNERS FOR THE TEAM YOU THINK YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT

david stern-bot would lose in a fight against fred w. capel

mike payne would lose in a fight to mugsy bogues

I’ve got the height of Mugsy Bogues, complexion of a hockey puck
You’d better ask somebody, on how I flip the script—
come to a stones show and watch the zoo crew rip.

ok midget.. hockeys for homos, you can’t rap so don’t even go there homie, the stones, what?! its 2009, and yes you do belong in the zoo, not commenting about how hall of famers should come off the bench.. thank the lord you don’t get out your cage much

AI had no business taking the last shot. He was off all night and Tay was shooting way better.

Having won the last 7 games and playing Portland at home I was ready to take an L, but giving Iverson the last shot really bothered me. From the tip he looked extremely desperate to score and he just wasn’t getting off good shots all night.

Kwame taking off his headband was interesting though. My boy looked over at me and said “did he just grow up right now?”

And damn Portland peoples are extremely soft and all, but I had my Dyess jersey on tonight and the trash talking it drew in the second half just really bummed me out. I can understand heckling and all that but I don’t know how you can be a basketball fan and talk shit on McDyess.

AI takes the shot(s) bc of several reasons fellas.. 1, hes your 20 million dollar player, will get close to breaking 25000 points scored plateau this season, and why else would dumars bring him here, to replace mr big shot billups.. 2, because every team he’s been on, his teammates have always faith in him that he would come up big in the end, even if he’s struggled all game long, and he has hit 2 game winners and many late big baskets for this club already… 3, bc curry called the play to isolate him at the top of the key, so the players run what the coaches call

i just don’t understand what happened to us in the second half. we turns into a one on one team. they weren’t dedicated to doubling tay so he did all right. they were dedicated to doubling ai and he became a black hole. taking terrible shots, wasting LOTS of time. i’ve never seen us end up chucking so many crappy shots with 1 second left on the clock, it was shocking and unnerving.

if they’re going to double team like that ai needs to figure out how to get the ball to the open man.

kobe<tracy mcgrady’s lazy eye

a. scoring records and salaries are irrelevant to helping a top tier team win. this is a team that does better when everyone scores 20, as opposed to one “superstar” getting all the shots.

c. players run what coaches call and coaches call high percentage plays. i’m not questioning the play, i’m questioning the mindset that says “my highly contested, off balance prayer of a shot over two aggressive defenders is a better option than an open shot from prince, herrmann or even afflalo.”

This is a late post. I got home in time to see the last 2/3 of the second half. Tay makes all but one shot, AI didn’t hit a shot and Curry draws up that last play for AI? WTF? Screw his ego until he starts playing better defense or sit his butt down, NOW!! And given the fact that he got burned on a drive and bucket several times, wandered around looking like WTF on Blake’s 3 pointer, what the hell is he doing on the opposite side of the key half-ass playing defense on someone else’s pick-n-roll leaving Blake wide open?

Note to AI: Detroit plays alot of man-to-man defense. Get with the GD program.

Antonio McDyess helped dig my car out of the snow.

A few things: Portland shot 6-8 on 3s. Including a couple long heaves, so that was lucky for them. As stated in many of the comments, zone defense causes problems due to some things that should change as the injury situation improves: Shooting 3s(though why tayshaun doesn’t take more 3s I do not know) and spreading the floor in general(Our main scoring big and best shooter).

The fouling is another issue. I really don’t have a diagnosis for it, though someone in a comment above blamed Iverson leaving his man(he does do this sometimes, though I confess it is just something i notice here and there, i don’t watch for it all the time)

Dice has been way better than i expected(though his defense has slipped a bit, he is not as quick and he almost never gets up and blocks shots like he did 2 years ago) The work on the glass and running down loose balls are fantastic though. Hell, so has Kwame(though that 20% TO rate is a killer). It would be nice for Max to get more minutes but where(I hope he gets Kwame’s when Sheed returns. I see Kwame as Dale Davis basically, just bring him in to lean on big centers).

Pistons have been killing teams on the boards as well(especially teams that are among the league’s best rebounders(see tonight’s game for the best example yet).

I didn’t watch but the box shows
player a) 6-19, 0-1, 2-4, 2 rebs, 7 asst, 4 to, 14 pts
player b) 4-12, 0-2, 5-6, 3 rebs, 7 asst, 6 to, 13 pts
one of these guys is getting blasted, the other just had and off game. stop the hate, man.

A.I.’s shooting has been a little cold for the past few games but I bet it clicks against Denver and he goes off for 40+ just to piss off George Karl.

When the opposite team shoots 6 of 8 for threes, and it’s a close game, you’re going to lose. If either Steve Blake (2-2) or Rudy Fernandez (3-3) miss just ONE of their 3pt shots, we win.

Hard game to swallow— we shoot 50% from the floor and out-rebound them by 12 (NEVER saw that coming)… and we lose.

Side notes: though the stats don’t really show it, Kwame and Max both hustled and played fantastic D all night.

Stuckey and AI need to take it to the hole every time. Nothing but good can happen. When they settle for jumpers, and they’re cold, our offense looks horrific.

All this being said, we didn’t have 2 All-Star starters (and they were missing one too) and still almost stole a game AT what seems to be a lock for a Western Conference playoff team. AI and Stuckey make a couple more of their shots and/or a couple 3’s don’t drop for Portland and this game isn’t even close.

Well, it’s going to be a rough road swing. If we take one out of these three out west, we shouldn’t be particularly disappointed – and that big streak we put together puts us in the position where we aren’t so desperate that we have to find a way to win each of em. The light at the end of the tunnel is the Bobcats, Pacers, and Thunder – and best of all…no Sunday games for two weeks! Howard Dean scream

Jesse: People at the Rose Garden dogged McDyess for two reasons: a) he was on the opponent and b) they probably recognize nothing of his sheer commitment and desire. We know it, they don’t. Comes with the territory of Dice playing for the Stones. I mean honestly, how much does any DBBer know about Travis Outlaw’s game? I don’t know anything other than it looked really good against us last night.

@Birdman:
Antonio McDyess warned your kids about downed power lines.

“player a) 6-19, 0-1, 2-4, 2 rebs, 7 asst, 4 to, 14 pts
player b) 4-12, 0-2, 5-6, 3 rebs, 7 asst, 6 to, 13 pts
one of these guys is getting blasted, the other just had and off game. stop the hate, man.”

Other than what any one else has said, I think Stuckey played like shit. He couldn’t even stand up… I’ve haven’t seen a point guard lose so many dribbles since middle school.

I think it was absolutely the right decision to have AI take that last shot. Tay didn’t have enough time to burn 12 seconds off the clock backing someone down, then spinning and creating his own shot. AI made a good move and took a shot he makes all day, and it just went an inch too long. It was a damn good attempt if you ask me. That shot goes down 8/10 times.

Wow. Thanks to the magic of Tivo, I just watched the game, and it was a helluva game. They outplayed us and deserved to win, and we almost won it anyway. Iverson, Stuckey, Afflalo, and Dice were all awful, and we still almost beat a decent team on the road.

Haven’t read the news or comments, so it’s all fresh to me.

As to the two reasons we almost won:

- Tay obviously showed up big time.

- Kwame Brown, today you became a man.

Kwame was fucking incredible. He was easily the best overall #1 draft pick center on the court. Not only was he the star on the defensive end, but he was actually ready for Iverson passes in the lane.

If we make it to the Finals against a Western Conference team, I’ll be very happy to have Kwame on the squad. His top games this year have been at the Lakers, at the Spurs, and at the Blazers.

Iverson and Dice looked old and tired. Stuckey and Afflalo looked young and confused. And Tay can’t play that many minutes at that level of intensity every night. In other words, we could use Roscoe and the Masked Avenger back in uniform.

As to the final three minutes:

2:56 Iverson penetrates the defense, gets switches, tosses to Prince with an advantageous matchup on Blake. Prince uses the matchup and hits an off-balance shot with great body control. 79-79

2:38 LA misses a 20 footer.

2:28 Iverson makes a great backdoor cut on Blake to the hoop. Stuckey finds him. 81-79

1:59 LA in the post against Kwame. Kwame gives up nothing, and forces a miss.

1:37 Prince in the post against Outlaw. No advantage in the matchup. Prince misses a contested jumper.

1:36 McDyess commits an Amir-esque stupid foul in going for the offensive rebound when he had no real chance and the Pistons were over the foul limit. LA happily misses one of the two FT’s 81-80

1:20 Iverson penetrates the defense to the baseline and draws the Portland bigs. He dishes to an open Kwame, who again proves he has hands of flesh instead of stone when he plays at Western teams, and he dunks with force. 83-80

1:08 Outlaw at the shoulder against Prince. Not an advantageous matchup for Portland, but Outlaw has it rolling, takes it straight into Prince, and banks it home over top. 83-82

:49 Iverson penetrates into the lane, the defense collapses, and he finds a wide open Tayshaun camping out behind the 3 pt arc. Tay’s played too many minutes, and has no touch on his shot.

:48 Kwame executes a perfect block-out on Pryzbilla and gets the offensive rebound. Preserves possession and gets a new shot clock.

:22 Iverson penetrates into the lane, gets in position for his preferred 8 to 10 footer, but LA comes over late to contest the shot. Dice who is the big left open from Portland’s rotation is looking to crash the offensive boards rather than receive an Iverson pass. Iverson reloads in the air to get the ball over LA’s hands, but can’t get a good enough look at the rim.

:08 I’ve got Portland’s feed, and their announcers are senilely saying the shot is going to Rudy or LA, with Blake as a third option. Despite their rantings, having watched some Portland games, I know full well that the ball is going to Outlaw. Given that Curry subs in Afflalo to cover Outlaw, MC also knows full well that’s where the ball is going. Afflalo does his job and forces Outlaw out of the lane and into the help. The help is Kwame. Kwame gets in beautiful position to take a charge and stop a layup, but that’s not the correct decision for Kwame to make in this situation. Outlaw elevates and knocks down and easy 8 footer. Kwame, concerned about charge position, isn’t able to time his jump to contest the shot. Kwame played a great game, but if Rasheed had been in there, Outlaw’s shot would have been contested. 83-84

:04 Iverson penetrates into the lane, gets single-coverage against Blake, elevates for an open shot in his comfort zone from 12 feet out, has a clear look at the rim, puts the shot on line, and gets back rim. It’s a shot that Iverson knocks down 70% of the time, but given his lack of touch and rhythm all game long, the miss doesn’t come as a surprise.

Wins are more fun than losses, but this was still a pretty fun game to watch.

Iverson sucks. Start Rip.

We shoulda, coulda won that one. Tay was outstanding…it is his team now. The Rose Garden was LOUD last night when the Blazers were getting back into it. Home cookin’ on some calls helped too.

PDX announcers are shite, for sure. Glad some of you got to see Rebecca Haarlow. She’s a bit cuter than Eli Zaret.

Q Dog

“player a) 6-19, 0-1, 2-4, 2 rebs, 7 asst, 4 to, 14 pts
player b) 4-12, 0-2, 5-6, 3 rebs, 7 asst, 6 to, 13 pts”

Player b had the better game, hands down, in this scenario.

honestly most of u guys don’t know shit! if ai hits this one shot he is the man. if he doesn’t he is the scapegoat.
honestly, look at ur hero stuckey. he has been playing bullshit all night long. look at all those terrible turnovers. and yet, eventhough ai’s and stuckey’s stats look pretty equal, ai was 100% better yesterday. i really don’t get you. after having won the seventh game in a row, everybody felt good about the team. everybody sit rip down. now it is ai again, for what? honestly eventhough his shooting was pretty bad the recent games, I think he had his best overall performances. he was really running good plays, he actually looked like a real pg. and his dishes were awesome. he was finally involved in our offense.
for one time stop blaming anybody for such a tough loss. it just happens and it is not even the playoffs. for once be PROUD of ur team, including AI. look at how the team has improved the last few weeks. i honestly have a good feelin about this season. just wait for the playoffs to come.

btw i don’t want to blame stuckey for anything in my post, i’m just tellin u it is just not fair to blame ONE player..

@ Craig: Player C: 13-21 8 reb 1 asst NO T/O

And Curry draws up the last play for the guy 6-18 at that point ?

Who does a running one hander playground H-O-R-S-E shot the play just before that

@ Petey: :22 – AI “reloads” ?? you are very charitable today

Nothing personal: That was a BS/running/WTF am I gonna do now / F**K, I think I’ll shoot it / shot

You gotta sit his butt down and explain that is in now way the shot we need nor should he have taken. Given the fact that I don’t recall seeing him hit any shot the last 2/3 of the game. I know you’ll correct me as I don’t have TVo – but I’d be interested exactly what AI did shoot in the last 16-20 minutes of the game.

And given the fact that the blazers expressly took out Oden and put in LA because of the pick-n-roll problems they were having with Oden, AI has absolutely no business taking either of those last two shots. And he got torched 3 or 4 times the last 3 minutes. Once by one of the Spanish Armada guys and Blake’s 3 pointer where AI is no where near him and is not helping out on anyone else.

Note to AI: One of the reasons Blake is in the NBA is because he can hit the 3 pointer.

Yeah, I know. It’s just a game and we were without two starters. Don’t matter. Bad play is bad play.

@Kian – I’ve lobbied to bring AI off the bench for a while. This isn’t a 1 game occurrence.

AI is 33, and still can get open shots… problem is that, now, those open shots are on the run diagonal fade-aways which aren’t exactly high-percentage. The only point in having him on the court is for his offense… he’s a defensive liability.

When everyone gets healthy, I say shore up our defense even more by starting Stuckey, Rip, Tey, Amir, and Rasheed. Bring AI off the bench to create fireworks where it’s his show.

Mark, it’s because it’s a higher % shot taking it to the hoop and taking a 6-10 footer then taking an 18’ jump shot. And by your logic, we should’ve given it to amir or fabio based on their fg %, not tay. AI got the game winner on the same play 2 days ago, and there was no comments from you about who should’ve taken that shot, either. Why the AI hate? He’s a piston. Accept it, like it, live with it.

“Nothing personal: That was a BS/running/WTF am I gonna do now / F**K, I think I’ll shoot it / shot”

Jesus. I thought I was being as clear as clear can be when I said he didn’t have a good enough look at the rim on the shot over LA. If you don’t have a good look at the rim, you’re not taking a good shot.

But the double came from their bigs, and neither of our bigs was in position and ready for a pass on that play. Chuck and Dice still don’t have chemistry in the lane. Dice had responsibility for being the outlet on the play, and he broke off a bit too early to hit the boards. Iverson can change his mind and pass on the “reload in the air” if he’s got an option.

I’ll live with the results of Iverson’s penetration. It’ll win for you more than it loses for you.

But as stated, even though he had an excellent look on the final shot over Blake, I wasn’t surprised he couldn’t knock it down. He looked awful all night. No rhythm and no touch.

And for the folks debating who sucked more – Iverson or Stuckey – you’re all nuts. They both sucked. We had no right to be in that game at the end, and it’s a tribute to how strong our team is that we were there.

Dyess said in the Detroit News that Stuckey hurt his back, so I’m not sure if that contributed to his bad second half or not.

I didn’t get to watch the second half, but did Portland play a lot of zone? Teams won’t be able to zone us effectively once we have Rip and Sheed back.

I just had shivers thinking about AI getting posted up 15,000,000,000 times against Denver. Rip where are you?!?!

“I didn’t get to watch the second half, but did Portland play a lot of zone?”

Yup. And zone is the correct way to defend an AI/Stuckey backcourt.

We only attempted 7 three pointers.

I’ve got two big worries about this team going forward 1) the never ending saga of the Issue of the Third Big, and 2) the lack of three point attempts from anyone but Rasheed.

We need simply need more three point shot attempts to make a dribble-drive offense work against good teams.

Rip and Tay both need to take more threes than they have been, since they can both knock them down, and Afflalo needs more tick and more instruction from Curry that his role that in the halfcourt set is to take every open three he gets and do nothing else.

@Petey:
Worry not, Rip will be banging that tramp when AI is moved to a sixth man role.

Oh man… I was looking at AI’s offensive stats this season. Now, I’m realizing that it’s not a figment of my imagination… his stats are TERRIBLE.

Shooting % – 41.9%
3p Shooting % – 30.4%

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=366

compare him to Rip and Stuckey…

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=294
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=3235

At what point do you tell AI he aint got it anymore?

I missed the game but read this entire thread and saw the highlights on TV. Brutal loss, but sounded like an awesome game. And also, I think it’s important that we revisit this gem from Mike Payne:

“a little cake, and see what the man can do? he’s like a beautiful princess pony on a magical birthday. throw it down, big pony, throw it down.”

Best blog ever.

“Worry not, Rip will be banging that tramp when AI is moved to a sixth man role.”

Of course, Iverson will be knocking that bunny down when he’s playing 36mpg rather than last night’s 44mpg. That’s the beauty of the Masked Avenger providing some quality minutes backing up Iverson.

Iverson and Tay both had no shooting touch at the end of the game, and given their minutes and effort levels, that shouldn’t be a total surprise.

And just FWIW, what does that make Iverson in game winners as a Pistons now? Is it 3 out of 4, or is it 4 out of 5?

“I know you’ll correct me as I don’t have TVo – but I’d be interested exactly what AI did shoot in the last 16-20 minutes of the game.”

You should get a DVR. It’s more important than spending money on food.

I’m not going to chart the entire second half for you, but you have the final three minutes charted for you above…

To summarize:

In the last three minutes, Iverson initiated every offensive play by getting into the defense, every time but one with the dribble. Here are the results of the seven offensive attacks:

- Iverson hit a layup, missed a bad look, and missed a good look.

- Iverson created two good looks for Prince, of which he hit one, and one mediocre look for Prince, which he missed.

- Iverson created a layup for Kwame, which he hit.

7 offensive attacks
5 good shots, 2 bad shots, 0 turnovers
3 makes, 4 misses

Not quite good enough, obviously.

“a little cake, and see what the man can do?”

God. I’d forgotten all about that. Now that Kwame is on my team, I may have to actually purchase the T-shirt to proudly wear…

First off:

davidstern is a buffoon.

Secondly:

Petey isn’t far behind.

Thirdly:

Antonio McDyess helped my grandmother cross the street last night.

“Antonio McDyess helped my grandmother cross the street last night.”

Well, Antonio McDyess heroically TRIED to help your grandmother cross the street last night, but grandma got run over by a bus.

Dice sucked just as much as Iverson, Stuckey, and Afflalo. We really only had two guys with acceptable evenings.

FWIW, I wrote above about Outlaw’s game winner:

Afflalo does his job and forces Outlaw out of the lane and into the help.

But apparently I didn’t understand the defensive scheme we wanted on that play. McCosky writes:

The Pistons coaching staff had stressed all day to force Outlaw to his right. But, on the game-winner, he beat Arron Afflalo to his left and got off a comfortable baseline jumper.

“We send him right and maybe he doesn’t make the game-winner,” coach Michael Curry said. “We played good most of the game, but we made some mistakes, we didn’t play their tendencies a couple of times and it cost us some big baskets.”

Or in other words, Afflalo didn’t do his job.

Craig: Agreed. A layup is always higher % than an 18 footer.

But for the sake of arguement: Most of AI’s plays I saw were him getting stuck in the air and trying to find someone. Age is a bitch and AI no longer can throw it down like he used to. The pass to Tay in the corner he was up under the hoop along the baseline after jumping in the air and having no place to go. The dish to Kwame (I think or Dyess) he was stuck in the air.

The game winner a couple of games ago I don’t think was trying to be shot over a 7" long forward like LA. Like I said, they substitued LA for Oden specifically because Oden was having problems popping out on that screen help. Curry still ran the same play with LA in. Bad play call. I’m not giving grief to AI because he missed the shot. Once they took Oden out (didn’t see first half) and LA was playing, they played that play better, not because Dyess didn’t roll. MC called a bad play given the blazers lineup at that point.

@ Petey: I can understand a jumper with LA in his face. I can’t accept AI starting at the hashmark, dribble E&W across the FT lane at the line, having the ball in one hand basically behind his head then cupping with the other off one leg and shooting it. It started out as a bad shot, was a bad shot and ended being a bad shot. And it wasn’t because LA was there.

But, I do love AI and the attitude he brings, particularly to Stuck and his aggressiveness. I’m NOT a hater. . . (lol) I just think it was a bad play call by MC given Portland’s defensive line up at the time and AI’s running one hander before and his shooting up to that point. I honestly don’t remember AI hitting a shot the last 16-20 minutes.

Forgot: I’ve seen no comments about AI’s atrocious defense. We knew it was weak with him. But leaving Blake alone. Actually, he didn’t know WTH he was. And there was no reason to try to help out or even looking at the play where he was at. He was guarding air.