The following quote in Monday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel peaked my interest:
[Rasheed Wallace] spent timeouts giving ex-Bad Boy Rick Mahorn righteous grief for a really funny spot Mahorn cut with Bill Laimbeer.
Considering our love of all things Bad Boys around here, the comment was intriguing (especially since the story got no immediate play in the local papers). But today, the Detroit News gives us a bit more detail:
[Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer] reminded the crowd in the third quarter not to be disruptive or unsportsmanlike, per NBA rules. It’s the same rules that are read aloud at every NBA game. Except Laimbeer and Mahorn put a new spin on them.
Cut-ins of Laimbeer’s angry on-court eruptions from back in the day were intermixed with his statements of what not to do. The Palace crowd loved the announcement, drawing hearty cheers and laughs.
That…is…hilarious. Good to know that the brilliant minds at the Palace are bringing their A game for the playoffs. And I’ve got a new mission in life: to see that clip.
Meanwhile, if any of you were lucky enough to have attended Game 1 against the Bucks — and bore witness to the aforementioned clip — tell us about it in the comments. We want details!
Five Pistons starters vs. Redd: You do the math [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Bad Boys turn good for fans [Detroit News]
It was pretty awesome. Laimbeer had this huge grin on his face the whole time, and cheerily reminded fans to behave. He talked about no fighting (then showed a clip of him in a fight), talked about not throwing things onto the court (not surprisingly, no clip shown here), and then talked about not using foul language or improper gestures (showed him yelling loudly and pointing).
Then right near the end, Mahorn came into the screen on the side, and it was impossible to hear what he said, because immediately the Palace roared and cheered and laughed.
That is awesome!
Thanks for the rundown, Warthog. If you have tickets to the remaining games of the playoffs, you’ll have to let us know if this is something they continue to run during the playoffs.
I’m probably selling tomorrow’s game but I have tickets throughout the playoffs so I’ll let you know!
nevermind i’m going to the game. i’ll report back later
yup, showed it again!! looks like it is here to stay for the playoffs.
Warthog, thanks again man. Glad to hear that they’re sticking with it — maybe I’ll actually get a chance to see the clip.
As for the game, it looked to me like there was absolutely no playoff-atmosphere for this game. What were your impressions from being there?
The fans were excited to start the game and helped keep the Pistons excited, but then both got bored in the 2nd and 4th quarters.
I’ve been to many a playoff game, and this doesn’t feel like the playoffs yet. It feels exactly like the Philly 1st round series from a year ago - a mere formality, a warmup, tuneup, whatever you want to call it. The Bucks are just so incredibly overmatched at every position.
It’s more exciting than regular season for sure, mainly because the fans are actually watching the game with interest and have thundersticks to bang on.
They make live basketball a circus now so I’d rather watch the games at home. The problem with trying to draw the non fans with the circus is you lose the die hard fans who really get the team going. Circus fans sit on their hands until the circus antics begin.