(Thanks to DBB reader Wayne for the graphic!)
Hopefully Doc and Little Mac — err, Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups — come out swinging. (Figuratively speaking, of course. If someone wants to literally come out swinging, here’s to hoping it’s Dale Davis or Nazr Mohammed or somebody from the end of the bench.)
The Pistons didn’t fare too well their last trip to Chicago, getting completely outplayed in three out of four halves of basketball, with only the Bulls’ Glass Joe impersonation in the second half of Game 3 saving Detroit from being down 2-3 right now.
The key, and this is simplistic, is jumping ahead early. I’m not worried about the Pistons losing a lead so much as I am them having always having to play catch up. If Ben Wallace is benched for the start (dude was late to the arena tonight, again), hopefully Chris Webber can get going early, because getting him into play-making mode would certainly help alleviate some of the pressure from Chauncey.
The ball tips at 8pm on ESPN as well as TV20, for those of you who need your George Blaha fix. And as always, leave your thoughts in the comments.
Well, no Big Ben benching. I’ve yet to hear anyone on TV mention his being late, either.
Hey atleast the webber curse is over. He has scored in chitown.
Ben blamed traffic again. Skiles won’t fine him.
As far as the game, THAT’s what I like to see. Playing with energy, Rip and Sheed knocking down shots, and only one foul on Chauncey.
I absolutely cannot stand to watch this team anymore. I almost hope we blow this series and Joe D blows the whole damn thing up. This is the least fun team I’ve ever rooted for, and I’m a big Royals fan. This is beyond aggrivating.
how can you look in the mirror, call yourself a good defensive basketball team, and give up 20 f-ing points to pj brown IN THE 1st HALF!?!?!
get ready for history to be made on monday, folks….
I agree. This team makes me depressed like no other. Passion should never be an excuse to play badly, and yet even when we are playing ‘better d’ we’re still getting outhustled, outplayed, and outscored. I wish lindsey didn’t pick up 3 so quickly, he was playing well for a while
I absolutely cannot stand to watch this team anymore. They are by far the least fun team to follow. And I’m a big Royals fan.
I almost hope we blow this, and I almost hope Joe D blows the whole damn thing up and starts over. Everything that’s happening (and happens from here on out) is our own fault.
Sorry for the double comment, my internet is a little wanged.
Take note: If Nocioni grabs onto your shoulder and tries to pull you down after he shoots it… it’s a foul on you. Three free throws.
Has anyone EVER seen a call like that? A foul a full 2 seconds AFTER the shot was blocked??
that was the worst call I’ve seen all year.
Then he makes all three… no concience.
We won’t even mention that Nocioni grabbed his shoulder.
Deng… that was a quick put back.
I gorndon had made that I woulda puked all over my keyboard.
Anybody notice that the Chicago crowd started the “Deeetroit Sucks” chant when the Bulls were up 1-0 after 30 seconds into the first?
They usually reserve that insanely clever chant for late late late in the game blowouts.
Seriously? That is funny.
They are scrapping tonight. Hustling for every rebound. THIS is the team I like to watch.
Chicago you can thank the refs for that one.
Thats 2 b.s. calls in a row on sheed.
What’s the over/under for another foul on Sheed?
Tay is so clutch when we need him.
Sheed is playing sooo good… Hope he doesn’t get a tech. tonite when the refs take him out.
tay-tay. that is all.
As long as Hunter doesn’t take any more shots we should be fine the rest of the way.
We should sub Flip in and let him drive the lane a couple times and shoot some free throws.
it’s all about tayshaun prince.
PJ with zero in the second. Gotta give Saunders props on whatever the adjustment was.
Glad I haven’t seen Kirk split the defense off a screen any more in the 2nd half too….. Tay draws the charge…. you da man.
Oh my god. What is with these refs?
WOW. The refs are doing their best job to help the bulls. Stop hating on sheed.
Ah… didn’t see the little grab and pull down by Sheed… I guess that was legit.
The Ben we know and love(d).
Only the refs can stop Sheed.
Tay… so so so Clutch.
like i said… all about tay. game, set, match.
i repeat: tay-tay.
this is the most animated I’ve seen tay. First with all the questionable calls on sheed and firing sheed up and then makes another hook and celebrates all the way down the floor.
This is the type of game I was expecting EVERY game this series. Can anyone smell it??? The Pistons are play HARD tonight. FINALLY!!
Refs cant save the bulls tonight.
yeah lol….tay flexin’…..I think he is alittle fired up.
I was wondering when the bulls would start fouling away.
they brought 4th q intensity from the tip. should have done this 2 games ago. they NEED to solve that b.s. before the finals.
Just me, but are the refs trying to give this to the Bulls? I don’t complain about officiating (my dad was a ref) but fuckin’ A, man.
Nocionni … how dare you give your fans hope just so it can be crushed in 75 seconds?
Tbranch…isn’t that like the first shot he’s hit??
don’t hate on notch! he might be a piston some day. he plays hard… too bad his shot won’t fall to meet his effort.
4 road wins in a six game series… how about that?
you can’t blame him noc though. His foot is hurting bad and that would throw off anyones shot.
He was just waiting ’til it was meaningless Justin.
GAME OVER.
Would you trust Tyrus Thomas with the ball this late in the game?? Other than an alley-opp?
WTF is up with these calls? I know we win, but still…
Chauncey shooting free throws… plop plop… … … oh what a relief it is.
I agree Mr. Kelser….slow them down a little after ri[ makes his free throws
the real story here — yes, the road win. count it, remember it.
FINALLY!!!
oh yeah…..I forgot Ben wallace was on their team…..where was he the entire game?!?!?
ITS OVER! Finally. About damn time Pistons.
Oh and how about a new nickname for maxiell. Big Max. Like big macs. I dont know, I’m low on sleep.
Good post game interview by Sheed. He played great. Full of emotion… It’s the playoffs dammit!!! He even picked up the bull off the floor when he accidentally swatted him in the face.
How can anybody hate on Sheed?
let us pause a moment for a few points:
1. we’re a class act. and so are the bulls. we did not need to send anyone to the pine to win this and neither did the bulls despite skiles’ early indication that they should. but despite the rap on detroit we kept our cool and took it as we should have.
2. the bulls ARE better than many people gave them credit for after games 1-2… much better. they broke the zone and they kicked our asses for 6 quarter… pax does not to need more than ONE big move to make these guys serious contenders.
3. the referendum on the trade is this: it was worth it. the bulls would have been out 4-0 without ben, straight up. dare anyone (hi ian) to defy this with any kind of factual argument.
4. we need to get our shiz together and stop slacking! christ!?!?! what IS it with these guys? c-webb and dyess must be fuming…
Way to go Pistons. Now let’s rest up and get ready to take down Lebron and the Cavs.
Tayshaun came up HUGE tonight. Sheed played with a TON of emotion. Matter of fact EVERYONE had emotion tonight. Rip was hitting almost every shot he tried. Dyess was money off the bench. But once again CWebb didn’t show up. He started out good. But then what happened?
I take back what I said earlier (a little). That was frustration boiling over at a bad stretch in the first half. The second half was excellent. THAT was more like it, very nice. They still give me an ulcer like every time they play, but that was an excellent win.
I love that quote from C Webb “You ain’t gonna take my ring away from me” (or something like that)
if only all the pistons had that attitude, then I wouldnt be having heart attacks twice a week :S
oh god i thought this was never gonna end…
goodnight chi-town!
see ya next year…
Today I made a bet that if I make a shot from half-court, the Pistons would win. I made my first attempt (nothing but net) and we all know the result. NEXT!!!!!!!!!!
What a relief. I was pretty sure they would pull this out once I saw they came to play in the first quarter, but still, I was glad to hear that final buzzer.
final thoughts — hunter’s statline. mins vs. pts + intangibles. X factor.
I fully respect luol deng; everything he brings to the floor- even noc, despite the serious lack-of-shot and foot issues this series, but I can’t stand hinrich and gordon. next year, hinrich should humble ginobli when little Potter locks up his first (of many) flopper-of-the-year awards. the guy falls down and mouth piece catapults 12 feet every time he gets bumped. Ben Gordon is shit without his magnets. If he were ever on the island where “Lost” is, dude’s shot would be brrrrrrrroke
Luol Deng will be a handful for the entire league within short order. Congrats to the Bulls . . . Chicago’s obviously not likely to go away. Better yet, congrats to the Pistons. Finally! DEEEEEEEE-TROIT BAAAAAAAAAAAAAS-KETBALL!
i came down from my ledge eventually, but i feel much less confident going into the ecf than i did when we were up 3-0. still, the pistons SHOULD be able to beat either the cavs or the nets. my concern with the nets is that this pistons will come in cocky and give up a game at home right away. my concern with the cavs starts with lebron and ends with lebron. i feel like they haven’t added anybody to that squad.
as far as the bulls, what is their salary sitch over the next couple years? i know they’ve got the HUGE big ben contract to pay off, but didn’t they also max out for hinrich? and aren’t deng, gordon and, to a lesser extent, duhon due for an extension/raise in the next year? with all of that coming up, i can’t imagine they’ll be able to match the offers that roll in for nocioni, douchebag that he is. in other words, don’t we have to just hold them off for another couple years? and hope our kids develop as quickly as theirs? (BIG hope.)
if i were paxson, i’d be looking into how to make a deal for jermaine o’neal tomorrow morning. THAT would be a deadly squad with a lowpost threat like that. you’d probably only have to give up gordon and a pick.
Didn’t I say Pistons in six? Damn, I’m good.
Sidenote: Jack, I’d keep Ben Gordon. He’s a rising star. Jermaine’s gonna be on the other side of 30 soon and hasn’t really proved he can throw a team on his back and go in the past few years.
gordon is a poor man’s d-wade. he can score in bunches, and he’s electric when he’s on, but the guy doesn’t bring anything to the defense and when he decides to disappear on offense, that means he brings nothing to the bulls. the guy could very well be a superstar, but i think giving him up for a reliable post scoring threat would make the bulls a championship contender.
JackDutch, thank you for some nice points.
The one thing that’s changed on the Cleveland LeBrons - Pavlovic. He’s improved. Hughes is still the same cap-waster. Eric Snow tends to dampen a guard’s night with his defense, but he’s so slow now and about as useless on a jump shot as Lindsey Hunter.
I also worry about Detroit snoozing, since it seems to be their m.o. with regard to what happened during this series. New Jersey’s more than capable of causing as much trouble for the Pistons as the Cavs could.
Your questions about salaries are best found here:
http://www.hoopshype.com/salaries/chicago.htm
Hoops Hype has all the $$$ amounts for each team.
I disagree with Jermaine . . . check his injury history. He’s talented . . . force on offense and defense . . . but it’s just not worth worrying about a guy missing 20 games a year due to whatever injury.
Deng’s the guy that will be amazing in a short order. Hinrich is worth keeping for his defense. To me, the rest of the Bulls roster is very expendable. The trick is to find a big man who can score, but doing so without an even trade of point averages. If Chicago did pull a deal that had Gasol or KG going to Chicago back at the trade deadline, more people keep telling me that the deals began with Deng’s name in return, often mentioning Ben Gordon as well. Nobody may know for sure, but it makes sense to give up some defense for more offense, if any off-season deals are done.
pavlovic is for real, not sure if it will show in this series tho, we might contain him. if we don’t — some trouble.
ESPN’s Trade Machine is up to date for the moment, too:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/trademachine