That’s Chauncey going to work in the fourth quarter. I almost wish this wasn’t just a highlight reel, though, because Billups’ out-of-nowhere turnover with 5.1 seconds left makes those last two free throws taste all the better. (What do game-winning free throws taste like? Like laughter and relief. Figure that one out.) Or, as LawyerBoy said in the game comments, “Redemption, thy name is Chauncey Billups.”
To further appreciate those free throws, realize that Chauncey’s pump-fake wasn’t just a complete shot in the dark. From ESPN’s Chris Sheridan (via Mike Payne):
When did the Pistons deliver the knockout punch? Well, the play-by-play and the replays will tell you it came when Billups faked Tony Allen off his feet and drew a foul with 0.1 seconds left that sent him to the line for the tie-breaking and game-deciding free throws. But a big assist came moments earlier when the Pistons were exiting their timeout and Tayshaun Prince noticed that Tony Allen had checked back in as a defender.
Chauncey Billups earns his trip to the winning free throws with a pump fake.
“Tay told Chauncey to give Tony Allen a pump fake because Tony was just coming in off the bench cold,” Pistons coach Flip Saunders said.
Billups confirmed the story, saying Prince gave the same message to Richard Hamilton knowing that one of the two was going to end up with the ball in his hands for the final shot.
It’s nice to see that Tayshaun ended up having a hand in the win, despite being the team’s eighth-leading scorer with just two points. To his credit, Prince did a hell of a job on the defensive end, holding Paul Pierce to just 11 points on 5-16 shooting. And, for what it’s worth, he’s the only member of the starting lineup to finish the game with a positive +/- minus number (+3).
The bench deserves a lot of credit. Lindsey Hunter’s defense early in the fourth was obviously key for the Pistons to finally get over the hump and take the lead. Jason Maxiell finished with a pedestrian three points and four rebounds, but he was on the floor for two of Detroit’s biggest runs in the second and fourth quarter, finishing the game a game-high +11. And Arron Afflalo continues to impress on both sides of the court, earning praise from Flip Saunders after the game. From the Detroit Free Press:
“I think one of the turning points was Arron in the fourth quarter,” coach Flip Saunders said. “We gave Rip a few minutes, and (Arron) went after Ray (Allen) and got into it with KG. He didn’t back down and showed signs of what we thought — he can be a great defender.”
This was only Boston’s third loss of the year, and their first at home. Needless to say, this team simply doesn’t have much experience dealing with anguish or frustration, and it seemed to show after the game in the locker room. From the Boston Globe:
“It was very odd. It kind of felt like the end of the world,” Celtics center Kendrick Perkins said. “It’s a little different when we beat ourselves, you know what I’m saying? That’s how I feel.
“It was a little dead [in the locker room]. It was the first game where I saw that guys were a little disappointed at each other. There was a lot of pointing fingers tonight for some reason . . . But it was nothing serious. We each got to look ourselves in the mirror and see what we do right [and wrong]. The rest will take care of itself.”
I wonder if anyone was pointing their finger at Perk for his lack of focus on the final play of the game …
Coming out of the timeout, Kendrick Perkins had no idea where to go, which had head coach Doc Rivers screaming frantically to try and get him in position.
As I said in my brief comments on FanHouse, the Pistons are an experienced and savvy team; the Celtics, not. So far the Celtics have proven they can blow out most any team in the league, but they’ve yet to prove they can consistently win the close ones — and more importantly, bounce back after failing to win.
Given all of their success over the last several years, the Pistons can keep a regular season game, whether it’s a win or a loss, in its proper perspective. The Celtics? As talented as KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce may be, they’re also kind of new at this winning thing, or at least out of practice. It’s been three years since either of those three have played on a winning team. They’re used to being the underdog, when wins were unexpected and losses didn’t sting quite as much. Can they handle losing a game they were favored to win without pointing fingers or assigning blame? It seems not.
As for the Pistons, they should hope that some of the intensity from this game carries over to Friday’s game when they host the Grizzlies at the Palace. It’s the Grizzlies, who cares, right? Wrong: those guys just knocked off the Spurs last night.
Hear that crowd? Sounds like a rivalry to me!!
I’m all for the game in the East being taken to a higher level. I think it only helps in the post season.
Matt, please, I beg you. Can you please stop talking about a single player’s +/- in a single game? Worst, most meaningless stat ever. And totally unnecessary too. You just explained Tay’s contribution without using it.
Games like this for Tay are simple. Tay is a very good player. The reason Tay isn’t Kobe is because Kobe can shut you down and get his as well. When Tay works as hard as he did to bother Pierce, and he had to work hard against 16 shot attempts, he is going to have off-scoring nights. He can’t shut down a superstar and get 20 points.
“Beat ourselves”? Get over yourself, you useless fool. You’re not anything, you’re Kendrick “Useless” Perkins, even if your douche of a fan doesn’t think so. Even KG gave props to the Pistons.
The bench was great, they really made a difference out there, even if it didn’t show up in the stat sheet. Arron Afflalo has really impressed me; he does not back down from anyone, and his play has been very good, consistently. Lindsey was good too, as was Max. And lastly “Redemption, thy name is Chauncey Billups.” Indeed.
It was a good gritty win for us, but we didn’t play that well.
Two things:
I know Dice is the starter, but Baby Eater should’ve played at the end of the 4th quarter. He is our only consistent post player who can battle down low, and it seems he is much better defensively and on the boards then Dice is. With Sheed always around the 3pt line we don’t need our two bigs just hanging around for jump shots. I remember seeing Dice get a beautiful pass right under the basket but he just doesn’t have the nastiness to convert, he ended up passing it up.
Also, earlier this year Sheed was banging in the post constantly, what happened to that? I didn’t see him go down to the paint at all this game. Come the playoffs that will be the key to victory, gotta get the easy points from Sheed in the Paint.
Afflalo is great
Feel good, but not great.
Did anyone else get flashbacks from the championship when Lindsey abused House at the end?
Afflalo looked strong and capable.
Chauncy in the 4th (except for the 2nd to last possession)
Sheed’s block on Perkins? at the end - that was classic - he swatted it without even jumping.
Chauncy’s 2nd to last possession, honestly did the ball hit a spring in the floor or what?
And can we get a drug test on Ray Allen, that dunk and those flying sideways threes were quite incredible (although I did notice dude’s foot on the line on the second to last three - anyone see that?)
Did anyone else seem to notice that when the Pistons made their runs at the end of the 3rd and the early 4th quarters that they were being really physical and pushing the Celts around. Every time Boston had a chance for a layup they showed a little bit of “Bad Boys” and gave out a hard foul. It seemed to me that it made Boston hesitant on layups and drives after that and really altered their offense. It seemed like the Pistons were saying, “If you want this win, then it aint gonna be easy… it might hurt” and the Celtics sorta stepped back from that challenge.
Also, did anybody see the stunning blond behind the Piston’s bench and a silky golden pants suit??
no doubt, the bench did really great particularly maxie for the offensive rebounds, affalo and hunter were huge, being able to change the tempo of the game. i rather see tay scoreless and hold paul pierce to 5-16, than having paul pierce his avg. points or fg of the game. i thought wallace and chaunce wasn’t doing any D in the first half based on KG and rondo’s (rondo who?) first half stat…redemption for chaunce? offcourse, but not just the agressive moves he did until the end of the game but for taking rondo (rondo, who again?) to school…handing him his 5th foul and how much did he score in the second half? not sure, maybe there’s no points to count…but my point is, im glad i didn’t ended up seing a gibson (from cavs) dejavou.
Hey guys, in the midst of writing a very sarcastic email to Bill Simmons (who has trashed Joe D and the Pistons for years now. In his latest article he says Detroit will get bounced in the second round.) I realized something: Detroit has beaten Orlando, Boston, and Cleveland in THEIR gym.
As far as Bill Simmons, the sports guy (a.k.a. #1 Celtics fan) goes… if you want to drop him a comment here’s the link, I just ask that you keep it somewhat clean/cordial. I prefer that he not think of Detroit fans as complete jackasses(since we’re really not.)
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=feedback/sportsguy
correction… we haven’t played Cleveland on their court.
hmmm..now that you mention it..We have beaten every other team that has beaten Boston so far this year (quite handily, I might add). The Cavs beat the Celts before they went on this nasty slide, and the Magic did so as well. It’ll be interesting to see how they do out West, but I’m witholding judgment until they face the San Antonio (with Parker by then) next month.
Rodney Stuckey is BACK!!! Bye-Bye “Mr. Fourth Quarter Slaughter”!
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/full_strength_071220.html
Oh what a day. Great news Diablo!
This is the best Christmas ever!
when is stuckey back…..i remember seeing him in the bench wearing suite
great news diablo!!! i found it, just a short update:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071220/SPORTS03/71220043/0/FEATURES05
thank you, thank you…-leaves to go get himself a new Stuckey jersey-
For more fun reading, I’d recommend our good friends at perkisabeast.com. That’s some fun stuff.
Rob, i was just gonna say
http://perkisabeast.com/blog/2007/12/20/mit-scientists-prove-that-detroit-pistons-fans-are-dumber-than-teetsy-flies/
BTW guys, if you’re going to send gloating emails like that, be a little more eloquent and less insulting. it just makes it easier for them to make us look bad. i’m quite proud of my response on the page.
That’s messed up how he attacked LB like that, he wasn’t even the guy that called him a “phag”. -smh-
Diablo: I can take it, I wouldn’t provide the link if I couldn’t. That irrelevant response he provided was wholly indicative of him not me, as far as I’m concerned. Though I appreciate that you have my back.
It comes down to the fact that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why his blog doesn’t have a community and this one does. If you ask me, he’s the one who is pretty “phag”gy since he brings nothing to the table in terms of intellectual basketball evaluation.
I don’t need a blog to make friends, even though I have many. I don’t need a community to have readers although I have many.
I just want my Hootie.
You and me, we come from different worlds
You like to laugh at me when I look at other girls
Sometimes you’re crazy then you wonder why
I’m such a baby ’cause the Dolphins make me cry
But there’s nothing I can do
I’ve been looking for a girl like you
You look at me, you got nothing left to say
I’m gonna pout at you until I get my way
I won’t dance, you won’t sing
I just wanna love you but you wanna wear my ring
But there’s nothing I can do
I only wanna be with you
You can call me a fool
I only wanna be with you
Put on a little Dylan
Sittin’ on a fence
* I said, “That line is great” you asked me what it meant by
* Said I shot a man named Gray
Took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks, and when she died it came to me
I can’t help it if I’m lucky
I only wanna be with you
Ain’t Bobby so cool
I only wanna be with you
Yeah I’m tangled up in blue
I only wanna be with you
You can call me a fool
Only wanna be with you
Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever end
You get so mad at me when I go out with my friends
Sometimes you’re crazy then you wonder why
I’m such a baby, yeah, the Dolphins make me cry
But there’s nothing I can do
I only wanna be with you
You can call me a fool
I only wanna be with you
Yeah I’m tangled up in blue
I only wanna be with you
Yes. Please stop calling me a phag and telling me to suck a dick. It hurts when you hurt my feelings. And I’m not jealous
Tell me do you think it’d be all right
If I could just crash here tonight
You can see I’m in no shape for driving
And anyway I’ve got no place to go
And you know it might not be that bad
You were the best I’d ever had
If I hadn’t blown the whole thing years ago
I might not be alone
Tomorrow we can drive around this town
And let the cops chase us around
The past is gone but something might be found
To take its place…hey jealousy
And you can trust me not to think
And not to sleep around
If you don’t expect too much from me
You might not be let down
Cause all I really want is to be with you
Feeling like I matter too
If I hadn’t blown the whole thing years ago
I might be here with you
Tomorrow we can drive around this town
And let the cops chase us around
The past is gone but something might be found
To take its place…hey jealousy
My name is perkisabeast, and since I’m more interested in creating publicity for my own site than having an intelligent conversation, my comments on DBB will be moderated/edited for the foreseeable future.
(No trolls allowed — MW)
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Shut ‘em down, blog man, shut him down!
Wow, pwned by l337 hax0r Matt Watson. What a n00b. Awesome.
Major props to LawyerBoy as his “Redemption, thy name is Chauncey Billups” quote was used to start off the Basketball Jones podcast this morning!! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, and you are a hoops fan, (duh, or you wouldn’t be here) you need to subscribe to this great podcast. Just do a search on iTunes for them and listen in!
Wow, really? Cool, thanks for the heads up Q Dog, I’ll have to check it out when I get home from work today.
close out a game?
do you know what that means ?
With 6 points up and less than 2 min on the clock you manage to let your opponent tie the game AND have the ball in the hand of a 6 times all-star player wide open with 5 sec left…
If Pierce was smart enough to wait and take the last shoot or drive in or kick it out to Allen, the game was over for you and you would have been asking how can’t such an experienced team not be able to close that game with 6 points up and less than 2 min left on the clock…
This Detroit win is mostly due to Pierce stupidity.
It was Ray Allen or Kg the game was over for you or at most we were going into OT with Boston having the psychological advantage!!!
You can say everything you want about your win BUT please don’t talk about how to close a game…
No problem LB, I just found it out of line for him to attack you like that. I know you were being sarcastic but it’s not like you were insulting him and if anything, the way he was trash-talking last night he surely deserved it. But I think his actions were based on the way everyone made him look dumb on DBB with the combination of his Boston Celtics taking a last second butt-kicking.
See and I feel the other way. Your team drained a couple lucky three’s but was absolutely reeling vs us in the 4th otherwise. IF that game goes to OT, I figure we blow your doors off in the first couple mins and you guys stagger to the finish wondering what went wrong.
No offence but please don’t make it sound like those long balls were well executed Celtics playcalls. Ray Allen is some good, and some lucky.
As for how to “close out a game”, I think what Matt was saying is that Boston thought it’d done enough to TIE the game late and got caught napping when Chauncey drew the throws with .2 left…. basically reminding Boston the game wasn’t exactly over yet.
All that having been said though, yeah, I was NOT freaking amused that we let you get back to back long balls and then turned the ball over… that was, not funny.
Otoh, 87-85 and nobody ever asks during Finals Media Day, “So about that time you almost lost in the regular season….”