“I find it humorous that some Pistons fans are staking their playoff chances on avoiding the Cavs in the second round. Can the Pistons be the champs if they can’t knock off a team which is on a 47 win pace right now? Does LeBron James scare you that much?”

The ENTIRE NBA should be afraid of LeBron. Including your Celtics. He’s just that good. As for Pistons fans hoping to play one team or another, it doesn’t really matter to me as a fan — I just want to watch some great playoff basketball, and I’m confident the Pistons can beat who ever we get in a 7-game series.

And yes, Lebron does scare me that much. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone single-handedly win a game like he did in last year’s playoffs.

The C’s will have a hard time with the Cavs if they have to face them. The C’s play great team defense without a truly great perimter defender. This matches up with a team like Detroit that thrives on motion (motion that can be stopped by lots of playoff grabbing). The Cavs rely on the brilliance of Lebron getting to the hoop and drawing triple teams. The C’s have no one that can stay in front of him. Boston’s defensive guru will have some tricks up his sleeves, but not enough to keep it from being a long grinding series.

36 Minutes, 10-24 shooting(.417), 4 rebounds, 0-3 FTs, 5 PFs.

I mean to say he was going shot for shot with Garnett[41 min, 13-22 shooting(.590), 6 rebounds, 5-6 FTs, 4 PFs] is crazy.

Dyess wasn’t much better with 2-7 shooting and 6 rebounds in 31 minutes.

BTW, Perkins had 20… yes, thats 20 rebounds.

After looking at the numbers maybe I wasn’t critical enough in my assessment, but I’ll stick to what I was saying: Sheed and McDyess looked old.

the fact remains: the pistons can take any team in the league. most teams even on an off-night. they still switch it on and off at times, and it remains to be seen whether that happens in the playoffs. but there isn’t a team that they won’t sweep if they’re on in the playoffs.

“… it [Pistons roster] has enough to topple the C’s in an Eastern Conference final, and bash whatever opponent the Western Conference spits out on Detroit’s way toward a second title in five years. That’s not hyperbole, and that’s not a guess. That’s the truth.”

We can cripple the Celtics even at their best, period. Will we? I think so, but last night was the first time this season that I felt unsure. This year is starting to feel like last yearand the year before. But, the Pistons will thrash a team by 25 in the next couple of weeks (the Knicks on Friday?) and then we’ll call them the greatest thing since sliced bread all over again. The point is, if these guys “turn it on” during the playoffs, peace out Boston. No need to worry about that, as Dwyer said, it’s fact.

I find it humorous that some Pistons fans are staking their playoff chances on avoiding the Cavs in the second round. Can the Pistons be the champs if they can’t knock off a team which is on a 47 win pace right now? Does LeBron James scare you that much?

My feeling is that the Celtics are truly the best team in the NBA this season, and will be able to knock out whichever team is in their way in the playoffs.

If the Pistons and Cs meet in the playoffs, I see the Cs closing them out in six games at the most. Detroit can’t score against the Cs, except at the FT line. For the three games, Detroit is shooting a gristly 39%. If the Celtics play “clean” defense and stay away from the penalty, the Pistons really have no shot.

The Pistons were a great “ensemble” team when they won the title, but you can not replace a defensive POY anchor like Big Ben with a 7th man type big like Dice and expect to be the same team. The Pistons have stagnated, and their bench of unproven young bigs and brickshooting littles aren’t going to bail them out this season. They have no inside game at all, no athletic slashers in their starting line up, and no uber-star, in a season where every other contender has between one and three.

Once the Cs integrate Sam Cassell into their team, they’re going to be even more unbeatable. He will be able to run the second unit in a very controlled, Chauncey-like style, and will be able to close out wins if Rondo isn’t up to it.

I will say the one saving grace from all this is if we win it all, Flip will more or less have to start at least one of the young guys next year and that will release him from all the criticism I throw his way. If we lose in the ECFs, then Flip will most likely be replaced. Worst case scenario is that we lose AND retain Flip. Even then, I don’t think even Flip could justify sticking with 2 34 year olds over Maxiell or Johnson.

I think a good coach could win it all with Detroit, but I don’t think Flip is a good coach. I see us losing in the ECF because of our overconfidence in our veterans who, to me, have stepped over a critical line in their career. When it starts to go, it goes fast. Look at Shaq.

Please, please, please do not judge the Pistons based on one game. There are a lot of reasons why Dice and Wallace may have looked old a tired but up until yesterday you could not say it or even back it up statistically.

The Rattler should be able to provide some really good defensive minutes, plus we have Amir and Maxiell to help out Dice and Rasheed

If we focus hard in the first and second rounds and don’t screw around and take care of business — meaning no more than 5 games each series — then we will be just fine

Remind me who has the second best record and has played rookies and has developed a long bench???

I think Joe D, CB, and Flip have a false sense of superiority and that spills over into the fan base. I hate to be doom and gloom, but that’s what I see.

This is a reality check… our front court has been on the decline since we won the championship. I think we’ve just gotten to point where age has finally caught up with McDyess and maybe Sheed. Every non-Pistons fan says Detroit is old, and I’ve always shrugged it off and said “They don’t play old. They look fine to me.” This was the first time they looked old to me. McDyess and Sheed had 2 days off then played less than 25 minutes against Seattle. Then came out and let Boston run the *bleep* out of us in the first quarter.

Unless something changes, I think we’ll lose in the ECFs. Man, this sucks. I hate admitting this. Take care guys.

however, the biggest reason why they would fall apart at the end is being tired. back to backs and all-night travel will do that. plus, this solidifies our second seed. orlando’s 4 games ahead of cleveland, 5 games behind us. we can only hope that seeding holds and avoid either the celtics or the cavs. so there is a bright side.

I hated that for the Pistons because I know this game meant something to them but I think if the situation for the two teams had been reversed we would have likely seen a reverse outcome. I know how important it is to the Celtics for them to try to be able to maintain routine and rhythm. I’m sure it is the same for the Pistons. A hard back to back and a screwed up late flight schedule is about all it would take to throw a team off their game some. Considering that I think Piston play last evening was quite respectable and I certainly wouldn’t expect it to be the norm when playoff time comes.

So here’s a toast to all of you great Detroit fans and this fine website. I know you all are probably getting about as giddy as I am about the coming playoff series. Well, maybe not quite as giddy. I’ve been waiting a LONG time for this one! When the ECF does come I say, may the best team win and whoever it turns out to be, let’s all pray they go on to take the WC to school…and spank ‘em hard. Other analogies are invited. Take care.

I really “hate” that whenever the Pistons lose lots of people want changes and think the sky is falling

Keep the faith and for what it is worth - getting our ’ship will all come down to whether our coaching staff can make the adjustments needed — “on the fly” during the playoffs

Hopefully they can

And for once, I’d like Flip, or CB, or Joe to say “We have to get better! We have to do SOMETHING to get better. Maybe its starting Maxiell, maybe its starting Amir… but we have to change something.” Instead we get the ol’ “Detroit’s got the best starting 5 in basketball” line. Well, maybe we don’t… and maybe we won’t admit that ’til after we lose in the ECFs. THAT is my biggest fear with this team.