From A. Sherrod Blakely:
Detroit’s defense did an exceptional job against Cleveland, in part because of some suggestions made by some of the players. Prince said that he and some of his teammates went to Saunders with some ideas on how to mix things up a little bit more defensively.
“We presented it to him. We (players) just had to go out there and execute it,” Prince said. “Once you come to coach with something, you have to really put your stamp on it and make it work. That was the case.”
This wouldn’t be nearly as notable to me if I still didn’t remember how Rasheed Wallace changed defensive calls in the playoffs last year. But in any case, whatever the team cooked up for LBJ last week obviously worked — I’m cool with more of the same should these teams cross paths again in the playoffs.
(Yes, I’m aware they play in the regular season finale, but for all intents and purposes that game should be treated like an exhibition.)
Here’s an idea, use Spellcheck more often!
He played him tougher than a rookie has any right to.
Agreed. Also, it was great to see some Big Z rules, too - Dice and Theo were tremendous in limiting him on the boards and forcing him to be a jump(?) shooter…
doesn’t this sort of imply that the players aren’t giving the ol’ college try on defensive schemes created by the coaching staff? but when it’s something they devised, they’re suddenly giving that extra effort? am i reading into this? or does it provide more evidence that the players don’t have a lot of faith in saunders? maybe i should just take this at face value of how wonderful it is that there’s a give and take between the coaches and the vets on this team, and not the underlying issue that the players don’t trust saunders to implement a winning gameplan.
and i second laughton and repeat my comment from the cavs game: if dixon comes back and supplants spellcheck in the rotation, i’m going to be pissed.
It was very obvious what the Pistons did defensively on Lebron. They prevented him getting the ball at the top of the key since he could blow by Rip very easily. He did that maybe 2 or 3 times.
Instead, they did a very good job of pushing Lebron to the wings with Rip in his face and either Rasheed, Theo or McDyess waiting for him just outside of the paint, blocking his path to the basket. This scheme forced Lebron to resort to the jumpshot.
If I could figure out this defensive scheme, do you think the Pistons showed too much before the playoffs?
Wow…you detroit fans make me laugh…do you really think LeBron gave his best effort out there?
He’s shown time and time again that he can beat you…and if you think sending Rip (with 4 little helpers) to guard LeBron is the answer…everyone is in for a surprise.
Do you really fear the Cavs?…or just LeBron?…wow.
Have fun coming up with defensive “schemes” for LeBron…if Detroit and Cleveland meet in the playoffs…I’d love to see the “Rip to the rescue” plan unfold…should be fun to watch.
Moreover, by taking Tay off of Lebron, Tay was able to run the offense a bit more, freeing Chauncey to be a scoring and preventing the Cavs from trapping him like they did last year.
JackDutch,
I think that it is only human nature that the team would put top effort into executing a game plan that they came up with on thier own… maybe even more than 100%
What I like to see is that the team has so much desire to win that they are taking the time to put together some schemes and take them to the coaches. I also like it that the coaches were receptive and even instituted the ideas.
Hopefully the boys will save a few good ideas for the playoffs. No sense letting the leauge get sneak previews.
Moot point. Cavs aren’t getting by the Celtics.
“Do you really fear the Cavs?…or just LeBron?”
Just LeBron.
If the cavs end up playing the wizards they may not even see Boston
Lebron not give his best effort - are you insinuating that Mr. MVP does not give his best efforts all the time? Kobi goes all out and even plays with broken fingers
Wait, there’s other players on the cavs besides Lebron? Someone, quick, ring the alarm and let the boys down at ESPN know because I think we’ve been mislead! Anyway, joking aside, LBJ has a respectable amount of talent, but his all-time record against detroit (including playoffs)is 14-20. Time and time again? hmmmm i dunno…i suppose you could argue with that kind of winning percentage could get you a playoff berth in the East….
http://www.atsdatabase.com/Stats/NBA/Detroit-Pistons-vs-Cleveland-Cavaliers-Basketball-Results.html
Will Corey Brewer shut down Afflalo again?
ESPN ran on one of its blogs a whole article about how the Hornets held LBJ in check by putting Pedja Stojakovic and his ailing back on James for most of the game.
So lets not get carried away and act like the Pistons found a cure for herpes.
“Here’s an idea, use Spellcheck more often!”
You realize that nickname is SO lame that I HONESTLY thought that was a pithy comment about something Matt misspelled in the above article…
No really.
Funny thing is I think it was Matt that came up with it. Or maybe not, I cant remember. Maybe something cool like ‘Tough Juice’ would do it for you then.
Someone suggested “Count that baby and Afflalo” - works for me.
Laughton, no worries I wasn’t blaming you or frankly ANYONE to be honest… Just really didn’t understand your post for several moments because the nickname is so lame. Honest. Its DEFINATELY not an issue