From Keith Langlois of Pistons.com:
McDyess broke his nose midway through the third quarter of Friday’s nightmarish Game 3 loss at Wachovia Center and returned to Detroit where he underwent successful surgery Saturday at Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital as performed by Dr. Gene Rontal. McDyess’ status for Game 4 is listed as questionable.
If McDyess is unable to go, the Pistons likely would replace him in the starting lineup with third-year forward Jason Maxiell. They would still have plenty of depth available to them with Theo Ratliff and Amir Johnson coming off the bench, as well as Walter Herrmann, who has been on the inactive list through the first three games of the first-round series.
[…] McDyess has been matched up defensively to start games against Philadelphia rookie Thaddeus Young, who has gotten off to fast offensive starts in all three games. Young has scored 10, 11 and 10 points in the first three games of the series. Long and athletic, Young might be a better physical matchup for Johnson, though it’s unlikely the Pistons would thrust (sic — trust?) the inexperienced Johnson enough to start him.
I’d love to see it happen, but I don’t think it will, and sadly for all the wrong reasons. Starting Amir Johnson would be admitting that DNP-ing him in Game 1 and sitting him until the game was well out of hand in Game 3 was a mistake, and coaches rarely do that until they’re facing an elimination game. To be honest, I haven’t seen a coach so reluctant to give a guy a chance since Rick Carlisle finally relented and put Tayshaun Prince on Tracy McGrady in 2003.
But unlike McGrady, Young isn’t one of the league’s truly extraordinary talents — he’s one of the very small handful of players in this league who’s actually younger than Amir Johnson. Why in the world would you keep throwing veterans who are 10-15 years older than Young and continue to be surprised when the Pistons look slow? If McDyess can’t play, I’m all for matching up Maxiell with Reggie Evans and Johnson with Young; who actually gets the start or plays more minutes is irrelevant.
Update: The “wait a minute, maybe the Pistons should play Amir” meme is catching on. A. Sherrod Blakely weighs in and got a quote from Amir:
Saunders said if McDyess doesn’t play, he would be replaced by Jason Maxiell, Theo Ratliff or possibly Amir Johnson.
Of the three, Johnson might be the most intriguing possibility.
With Philadelphia going with a smaller lineup that includes Thaddeus Young at power forward — he’s really a long small forward — Johnson might be a better match up for Detroit.
“We are kind of the same with our quickness,” Johnson said. “I just have to stay ready and wait to be called on. And when I get a chance to play, don’t make mistakes and just try and help the team win.”
Just give McDyess one of Hamilton’s mask so that he can play without worrying breaking it again.
If anyone else could rebound well enough, I’d almost be relieved that Antonio’s not playing.
I like the Max vs. Reggie Evans and Amir vs. Thad matchups. It’s not that I think that the Sixers can’t get the better of those matchups on a given night but it’s close enough that it puts the responsibility on the Big 4 to outplay their counterparts, at least on the whole.
As everyone who visits here regularly knows, I am a big fan of Amir.
I don’t know if I agree with starting him in game #4 even though he can match up well with T. Young. Here is my reasoning.
Amir gathers fouls faster than blocks and almost as fast as he gets rebounds. The 76s would go right at him to begin the game.
Playing a zone to start the game with him in the lineup might prevent this, but I seriously doubt that Flip would start a game by playing zone defense.
So it seems to me that Amir would pick up 2 quick fouls within the first 5 minutes maximum. Flip would of course pull him and might not put him back in until the beginning of the 3rd quarter. I could then see Amir getting another quick foul or two and Flip pulling him within the first 5 minutes of the 3rd period and not put him back in the game.
This would limit Amir’s time to between 5 and 10 minutes for the game, which in my opinion would not be enough to have an impact.
Here is my suggestion. Start Herrmann on T. Young.
Let him play as long as he can go and then bring Amir in. Do the same in the 3rd quarter. Basically alternate Amir and Herrmann and leave Theo on the bench.
Herrmann has big time game experience in the international arena so the pressure won’t both him. I think that starting Amir might put too much pressure on him and he wouldn’t be as effective as backing up Herrmann.
P.S. I don’t think Young could guard Herrmann. Herrmann is at this point a lot bigger offensive threat than Amir. I think Herrmann could also guard Young.
Flip does not trust Herrmann, I don’t know why.
But Jarvis is SO ice-cold that I don’t know what prevents this move. Herrmann is long, possesses the same range that Jarvis does, and can create his own offense. Perhaps most importantly, he can defend, at least somewhat; Jarvis can’t.
That Amir isn’t seeing much beyond garbage time blows my mind, simply because this is the sort of athletic team that Flip repeatedly stated Amir matches up well against. It’s a shame it takes the McDyess injury to force Flip to see what he’s got during meaningful time. If he makes mistakes, pull him out quick and throw in the Rattler.
Mike - I agree that Herrmann isn’t a bad option. Play a little small ball with ‘Sheed out of the lineup. If the Sixers win because Dalembert is dominant offensively against a small Pistons lineup then they deserve to win. The Zoo Crew plays a bit like Golden State at times, I think the starters should try it now and then when they are in a funk.
OT: joejoejeo is my evil, typo-prone twin
I am not suggesting that Sheed doesn’t start.
Start Sheed, Tay and Herrmann up front. It is a smaller lineup than starting our regular 4s and 5s but Herrmann has shown that he can defend the 3 or the 4 without looking really bad on D and even sometimes good.
Starting Herrmann we could open up the court because that would give us five 3 point shooters in the starting lineup.
Herrmann as was mentioned can also create his own shot and even pass so I think starting him would make our offense a lot a better and we wouldn’t suffer on defense.
P.S. That lineup might hurt us a bit in the rebounding area but it seems worth a shot and if Herrmann isn’t cutting it than bring in Amir.
Mike, where we typically butt heads, I could not agree with you more on this. Wouldn’t it just be brilliant to see that happen?
If we don’t get Herrmann at the 4, I love Matt’s idea of Amir on Young, Maxiell on Evans. Nice call Matt.
daydreaming. flip has already given up on everyone on the bench except for maxiell. he wouldn’t even be playing stuckey right now if lindsey could keep from fouling in the open court.