Comments on: Pistons look to take control of series

By: DJ

DJ — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:03:52 +0000

Great job of Coaching by Flip (Hall-of-fame-bound) Saunders, mixing in Afflalo at the 3, going small against the quik, young athletic 76er’s and starting Maxi. Fantastic job of coaching! Joe D. should extend his contract to keep the the LB mess from rearing its ugly head again. The team that Flip put on the floor these last 2 games will win the NBA championship (even if Utah makes it out of the West!)

By: Toledo Joe

Toledo Joe — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:41:45 +0000

And the Cavs choke down the stretch and fail to eliminate the Wizards. . . .

By: Sauce1977

Sauce1977 — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:05:27 +0000

No long-watching Celtics fan savors Doc Rivers. He could be worse than Flip Saunders for skill.

Ohad: I still believe Detroit and Boston would be leading the Western if they were in that conference, even if Golden State and Denver (weaker teams) were swapped out . . . Dallas woulda missed the playoffs, and Detroit and Boston would be somewhere in the Top 4 caliber along with Los Angeles and San Antonio.

Detroit, vs. lesser teams, that’s when they stink. It’s reflected in the attitude and mindset of Billups, when asked about such lopsided contests. I’m sure Detroit would be putting up a couple stinkers against Minnesota and Seattle if they were out in the Western, I mean that’s something that drives fans nuts about this team.

By: kevin s.

kevin s. — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:19:24 +0000

BTW,

I made some lolcat pictures you can send to your Celtic fan friends.

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/View.aspx?ciid=1052364

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/View.aspx?ciid=1052411

By: Toledo Joe

Toledo Joe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:02:07 +0000

On another topic, that link to the Celtics blog is an entertaining read, especially in that so many of the comments there mirror the comments made here (albeit not so much after game 5): Our coach made a lot of terrible decisions; but the players are making the mistakes, why don’t our stars play with more aggression, urgency, and/or intelligence?; we should play X bench guys more; let’s face it, maybe we ARE over-rated; hey, calm down now, the series isn’t over, we can still win; yeah, but we’ll never win the championship this way; and etc.

By: Mike Payne

Mike Payne — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:03:45 +0000

I agree, JD. While I disagreed with that assertion after game one, I agree with it now. A few people on DBB made that suggestion after game one in the comments, and the series will hopefully prove them right. That the Philly shock could be the stimulus that gets the Pistons putting it all in, every night.

my fingers are crossed.

By: JackDutch

JackDutch — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:49:24 +0000

my hope is that they’re learning something from playing the sixers in this opening series, even though it was a scarier match-up than toronto, which is probably the most pathetic playoff team of this season. if we had just sleepwalked through the first round and had these issues against orlando and got down 2 (and a half) to 1, orlando has enough to talent to keep us on the mat. hopefully, they’re getting through these stumbling blocks of overconfidence, of thinking they don’t have to work for shots, thinking that they don’t have to play defense, etc. and this series, which i hope we can put away tomorrow night, will have made us a much stronger contender.

By: Diablo

Diablo — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:24:39 +0000

I hoping the Pistons will finish these guys off once and for all in Philly. Just come out gunning and as we seen it quickly deflats Phillys confidence.

By: Mike Payne

Mike Payne — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:53:28 +0000

@mwhyte72: kudos, my friend. I didn’t want to imply that you were among the pessimists here, and I agree with your point. Its just been really hard being a part of the DBB community when the Pistons are down– it brings the haters out en force…

@Toledo Joe: Unfortunately we likely won’t dress Herrmann. I’d love to see him play over Hayes (especially in this series), and he might be just what the doctor ordered to help Tay with Turkoglu. But its probably too late to effectively integrate Herrmann…

When we went small last night, Afflalo played really well at the 3 (at least I think Afflalo was at the three and Rip was at the 2). I’m not suggesting he’s a solution at SF behind Tay, but where the matchups work in our favor, that might be okay.

In the post-season, however, I’d like to take Herrmann over Hayes. If we take neither, there are a few free agents I wouldn’t mind fitting into our ranks behind Tay. Although it might be ignorant to think that we could afford a guy like Josh Childress, and just as ignorant to think he’d settle for anything less than a starting position…

By: Morty

Morty — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:38:04 +0000

Great game by the Pistons. I thought the Sixers had some great chances to come back a bit in the 2nd quarter against the Detroit bench, but they kept shooting themselves in the foot. It would have been moot anyway, as the Pistons starters blew it out again in the 3rd.

By: b23

b23 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:28:39 +0000

Yeah, strange how no suspensions were handed out for either Atlanta or Boston. I wonder how Phoenix feels about that.

By: Toledo Joe

Toledo Joe — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:19:51 +0000

Great game all around. Re Hayes, he’s been a disappointment/non-factor in this series, and I’m high on Afflalo’s future too. But I still think Detroit will need somebody to back up Tayshaun. Afflalo is a guard, not a SF. Can we dress/play Herrmann in the second round (assuming we get there)?

In other news, I do wonder what Dallas and the Suns will do, and if there were any justice in the world, some Celtics would be suspended for tonight’s game.

By: Ohad

Ohad — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:04:07 +0000

two points:
a) does anyone have a link to d/l the game so maybe i watch a game in the playoffs?

b) i remember someone did a calculation a few weeks ago showing that had detroit played in the WC than its life wouldn’t be much harder than in the EC. Detroit and boston are both having problems closing out their series and how bron-bron won one of his 3-1 with a lucky 3-pt shot On the other hand, looking at how in the west all but utah are done with 4-0 and 4-1 than i think maybe the EC isn’t the easy walk in the park everybody claims it is. either that or the moves done by dallas and phoenix towards the end of the season have weakened the way more than we thought in advance…

By: Shinons

Shinons — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:40:03 +0000

Point 1: I’m really glad good Pistons showed up.

Point 2: Man, Sheed was great.

Point 3: Awesome move by TNT. I don’t know how they figure what goes on nationally, but who wouldn’t want to watch a totally lopsided series over one that has a title contender on the ropes against a great underdog story? In case you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic. You (TNT) stink! You are a senile bucktoothed old mummy with bony girl arms and you smell like an elephant’s butt!

By: mwhyte72

mwhyte72 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:09:11 +0000

@ Mike Payne - “They only shut up those who gave up on them, and there were plenty of commentors here that gave up on them. Hopefully it shut THEM up. For those of us who have been pro-Piston this whole series, they did nothing to shut us up, just confirm why we stand behind this team.”

I didn’t mean to imply that I, or anybody else, had ‘given up’ on them. They simply did what we knew they could do and, for whatever reason, didn’t in games 1 and 3. And that prompted a lot of anger. Don’t confuse a comment lamenting soft or sloppy play, a lack of energy or interest from a team we all know and love as not being ‘pro-Piston’. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, we vent because we all know that they are so much more capable than what they’ve been showing us at times in this series.

Cheers.