I’ve been severely negligent in my DBB duties, but all of you seem to have gotten along fine without me. In any case, um, yeah, the Pistons beat the 76ers! And now they play the Magic! Starting tonight, in fact. Just to be thorough, here’s the complete schedule:
- TONIGHT @ the Palace, 7:30pm, TNT
- Monday, Cinco de Mayo @ the Palace, 7:00pm, TNT
- Wednesday, May 7 in Orlando, 8:00pm, TNT
- Saturday, May 10 in Orlando, TBD
- (if needed) Tuesday, May 13 @ the Palace, TBD
- (if needed) Thursday, May 15 in Orlando, TBD
- (if needed) Sunday, May 18, TBD
To be honest, I’m not sure the Sixers series could have worked out any better for the Pistons. They got a needed slap in the face to get their mindset right for the playoffs while also avoiding the dreaded lay-off between series that often results in rust seeping in. (Remember the difference between how the Pistons played immediately before and after the All-Star break? It was like night and day.) There’s a rhythm to playing every other day, and that’ll be maintained through the first three games of the series.
Also, I’m actually quite confident most of those if-needed’s will be needed. This season’s squad is light years better than what we saw 12 months ago. Dwight Howard is by far the most dominant force in the NBA, period, and he’s surrounded by guys who love to shoot from long-distance. In a lot of ways, they remind me of the Houston Rockets teams that won back-to-back titles during Jordan’s vacation. That said, Orlando’s backcourt will haunt them. Jameer Nelson and Mo Evans? Those two couldn’t crack Detroit’s rotation, let alone starting lineup. It’s on Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton to exploit that matchup ever night.
If you’d like a Magic-tinted view of the series, you’re in luck, because Third Quarter Collapse is one of the top NBA blogs in existence. Ball tips at 7:30 on TNT. I’ll be at the Palace for FanHouse; you, of course, are welcome to stay here to leave your thoughts on the game in the comments.
Pistons in 6!
Is “the most dominant force in the NBA” simply code for the best center in the NBA? Cause there is no way that Howard is more dominant than LeBron James.
The key to this game will be playing solid one on one defense on Howard. Ratliff should be prepped to burn through 4-5 fouls per game in 20 minutes of making Howard’s life miserable.
Yes, Howard is a top ten talent. Every team in the second round (assuming the Celtics prevail) has a top ten talent. Focusing our entire defense on one player in the hope that professional basketball players will miss wide open jump shots is absurd. Call it a Boobie trap.
Also, Jameer Nelson is better than you suggest.
How can you forget the 300 Million Dollar Man, Rashard Lewis?!
Pistons in 4.
@kevin s.
Matt is right. I think very few would disagree that in the 2008 NBA playoffs, no player has been more dominant than Dwight Howard. Lebron is a close second, no doubt.
Pistons in 5, but we will go up 2-0. I can’t wait for this series to start so I can see Dwight get his ass handed to him by Rasheed! Rasheed can stop every big in the league: Amare, Duncan, Dwight, Dirk…
The backcourt will be the key to the series, however. Rip and Billups must exert their will on the Magic guards.
I’m pretty interested in seeing what happens defensively for the Magic. I would kind of suspect that they’ll guard Rasheed with Rashard Lewis. He’s got kind of a similar skill set so he won’t be reluctant to leave Sheed open up top for 3’s (where Sheed was absolutely killer against the Sixers). It’ll be telling how much we take him down in the block because he’ll have absolutely no chance in that case.
They won’t let Chauncey post up on Nelson, which means Rip needs to knock down his shots and Maxiell needs to catch the ball when he’s open under the basket.
LeBron is averaging 30-10-8 in the postseason. It’s not close.
Just win beeotches, just win…
Dangerous squad and in no way the same team we dominated last year. Double teaming Howard seems to be the strategy there gonna go for, however this does leave their shooters open and as much as people belittle them, they can hit open shots as they did in the february loss. Personally Im pretty worried about this series but then again I worry about this team all the time.
Also attack from the jump. I mean attack, attack, attack (think Philly gms 2, 5 and 6 and the first 2 games vs. Chi last year. Detroit has to be aggresive on the offense from the start and not settle for feeble shot selection. In the past this had rattled young teams, so they should do again here.
“LeBron is averaging 30-10-8 in the postseason. It’s not close.”
And Howard averaged 23/18/4. You can also credit Howard’s dominance in forcing double teams to giving a big plus to Orlando’s perimiter shooting in the first round…
just at bar getting prepped. And by prepped I mean sauced. Let’s go pistons!
Just cracked my first beer, Jack. Cheers, my friend.
Any love for a poor bastard at work who needs a link to watch the game?
The Stones are a team of pros who show up day in and day out in the regular season, but the Playoffs are something different, as LeBron showed last year. This series looks to me like Howard and Co’s coming out party. Glad to see that you guys seem to be being realistic about this one.
More on this series at http://www.clevelandfrowns.com
Sopcast Cross.
Loving the early scoring.
I can’t install sopcast on my work computer, but thanks. Any others that don’t require a software download?
Cross try mogulus.
http://www.mogulus.com/grid/PlayerV2.swf?channel=psnx2
This is working for me…
Orlando really knows how to disrupt when Stuckey is running our offense. Kinda like the January game.
Stuckey looks really really tentative. He needs to take the cue from Dooling and just attack—he will get fouled if he goes hard.
All I can say is thank god, these guys arent hitting there 3’s….
Nice and 1 earlier by Billups lol. Dwight’s expression on the best was gold
Don’t count Stuckey out yet guys– he only had a few weeks under his belt in January, Prophecy. If Stuckey doesn’t perform will right away, either he or Flip will make an adjustment in his plays.
Stuckey is limping….
my pops is at this game - gave me a call when he got there like 2 hours before tip - he said he sits next to blaha’s wife most of the time. i’m liking the fouls against the magic but after a strong start, detroit is taking the full shot clock to score when the magic are getting quick buckets.
No more God Damn layups for Jamir Nelson. Fuck.
Hermann is in uniform tonight. Think he’ll get to play?
Prince need to fucking wake up. That Billup driving and throw out was for him to make the three. Prince didn’t expect it at all.
Question: the black tape on the Stone’s jersey on the left shoulder– is that in memory of Will Robinson, or is there some other reason behind that?
Pistons are very lucky all of Orlando’s 3’s arent going down and the fact there allowing a 5′10 guy blow by them is kinda disgusting (although Nelson is a good player lol). For all the bad perimeter shooting the Magic have had, they are only down 3.
Seriously who the hell is McDyess to get in anyone’s face? He had his nose busted by the Sixers. Dude, you and sheed STFU and play.
HB, that was a bad pass from Chauncey. It went to his feet.
Hermann aint playing til we’re up by 25 Bro.
And also HB, I hope Herrmann sees PT– over Hayes as well. He might be a good matchup against Turk and Lewis… Remember what he did to Dirk? I’d love to see Herrmann get some burn.
Pistons mindset may be right now after facing the Sixers in the first round.However, here comes a very focused Magic team.They will be alot tougher to beat this year than they were last year I believe.I’m going to enjoy this series.One of the best in the East.
Rashard Lewis is a problem.
Pistons are playing Howard well so far. They are lucky that Magic aren’t hitting 3s. I think they are in good shape overall as they could play a lot better.
I’m looking for a dominant 3rd quarter, with some Afflalo thrown in at the end.
Too much Howard….
Of course, they decided to play one on one to open the second half.
Where’s the damn ball movement!
Dwight Howard shoots FTs like I play tennis.
Crap
Damn our Shot selection. Damn it to Hell!!!
Even a double team cant stop Sheed lol
Good job by Flip switching to the zone.
Sheeeeeeeeeed!
Good Evening Detroit!!!!
Its fun coming back to DBB after a break– pessimism, pessimism, SHEEEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Flip to Dave Cowens: “what should I do, coach?”
…i kid!
Looks like the Turks been getting FT tips from Howard
Dammitt, cant put this team away lol
This is exciting watching them toy with their opponent on purpose, right? RIGHT?
NBA. Where getting bullshit fouls happen.
JMax is playing very very big right now.
Stuckey takes the charge and the turk is done, JMax doubles the hurt.
Jason Maxiell is that dude, ya dig!
Is there an echo in here?
Oh, I thought I was the only dude posting…
LOL, I feel silly now.
OMG Hermann!!!!
Fabio now? Bit too soon?
Flip is just taunting them! We’re dominating them with this line-up, and Herrmann’s showing up with 8 to go! Phil, check in during the time-out so I can kiss you!
For serious now, JMax has arrived.
Yep. Chickens done.
I mean, Reddick? Are you serious?
Herrmann’s body language is ridiculous. He’s BEGGING for the ball, and he’s balls-out on defense. The Porn Star never saw this coming.
Maxey is looking STRONG.
Rattla!
Reddick scored a lot. In college.
GREAT LOOK BY STUCKEY!
Honestly, and I’ve said it many many times, I’m not on the Flip bandwagon, but he’s seriously making a case for me to hop on board with his coaching tonight. Kudos, Mr. Saunders. Don’t make me eat these words in the next five minutes of PT, please.
did ya’ll know that tbs is very funny?
so funny none of us watch either show they desperately advertise
i think d-town still has orlando’s number. same way utah has ours..
Dwight Howard’s goal-tending really well tonight.
Ladies and Gentleman, we have a Walter Herr-Monster sighting!!
Fabio on the scoreboard!
Also, in Flip’s defense, it looks like he got a haircut and the half-mullet is down to a quarter mullet.
Tall white socks and a cheering crowd mean one thing: Amir taking off the warm-ups.
Can Pat Garrity shoot 3s?
What the hell, at 2/13 even Dwight should have a go.
Jason Maxiell… god damn.
How the hell is Pat Garrity STILL with the Magic???? He came to them in the Phoenix trade for Penny Hardaway and the bum is still there??? Thats like 10 seasons!!!
Let’s not oversell Howard’s hand. They were getting pounded, regardless.
Since it’s a DBB bylaw that we have to have one negative Flip comment per night, I’ll go ahead and give it…
That tie is about 5 inches too short.
There.
Seriously though, just an incredible job tonight by Flip. Loved the rotation, loved how we defended them to open the game. Loved the matchups we were able to exploit. And this coming from a guy who jumped on the Fire Flip bandwagon with both feet at halftime of game 4. I think we have too many big bodies for them.
Good win. They held a team that shoots the 3 to something like 2/15 and a total of just 72.
The Pistons looked good tonight and Flip’s rotation was awesome tonight as well. Alot of us fans, have speculated that the Pistons may have “turned the corner” a couple games back and the way we have played the last 3 games is really proving those fans right. But I remember the Pistons destroying the Magic and the Bulls at the same point of the playoffs last year and then after those series the Pistons fell asleep at the wheel. So I’m not going to say they “turned any corner” until they show me something in the Conference Finals.
Orlando needs to watch some tape of the Philly series. They didn’t take advantage in the first half when the Pistons were doing some coasting on defense. They need to work on maintaining poise and confidence.
Also, anyone who thinks this blow-out is a result of Dwight Howard’s hand injury (Charles Barkley) is fooling themselves. Orlando didn’t come to play and missed their chance in the first half.
“How the hell is Pat Garrity STILL with the Magic???? He came to them in the Phoenix trade for Penny Hardaway and the bum is still there??? Thats like 10 seasons!!!”
LMAO. I was asking the same question during the game!
Maximus played like a grown ass man tonight. He plays with agression, I love it. Loved the rotation tonight. Perfectl played and coached game. Great balance. One complaint: I don’t like the ball in Rips hands and asking him to make decisions. Just catch and shoot please. He turns the ball over too much. But great game overall. Our balance was ridiculous. Lets go Pistons!!!
Pistons in 3.
I can’t believe my local FL paper had the benchs scored as Even. Both benchs have 7 players dressed, that’s about the only similarity. I’m pretty sure Herrmann would be the 6th or 7th man in Orlando’s rotation. Unless Marcin Gortat has the same magic juice as Zaza Pachulia I’m not seeing good things for Orlando’s bench in this series. Go Pistons!
Note: We’re all Phil Saunders tonight!
If ever there was a time for Orlando to steal a game, it would be Game 2. They’re an incredibly mediocre home team though, so it doesn’t matter.
Welcome to the land of the legit contenders New Orleans Hornets. It’s an exclusive club and you have a bright future.
Maxiell played half the game and was +31 on the floor! I think that’s a case where that stat might mean something.
Just need to chime in here…Heck of a job by big Flip. Great game plan. Great hair cut. good suit. This guy is incredible.
MP: You asked way earlier, but I didn’t see anyone answer your Will Robinson question, They mentioned in the TNT broadcast of Game 6 v. Philly that the black strip is in his memory. I’m telling you MP I’m going to believe in Flip, based on his superior control of the rotation and the results produced during the regular season, until I have some reason to believe otherwise. I know Flip’s playoff record in seasons past is suspect at best, but something strikes me as different with ol’ Flippy this year.
Michael: The Magic can watch as much tape of the Philly series as they want, it’s not going to help. Outside of Jameer Nelson, the Magic don’t really boast any players with the explosiveness that Philadelphia gets from many of its players. Orlando needs more than ideas from Philly; they need strong showings each game from at least two of these three: Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu & Dwight Howard. Without two of those guys besting their season averages, we will continue to handle Orlando.
kevin s.: “Pistons in 3″, that received a legitimate LOL from me.
Stan Van Gundy must like to insult the Pistons, going to Marcin Gortat in the FIRST HALF?!?!?! Gortat averaged 6:47 per in 6 appearances during the regular season this year. I for one, am personally insulted, and there is evidence to believe Baby Eater was insulted as well.
Kudos to my brother’s adopted home of New Orleans in absolutely destroying San Antonio tonight. I still think that San Antonio is not in as good of shape as they have been in past years. David West made Duncan look like he was the playoff rookie tonight, jeez. I think the Hornets take this one in 7 (maybe 6).
Pull off the impossible tomorrow, Hawks! I’ll end on this note, as this is what the future holds for us boys, and no I’m not talking about drafting the guy pictured at the link:
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080504/capt.448981bb5d904a899bd2ad450bf5e3a6.magic_pistons_basketball_dtp117.jpg
This game pleased us. Particularly JMax. He is good. We like him.
Rob G, not only the top commenter on DBB in terms of quantity, but quality as well. Rob G is a man whose clever subtlety, brevity and consistency pleases us regularly.
Maxiell has been the change I felt was needed, so far.
LB: I didn’t know Bryant Reeves was a Pistons fan …
The future is a large guy with glasses?
I really want Atlanta to win as well, I love the way they play. However, it would be better for us if Cleveland and Boston knock the shit out of each other and crawl exhausted into the ECF with only their bench able to play.
MW, Laughton: I’m talking about the belt (a mighty sweet, old school WWF one from 1988-1998) appearing in the picture, not the guy who looks sorta like Big Country! Last time we won a championship Sheed outfitted everyone with a (current) belt for opening night back in November 2004 (single most awesome moment for me in Pistons history). I’m looking forward to a repeat occurrence to kick off the 2008-2009 season, and I have a fairly good feeling about it. That’s what I was trying to convey.
Laughton: Agreed, regarding Cleveland and Boston destroying each other.
Mr. Frowns: Since I heard Detroit was -320, that means you could have gotten +280 instead of +240 on the Magic.
Flip coached well tonight. I’ve always believed that Joe D has made him grow as a coach, into something passable but his rotations and timeouts were dead solid perfect.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Walter got meaningful minutes in this series, guarding likely Hedo but maybe Rashard as well. Tay can’t be out there all the time, and there will be one night, maybe two, where Howard gets all the bigs into foul trouble, and Sheed has to guard him . The Magic have serious matchup problems with Detroit, which will likely spell doom in 5-6 games. Yes, Orlando won 52 games, but we won 59 taking quite a few nights off and playing our bench most of the last 15 games. Still more separation there than what might the casual reader thinks.
Flip, I want to have your babies….wooops that slipped out…kinda akward
“How the hell is Pat Garrity STILL with the Magic????….”
I had the exact same thoughts. I was actually thinking “could they have signed another player with the same name?”
I mean the guy must be 30+ and has gotten no playing time in years to be so low under the radar
Also, i would like to correct a mistake i made earlier this year. Ratliff was a very good pickup for us.
Coach Ron Jeremy going to Marcin Gortat in his rotation is nothing personal against the Pistons. Gortat took Adonal Foyle’s minutes in the Magic playoff rotation from the start of the Toronto series.
Ohad, good luck tonight with Maccabi Tel Aviv
Detroit needs to learn from Atlanta and if and when we play Boston it needs to be run, run and run some more
After Detroit wins the ‘Ship could Philip Saunders who really cracks me up please tell us his real identity?
I think I know but lets wait
This was a good win, but let’s not get carried away. It was a one-point game at the half; the Magic missed a mess of FTs (I know they normally aren’t good at FTs, but they can do better); they were unusually bad from behind the arc (our defense had something to do with that, but I suspect they’ll do better); our jump shots were falling, but that won’t always happen at such a high percentage; and much as I loved to see it, we can’t count on Maxiell scoring 10 in future fourth quarters. The conventional wisdom is that the Magic have the advantage in the front court and Detroit has it at the guards, which means more points in the paint/easier opportunities for them.
Don’t get me wrong. I still say Detroit will win in no more than six. The Pistons are deeper and better. But the Magic have some very good players, and unless Howard is legit injured (which he says he’s not), I would expect more from them than they showed in the second half last night. Detroit will have to keep playing efficiently and effectively. The Pistons have put together seven straight halves where they’ve played well, but they’ll need to keep it up.
LB, I went to high school with that guy. Weird.
I laughed out loud at Matt’s Bryant Reeves comment, though.
Also, Toledo Joe, I think one of the reasons for the rampant optimism here is that Flip seems to have learned from games 1 - 3.5 of the Philly series. Herrmann was in before the game was out of hand, Stuckey and Afflalo played together. He nailed every decision, pressed every right button, used the zone perfectly, called time outs at the right moments, ect.
I do think we’re going to get blown out in at least one game of this series. Mathematics tells you there will be regression to the mean (hi 2005 White Sox!), but in this case it will likely be progression to the mean in terms of the Magic 3 point shooting. I just think we have too many big bodies and too many matchups we can exploit for Orlando to win this series. They can make it interesting by winning a game or two at home, but I’d be disappointed if this thing went further than 6.
Great game last night. I agree with most that Flip did an excellent job. This may have been one of his best coaching performances as a Piston coach.
The one negative that can be taken from Game 1 is that Sheed picked up his third technical foul of the post season. Three more and that’s an automatic suspension. That would likely come against Boston or LA (assuming we continue to advance). If it comes against Boston it will likely be some sort of elimination game (he averages about two a series). He really needs to put a leash on that puppy or he could end up costing the ‘Stones another ’ship.
I am guessing Flip will work to get the tech on Sheed reversed. It was completely unwarranted.
“our jump shots were falling, but that won’t always happen at such a high percentage; ”
We shot 42%, only taking 8 three pointers. Chauncey and Tay couldn’t hit a jump shot to save their lives.
What we did was make their “big three” beat us one on one. A 2-15 performance from three-point range was a bit fortunate, but so holding Sheed to 1-5 from two point range was fortunate for the Magic. Both, however, were partly a product of matchups.
JJJ:The real Ron Jeremy tips the scale these days at around 300 lbs. I don’t think SVG looks anywhere close to him anymore like he did when he was coaching the Heat.
ATL is in trouble early, but no surprise there.
DBB: while watching the Hawks-Celtics game, I have a new appreciation of the ‘basketball IQ’ of our squad. I never liked that term but I think I understand it now. What the Hawks have accomplished in this series is amazing but its truly the result of athleticism, not ‘understanding’ how to play the game. I’m watching guys go 1 on 2 or 1 on 3 while they have wide open teammates. The Celtics are double teaming Joe Johnson the entire time he touches the ball, no matter how far out he is. You would think they were playing 6 vs 5. The Hawks don’t, can’t or simply won’t swing the ball and find the open man. They just look lost as if the Celtics have 6 players on the court. I’ve never seen shit like this before. They definately play the game shoulders down cause I’m simply not seeing a lot of basketball smarts or just true understanding of how to play the game. God bless them for trying though. Lets go Pistons!!!
Anyone else salivating while watching the Celtics? Their sense of entitlement is even worse than ours can be. The demeanor on the court says it all. I see a bunch of old dinosaurs getting away with uninspired play and beneficial calls. Bring them on.
this c’s-hawks game went about as i expected. i have to ask though, has there ever been a game 7 LESS in doubt than this game 7?
friggin’ iphone wasn’t letting me comment at the bar. so the pros going to the bar were… beer, some adorable waitresses vs. cons of going to going to bar… lighter in the pocket and no dbb. it’s a closer debate than you might think. wish i had tivoed it. i could have watched that game over again an hour later. obviously if jmax starts hitting those elbow jumpers with consistency, we’re going to be even a more dangerorus offense. i was shocked that their frontline was as unproductive as it was. there’s no reason we shouldn’t consistently DESTROY their backcourt (and to be honest, i thought chauncey and rip could have played much better), but if our front court matches orlando’s like we did, this is going to go very well for us. i thought rip, chauncey and tay missed a lot of open jumpers, and i’m glad we worked it out defensively, but they got to hit those shots, because dwight howard isn’t going to have a lot of games like that. overall, very very pleased.
(even pleased with flip’s gameplan…. but don’t tell flip that, phil.)
can you believe how pleased with themselves these celtics are? god, they have SOOOOO much comeuppance heading their way.
btw, how many T’s does sheed have already this postseason? i’m thinking he’s up to 3 or 4 already, which is a major concern because i think you get suspended for your 7th. somebody please correct me if i’m wrong….
Other Matt: That is quite an odd coincidence, but then again, Detroit is no longer the 4th most populated city in the country that it was in the 1950s. I don’t think it’s such a rarity for many of us to see someone we know at The Palace. Whenever I’m back there I usually run into somebody. The weird thing is running into people I know from Detroit at Staples Center. Regarding the Magic, I don’t feel that they have the tools to blow us out in the playoffs. When they did blow us out in the regular season, they shot like snipers from three and we were hapless. I think we can avoid such embarrassment in the playoffs, but I can’t really make a compelling argument beyond that.
V: Love the comment about Joe D. prompting Flip’s growth. That’s exactly what I’ve felt all season, but I haven’t been able to capture the words as nicely as you have.
I love this, if the Celtics keep playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with their home games and road games, they have ZERO chance of getting through the East.
Kevin S.:
Well, if you’re going to bring up FACTS like shooting percentage, and say that facts outweigh my subjective impression. . . .
Actually, I think Detroit was shooting pretty well when it counted last night, and I’ll also stand by my claim that when Orlando’s offense is working, they will get easy shots. But I continue to be hopeful that we will keep their offense from working well enough to beat us. And if we did that while only shooting 42% ourselves, that’s a good sign.
V - Good point about the Herrmann minutes. He’s a good option against either Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu. I remember that game against Dallas in the regular season when Herrmann played solid D on Dirk while the rest of the team layed an egg.
JJJ: Note that Walter came into the game before Jarvis, which prompted my thought. In this series, your SF has to play D, and we know that’s not Jarvis’ forte. Actually, while I think Jarvis has a lot of upside, I’m more comfortable with Walter’s game than Jarvis. Look at Walter’s stat lines, even though he’s usually playing in garbage time. He’s always playing hard and producing despite limited minutes. His 3-ball isn’t as good as Jarvis, but it’s not bad either, he plays unselfish, and he’s a good defender.
LB: Flip is undoubtedly a much better (and judging from his interviews the last couple of games, more self-confident) coach since his first season here, and I put that on Dumars. I think he did a poor job preparing his team for the Sixers, I mean, who knows what might have happened had Dice not broken his nose and given his team some inspiration (ok, that was snark), but they’re playing well now.
JVG made a good point during the Boston game, in that he felt the Cavs could steal Game 1. The only problem with that is Mike Brown makes Flip look like Red Auerbach.
V: You really think Mike Brown makes Flip look like Red Auerbach? Agree to disagree there, but I think it’s safe to say that Doc Rivers makes whoever he’s coaching against look like Red Auerbach.
If we are going to glean encouragement from the Celtics-Atlanta series, we should also note that the Celtics look completely unbeatable at home.
kevin s.: We can also glean something from Garnett’s inappropriate (and astounding) arrogance in his post-game interview. When he should have either been noting that his team was embarrassed to have gone seven or given credit to Atlanta for providing a legitimate challenge, he incessantly yapped about how his team is unstoppable, specifically at home, and how great he thinks the Celtics are. You ultimately have to win on the road to succeed in the playoffs even if you have homecourt advantage. The Celtics look like playoff amateurs, and Paul Pierce’s behavior at the end of Game 6 and Garnett’s behavior today just reinforce that they are. As much as perkisabeast likes to blame things on referees, the Celtics are in big trouble because of their own shortcomings, not external forces.
Speaking of the aforementioned maligned blog, I posted on perkisabeast yesterday. I intellectually trapped them in a web of hypocrisy (man, I wish I had a copy of what I wrote, absolutely sparkling). Strangely, the entire post was completely removed today (not just my comment) after Boston finished off Atlanta. That’s busch league, and for me it’s officially their white flag in the mini-blog war. DBB - 1 perkisanonfactor - 0. Pwned.
I think it might be time to step away from the computer, LB.
Meanwhile, the trash talk is getting interesting. Check out this gem from an AP story today:
“Maxiell explained matter-of-factly how Detroit made the 6-11, 265-pound Howard look ordinary.
” ‘He’s has a very strong upper body,” Maxiell said. “But if you get down low and take his legs out, he’s not that powerful.’ “
All I know is, Zaza’s a wimp.
In garbage time, right off the inbound, and KG of all people throws a shoulder into the screen and knocks me on the floor, but i’ll tell you one thing, If i’m pachulia, and KG does that to me, I don’t care if they suspend me all next year. I get up, leg quickly behind him, push him backward, then when he hits the floor, I dive on him, I don’t stop swinging. It’s KG, he loses either way. He hits back, he gets suspended, or he doesn’t and everyone screams “FIXED” until KG’s ears bleed. Or, he doesn’t swing back and he gets his ass beat in front of his own precious idiot fans.
Also, ATL, way to stop playing together halfway into the 2nd quarter. Now we know why you lost all those games. It still doesn’t explain away Celtics dumbing into 7 games.
LanierFan: Can’t help it man, they basically held DBB hostage the day of the first Pistons-Celtics game this season. Unfortunately, I don’t let things go easily. Something to work toward I suppose.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3381184
Sounds like a bunch of butt-hurt Magic beat writers and fans, to me.
I love how that fool Garnett is talking about how the Celtics apparently accomplished something in blowing out the Hawks in a game 7. He said something along the lines of “that’s what you get…” referring to the Hawks forcing it to game 7. Wow, congratulations Kevin, it took you 7 games to beat one of the worst playoff teams in recent memory.
Also, I wouldn’t say that the Celtics are unbeatable at home, like Mr. Garnett would have you believe. While they did play exceptionally well, that has more to do with the Hawks just being extremely young and having no composure whatsoever when things started to go south. Atlanta wouldn’t have won a game in Orlando, Detroit, or Cleveland. They got the three wins against Boston because they were more athletic and at home, that athleticism went to unseen heights because they were just feeding off an electric crowd. You take the crowd away and you’re left with a really inferior team that really had no business being in the series, let alone the playoffs.
Because of how the Celtics struggled in Atlanta, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them drop three more in Cleveland in what will be a more hostile arena. Then the question is can Lebron win a game in Boston? I think he can.
I will admit that I am SUPER EXCITED about the Boston/Cleveland series.
Isn’t it great that we can watch Lebron do to Boston what he did to us.
First seed? Nah! Gimme some Magic.
I don’t have a problem with Garnett’s remarks. His team won the series. Maxiell’s remarks were true, but more candid than necessary. Not entirely sure I wanted to give Diwght Howard white board motivation, but I suppose he could also play erratically in order to prove himself.
“Who? Who?” Nelson asked mockingly when Ratliff’s comments were repeated by reporters. “I’m getting sick and tired of people calling us soft.”
For serious man, you really are soft.
The Orlando Magic will represent the EAST in the NBA FINALS - Rhommel
Um, no.
NBA Playoffs - Where Magic Mushrooms happens
The NBA . . . where jersey-popping a Game 7 win over the Hawks happens?
This is the only time I wish Cleveland good fortune. Someone should knock KG’s ass down a peg. What a clown.
LawyerBoy, I just bought you a gift: you’re now the proud owner of perkisanonfactor.com. That domain has now been registered.
Buck Foston.
Nothing quite like making a “statement” by leaving your starters in with a big lead to make sure you beat Atlanta in a game 7 with high style.
Here’s to being excited about a rematch with the Lebrons in the Eastern Finals.
Let the Boston Pee Party enjoy their victory, seeing as it’s so rare that those three experience any playoff success.
The mood around KG was always how nice a guy he is. Ever since they teamed him up with paul(ina) “shirt popping” pierce he’s seemed to grown quite an attitude. Maybe its like an infection or something. This would explain the perkinsisabeast.com hallucination as well. they should quarantine paul(ina) for a while before it spreads to other sports organizations
Were the Celts really poppin’ their jerseys after that series? I heard some of the radio highlights by the Celts announcers that were absolutely ridiculous. They were whoopin’ it up and talkin’ trash like they were running the Lakers off the court or something.
Boston better blow out Cleveland because Lebron will kill them in a close game the way they looked down in Hot-lanta.
Funny enough, I never, EVER thought I would root for Cleveland. I’ll be doing that for the next six games or so… Not watching, but I will be excited by box scores that tilt toward cleveland…
Go LeBron! Go Boobie! Go Varejo! Go Big Z! Go Big Ben!
…
(chokes back vomit)
MP: You didn’t seriously buy that domain, did you? That’d kind of be awesome.
QD: I can’t comment on the matter of any Boston jersey poppin’ (there was none that I was aware of after Game 7), but doggdetroit hit it when he said KG said something to the effect of “That’s what you get…” in his postgame interview. His comments were nothing short of absurd. The face of a squad coming off that series has no business posturing about his team’s inevitability as champion.
Ohad: Based on his charitable work, I’m going to assume that KG away from the court is a hell of a guy, but KG on the court has always been a goon. For even more evidence prior to his union with Pierce, check back to the scuffle he got into with McDyess from the ‘06-’07 season. Garnett chucked a ball at Miggity because he was getting physical with Madsen. What followed was Garnett seeing the same anger that the Pistons saw when they upset the Broken Nose Beast by not giving their all. Long story short, as McDyess began to approach him, Garnett started to backpedal fast. I’m sure I’d love KG off the court, but on the court he’s always been a loose cannon, underachieving chump.
Perhaps I relish the adversarial role, opposing the general consensus of the DBB community, but I hope Boston squeaks by Cleveland (Sorry MP, I’m still a LeBron fan so I don’t lust too heavily after avenging last year’s disaster). That way we can welcome them to the Eastern Conference Finals, a venue we have found ourselves at five (make it six) consecutive times and one they haven’t seen but once in twenty years. If they play like they did against Atlanta, the Celtics certainly won’t be making a trip to the NBA Finals (if even the Conference Finals), but their wealth of Tommy Points should keep them warm at night.
NBA Playoffs: Where Six Consecutive Eastern Conference Finals berths leading to three NBA Finals Appearances (and two titles) happens.
LB, and everyone, yeah you can comment on KG’s jersey-poppin’ fetish.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/photo?slug=93fb8ea7658644c985a8969ba8f2ba88.hawks_celtics_basketball_mack107&prov=ap
I absolutely can’t stand the cavs. I’m amazed you held back your vomit.
I hope this whole war of words thing works out in our favor. Ill take anything that can motivate us. However, all teams that talk trash and lose look stupid. I would much rather we just keep our mouths shut and simply kicked them out of the playoffs.
Such an idiot.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/photos?photoId=1930086&gameId=280504002
“NBA Playoffs: Where Six Consecutive Eastern Conference Finals berths leading to three NBA Finals Appearances (and two titles) happens.”
LB for president
Wow Sauce, wish I had caught that on the broadcast. Good find. KG is an absolute legend, but a first class joke on the basketball court in terms of having perspective.
Sauce - Maybe he’s being a bit more honest and forthright than we expect. I think he’s lovingly showing off his HOME white jersey, since it seems Boston can only win at home.
All I know is, since this time last year, my respect for KG has gone into the toilet.