A Detroit Pistons blog
Every now and then, Bill Simmons turns in one of those columns that every sports fan must read. This is one of those columns:
Forget about who’s winning the championship. I’m starting to feel like the future of the NBA is at stake.
Hyperbole? I’m not too sure — his reasoning is awfully compelling.
Farlane doesn’t think Mark Cuban is taking this whole blogging thing seriously enough:
Step it up, Mark. You’re like the Bruce Wayne/Batman of the NBA - your superpower is money (and amazing access).
The Mavericks dominated the Heat in Game 2 of the NBA Finals last night, and in case you didn’t watch the game, it was former Piston Jerry Stackhouse who blew the game wide open in the final minute of the second quarter. With the Mavs nursing a modest six-point lead, Stack simply took over, draining three three-pointers and hitting a foul shot in the span of 77 seconds to single-handedly power a 10-0 run, giving the Mavs a 16-point lead heading into halftime.
Stack finished with 19 points (6-11 shooting, including 4-5 from three-point land) in 30 minutes, second behind Dirk Nowitzki’s team-leading 26 points. The Mavs went on to win by 14, but considering they were nursing a 27-point lead at one time, it was more of a blowout than the final score suggests.
Aside from watching Stackhouse explode, what was most fun was watching Shaquille O’Neal relegated to an afterthought in Miami’s offense. Facing a barrage of double-teams everytime he touched the ball, the big lug was held to five attempts, and as a result scored a career playoff low five points with six boards in 28 minutes. Erick Dampier, often the victim of Shaq’s barbs over the years, came off the bench for Dallas to chip in six points and 13 boards. Is Shaq upset at his lack of scoring opportunities? Probably, but we can’t say for sure considering he ducked out of the locker room early to avoid talking to reporters — drawing a $10,000 league fine in the process. (As an aside, this isn’t the first time Shaq has been punk’d)
With Dallas holding a 2-0 lead, the series moves to Miami for the next three games. Do you think the Heat will win at least two games to send it back to Dallas, or should the Mavs pack to champagne and plan for a South Beach championship celebration? Vote in the poll on the right and tell us in the comments.
Mavs 99, Heat 85 box score [ESPN]
O’Neal, Heat fined after he skips postgame interview [AP]
Shaquille O’Neal Gets Punk’d [Hoops Addict]
Say what you want about Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, but at least he wants Dallas to win above all else. The same, apparently, can’t be said about Miami’s ownership team:
Raanan Katz, who partly owns both Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Miami Heat basketball teams, said that the Heat’s upcoming duel against the Dallas Mavericks will be very tough.”
…
“God can always help; we need him on our side against Dallas,” said Katz. “Every Israeli must support us; they must go the Western Wall and pray for us. Miami Heat is no less Israeli than Maccabi. This is also a group with Israeli ownership in which many Americans play.”
…
Does this remind you of the final-four in Prague?“For some reason I take Maccabi’s loss much more to heart. True, the NBA is the best league in the world, and to win the championship there is a dream come true, no doubt. But for me, Maccabi stands before everything. If you ask me what I prefer, a third European championship with Maccabi, or a first championship with Miami, I would choose a Maccabi win.”
If you’re wondering what all that talk about Prague is about, they’re referring to Maccabi’s loss to CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague Championship Game on April 30. And if you’re also thinking, “Wait, I thought Mickey Arison owned the Heat,” you’re correct. But Katz has been a minority partner in the franchise for as long as it’s been in the NBA. He used to play for Maccabi when he was younger before arriving in the States, and according to the profile on his real estate company’s web site, he was once the last player cut from the Celtics roster. After a stint playing on the U.S. All Stars opposite the Harlem Globetrotters, he eventually made his fortune in real estate in New England and South Florida.
I know he was giving his interview to a Jewish news service and was likely spinning his answers to his intended audience, but did he really pick the best time to talk? Considering Miami just dropped the first game of the Finals to Dallas, it doesn’t look like it.
I just wish I could be in the locker room when Alonzo Mourning hears this.
Miami Heat owner: Israel, pray for our victory [Ynet News]
CSKA is the new Euroleague champion! [Euroleague.net]
History of Raanan Katz [R.K. Associates]
Previously on DBB:
Pistons invite Maccabi Tel Aviv guard Tal Burstein to summer league
Maceo Baston is still dunking
With an overwhelming 73% of those DBB readers who voted in our poll saying they’ll be rooting for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, we figured this goofy clip might be of interest:
In case you’re interested, both Ian and I are picking the Mavs. Ian is going with the safe “Mavs in 6″ pick, while I’m going out on a limb to say “Mavs in 5.”
Do I really think they’ll need just five games or am I just spiteful? I’m not entirely sure,Do I need to change that little blurb on the right to say “completely fair and unbiased opinions on 28 of the Association’s 30 teams”? but I do think that Dallas will be able to run Miami ragged, just like they did in the regular season when they won games by margins of 13 and 36 points. Some people are saying this series will be extremely close, but I’m predicting that three of the Mavericks’ four wins will be blowouts.
Light it up!
Dirk & Mavs Warm Up For A Game [YouTube, via TBJ and SLAM]
Was Miami a bit too excited to win the Conference Championship? I kind of wondered the same thing on Friday but wasn’t sure if it was just me tasting the sour grapes.
Wow. This is going to have to sink in for a little bit. But I tip my hat to Miami. They played like they wanted it for six games straight, while Detroit kind of meandered around for a few games, panicked and then it was just too late. If Miami plays in the Finals like they did in this series, they may even win a game or two.
But is there anything more annoying than Miami fans? If the Pistons are going to lose, I’d at least like to see them lose to a team like the Cavs whose home fans aren’t too cool to cheer the whole game. Miami had to settle for passing out those cicadas-sounding noisemakers which made the television broadcast nearly unbearable. And what’s up with these guys below? You think the guy wearing the “E” said, “Wait, put powder on my face? No, that would be weird.”
Eh, whatever. I’ll attempt to get some kind of coherent thoughts up here later tonight, but it may take a couple of days before I can put together an official post-mortem to the season. I kind of figured I wouldn’t have to do that for another couple of weeks, I was planning on a happy ending. It was a hell of a season, though, and it should be the most interesting offseason we’ve had since Joe Dumars traded Jerry Stackhouse for Rip Hamilton.
One thing I’d like to say right now while I still have your attention is that while the Pistons will be back next year, this site isn’t going anywhere. We’re definitely going to be staying active throughout the summer — without a game every other night, we’ll have a bit more time to work on some longer features that we’ve been thinking about. Plus, and this is the really cool part, it looks like we should be able to get at least a couple of really cool interviews. So don’t forget to keep us part of your daily routine even though the season is over.
But in the meantime, feel free to start venting about the game, the season, the lid someone glued onto the Pistons’ hoop and anything else on your mind in the comments below.
Game 6 is set to tip-off — leave your pre-game predictions and in-game observations here.
No, I didn’t just order a Chicken McNugget Extra Value Meal from McDonalds, I was simply reflecting on Detroit’s past success in Game 6’s the past four years. Consider this while pondering who’s going to win tonight’s game:
Maybe now you can understand why Lindsey Hunter is so excited…
“Man, this is going to be fun,” Hunter said. “I love game sixes.”
“We’re gonna go take that Game 6,” Hunter said. “We’re not going to steal it, we’re gonna go take that Game 6.”
So, what do you call a “guran-sheed” when it comes from Hunter and not Rasheed Wallace? Any ideas?
Riding wave of momentum [Detroit News]
NBA ticker [Detroit Free Press]
Say what you want about honor and about wanting to prove yourself against the best. If the “flu-like symptoms” experienced today by Dwyane Wade prevent or inhibit his playing tonight, you won’t find me disappointed. The Boys in Blue are travelling to a hostile environment (albeit slightly less intimidating, with the whole “white t-shirt” thing) with hopes of winning their first road game of the series. And they’ll need all the help they can get. Pat Riley, on Wade’s chances of playing tonight:
“If the guy misses, you’re not going to replace him,” Riley said. “But the point is, he’s going to be there tonight.”
Wha ha? Did you understand that? I think Pat’s been in the sun a bit too long.
Elsewhere, Chris Sheridan, who has divided his time equally between the Heat and Piston bandwagons this series, is kind enough to remind Heat fans that their beloved have been in pressure situations like tonight’s Game 6 before…and have lost every time. Heat fans can enjoy reading snippets like:
Five times since 1998, the Heat have watched an opponent celebrate after bringing an end to Miami’s season, each devastating loss adding a chapter to the franchise’s brief and brutal postseason history.
Or reminiscing about the good ‘ol days:
May 16, 1999: Allan Houston drained the biggest shot of his career, a 14-footer that kissed off the rim and fell through with 0.8 seconds left as the eighth-seeded Knicks defeated the top-seeded Heat in the deciding Game 5 of the first round. New York won 78-77.
No word yet on whether Chris plans on verbally abusing Heat fans’ grandmothers, just to round out the day. But you wouldn’t be surprised if he did after that brutal trip down Miami memory lane.
Tony Mejia — consistent in his Piston-hate since the beginning of the playoffs — makes a valid point in taking the Pistons to task for their on/off play in the Heat series.
What are you smiling about, Detroit? The pressure is on you, too. The way the two-time defending conference champs opened this series was disgraceful.
Aren’t you the best team in the league? Are you really supposed to find yourselves in this situation time after time?
Congratulations, you’ve entered a situation where the price for failure is extinction, and the obstacle just happens to be the toughest you’ve faced since last season’s Finals. You lost that one, in case you forgot.
Detroit is going to be prepared to play this game. It has too much experience and pride not to. Unfortunately, it has too large a death wish, as well. The Pistons messed around, and against the two greatest talents the league has seen in the past 20 years.
You hate to hear it, Blue fans, especially from a Piston-hater. But that doesn’t make way he says untrue.
Finally, a novel idea that I had never considered (but after reading makes perfect sense):
Could Lindsey Hunter follow Avery Johnson’s lead and eventually become head coach of the Pistons?
That is the question almost lost amidst a frustrated fellow Piston fan’s post-Game 3 rant. The similarities between the two players are striking. I’d be curious as to what you all think about that possibility. Personally, I’d be all for it so long as somone other than Lindsey is responsible for teaching concepts like “error-free dribbling,” “layups,” or “passing during a fast break.”
Wade misses practice with flu-like symptoms [ESPN]
Heat know a thing or five about playoff meltdowns [ESPN]
Daily Essentials: Both teams plagued by the P-word [CBS Sportsline]
Pistons-Heat Game 3 [The Passion of the Ben]
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