Enough said. I’m at the game for FanHouse — leave your thoughts in the comments.
Archive for the 'Previews' Category
Word on the street is that Chauncey Billups will be a game-time decision. Even if he plays, I think we can count on seeing Juan Dixon and/or Lindsey Hunter active, but at whose expense? Will Jarvis Hayes be wearing a suit on the sidelines? Will Flip Saunders’ Amir-on-Shard experiment be scrapped? Will Walter Herrmann’s brief return to relevance die a quick death?
I honestly have no idea. Make your predictions in the comments, then tune in at 5pm for the game (FSN, ESPN) and leave your thoughts in the comments.
That’s what Chauncey’s controversial three-pointer looked like from the stands. (Well, that’s what it would’ve looked like from the stands if you’d been boozing for the first three quarters — that’s pretty blurry.) Personally, I have to agree with A. Sherrod Blakely:
You know what’s the best part of about tonight’s Game 3 matchup? It will (hopefully) put to bed all the shot clock controversy from Game 2.
If the Magic can’t win a game on their own floor, they’ll have a hard time convincing anyone that one shot at the end of the third quarter on Monday actually decided Game 2. In any case, the game just started — leave your thoughts in the comments.
I’m at the game for FanHouse — leave your thoughts in the comments.
The Pistons are going for the knockout punch tonight in Philly. Ball tips in just a few (TV20 and TNT) — leave your thoughts in the comments.
Before the series started, I thought Tayshaun Prince’s biggest contribution would be slowing down Andre Iguodala. Instead, Prince has flat-out stopped Iggy while still having the energy to carry Detroit’s offense for long stretches. From Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“Whenever I get by [Prince], there is always somebody there, and they do a good job of drawing charges,” Iguodala said. “It is kind of playing with my mind, trying to find out where everybody is on the court.”
There is too much thinking going on and not enough instinctive reacting. The Sixers should let Iguodala run off screens and run the break, but should take the decision-making out of his hands and have him concentrate on defense.
Prince, by the way, has shot 19 for 21 in the last two games. It’s about time the Sixers focused on stopping him, because most of his teammates have been inconsistent.
Also, I found this interesting — Flip Saunders isn’t the only coach in this series being second-guessed for his rotation:
In the playoffs, coaches shorten their benches. Cheeks should be subbing more and having the Sixers pressure Detroit all the time, trying to wear down the older players.
That means giving Rodney Carney, one of the most athletic players in the league, a few more minutes. Is it any coincidence that Carney’s longest stint - 21 minutes, 24 seconds - came in Game 3, the Sixers’ best effort of the series?
Kind of sounds like our infatuation with Amir Johnson, if you ask me. In any case, I’ll be at the game tonight for FanHouse, but leave your thoughts in the comments.
It’s funny, but tonight’s game is the difference between this series being just a small speed bump in the Pistons’ legacy or the catalyst for the end of an era. Seriously, that’s the difference between 2-2 and 3-1.
In any case, McDyess will play but will not start. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
Antonio McDyess will play tonight, but he won’t be in the starting lineup. Pistons coach Flip Saunders wouldn’t say who would replace him in the starting lineup, but it’s going to be Jason Maxiell.
I just spoke with Maxiell a few minutes ago about being in the starting lineup.
“With myself, it’s all about energy,” Maxiell said. “What I’ll try to do is bring energy the first quarter, with the starters.”
Also, there’s this from Chris McCosky:
In other news from shoot-around, Flip Saunders hinted that he may use some of his younger, quicker players more to offset the 76ers’ athleticism and quickness. That could mean more Amir Johnson and Arron Afflalo.
Godspeed, Zoo Crew. Ball tips at 7pm on TV20 locally and TNT nationally.
Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Andre Iguodala has shot just 5-for-24 from the field and averaged half of his 19.9 points per game in the first two games of the season, but I’m convinced that at some point before this series is over he’ll have his breakout game. Tayshaun Prince is ready for the challenge:
Prince wasn’t about to give away any secrets about how he has kept 76ers leading scorer Andre Iguodala relatively quiet the first two games of this first-round series.
“I really don’t know,” he said Thursday when asked what he expected the 76ers to do to get Iguodala going. “Whatever it is, I just have to be ready for it.”
Conventional wisdom suggests that the Sixers will try to jumpstart Iggy by getting back to what they did for most of the year: running in the open court. From Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Coach Maurice Cheeks has emphasized the importance of getting easy baskets in transition. Yet Detroit rarely allows easy baskets. In the opening 90-86 win, the Sixers earned 16 fastbreak points. For a Pistons team that allowed 9.6 fastbreak points per game during the regular season, that was good production for the Sixers.
Without those easy baskets, Andre Iguodala has been struggling, relying too much on his jumper. He has had to shoot the jumper over the long-armed Tayshaun Prince and the results haven’t been pleasant. Iguodala is shooting 5 for 24 and he remains the key in this series. Yes, the Pistons did a good job of slowing down Andre Miller with a variety of traps in Game 2, but the biggest key is for Iguodala to get untracked on offense.
Now the Sixers have to adjust, which means Iguodala could be handling the ball more in the open court. And if he could get a few easy baskets early in transition, that would give the Sixers some needed momentum.
Can they succeed? That’s why they play the games. The ball’s about to tip on ESPN2 — leave your thoughts in the comments.
It’s weird — you wait all season for the playoffs to start, and when they finally get here, it seems like they snuck up on you. (Or is it just me?) I answered some questions about the series the other day for Brian at the aptly-named Philly blog Depressed Fan, and I should point out if you’re looking for a Philly tinted view of the series, he’s been doing a heck of a job breaking down everything. And like you’d expect from a loyal fan, he doesn’t think this series isn’t quite the lost cause for the Sixers as most people are predicting:
I said I wasn’t going to predict the outcome of this series, but I’ve changed my mind. Everything I’ve read, seen or heard leads me to believe not only is the entire media taking the Sixers lightly, but the Pistons are as well. They expect a sweep. They are going to be in for a dog fight. On paper, they have the advantage. On the court, they have the experience. What they also have is the mileage. The Sixers are a young team who learned how to win playoff-type games, against playoff-caliber teams down the stretch.
Actually, what the 76ers did down the stretch was lose five of their last six, including games against the likes of Atlanta, Charlotte, Indiana and that heartbreaker against Cleveland. But I digress … my main problem is that I’m not sure what he’s reading, because everything I’ve seen has been about how the Pistons are taking the Sixers seriously. Here’s Chauncey Billups on Andre Miller and the rest of 76ers:
“As I’ve said a number of times, he’s the most under-rated point guard in the league,” Billups said. “He doesn’t get (enough) credit for what he does.”[…]
“They’ve been a much different team the second half of the season,” Billups said. “That’s the team we have to focus on, not the first half of the season team. They’re capable of beating us, and we know that.”
Here’s Flip Saunders’ praising their defense:
“The four games we played them, I don’t think any of those games we had a lot of energy,” Saunders said. “… They’re a team that relies on quickness for rebounding. We haven’t given our best effort against them. We’re going to have to play a lot better against them in the playoffs than we did in the regular season.”
I don’t know, maybe Philly’s media is playing up the “no respect”/underdog angle, but the Pistons seem to realize what’s at stake here. In any case, the game just started — leave your thoughts in the comments.
Ordinarily, this would be a pretty interesting game, but the NBA made an unfortunate decision to schedule the last meeting between these two division rivals on the final day of season, rendering it predictably irrelevant. (Can you remember the last time the season finale actually had a bearing on playoff seeding for the Pistons? Neither can I.)
So instead of a hard-nosed battle between familiar opponents, we’ll get a few minutes of the starters followed by a parade of reserves with Flip Saunders and Mike Brown each knocking on wood the entire game hoping no one gets hurt. As recent as last year, the season finale was a chance to see little-used reserves get extended minutes (remember how exciting the Amir Johnson Experience was a year ago?) but with Detroit’s depth this year, we’ve seen the Pistons go 12 deep on a semi-regular basis. I guess I’ll be entertained if Walter Herrmann or Cheikh Samb recorded a double-double or something, but my guess is that those two won’t even be active.
In any case, the ball just tipped — if anyone is still out there is watching this laptop in hand, leave your thoughts in the comments.
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