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Tag Archive for 'Jason Maxiell'
Ben Q Rock of Third Quarter Collapse does a great frame by frame breakdown of referee Mike Callahan’s “cold feet” calling a blocking foul on Jason Maxiell in the final seconds of Saturday’s one-point win for the Pistons. I don’t know if anyone ever wants to see a playoff game decided on a blocking call, but still, the pictures don’t lie, and I can see why Stan Van Gundy has sour grapes:
“Let’s just say this _ (Maxiell) is in the restricted area, it’s a block at any other time of the season,” Van Gundy fumed following Orlando’s practice Monday morning. “(Referee) Mike Callahan raises his hand and you can see it on the tape _ his hand’s up and his hand’s down and I can’t explain that.”
By the letter of the law, a foul probably should have been (and almost was) called, just like by the letter of the law, Chauncey’s three-pointer to end the third quarter in Game 2 shouldn’t have counted.
Orlando knew coming into this series that they’d need every break to go their way if they were going to have a chance upsetting the Pistons. Instead, they’ve experienced the exact opposite, from shaky calls on the court to mechanical problems with their plane forcing them to spend the night in Cincinnati between Games 2 and 3. I still think the Pistons would be in the same position they are now without this luck, but I understand completely if Magic fans think they’ve gotten a raw deal.
Random silliness, courtesy of Elie Seckbach.
I have all sorts of stuff from last night’s game going up at FanHouse this morning. Before the game, Rashard Lewis told me that the brewing war of the words between he and Theo Ratliff was over and done with:
“I’m a basketball player, I go out there to play basketball and not to trash talk. It was just something that he said and I responded to it. It wasn’t nothing personal, it was just me being a man and responding to what he said. But at the same time, I’m not that type of player. I go out there to play basketball and try to win for my team and let the trash talk stay on their side.”
After the game, Ratliff told me that Dwight Howard isn’t on the same level as David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon … yet:
“He’s a phenomenal talent — his athleticism, his size, but he’s still young. He’s going to continue to get better and continue to get better and he’ll probably be at the status of those guys later on in his career.”
Jason Maxiell explained why he’s so freaking active on the court:
MW: At the end of the last series, Thaddeus Young had a pretty entertaining quote about you. … He said, Maxiell is crazy, he’s crazy crazy. What do you think about that, that’s a sign of respect, wouldn’t you say?
JM: Yeah, to a certain degree. I guess with my size, I got to keep moving, going for offensive boards. They don’t run plays for me, so the way for myself to score is to get to the board.
And, of course, the clock thing. The Pistons obviously got a gift, but the Magic refused to blame that one play for their loss:
“They didn’t start the clock and he made the shot, but I didn’t think that determined the game,” said Rashard Lewis. “We were still in the game, we were down two points at the time. We still had another full quarter to go, we were still in the game, but I think we made a lot of little mistakes that made us lose that game.”
You can’t get too upset about an iffy call when you go out and finish the game shooting 25% and committing five turnovers over the last 12 minutes. That whistle on Keyon Dooling for “pushing” Rip Hamilton before the in-bounds pass? That was bad, too, but the Pistons were already up three with the ball so it’s hard to say that was a game-changer, as well. I will admit those types of things add up over time, though. I’m willing to chalk some of it up to the refs being partly influenced by a LOUD crowd at the Palace.
From A. Sherrod Blakely:
“Jason Maxiell is about as physical as any low-post defender in the league,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “He was able to use his strength and leverage to take Dwight out of position.”
The key to Maxiell’s defensive success against Howard was his ability to use his strength against Howard’s lower body, to move him from where his sweet spots on the floor.
“(Howard) has a very strong upper body,” said Maxiell, who is listed at 6-7. “But if you get down low and take his legs out, he’s not that powerful.”
When told of Maxiell’s comments, Howard replied, “That’s not true. Trust me.”
Howard may think Maxiell is talking trash, but I think Van Gundy knows better. All Maxiell is saying is one of the first things elementary school kids learn at basketball camp: defense is all about positioning and leverage, and the best defensive stance is one low to the ground.
The biggest shoulders in the world won’t help you rebound if your feet are moved off the block. It’s like when a running back and linebacker collide in football: the guy lowest to the ground is the one who can take the hit and keep moving forward.
And, for lack of a clever segue, I’ll just end this post now with an entertaining excerpt from a great piece by Austin Kent of HoopsAddict comparing Howard and Maxey:
A high school manchild-turned-NBA man’s man, Howard wasted no time becoming one of the best young big men in the galaxy. And fresh off a first round victory against the Toronto Raptors, he’s ready to prove it. In other words, even your very own mom would blush at the opportunity to invite this man for dinner, not because he’s faster than a speeding bullet or more powerful than a locomotive, but because Dwight Howard is Superman.
Now meet Jason Maxiell. Though it took him four years of college experience and two more buried deep in the bowels of the Detroit Pistons depth chart, Mad Max finally found his way into Flip Saunders’ esteemed rotation. He isn’t tall, he doesn’t smile a whole lot, his arms are long enough for mid-mission spaceship repairs and, unlike the Man of Steel over there, his muscles don’t look like he stole them from an action figure.
If you’re familiar with the DC Comics universe, Jason Maxiell is Bizarro Superman, an inverted replica of regular Superman. If you’re not familiar with the DC Comics universe, Jason Maxiell is simply the reason the Pistons have the best second unit in the NBA.
From my FanHouse post on Saturday’s game:
Things almost boiled over in the fourth when Rashard Lewis wrapped up Theo Ratliff under Detroit’s basket. Ratliff shook off the contact, but Lewis drew a technical, as well as an earful from Maxiell. “I wanted to make sure my teammate’s okay,” he said after the game. “We’re all family here, so I let it be known [if they] try to get physical, it’s not going to be that easy for them and we’re going to fire it back at them.”
When asked if the rough play affected the Pistons, Maxiell laughed. “Oh no, not at all,” he said. “We’re a rough team ourselves. We’re going to do the roughing.”
As Theo Ratliff explained later, though, he didn’t really need Maxiell’s help. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
“I told him (Maxiell) to calm down,” Ratliff said. “There’s no sense in guys coming to my rescue. I mean, that was Rashard Lewis. He tried to foul me hard, but he’s a three-man (small forward). It was no big deal.”
Shard isn’t known to be the most physical player in the league, but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have pride, and he didn’t appreciate hearing from someone on Detroit’s bench:
Ratliff’s comments made their way back to Lewis, who was visibly upset.
“You can have a lot of energy in five minutes a game,” said Lewis, referring to Ratliff’s limited role. “What’s he played? 15 games. Tell him to come out and guard me.”
But that’s the thing: the Pistons know they have a lot of energy playing five minutes at a time. As Flip Saunders explained during Saturday’s post-game press conference, it’s literally part of their strategy.
“[The] big thing is we try to send a lot of bodies at him. And we wanted to keep a fresh body on him all the time,” said Saunders. “I took Maxey out, I think five minutes, six minutes into the game. Some of the guys on the bench are saying, ‘Why take him out?’ I said because I want to keep somebody fresh on him, and our guys have to know that they don’t have to play 10 minutes, they can play six minutes and they can go as hard as they can, and hopefully what it’ll do is when you get in the third and fourth quarter, it’ll wear him down.”
And as Krista Jahnke explains, that’s just what the Pistons did on Saturday:
Maxiell worked the first five and a half minutes on Howard before Saunders subbed him out. Then Rasheed Wallace took over manning up Howard. Later, Antonio McDyess switched onto him, and for 12 minutes Ratliff helped out, too. When Howard put the ball on the floor, the Pistons would occasionally send help, but they battled him for the most part one-on-one.
“We’ve got so many guys running in there 6-10, big guys stepping in there after them,” Ratliff said. “They really can’t match up with us.”
It sounds like the Pistons will stick with Sunday’s rotation featuring Jason Maxiell in the starting lineup and Antonio McDyess coming off the bench. From A. Sherrod Blakely:
After Sunday’s win, McDyess said he would not have a problem coming off the bench. In fact, he sounded as if it’s a role he would welcome.
“Coming off the bench is what I’m comfortable doing,” McDyess said.
“Starting? It’s just a routine thing. I feel like now, I get in there … when I start, I feel like a robot sometimes. But when I come off the bench, I feel I’ve got to step up and make something happen.”
Because Detroit’s starting five consists of so many scorers, McDyess often winds up being the forgotten man.
“He’s kind of invisible out there,” Saunders said. “But when he comes off the bench, because of some of the people he’s coming (in) with, they look to him a little bit more.”
I’m torn; on the one hand, McDyess did get into a nice rhythm on Sunday, shooting 5-8 from the field to finish with 10 points and six boards in 20 minutes, but it came at the expense of Maxiell, who was the invisible guy with just four points and five boards in 32 minutes. That said, Maxiell tends to be inconsistent from game to game coming off the bench anyway, so it’s probably a wash.
Plus, even after starting the entire season, McDyess still tends to defer when playing with the other four starters, so keeping him aggressive is a good thing. (As would be giving the likes of Arron Afflalo, Jarvis Hayes and Amir Johnson more than a combined three minutes, but I digress …) This also allows Max to match-up with athletic rookie Thaddeus Young, which he’s better suited to do.
On a side note, remember how all of us were wondering what exactly happened during halftime on Sunday? McDyess confirmed that he spoke up, which is rare for him. From Mitch Albom in the Free Press:
“It wasn’t a speech,” he said Monday, almost embarrassed. “It was basically the truth. I just told them it looked like we were the team that was the seventh seed and they looked like the two seed. I just let them know we were way better than this. … Why are we playing like we’re scared? We didn’t play all this way and go this long to give it up right now.
“I guess everyone kind of heard me.”
[…] “Normally, I don’t speak at all,” he admitted. “I let all the captains and everyone say something. But I felt it was time for someone to say something. … I mean, the last couple of games we came in the locker room and didn’t say nothing to each other at all. Just sat down and didn’t say a word.”
Here’s a stat so weird it doesn’t seem true: according to 82games.com, Jason Maxiell led the Pistons in drawing offensive fouls (ie, taking charges) this year with 17 … which by my count is tied for 71st in the league. Billups and Stuckey drew 9, Hamilton drew 8, Rasheed drew 7 and McDyess and Prince each drew 6. Hayes, Herrmann and Johnson each drew four. Maybe there’s something to it when the Pistons complain how they never get calls. (via BrewHoop)
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.
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.”
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