Low, I think that the Pistons couldn't get enough calls to win a tight game at the FT line. It certainly did not help that they kept shooting out of focus jumpers either.

If you look at the FT variance from the previous games, it's very obvious that the Pistons were not aggressive offensively and put no pressure on the Cavs from a foul count perspective.

Was the officiating horrendous? Hell ya. Good teams can overcome that. The refs always end up benefitting the aggressor. Case in point, when LeBron raised his game and the Pistons folded down the stretch, there was no way the refs were going to bail the Pistons out.

Love Sheed, but he's gotta play through all that instead of turtling.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

i agree with micro on this... it's clear with this team (and maybe it's just true of the game in general) that offense and defense work symbiotically and i for one wouldn't feel comfortable asserting priority to one or the other. on the one hand, i can see that stops create run-outs and easier plays on offense that help the players not only get easy baskets but also get a scoring rhythm going. but on the other hand, i can also see that executing the offense so as to get easy shots or trips to the foul line help prevent easy run outs by the other team, allow the defense to set up, etc..

that's why i think aggressiveness (or intensity, if you prefer) is the key term that ought to be driving the play on both ends. and in fact, if it's there on one end, it is more likely to be there (or to come soon enough on the other). i think that's one thing that flip said early in the season that did make sense to me: challenging his players to be as intense on offense as they always had been on defense. and offensive intensity, in my opinion, doesn't necessarily mean always going to the bucket, though it certainly includes that when the opening is there; it also means cutting hard, making crisp accurate passes, being mentally aware of situation, clock, and where everyone is on the floor, setting firm picks, getting your legs under you and squaring up on your jump shots -- wherever they are from, and following shots (if that's your job).

i won't dismiss a certain lebron favoritism on the part of the officials, but i do believe that such star-favoritism will be outweighed in an officials mind by the intensity and aggressiveness of a team on both ends of the floor. indeed, though it border on sacrilege here to say so, i think lebron tends to get the calls when he ups his offensive intensity (which in his case means not settling for two dribbles and a fade away jumper).

anyway, intensity of course, being a psychological quality, can be notoriously elusive and fleeting, especially when one is playing an opponent against which one has experienced seemingly easy success. the ideal would be for our guys to have the psychological resources to bring intensity every game for the whole game. that would be cool. it would also make them an exception to the vast majority of the human beings i have known, whether athletes or not. moreoever, i think intensity, like any positive quality, needs to exist in a balance with its counterpart: coolness, for lack of a better word. they aren't opposite, they actually go together. sometimes, maybe the pistons let their coolness (which seems to come naturally to at least four of the starting five -- excepting ben, maybe) veer into complacency. this is a lot of rambling just to say i feel like i can really sympathize with the difficulty of maintaining intensity and coolness in a productive tension. and that clearly, they need tonight to ratchet up their intensity -- on BOTH ends of the court -- without letting it become "pressing".

i'm happy sheed made the quote simply because it feels like tonight the playoffs are starting. i've gone to 4 of 5 home games at the palace and the wins are so easy that it just feels like regular season blowouts with nothing to get too excited over.

anyone else feel that way? like almost a letdown of excitement for the playoffs to this point?

Those are some really interesting numbers, Professor. You know an analogy that just came to mind for me, which I had never thought of before, but will make sense to long-time tennis fans: Pete Sampras, in his prime, had a similar dynamic in terms of the rankings of his opponents in the big tournaments, including the 4 Grand Slams. When he would lose in one of those tournaments, it was usually to some guy rated quite low, like 50-100 or something. But his record against other top 5/top 10 players in the biggest matches was spectacular. There was a several-year run where if he got to the quarters or farther in a Grand Slam and played other top-rated guys (as one usually will that deep into those tournaments), he was essentially unbeatable. If anyone was going to beat him in one of those tournaments, it was almost always going to have to be some much lower-rated guy upsetting him in the 3rd or 4th round.

Warts, let's lose one more game and see how many jump off the bridge!
I remember Pete S, the only thing that could beat him was shin splints.

Sheed is gonna come out determined to stick his boot in the Cavs posteriors.The team will have his back.Pistons gotta win by 10+ and make the crap calls not a factor.

Any body counting sheeds techs.

I think he has 2. He really held off last game. You could tell that he is rationing them and doesn't want to spend them all in one series.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

I hate losses. Losing is a scary thing. A loss is like a mysterious virus. You never quite know when or how you contracted whatever it was that turned things upside down. No matter what your course of remedy you never feel back to normal till it's long gone.

The most frightening thing is once it appears you're never sure if it is the 24 hour type or a precursor to pneumonia.

Come on Stones, a game 4 win is our penicillin.

LET"S SHAKE THIS THING.