Pardon me for late response, I'm at Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Nice to meet you Delv59.

Is China going to invade?

Just looked at the stats and you were right. I think the cold hand came near the close of the 3rd quarter though. I do find it funny that whenever I seem to think one player is the key to the success to this teeam, the next game always proves me wrong. I used to think it was B. Wallace's defensive intensity, then I thought it was C-Note's court leadership and big play ability, then I thought it was Rip's Consistency and man-to-man D, then I thought it was Tay's X-Factor.....

All I know is that when we have at least 3 of 5 of those things going we normally win. 4 or 5 out of 5 and we win BIG!

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"I'm a diamond, you're a cubic zir-con-ia" - Nice and Smooth via The Low

I think Rip needs to shoot more 3s in the 4th Q. His jumper seems to fail him often. I'd like to see him do 4 3s in the 4th, if his midrange is cold.

The series is OVER. From the standpoint of which team will prevail, it is over and done. Cleveland will not win 4 games out of the next 5.

The question which remains is can Cleveland make it "interesting"? In other words, can Cleveland (or will they)win two (2) games? They won't win three (3).

I hope they don't win two (and I think they won't). Extra games mean an increased risk of injury and fatigue.

But if Cleveland does win a couple, prepare yourselves for the following from the usual suspects:

(1) Fire Flip!!

(2) We need a bench.

(3) Trade Sheed!

(4) What's wrong with Ben?

(5) Tay needs to wake up (or he needs help guarding LBJ).

(6) Chauncy needs to quit being complacent and stop taking dumb shots.

(7) Rip's ankle must be bothering him

(8) This team is blowing it.

(9) If Darko was here...

(10) Hunter should have retired

etc. etc. etc.(or should I say excederin headache #2458)?

This season, perhaps more than any other, we expect to bring home the trophy. IMO it's a very reasonable and realistic expectation based on the way the year has unfolded.

The Pistons WILL win the championship. (Disclaimer: barring injury...then it becomes iffy). After this series, the competition gets tougher. Detroit is going to need to work hard to earn the title. Other teams would like to win it too. Don't panic when there are some s in the road.

OK, I'm done.
I really have no idea why I posted this.

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I agree with this observation. And I think it could be broken down still further.

I think of the key, characteristic elements that each of the players brings as lights that can be on or off. Some of the players very obviously contribute more than one "light" (e.g. Chauncey as court leader/passer and Chauncey as big play scorer; Sheed as triple threat and Sheed as low post force and Sheed as defensive presence; Dyess as scorer and Dyess as rebounder, etc.). When I think of it that way, there are probably a total of about 10 of these "lights" that could come "on" at any given moment in a game (and be on for a second or for 48 minutes, depending on the night). (I'm sort of imagining an array of christmas tree light bulb, right?)

I know it's kind of a clumsy metaphor, but it gets at the fact that even with a single game, various Pistons step up for a few minutes at a time, then kind of step back while someone else steps up and does his thing, etc... all depending not only how each of them is feeling that night, but also on what the poor opponent is trying to take away. So, Rip didn't shoot the ball frequently or well from the floor on Tuesday night, but he never stopped moving and the number of fouls he took indicates not only his aggressiveness but how much attention Cleveland was paying to him. That gives more room for the Tayshaun as scorer light to come on, not to mention teh Sheed lights to come on.

But wait, there's more: here comes the beauty and refinement of this "lights" metaphor. Let's say that there are 10 of these "lights" -- it would be interesting for Stat Sprocket Man to figure out for us just exactly how many there should be -- and 48 minutes per game, there are a total of 480 possible "light-minutes" in a Piston game. Each Pistons game could now be rated on a scale of 0 (no piston player brings any of their characteristic, key contributions for even a single minute) to 480 (each Piston player brings all of their characteristic key contributions for every minute they are on the floor).

Within that scale, and plugging my extensive statistical mapping of the team into my Cray Mainframe, I've determined that we win most games so long as we hit 240 on the "light-minute" scale.

(i just woke up from a nap, so you can chalk this whole light vision up to the collective unconscious, or a visit by my animal familiar or some such thing... i don't want personally to take credit for it, you know)

Not to mention the headlights on the Automotion.

1:06 PM

Nice life...

thanks!! I like it.

but seriously SpRocket Man: aren't you gonna do the real numbers for me on the light thing? I was sure that would inspire a column, think of the complexity; the permutations; the calculations; the prestidigitations!!!

("I think it's gonna be a long, long time"...)

LMAO!!!!!