Pistons need to go back to their roots. Re-discover what made them a winning club.

ben being a unrestricted free agent is tying flips hands. flip has to keep ben somewhat happy. mcdyess should be playing 30+ minutes. him and rasheed stretch the defense out. the paint is clogged and no post up for tay who the cavs have no answer for. i think flip is scared to sub because he wants to be able to say it was the players not his substitions. i think jmax would be good for this series he's just way tougher than any of the cavs bigs. but yes i know young players don't play in the playoffs.

where is fino?? he's a great on the ball defender against driving players that are too fast and strong for tay. fino is similar in strength to lebron. well closer to it than tay.

i think flip needs to stop doubling lebron. we play everyone else straight up now we double lebron. it was a good idea the first 2 games but mike brown has found a way to solve it. flip needs to go back to straight up man to man. have our bigs waiting at the basket to either block or take the charge. even if they only get 2 out of 6 charge calls. doubling lebron opens up the game for verajao, jones, gooden, marshall. none of those guys can just simply score on thier own.

Even after a night of sleep....THIS IS THE GOD*AMNED CLEVELAND CAVALIERS! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!!

This is a direct result of lame coaching. EVERYBODY, including the players, insisted they could win regardless of the coach.

HOWEVER

The ONLY time they have been successful is when they had a coach who was a strict defensive coach who INSISTED on coaching, making guys do what they were supposed to do, and focusing on the reason they were successful....DEFENSE. Even when our offense was bad in stretches the last two years, the difference was, no matter how few points we scored the opponent was guaranteed to score LESS.

Needless to say, that's the coach that everyone hates. Amazing.

If this guy gets us bounced in the 2nd round to the %%%%ing Cavs, he better be gone before the streamers hit the floor.

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Kp and Micro, I agree. We have been playing and coaching tight since game 4. Dyss finally said this is basketball and took the open J's. We are so worried about how we look that we have forgotten about how to play basketball on the offensive end.

Thank you Low! My God the Larry Brown complainers hated getting to the finals two straight years, if we get dumped by the Cavs they'll have to eat their words.

Why not take a few players along with him? I am equally tired of the prima-donna attitude this team has taken. Constant whinin with the refs, "we know what we got to do" BS and Sheed's non-stop mouth with nothing to show by way of performance.

LB knew what buttons to push with this set of guys but he had worn out his welcome with the players. What is LB doing with the Knicks? They are already tired of his act.

The players need to take a big share in this fiasco. Flip is not shootin 30-40% from the FG. He is not missing the easy layups or making turnovers. Doesn't mean I like what he is doing but this is not all on his shoulders. Veterans should know how to win.

good post anakin
@thelow
this blame the coach- BS sucks. It's the players who have to convert. How many times do you want to change the coach? Until no one wants to come to Detroit anymore except for scrubs? Destroy the chemistry before it even exists? No, Flip's not the one to blame.

There is plenty of blame to go around (including JD). The only way any of these folks can redeem themselves is to rise to the occassion.

The question is, are the Pistons able to counter the incredible momentum that Cleveland has gained, and steal one on the road in a building they have traditionally had a difficult time winning in?

Even good games from Flip, and the starting 6 might not be enough. The damage may already be done.

I know one thing. They cannot play tight. Maybe they should call up Uncle Cliffy and get him to bring some pre-game "party favors" over.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

IF and that's a big IF we lose to the lowly Cavs how in the Hell are we going to let Flip go blameless. As Charles Barkley said last night...Flip is the only significant part of this team that has changed. Unless you think dealing Darko set us back.

I will have to dig up all the old posts at the beginning of the season when Low and some of us were very afraid of what would happen to this team after we fired a Hall of Fame coach who took us to the Finals both years. If we lose....Low's posts earlier in the year will seem very prophetic.

Bills, Flip's not the only thing of significance that has changed. The bigger change is the loss of the blue-collar goin to work attitude that was characteristic of what a Piston was.