Bills, if digging up old posts while the rest of us lament a wasted opportunity makes you feel smarter than everyone else, then go to it. At least it'll keep you occupied.

Simple answers are for simple minds. As has been said, there is plenty of blame to go around, and I'm cool with anyone who wants to include Flip in that. But blaming Flip exclusively is the same as saying that these players (not to mention the league and the opposition) haven't changed one bit since they won it all two seasons ago. Does anybody really believe that? And does anyone really believe that the Larry Brown of 2006 would have had the right answers?

BLINDING FLASH OF INSIGHT: Could it be that Larry and our players have simultaneously come down with The Right Way Syndrome - the belief that a title makes their way the only one worth considering? Hmmmmm. Symptoms appear to include pronounced swelling of heads and urinary tracts. Maybe so ....

Let's hope generous helpings of ice can at least get the Pistons' heads back to normal size.

The NBA game is painfully passing the Pistons by. The new rules are finally catching up with a grind out playoff team. Its hard to say that now when you have a team that has won 64 reg. season games. They have become arrogant and feel entitled.

I have to give alot of credit to Cleveland, they have played the same way through out this series and since the 2nd half of game two they have stayed even Keeled and the Pistons have turned into a team expecting to just show up and win.

I for one still feel these guys can win this series I felt that way last year, and I felt that way when they were down 3-2 to New Jersey.
The same thing has happen to this team for 3 years in a row. and thier motto is "if it ain't rough it ain't right". But going back to the same well every year it will dry up. I just don't feel like there going to lose this series, but the Pistons have to feel that way too but give respect to their opponent than beat them. GO PISTONS!!!!!

lanierfan...you've made some good posts in this thread. My point is that last year when we made it to the 7th game of the Finals the majority of the folks in here were gnashing their teeth and wringing their hands about what a failure the season was. Larry Brown got raked over the coals and didn't get much respect for the job he did. In fact he was crucified for failure to deliver the Championship wrestling belts that we felt entitled to.

So we fast forward up to this year. Some of the same folks who wanted to hang LB from a catheter hose are giving Flip a free pass. Why is that?

I think we are still going to win this series and go on to the Finals again so it should be a mute point ....but when Low was writing his very accurate yet somewhat negative(sour) posts earlier in the year he got hooted out of the forum.

I may be getting old but my memory isn't that short.

The Heat and the Cavs would both get DEMOLISHED by Dallas/ San Antonio.

It would be a real shame if the East doesn't put forth their best team.

Winning game 6 would be a serious momentum changer. Let's hope the Stones can string together two average games.

There might be a slight misinterpretation of the posters that are sticking up for Flip... I have seen very little posts saying that Flip shouldn't share the blame... however to say this is all Flips fault sounds like a hate agenda.
After defending LB to the bitter end I finally gave in to the concept that his act was not going to be supported by the team or management.... it's very possible that the results would have been worse this year.
Then Flip comes on board and the Pistons have a record setting regular season...
We hit our first bump and the I told ya so's come out of the woodwork.... let me repeat we were in a very similar situation the last two years with LB, facing elimination on the road.

Blame the coach all you want but if you can't see the players are messing up also then you're only kidding yourself... most intellegent folks wouldn't buy that theory.

Fire the coach... fire the ...geesh get a life... this ain't gonna happen after the first year.... accept reality or move aside.

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With politicians the future lies ahead

well it wasn't like that at the start of the game. there were plenty of empty seats and the crowd *was* louder than usual but not rabid. and the first missed call with tayshaun's block...i think that was one of the most significant plays of the game. if TP gets that block i feel it gives the cavs a seed of doubt and gives the pistons the confidence to play their game and win. instead everyone got the 'here we go again' attitude.

anyway, i mostly have questions that don't appear to have an answer.

- why put lindsey in with a few mins to go in the 3rd when it was obvious chauncey was getting hot and we needed the offense more than the defense?
- why put lindsey in at all over delk when you don't need to really guard damon jones and eric snow?
- why has delk not been used in the postseason when he created an awesome dynamic with the team, can create his own quality shot, is a great rebounder, decent defender, and is our best cold shooter off the bench?
- why did sheed sub for dice at the end of the game instead of sheed for ben? dice was 5/5 that quarter, and ben isn't going to shoot with 1.7 left. now you have 5 guys defending 3 shooters instead of 4 shooters. actually scratch that, why was lindsey in the game instead of delk? now you're down to 2 shooters - rip and sheed - because tayshaun is taking the ball out of bounds. WE HAD TWO SHOOTERS IN WITH 1.7 SECONDS LEFT IN THE GAME AND NEEDING TO SCORE?!?! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD LINEUP IF WE WERE UP BY 2 AND HAD TO PLAY DEFENSE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!!!! geez that makes me mad.
- why did we have our last offensive possession the past 2 games ending in a tayshaun jumper? (the possession last game that started with 27 seconds left). furthermore, why did we wait 10-15 seconds to shoot the ball when we're down by 2 with 27 to go?
- why has dale davis received 0 time when dice was struggling and when davis will punk anyone trying to go to the lane?
- why does varejao get away with illegal screens every time and why is this never called? why does he pretend to get hit in the face whenever he doesn't get a rebound, and why is this called?
- why has flip made no adjustements game-to-game? why not try single-teaming lebron in game 4 or game 5? i'd rather have him get 40 points and 0 rebounds rather than 21 points and 10 assists.
- why do we double-team so much in the first place? we were supposed to make one man beat us, now we're allowing their whole team to get involved and playing 5 on 5 when they have the best player on the floor. we're double-teaming which causes late rotations which leavs guys wide open, which is why we lost game 7 in the 4th quarter last year.
- why did rip not catch-and-shoot on the last possession...did he really think he'd get a foul called that late in the game? why did we stop running screens for rip in the first place?
- what happened to the pick-and-roll with sheed by the 3-point line? even if sheed doesn't shoot, he's a great passer from up top, and it forces the defenders into making difficult decisions on how to guard
- why did 1 of my two tailpipes coming out of my muffler fall off on my way home last night with a $60 pair of chrome tips when it was securely fastened and only 3 years old? should i go back and look for it even though they're probably so scratched they'd look gross anyway?
- why am i waiting over reserving plane tickets when i have a decent price and they were $60 higher yesterday, but i'm hesitant because they were $70 cheaper than the current price 3 days ago, but i run a big risk of not getting this in-between price?
- do i go to the tigers' game friday and wuss out on not watching game 6 until i know the result?

and those are my thoughts.

True to a point Merc. I'm still a believer. But on the other hand I don't think we have ever faced this type of dismal collapse before. This seems different.

My point (and I'm standing by it) is that pretty much all of the blame was heaped on LB where Flip isn't heaped on near as much. If we pull this out like I think we will that's cool because Flip will be tested by fire.

Of course the players are to blame. That's not the point. The point is that some folks look on this as an episode of General Hospital rather that a basketball series. They wanted to create a Villain last year based on soap opera journalism and hatred of the Coach's personality.

Hey if we win all is good and a new coaching hero is created...if not we have a new villain for this episode of General Hospital. It's all on the line now.

I don't know about you but I love watching how players/coaches react under extreme tests like this. Reputations are made.

Good stuff WH lol

Some excellent questions there.
The one I'd like to address is Ben play in the final seconds when you need to score... this has always bothered me... LB did the same thing.
We have seen Ben get tip backs for a 2nd chance or a O board... but it doesn't seem nearly a beneficial as keeping teams from doubling the scorers...
And I definately agree with you on Delk being MIA.
Some coaching blunders for sure.

Flip's trash pile has been rapidly growing... but certainly not to LB proportions yet...
Come to think of it maybe only Pop & A.J. have escaped fanatical trashing this year... guess that's the nature of the beast... the coach is the last to get the credit and first to get blamed.
Weren't some folks saying this team could coach itself to the ships?... we can put that to rest.

Don't look. It was stolen by Cleveland fans.

You have homecourt advantage. Use it.

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

Thank you for another great season!