Sheed was coasting the first 3 qtrs but was a complete stud in the 4th. He really has the cojones to elevate his game in the crunch. CB, Dice and Webber need to step it up. No reason why the Pistons can't put this team away. Score anything north of 85 pts and the Cavs are done. Credit the Cavs "D" for slowing down the tempo. The slowing down CB has worked so far. Pistons have to keep things more upbeat and not play the slow it down to a grind style. Tay has been doing an excellent job on LJ, but would like to see him pick it up a notch on the offensive end. Can they stop the TO's? Maxiell was a beast, way to step it up when it counts. He is really good at reading the P&R.

O.k., I'm a heretic, but 79-76 isn't exactly the beautiful game. In '89 the Bad Boys averaged 95 against the Bulls and 109 against the Lakers in the finals. Oh well, look for the competition committee to be very active again.

It does make for some intensity though. While the Cavs may have the most unimaginative offense in the league, Brown can figure out some defensive schemes.

- CB has yet to figure out why he isn't getting shots nor why he throws the ball to the Cavs nearly as often as to a teammate.
- Rip was the hero of game one but the Cavs took him out of game two, and without losing track of anyone else. That's impressive.
- Tay, yes is expending a lot of energy on LBJ, but is also getting doubled and tripled for maybe the first time in his career. Think how many of his points come off clearouts that only get doubled after about his seventh dribble. The Cavs are coming fast and hard and he's not sure what to do. This could be his crucible.
- Still no answer for Sheed. Second best PF in the game today?
- Good effort from CWebb, but still missing shots he usually makes.
- Dice - still don't understand why they don't put him in the post once or twice when he comes in and try to get a layup to go down.

A great game from JMax and the only reason the Pistons were close enough to be able to hold strong down the stretch and get the win. They could have easily been down by ten. I should probably post this in the other thread, but a -8 +/- for Max??? "Meaning of the plus/minus"? Meaningless.

Finally, Lee is right - not about Blalock, but even with CB floundering, when he goes out things do downhill fast. Flip has been getting him out with about a minute to go in the first and third to take advantage of the long quarter break, but it's still when the wheels come off. No solution for that now except to grit it out. As for the Cavs guards, maybe they are as bad as Lee says running the offense, probably so - but they sure don't have much of an offense to run either.

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"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi

Success x Expectations = A constant state of disappointment. At least that's my theory.

Sheed was in foul trouble early, but I honestly can't think of any time this playoffs he has coasted.

Yeah, these games aren't pretty. Yeah, the Pistons get overwhelmed at times. Yeah, they make mistakes. Yes, it is going to be a struggle.

The absolute beauty for me, has been our 3rd and 4th quarter play. Our ability to wipe out leads, and then slowly choke the life out of the Cavs. In neither of the last two games did I feel at any point that we would lose. We're simply too deep, too confident, too stubborn and too committed.

Yeah, we'll drop games. We're probably not good enough to beat the Spurs in a best of 7.

But the Cavs?

C'MON MAN.

They're playing on heart and that's not enough to win an ECF. You need skill, experience and a mission as well.

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

Thank you for another great season!

Maybe coasting is too harsh a criticism, inconsistency maybe a better description. Sheed in the overall analysis has been brilliant in these playoffs. He just frustrates me with his play as we all know what is capable of when he puts his mind to it. Why should a player with A+ ability play at a B/C level? Most guys would kill to have his talent.

Cavs on whole don't scare me, but I can't for the life of me figure why the Pistons are struggling so much against an inferior team. Granted the Cavs have stepped up their defense but Pistons are better than these nailbiters seem to indicate.

SA scares me, especially with the offensive struggles.

From MLive: What a great attitude on JMax's part:

"Pistons coach Flip Saunders said if Maxiell would have shot better from the line, he might have been on the floor late in the game.
"I don't blame coach (Saunders)," Maxiell said. " I wouldn't have put me out there late in the game the way I was shooting from the line, either. But hey, we got the win and that's all you really want in the playoffs."

Against Cleveland, we can still win with poor shooting. Our defense will pull us through. What makes it close is Chauncey having more turnovers than assists. Shooting must improve if we are to have any chance against the Spurs. Also, inconsistent play will have to change to more focus.

Two thoughts:

Maybe the Cavs are a little better than we give them credit for. They have done a nice job on the glass, contained Chauncey and Rip, and made many of the effort plays. We'll still beat them in five, but give them a little credit.

Maybe the Spurs aren't as unbeatable as they appear. Both the Suns and the Jazz are smaller teams that rely on an uptempo game to win... witch the Spurs are excellent at shutting down. The Pistons match up much better with the Spurs than any of their Western Conference foes. I think that, provided the Pistons make the Finals, they have a very good chance of beating Timmyobli.

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"Eastern Conference regular-season champs, baby," said Chauncey Billups. "This is what we set out for when we started the season in training camp. We did it and we're happy." (2003)

Pistons only ratchet it up when they feel they are being threatened. It takes a 12-point deficit for them to feel threatened.

You mean beating them four games? Possibly. The Pistons tend to "play down" to inferior competition and "get up" for better teams (except the Jazz in the regular season).

Because they don't respect the Cavs and rightfully so. This is our series to lose, and the Cavs are going to need to take it from us.

The Pistons have shown that even when playing poorly, they're still the class of the East.

I dunno. Folks get upset with how they play, but haven't we been watching this for 3 years? And haven't we witnessed clucth performance after clutch performance?

With Miami last year, the Pistons were being beaten badly by Wade. LeBron's supporting cast and play is nowhere near that level.

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

Thank you for another great season!