Terribly irritating loss tonight. In spite of a catastrophic second quarter, the Pistons were still in it, only down 7 at the half. Cleveland's patented third quarter meltdown, plus some inspired play by Dice, got the Pistons up going into the 4th and in perfect position to bring it home. But then a MASSIVE CHOKE down the stretch handed a big lead to the Cavs, followed by Cleveland trying desperately to give the game away with multiple bad shots and turnovers...only for CB to commit three unforgivably stupid mistakes in the final minutes to drive the stake into the Pistons' hearts.

Pistons actually outrebounded Cleveland tonight, and kept the turnover numbers down overall (just 12 for the game), but made Gibson and Gooden look like HOFers. We can still pull this out in 7, but it sure looks like they can start getting the parade route ready in San Antonio again.

I agree about the bad calls. James takes 5 steps and gets the foul call. Could have been a clear path on James when he appeared to throw Billups to the floor on a break-away. Sheed gets the same foul as Gibson but its non-shooting for us. And I am pretty sure that the refs are supposed to stop play when a toy ball rolls onto the floor.

Still if the Pistons had played 4 complete quarters, which they have not done yet in the this series, they would have swept this thing. Now its going to be a grind it out while SanAntonio rests.

Ills of the regular season following the Pistons here. Your habits follow you in. Turning it on and off so many times and they appear to not know whats going on at times.

After that tech on Gooden where he headlocked Sheed going to the hoop, Gooden absolutely outplayed him down the stretch. That was one of the keys in last few minutes.

The only way you can excise that switch demon is to remove the bad seeds i.e. coaches and players. The bad attitude is contagious.

completely agree

We ought to let Billups go.

Why didn't Flip keep Hunter on Gibson? Prince plays so timid at times. Trailing by 3 and CB decides to spot up for an off balance jumper instead of driving to the hole. WTF.

Remember in chat when I said, "if Gooden hits those jumpers again (in the 4th Q) WE WILL BE IN TROUBLE!!!!

Man Webber is killing US!!!!!!! In so many discreet ways he absolutely killing us.........

1. He's too slow to stay with Gooden so we put him on Z, which allows Z to have some meaningful production early.
   • If we started Sheed on Z, dude gets zip.
2. He can't rotate or defend the P&R.
   • It's obvious that Clev goal is to involve Webb in P&R's a-la Shaq, because he's too slow to hedge and recover, and he darn sure can't switch out.
3. We are trying so hard to get him going that a 5th starter gets froze out.
   • It seems as if we've forgotten how to move the ball and make the extra pass so it seems as if that throughout the game we play, "It's your turn". We try to force Webber's turn and he flat out does not deliver, but it means that one of the 5 starters doesn't get a turn.

Not to dog Webb, but in this series he's ineffective. Cleveland is a big team and there are very few passing lanes out of the post and they are not doubling him, and he's not knocking down J's consistently. That fifth starter needs to be a player who doesn't need a play called for him to be effective- MAX SHOULD START GAME 5, and the the rest of the playoffs for that matter. Dyess needs to be the 6th man and Davis should get the spot mins. I'm totally convinced that Webber can't deliver what this team needs to advance and ultimately win a championship, he's becoming too big of a defensive liability, and giving him the ball just means one less touch for the core, who need as many touches as they can get in order to get a rhythm.

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Play hard, Play smart, Play together, share the ball, have fun....Play the right way!!!!!!

Let me say that the problem with the Pistons is the same arrogant problem I see in some of yall posters. the Cavs are getting no credit and while some of yall are waiting to see what float goes down the riverwalk, it may not even matter if we lose game 5.

- Flip had a chance to be in a new league 2 nite. instead of being closer to pop, he's falling back closer to Sam Mitchell. He has not won ONE key playoff game in the last 10 years. AND no i dont consider home wins or Game 3 wins KEY wins. If yall think he's gonna do or say anything bby Thursday to fire this team up,....jehhheh right!

- Spurs WILL NEVER be in this position vs an inferior team. NEVER. They put the Suns away when they were 'weaker' and will show us what Game 5 is all about.

- Chauncey can kiss where the sun rarely shines!!! When u talk mess and dont back it up, then u got a prob with me. And Rip stating "IT means more to them than it does to us" would never be uttered if LB was here. The legacy of their carrer , if it means anything to them , will be settled in the next 96 minutes of basketball.

- Sheed giveth. Sheed giveth some more. Why fire up the crowd by tossing your headband, u big anatomy!!?? Then he basically ran from Gooden on the flagrant foul. I can think of 5 Pistons that would have swung back: zeke, horn, Lamb, Vinnie and salley. (Worm was kinda Varajeo like) Sheed needs to play 32 minutes of UNbelieevable ball Thursday.

- McDyess vs Webber. I figured by now he would have nothing left. But our coach has 4 fresh legs of center on the bench in DD and Nazr who could come in and wreck havoc for at least 10 min a game. But we aint got that kind of coach. Webber's career in Michigan will be decided in game 5 and 7. Dyess on the other hand, should have a 16 and 10 in him for game 5. If just ACTS like he's going in the paint, it changes evrything. I wish Mickey could manage us Thursday.

_ Delfino needs minutes, like Max. I really believe they could have been difference makers , if they felt their coach 'truly' believed that.

The 1st qtr Game 5 will be the biggest quarter of the last 3 years.

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= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN38uI2oKkA