Good point Sloop. If Prince had missed that shot we would be all over Flip, but he made it, so it never even crossed our minds.

I had to drive from Detroit to Columbus and because of crazy I-75 construction detours I missed the first 3 quarters of the game. Luckily, today was the day I reactivated my Sirius radio account for the first time in 3 years, so I got to listen to the game to pass the time driving by myself. I made it to my cousin's place just in time for the fourth quarter. Sweet game!

Dyess was a monster who came to win. His boards were ridiculous, and he manned up on Howard and Lewis when it counted.

Rip got what he needed for himself and also picked up what would have been Chauncey's.

Tayshaun has been unstoppable since the playoffs began. His block on Mo Evans is tied with Maxiell for Block of the Year. ( YouTube - Jason Maxiell - Block of the Year (2008) ) Evans looked around confused, and then fell on the court.

Lindsey showed dirty little Dooling why he has 3 rings.

Sheed played great defense and knocked down his shots when it counted.

Flip Saunders managed the clock and the timeouts well, and did an excellent job with the substitutions.

Chauncey did an excellent job coaching from the sidelines. He couldn't help himself!

Stuckey played big for a rookie and showed that he has heart.

The Pistons are rolling, and should be able to end this in Detroit while giving Mr. Bigshot a few more days to rest up.

I think the Pistons should let Chauncey sit one more out and see if they can finish this one up in Detroit.

__________________
"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)

See this is what you call stealing a game. Down 18 early in the 3rd and down again by what 3 in the final 2 mins with Tukolgu heating up, The Pistons found a way to win. Prince hitting that floater with 9 secs to go down by 1, gotta love it. Magic could not answer. That game had to be so deflaiting for them, even the crowd seemed to just sit there after the game wondering how they lost.

Big game by Rip. Someone had to step in and pick up the slack and that guy was Rip as he spurred on the Pistons all game, especially in the 2nd half. He totally abused whoever they threw on him. Boggans grabbed a tech in the 4th as he threw Rip in frusteration. Not to rag on the Magic but they do have a few immature guys who do take cheap shots. They keep talking about how physical we are and yet they are ones getting the flagrant fouls. Kind of cheap shot team in a way. Hunter stepped up pretty big helping out Stucky, coule of plays where Nelson blew by him a little to easily but Hunter was solid overall.

Anyway. Would have been nice to see Amir play as I think he could have helped out there but you can't complain about a playoff win in any shape or form.

Final note - Why couldn't Mo Evans have played like that when we had him?

Most of Piston's FANS are fans of defense rather than offense. count me in as well. Even coaches who are known for their offense could tell you that defense won us game 4. However, we keep AA out of the rotation. Even though a rookie, and might choke in this game, we could have had him play in the second quarter. Things could not go worse anyway.

Yes we won this game, but flip is still playing not to lose rather than playing for the win. I think the win had more to do with the players rather than the coach.

45 min for tay, 43 for rip and 41 for sheed. I thought Flip said he learnt the lesson from last year. or should i say last two years.

I will add, Max played 15 minutes. His stats were almost zero in all categories (one rebound) but is +7 and he was in during the major 15-0 run. Reminds me of Big Ben.

And don't forget that crushing pick Sheed set to free Prince up for the last shot.

I also looked at the last play a couple of times - yes, Max's foot was in the restricted area when there was contact with Turk, but the ball was already gone when they collided. Can't call that on a last second play.

Even in routed game none of C's big three played less than 37 min. In PO 40 mins have always been normal mins for starters.

Bulls MJ starting ćrew played 40 mins per game some 10 consecutive years in POs. No problem for them. I'm answering only cuz this "tired" topic is really tired.

Too funny!!

Tay's block is No. 3 on the nba.com's Top 10.


NBA.com: Official Home Page of National Basketball Association: 2008 Playoffs