How I still believe

i think everyone's adequately covered the problems and i certainly don't have any substantial disagreements. as i think micro pointed out, there's more than enough blame to go around for the three losses in this series. And y'all have done a very thorough job of making sure it gets where it's supposed to go.

unlike DarthTater I am by nature an optimist. But even someone like me occasionally needs some supporting grounds for their faith -- if only to defend against those, like my students in class today, who were (sadly for such young folks) writing the team off and even looking to erode my own faith. So that's what I want to share with my friend in this post: a perspective -- however delusional it may appear to the non-believers -- from which we optimists (or reluctant pessimists) can view Friday's night's game without anxiety and even with a degree of confident equanimity.

by the way, i'm not interested in fueling further argument, so if you're interested in countering these facts with others that point to the likelihood of a Pistons loss, i suggest you ask yourself why you are so interested in finding support for your pessimism (especially since pessimism in this area hardly lacks foundation these days). i'm also not pretending that these facts -- especially concerning last night's game -- outweigh in value the fact of having lost the game. it would have been better if we'd have won.

i'm just offering a modest buffet of facts -- some of which have already been mentioned here or there (and corrections are certainly welcome as I could easily have miscounted something on the play by play script) -- from which someone so inclined might assemble a little platter of faith prior to the game tomorrow night:

Facts: (going from the more distant to the most recent past)

1.The last time the Pistons lost four consecutive games was during a stretch in the 2004-2005 season: (between January 18, 2005 and January 24, 2005 they played and lost four games in four different cities: to Orlando by 2 the day after beating Phoenix; to Milwaukee by 3; to Chicago the next day; and to Minnesota 2 days after that).

2.The Pistons were trailing Miami 3-2 last season. They won game 6 by 25 and went on to win game 7 88-82.

3.The Pistons were trailing the Spurs 2-0 last season, losing the first two games by an average of 18 points. They won games 3 and 4 by an average of 24 points.

4.The Pistons were trailing the Spurs 3-2 going into game 6 in San Antonio, where the Spurs had a regular season record of 38-3 and playoff record of 6-2. The Pistons won that game by 9.

5.The Pistons were trailing New Jersey 3-2 during the 2004 playoffs. They won game 6 81-75 in New Jersey, then went on to win Game 7 in Detroit by 21.

6.The Pistons were trailing Orlando 3-1 in the 2003 playoffs. They won the next 3 games by an average of 20 points.

7.During last night's game 5, the Pistons were trailing by 9 with 8:14 to go in the game. Over the next 20:14 the Pistons outscored Cleveland 35-28.

8.During that stretch, Detroit forced Cleveland into 10 turnovers and 33 % shooting from the floor (8-24); Detroit shot 43 % (the Pistons' unacceptable 9 turnovers have been covered elsewhere in the thread).

9.During that stretch Detroit got 25 boards (14 def, 9 off, 2 team) vs 18 for Cleveland (7 def., 6 off., 5 team).

10.During that stretch, Chauncey was 5-7 from the field and 3 for 3 from the line for 14 points.

11.During that stretch, McDyess was 5-6 from the field and 1 for 2 from the line for 11 points, pulled down 9 rebounds and had 2 blocks.

12.During that stretch, Tayshaun was 2 for 2 from the field and 2 for 3 from the line (for 7 points), with 4 rebounds (3 offensive) and 1 block.