yeah. he finally threw delk out there and he did lots of good things. he was giving miami all they wanted. too bad he had to shake the rust off his jumper. to me flip wasn't even using lindsey and mcdyess properly.

It would have been nice to see a Spurs/Pistons Finals...again, however it was not in the cards. Good luck in the off season, i hope your team staying together. I can't comment much on the game because once Spurs are no longer in playoffs, i stop watching. Not a fan of the NBA, just my Spurs.

Yeah, I would have liked to see a Spurs/Pistons final as well. Then I might have had a chance in the playoff predictions pool.

I didn't watch the end of the game. I hope the Pistons were generous in defeat. I think sportsmanship is important after the embarrassing Isiah walk-off. I heard the Tay interview with Jim Gray. Tay mentioned that both the players and the coach were to blame. He did this in typical diplomatic Tay fashion. Jim Gray always asks one question too many. I hate that smarmy sheet. Anyway, I look at this team and I don't really recognize them. They turned into a jump-shooting team under Flip, which came back to bite them when Riles whispered to his crew, "They've got no offensive game in the paint." As Max pointed out, Sheed's ankle was a factor but by no means an excuse. Miami shot better and, gulp, defended better. Not developing Delfino and falling head over heels for Mo Evans was Flip's biggest mistake. Also, Flip was brought in to shore up the offense and look at the outcomes Detroit had.

The thing that worries me most about this team is that it is regressing: Champs in 2004, runner-up in 2005, ECF runner-up in 2006. This disturbs the hell out of me.

That being said, they still have a great starting 5. Why break it up? I'd hate to see Ben Wallace in another uniform, and although I've endorsed some sort of deal for KG in the past, I'm opposed to it now. I think the team needs to develop the bench and take its lumps in the regular season. Not getting the NBA Finals makes me feel this way. They need to take a step back to go forward, if that makes any sense.

I'm not pissed off about last night, just a little frustrated. But having this forum and being able to feel collectively angry with everyone else helps a lot.

Thanks, guys! I'll be around this summer a little for sure, but I'm not as astute on the offseason goings-on, but I'll surely weigh in on the draft.

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"I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore. - George Carlin

gagoozo - Pistons were complimented by the announcers for their good sportsmanship at the end. Every player went out of their way to congradulate Miami. Unlike the 91 Bulls series It was a fair game, the refs did not hand Miami anything and the players knew it. It was the one moment that I was proud of the team all night.

Thanks Cro, your Piston org. dedication and sound logic made this forum a nice place to visit.
As for the rest of you thanks for the debates.

There were a number of factors that came together to undermine the Pistons this year.

The overblow opinions of themselves combined with a lack of hunger to take away our edge.

The league finally regulated away our defensive edge. They took away everything we did well defensively and practically opened super-highways to the basket. We on the other hand, lacked either the skill or guts to take offensive advantage of it. We need a fast penetrating guard .

We lacked a post presence and that took away easy baskets and forced us into a jumpshooting team. Live by the jumpshot and die by the jumpshot. When our jumpshots were not working, we lacked the talents to go to the rim.

Flip got outcoached badly in both the Cleveland and Miami series. He had a hard time countering moves made by Brown and Riley.

Sadly, Ben only had enough for occasional high energy games. His attitude seemed to sour as well and probably infected the team. Sign and trade him for a young monster shot blocker who can make at least 50% of his free throws.

Joe has to have a come to Jesus meeting with Flip and tell him he must develop the younger players. Forget about HCA and give the youngsters a lot of playing time to see what they have. That might conserve the energy of our older players as well.

The Pistons can come back strong next playoffs with some adjustments and not wholesale changes.

I will continue to be the Pistons keeper througout this offseason. When I accepeted this responsibioty God knows I didn`t expect it to be like this. However, I`m in it for the long haul.

I don`t know what I can add that someone else hasn`t already touched on. The bottom line is everyone except CB lost respect for Flip in my opinion. The players just flat out intimidated their coach instead of their opponent. When Ben refused to enter the game Flip did absoloutely nothing.

Ben is the leader of this team and when he dissed the coach it opend up the door for Tay`s criticisim, and Dyess`s refusal to start. Now that`s something you don`t hear to much of, "hey coach I want to win a ring, I will do whatever it takes, but I will not be a starter". Huh??

It is also surprising that Joe D never intervened in this mess. Maybe he thought it would just disappear like everyone else. Joe probably remembered the "Bad Boys" days and how everyone was not buddy buddy on that team. However, he should have noticed that unlike the Bad Boys, this team lacked that killer instinct and, a coach that was respected and never called out, at least not in public.

How this team can function and be a success with Flip and the current cast is questionable, but possible. There will have to be some energy and scoring coming off the bench and a totally different focus going into next year. How can they respect Flip next year after the disasterous playoffs of this year?

Speaking of Flip that reputation as a loser is now inbeded in his personality. It will not be easy to shake off. Next year may be his only chance to rid himself of that label.

Good luck Flip. You are sure going to need it, along with a back up PG, a strong bench, and some backbone wouldn`t hurt either!

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"We are going to be really good offensively and definsively, we are going to be a team that can beat you 120-110, or beat you 80-70" Coach Michael Curry on the 2008-2009 Pistons.

I concur. I can't remember a team that had major friction between players & coach just prior to winning a championship.

I think the organization did a masterful job in covering up many of it's internal turds. I'm sure there were many that never got out to the press and the reason they didn't is because the players respect Joe.

Face it, we just got our butts kicked and our offensive schemes were exposed in Cavs series and exploited by the Heat. That being said we had chances in the Cavs series to end that one in five. In the Heat series the shots didn't fall in Miami and theirs did. Unorthodoxed shot selections, substutition patterns and burn out factor caught up with us. Even the defense of both of those teams appeared a tad better because they were hungry and we were not. That being said, a win in game 1 and we are playing game seven at home Sunday...