Articles worth mentioning II - Page 10 - Detroit Pistons Fan Community

mikhail1973 · #91 (**permalink**) 04-17-2008, 12:54 PM

Please stop the meaningless sports rankings, power polls, and MVP races. - By Neal Pollack - Slate Magazine

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Perhaps this is too obvious to say, but what the hell: The MVP race isn't real. Stephen A. Smith may think that if Kevin Garnett pulls a triple-double against the Sixers, it will suddenly become clear that he's more valuable than Chris Paul, but I can pretty much guarantee that K.G. isn't thinking the same thing. Bill Simmons, in his typically entertaining spastic-puppy hyper-referential novella-length style, recently ranked the four greatest MVP races ever. I wonder whether Bob Pettit, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, and Wilt Chamberlain knew that they were in an MVP race in 1961. Somehow, I think that the three guys who covered the NBA back then may have been concentrating on reporting on the actual games, or race-baiting, or both.
Tim O'Sullivan of the Concord Monitor may have unwittingly summed up the situation's gross absurdity in his April 13 column. "Presenting the winner with his trophy isn't the pinnacle of the MVP matter," O'Sullivan wrote. "We're living the pinnacle right now. It's all about the race, just like it is for any MVP in any sport. And the current race is, well, MVP-worthy." I shouldn't really fault a guy for enjoying his job and all, but is deciding whether Kobe is more MVP-worthy than LeBron really "living the pinnacle"? Well, maybe if you can't get a press pass to the NBA Finals.

roscoe36 · #92 (**permalink**) 04-25-2008, 02:50 PM

Iguodala feeling the heat

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....

In the half-court set, Cheeks wants Iguodala to look for his teammates more if the Pistons continue to smother him.

“He's been our guy all season long,” Cheeks said. “He's going to still be our guy. He hasn't lost any confidence, and we certainly haven't lost any confidence in him.”

Iguodala said he's optimistic that he'll be more effective, and the Sixers will prevail tonight to give themselves a chance to win the series.

“We've won one more game than anyone thought we would, so we still have confidence that we can win,” he said.

....

lpgrl26 · #93 (**permalink**) 04-25-2008, 06:34 PM

Rasheed Wallace's Blog: Detroit Pistons Power Forward

Sheed's new blog ?

Luke Slippywalker · #94 (**permalink**) 04-25-2008, 07:32 PM

How dare he blog there when he's already running THIS forum?

Tally · #95 (**permalink**) 05-03-2008, 10:08 AM

Extra rest for weary far from tired topic

Celtics' extra rest far from a tired topic - The Boston Globe

ATLANTA - Starters for the Celtics and Pistons believe there was good and bad in being able to rest late in the regular season because of their teams' stellar records.

Guard Chauncey Billups said Thursday that he and his fellow Detroit starters "lost our rhythm" during the homestretch of the regular season. The second-seeded Pistons needed six games to eliminate the seventh-seeded 76ers in the first round of the playoffs.

"The last three weeks of the season, [the Sixers] were playing playoff basketball," said Billups. "They were trying to get in [the playoffs] and fight for position. On the other hand, the last three weeks, our starters were playing the first [quarter] and the first half of the third [quarter], so we kind of shut it down for the last three weeks, trying to stay healthy. In doing that, we lost our rhythm. Once we finally did get it back, we didn't look back. We pretty much took over the series."

Luke Slippywalker · #96 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 08:11 AM

Porter first to interview with Suns | Phoenix Suns / NBA | eastvalleytribune.com

lurker · #97 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 12:25 PM

From the Seattle Times:

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"In high school Rodney was the wing and we kind of thought that was the position he would play in college, and then we basically gave him the ball and put him at point guard," Burns said. "He was a natural."

Stuckey led the Big Sky Conference in scoring two seasons and left with a school-high 24.4 points per-game average, but he was equally impressive as a floor general.

"The one thing that speaks volumes about his ability is we shot 50 percent as a team with him playing the point-guard position," Burns said. "We were top-five in the country in field-goal percentage. Many people thought he'd go in the top 12 [of the draft] because of what he could do scoring and running a team."

mikhail1973 · #98 (**permalink**) 05-16-2008, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurker

From the Seattle Times:

This is great stuff:

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Take a look around the playoffs.
The only rookie shining this bright is Stuckey.

Luke Slippywalker · #99 (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 02:03 AM

Billups tentative in first game back from injury

by A. Sherrod Blakely Wednesday May 21, 2008, 1:23 AM

Billups tentative in first game back from injury - Detroit Pistons Basketball: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com

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The always-confident Billups, who never shies away from taking a big shot in tightly contested games, was noticeably tentative in his first game back since suffering a right hamstring injury.

What everyone wanted, Detroit vs. Boston

What everyone wanted, Detroit vs. Boston - Sports Rumors - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

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The Detroit Pistons are here. Isn't this what everyone wanted? Think back to December, when people around here were saying, "Whoa, these guys really are pretty good." Were people honestly thinking championship? Some giddy people, sure. But everyone else was saying, "All I want is a crack at the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals." And here we are wrote Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan.

Luke Slippywalker · #**100** (**permalink**) 05-21-2008, 02:06 AM

Finals Countdown: Hobbled Billups hurts Pistons in Game 1

By Nathaniel Friedman - SportingNews

Finals Countdown: Hobbled Billups hurts Pistons in Game 1 - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

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The Boston Celtics had been taken to the brink in two 7-game series. The Detroit Pistons’ top player, Chauncey Billups, entered the East finals recovering from a hamstring injury. Based on the Celtics’ 88-79 win in Game 1, they still have something left in the tank, and Billups isn’t all there. Boston never ran away with the game and didn’t display a killer instinct. But without Billups at full strength, the Pistons lacked that extra, intangible playoff gear.