Revelations

We gather on the occasion of this sad recrap: o hark, all ye complainers and have thy way for verily, I say, the Pistons have this eve given you every cause. Words elude me. Gilbert Arenas, he who talketh so much smack prior to the game, hath fulfilled his covenant to wreak vengeance upon Flip, the rooster one, and his all-stars. And the Pistons were laid low, and the lion hath laid down with the lambs, cats and dogs living together, real wrath-of God type stuff…

Not difficult to break this one down. The Pistons flat out got run out of the gym, ran into a more energetic, damn hot-shooting Wizards team, led by Arenas-on-a-mission. We turned the ball over too much, didn’t move our feet on defense, and didn’t rotate to help out when they’d swing the ball, nor when they drove to the hoop. I think everyone who played tonight for the Pistons was guilty of this. Sure Washington was on fire, and even the few times we contested jumpers they made more than they missed.

Offensively, I felt that we started out well, continuing the shift, begun in the Bulls game, of moving well without the ball and getting it inside, either with a pass or off the bounce. We were out to a 20-15 lead and looked like we’d be able to take this one, but the Wizards didn’t roll over in awe and we seemed to get complacent as they got back into it and then took a lead with smokin’ outside shooting (as though we were saying to ourselves: “they’ll miss eventually”), but they didn’t. We were trading buckets for a while in the second half, but then started turning the ball over (10 or 11 times in the second half – 17 overall!; with 18 assists!) and they pulled away. I think we cut it to 8 with six straight points at some point in the third, but they hit two straight threes (one wide-open and one challenged) and it wasn’t close again. After that it was garbage time.

Bright spots: I liked the continuation of the trend to go to the paint (we had 38 points in the paint); Delk broke out in the 2nd quarter with 12 points; Tay was super-active in the first quarter (8 points, 4 boards, a nice dish to Rip on a break), and we outrebounded them (38-30, but obviously they didn’t miss too much). But I think that’s about it.

We looked complacent, in that annoying way that we do from time to time. It was a pretty disgraceful display and the chat was rife with talk of trades and firings and much lamentation, gnashing of teeth, and renting of garments. Obviously, they can’t expect to put in this sort of defensive performance and win many games, but before we go over the top about the end of all that is good and holy in the promised land, we might remember that the Spurs lost yesterday at home to the Lakers, and the Heat lost at home to the Warriors, so it happens even to those teams that even some Pistons fans seem to be favoring right now. Now, I don’t personally care whether we get homecourt for the Finals or not (I could even be convinced by an argument that we’d have a better chance in the Finals as the “underdogs”, without home-court), but it is a goal the team appears to have set for itself and they need to bring it every night if they want to achieve it.

Now we’ve got five games coming up that are should-wins-but-could-lose that we ought to really focus on taking in a convincing fashion, prior to the next meeting with Miami. I'd like to see us start sending some messages, but then, maybe we are hustling people, setting them up to sing our demise, so that we can whack 'em come money time...

Flips "system" is for clowns. Give me Larry and the catheter drama any day.

I think they are just plain bored.

This would be a nice time to give guys like Delfino & the rookies some burn. These games would mean something to them.

I'm only a little concerned. I think it's mostly boredom. There is no excuse for it, but unfortunately, it happens.

Being bored isn't an excuse. As far as I know, Dallas and SA are still breathing down our necks and we are about 20 games away from the playoffs.

That's a huge problem.

This team went from wanting HCA, to CB pimping himself for MVP, to getting 4 All-Star berths and now the wheels are coming off.

You can say "they'll be fine" yet if you're watching these games, they are NOT playing well. In fact, they are beating themselves and seem to have lost that next gear.

The sky isn't falling by any means, but if anyone saw Flip's postgame presser, he tried to be flippant (pun intended) about how he's searching for a rotation and would have played the postgame reporters if they could have stopped someone.

EXCUSE ME? The Pistons not putting out on defense? He pretty much indicted the top 6 guys.

I don't know what is scarier, the Pistons not trying (my eyes work good), or that Flip doesn't have an answer besides "get some practice in".

If your coach is good you can win with O or D, but 20 games from the playoffs, a bonfide contender should be hitting their stride, not searching for energy and a rotation.

I'm officially very nervous.

__________________
Momma was queen of the mambo, Poppa was king of the congo, deep down in the jungle, I start banging my first bongo
Every monkey like to be, in my place instead of me, cause I'm the king of bongo baby, I'm the king of bongo bong
-Manu Chao

Count me in on the officially worried club.

A championship team should rise to the challenge. The 3's don't fall, time to play some D and go inside. This is bull%%%%. I'm concerned.

dudes, i know it's not about me, but no love for that recap? you think it's easy to turn a crap game like that one and transform it into an artful meld of faux-apocalyptic prose, old testament expressions, and ghostbusters rip-offs??

Scolas, you're the man. You took %%%% and turned it into shinola. I apprecieate the biblical references. If only the Pistons did.

Nice recap, scolas. I tuned in online around the third quarter and couldn't believe my eyes. How about Tony Delk? Was he a bright spot tonight? I'm just looking at the box score, mind you. Sounds as if the squad had no defensive intensity. Don't look now but the Mavs are fixin to be a half game back. I think Detroit is in a heap o' trouble with Miami coming on. There's blood in the water in the EC and the sharks are a comin.

that's what i'm talkin' 'bout. thanks guys.

and for the record: i don't think we're "fine". i think we kinda suck right now. i just think we will be. in my view, this is all part of the pistons players' unconscious's master plan. i've said it before and everyone knows it. this group of guys (and I don't care which coach they have) has rarely played well with a lead, whether it be in a single game or in the standings. I don't know if it's just that most of them have, both as a matter of fact and as a matter of self-identification, had always to overcome long odds to succed. But here's what I see happening.

Now, the players don't even know this consciously, and flip certainly won't be able to do anything about it, but i imagine that they are going to need to drop further, begin reading national media reports about how they are flaming out, about how the heat and the mavs and the suns and the spurs and the clips and the cavs and the nets and, yes, the knicks are all on the rise, about how disappointing it is that a team that had a shot at 70 wins, that placed 4 guys on the all star team, limped into the playoffs. then, when nobody's on board anymore, that's when the train will start chugging it's way through to the finals and the rings. it's all psychology. and these guys are about as consistent and predictable psychologically as anybody.

The reason I think this is the dynamic actually governing the team is that a) the weaknesses at the moment are obvious to everyone; b) the players, as we know, are capable of addressing them. i.e. the problem is clear and the solution is available, and yet the players don't do anything about it and the problem persists. that tells me that it's at least possible, if not probable, that other forces are at work. it could be the cylons (bsg reference for those in the loop), but i think the more obvious explanation is the one i suggested above.