The first 2 Qs the Heat couldn't miss and we jittery. 3rd Q the ball bounched our way and we got back in the game. Big 3s from Walker kept them in the game.

That 85 points that we held them too was only the second time all season that we have been beaten by a team that scored less than 89 points. Which means that a 10 spot by Sheed would have been a victory tonight. Oh well the defense is working ...some time anyway. We'll get them tomorrow night.

Tay drives to the hoop, Shaq clearly moves, kind of a jump step to get in front of Tay, then all 350 pounds of him flops like a mound of jello to the floor!

And the refs call an offensive foul!!!!

Now that one play doesn`t make the game, but that was a terrible call.........

Yep, good comeback stalled by the refs. Calls this bad are what lead many many fans to quit watching the NBA, calling it just a tiny step up from the WWF. That totally bogus call on Tay's drive, where Shaq was clear as day inside the circle, was just the start.

What did we learn from this game? Well, Dale Davis can't guard Shaq, but he does as good a job as anyone we have. Webber did not do that bad either. Mohammed is a joke as Shaq just pushes him out of the way with no effort at all.

CB had a truly horrible game. Its not just that he missed his first 10 shots, hey, we were suppose to be going inside against Shaq to try to get him in foul trouble. One for 14 from the 3 line. Just think. We shorten those shots up, and make just two of them, we win this one. (That is, if the refs did not decide to go even more nuts.) Bad job by CB running the team, and a terrible coaching job by Flip.

Pretty much anyone could have decided to play JMAX and Dale Davis together in this one. We needed defense badly, and that is our best interior defense combo. No Sheed. Both JMAX and Dale did play, yet this very good combo never happened. Pretty much a planned failure on Flip's part.

Dyess was awesome, never missing a shot and getting 17 and 10. Tay and Rip both got over 20. Good comeback try by the Pistons even though we lost. At least Miami can't walk away from this one with any dignity. Without the refs siding with them, they lose this game to the Pistons after getting a 22 point lead.

Delfino not scoring is not the problem. Flip Saunders refusing to let Delfino do what he does best, handle the ball for us, is the problem. In this game, Hunter was completely useless. Delfino should have been in as the backup point and Hunter should have been a DNP.

Webber firing a three, after only making 2 threes for us so far this season, was a pretty low percentage play there. Yeah, he has not took many threes either. But you can't expect something to work in the clutch that you don't even use in normal game time.

Shaq was pretty much unstoppable, and Miami could have played Shaq and Mourning together if they had wanted to put it in another gear yet. Walker scored 20 for them, and that hurt, especially his inside game. Would Sheed have helped all that much. Not really. Sheed can't guard Shaq either. We simply need a better bench, something we can't have with Hunter being used as the backup point. In this game, Delfino could have been at point and JMAX or Amir Johnson at small forward. Miami could not have stopped either from scoring. This team can beat Miami, it will just take a coach who can coach.

This did look like last year's playoffs a bit, Dre. We just don't match up well with this team because of Shaq and then Wade.

What bothers me is that offensive meltdown yet again against a good team. Our coach is supposed to be an offensive guy but we have no default mode in our offense when things go bad. And bad means that a team knows how to jam up our shooters. Then, Rip and Chauncey try and drive (not their best game). Worse, they go all the way in and get blocked like Rip did against Mourning instead of taking the short gimme. When we get in trouble, we just look lost on offense.

We couldn't go to Webber in the middle as Sheed was out. He is our insurance against the drought. And then, no Sheed down low.

Still, the Pistons did show Miami what they are really up against later.

I don't like the zone at the end. We gave up that open look to Walker which he would not have gotten on the man to man.

Sprocket sez…


Welcome to game seven of the 2006 Eastern Conference Finals. It starts like it ended back in June of last year with Shaq running rampant and the Pistons unable to throw the ball down and hit the floor. It ends unfortunately for Detroit with poor decision making and missed shots that doom an amazing comeback from nineteen down at the half that sees the Pistons take their first lead of the game in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

The game starts ugly with the Pistons missing seven of their first eight shots. Dale Davis starting in place of the injured Rasheed Wallace looks like a skinny kid as he bounces off Shaq again and again. Shaq gets everything he wants in the first posting up time and again right on the low block. Neither DD nor Mohammed is able to move him off the box. Despite shooting very poorly the Pistons are only down by one at the one minute mark of the quarter, but a four to nothing Heat run puts them down five at the break. Hamilton and Billups shoot two for eleven in the quarter.

The Pistons toss Maxiell and Delfino into the mix in the second and gain some ground cutting the lead to three before Shaq returns around the nine minute mark. Twenty four of the Heat’s first twenty-six points come in the paint. When Shaq isn’t jamming, the Heat are running and getting easy baskets on the break. With Shaq back in the game, the Heat outscore the Pistons twenty-six to twelve in the remainder of the second to lead at the break fifty to thirty-one.

Hamilton and Billups end the half having shot two for fifteen. Detroit’s 31 points and 28% shooting in the half are season lows for any half this year. The Pistons manage just eight points in the paint to thirty-six for the Heat. The only suspense in the second half of the second quarter is whether Flip’s head will actually explode on the court or whether he will manage to get into the locker room before going atomic.

One halftime interval marked by the continuing idiocy of the ESPN analysts and a serious tongue lashing by Flip later, the Pistons both begin to score and begin to stop everyone in white except Shaq. The Heat manage just eleven points in the third quarter while the Pistons find life and score twenty-six. Detroit’s 28% shooting in the first half goes up to 55% in the third quarter while the Heat’s 54% first half falls to 25% in the third. At the break the Pistons are down by four, sixty-one to fifty-seven and a ballgame breaks out in south Florida.

The fourth continues as the third, with Shaq scoring more or less at will while the remainder of the Heat can’t hit anything. Billups continues to struggle, at one point shooting zero for eleven prompting Walton to observe that you’ve got to be really good to go zero for eleven. The Pistons take their first lead of the game at 3:14 on Prince’s twenty-second (and final) point of the game. McDyess also shoots well and his seventh hoop in seven tries about the four minute mark keep the Pistons within one.

Prince commits an offensive foul around the one minute mark of the fourth, only the second charge Shaq has taken all season. On the ensuing play a Walker three pulls the Heat ahead. McDyess is fouled and makes two to knot the score at 80 with 0:56 left. Walker misses, but Shaq jams the miss to put the Heat back on top, perhaps the play of the game. Hamilton misses a fairly open jumper on the next possession forcing the Pistons to foul Jason Williams at the 0:25 mark. He misses one of two, but the Pistons execute badly on the next possession with Webber making a bad pass and then missing a three. The Pistons foul Eddie Jones who hits both to make the score eight-five eighty Heat. Billups is fouled and hits both to make it a three point game with eight seconds left. Prince gets a steal on the inbounds pass and inexplicably doesn’t take a wide open three but passes the ball to Billups who is heading into the lane to get into rebounding position. Billups pulls out and gets off a three but misses, and Dupree knocks the rebound out to Hamilton who misses a desperation three at the buzzer.

On a night when no one can hit a three (the teams combine to shoot five for thirty-nine from three), Shaq’s thirty-one points and fifteen boards are too much for the Pistons to absorb, especially when they shoot 38% for the game including 7% from three (one for fifteen). Prince and McDyess can’t make up for nine for thirty-five (26%) shooting from the Pistons’ guards. Somebody better be mad about this one.

__________________
"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi

we always play badly when i watch the game at the bar sorry guys!

it was annoying watching shaq get free reign to use his body and arms with no offensive fouls called. just a jacked up game all around...what a great start to march!! D:

Hey, I resemble that remark...

Chauncey's 1 for 11 is built into the offensive system. I do not blame him. The Heat know how to play us. Jam up Billips and Hamilton and rotate quickly. Result: no open jumpers.

Rip and Chauncey shoot anyway or they drive. But they don't pull up for the mid-range. They go all the way into Shaq or Mourning who are waiting there. Rip's block by Mourning in the 2nd is a case in point.

We actually don't have the ball come back to Chauncey so that he would be a weapon. So he shoots on the fly and hence the low percentage in this type of game. And with typical no scoring from the bench a bad situation gets worse.

In contrast, the Heat have trouble with Dyss. Neither Mourning nor Shaq want to go out on him and he can get his shot off vs. the others.

What has helped is using Webber as a focal point. Then, both he and Sheed can post. Without Sheed, we couldn't use Webber that way. obviously, the Webber/Davis combo didn't work.

We will be alright but we need to play smarter and actually have a game plan.

Piston's in the NBA finals for the 3rd year in 4!

the pistons perfectly executed a strategy tonight. this strategy is normally used by lottery-bound teams - play just hard enough to make the game respectable, but then remember to lose at the end.

well, the pistons did that tonight, bouncing miami into the #7 seed AND giving them confidence to keep winning and keeping that seed (or go even higher). if the playoffs started today, the cavs and heat would have to beat each other up in the 1st round. the way chauncey was laughing at the end of the game, you knew he was pleased.

so, congratulations pistons. you exected your strategy tonight perfectly!!