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Pistons vs Bucks
Series 3-1 DET
Wednesday May 3rd, 2006
6:00pm

The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI
TV: tv20 Detroit / TNT / RNBATV
Radio: WDFN 1130 AM

BillLaimbeer (http://www.pistonsforum.com/members/143.html)'s Look at this series:

The Milwaukee Bucks will be the Pistons 1st round opponent this year. At 40-42, the Bucks will be the only team in the 2006 NBA playoffs with a losing record.

The Bucks started out the season pretty strong (17-11), but have had losing records in each of the last four months:

November 7-6
December 9-5
January 7-10
February 6-7
March 7-8
April 4-6

Milwaukee depends on Michael Redd (25.4 ppg) for over a quarter of their offense. On any given night, Redd can go off for 40+ points. In the 3 games Redd scored 40+ this year, however, the Bucks are 1-2. The shooting guard is the only position that Milwaukee holds the advantage over the Pistons (Rip Hamilton).

The Bucks have some youth at most key positions and that should prove to be the difference in this series. Point guard T.J. Ford is playing in his first full season. Ford averages 12.2 ppg and 6.6 assists per game (14th in the NBA). Edge: Detroit (Chauncey Billups)

At the small forward, Bobby Simmons is really in his 2nd full season as a starter. His numbers and experience are somewhat similar to Tayshuan Prince, but I'll give a slight edge to Detroit with Tay's all-around game.

The Pistons also have an advantage inside with the Wallace's matching up against rookie Andrew Bogut (good rebounding and FG% numbers) and Jamaal Magloire (3rd season as a starter in the NBA, 9.5 rebounds per game).

The bench production differs a little bit, as far as scoring goes. The Bucks have 8 guys scoring 8+ ppg. The Pistons have 7 guys scoring 7+ ppg. Detroit most likely will use an 8-man rotation with McDyess, Delk, and Hunter coming off the bench.
Defense: The Pistons rank 3rd in the NBA for points allowed (90.1). The Bucks rank 20th, giving up 99.8 ppg.

The Bucks have beaten just about every team in the NBA, including Detroit, Miami, New Jersey, San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenix. With a 40-42 record, the Bucks have lost to just about every team in the NBA, as well.

Season series:
Nov 26: Det 85, @Mil 76
Jan 25: @Det 106, Mil 102 (OT)
Mar 31: @Det 112, Mil 105
Apr 17: @Mil 113, Det 93

Detroit won the season series 3-1, although the Bucks win came in a game when Detroit was resting its starters (Sheed and Rip didn't even dress). The 3 Piston wins were all close games.

For a #1 vs. #8 matchup, these games will be more competitive than most people predict. My guess is the Pistons win the series 4-1. The difference will be Detroit's experience.

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I expect the Pistons to end this game early. By the 2nd quarter Detroit should maintain a 10 point lead throughout.

The enregy should be there and the Bucks will sense the end early in the contest.

I believe Detroit will run the table at home in the playoffs. Don`t expect one of those lackluster, half-a&& efforts at the Palace.

Guys like TJ Ford do not score at the Palace.

Pistons 98 Bucks 82

Based on the extraordinary accuracy of my prior predictions I do hereby call this one Pistons X / Bucks X minus some finite positive integer most likely to be less than 100.

Guys like TJ Ford do not score at the Palace.

Pistons 98 Bucks 82

good point. the guy can't shoot anyway, dunno how he went off last game. i'll be at the game, gotta leave work early to beat that traffic though (ugh 6 PM game just so lebron can be shown later).

pistons are what, like 11-1 in closeout games the past 2 years? the bucks are dejected and we're not goin back to milwaukee baby. time to win and get everyone some rest!!

Based on the extraordinary accuracy of my prior predictions I do hereby call this one Pistons X / Bucks X minus some finite positive integer most likely to be less than 100.

beat me to the punch. my prediction would have been:

Pistons score more than the Bucks.

Next.

What about Rip?

I DVR'd the last game and went back and watched him run and cut. There were several times when CB was pushing the ball down the floor and Rip struggled to keep up. It looks like a serious effort for him just to run fast in a straight line down the court. He's not getting open off the screens, and his shooting is gone. And as all the pundits tell us, shooting starts in the legs. (I rely on the pundits since my jump shot never extended beyond about five feet.)

I get that it's a tough choice whether to play him or not. Sit him out tonight and if the Bucks were to win and make it a series, Flip better have hired some extra security and stay away from any railroad tracks or buckets of tar. Play him and he's ineffective and you risk the same thing, or worse, he turns the ankle again and sits out part of the next series.

Hopefully he will have healed some and this will be moot. But if he is in no better shape than Monday night, I'd say he has to sit.

When the opposite player (Redd) is the biggest matchup problem, and Rip is your best perimeter defender (IMO), you can't sit him.

Gotta get this win. Then there will be several days rest available.

Best perimeter defender on the team when healthy. But Redd is shooting 63% and put up 33 and 40 the past two.

Famous last words - How much worse could someone else do? (43 is Redd's career high.)

Best perimeter defender on the team when healthy. But Redd is shooting 63% and put up 33 and 40 the past two.

Famous last words - How much worse could someone else do? (43 is Redd's career high.)

Yea, but most of Redd's shots were over Prince/Billups/and bench players. When he scored 2 consective shots over Delk, Flip hurried up and put Rip back in. Prince is a good defender, but he can't keep up with Redd like Rip can, neither can Billups. And, they're both healthy. So...they need to play him.:ohwell:

You have to remember that,

1. The Bucks were at home and the better play of TJ Ford both shooting and passing contributes to Redd going off.

2. Redd is a better scorer than Rip. That's just fact. But with Rip in, the Pistons won Q1 and Q4. Basically playing Redd even when looked at total team production.

We've all seen this before. You don't have to stop a star to beat him. You have to limit all of the role players from feeding off that star.

There is no one on this team that (I feel) can play Redd better than Rip, even when gimpy. The Pistons need to finish this series quickly, and I'm not seeing Rip as a liability yet. Perhaps not himself, but still better than any option on the bench.

You don't have to stop a star to beat him. You have to limit all of the role players from feeding off that star.


So true. Need to limit all of the role players, especially Mo Williams. That one there comes off the bench and puts up a few. He's pretty good.

What can I say? Sheed, stop being unselfish for once. Get rolling and do your teammates a favor, esp Rip. Play your heart out, finish this series once and for all so Rip can finally rest and heal the ankle. To summarize, Sheed got to demand the ball from CB.

Post up game all nite long, coming either from Sheed or CB. The Bucks have no answer to this strategy. We can't have Rip shooting below his regular season percentages in the playoffs. So, finish the series so Rip can rest his ankle and hopefully, the Cavs/ Wizards will go to game 7.

DETROIT BASKETBALL!!!

stotts is having redd guard chauncey tonight

The Bucks already got what they wanted...one victory. Early in the series all they talked about was "nobody wants to get swept". They knew it was over before it began.

The Pistons will give a good effort because they want/need the additional rest.

This series ends tonight. Good riddance!:yo:

I expect another big game from Tayshuan and I expect Sheed to show up big.
The Pistons should have this game won in the third quarter. I give the Bucks credit for competing hard and not giving up. Remember that lost look on Kyle Korver's face last year? I haven't seen any of the Bucks give up like that.

Finish it.

And go Washington.

Game Chat is open! See y'all around 6:00 PM.

Don't forget it's an early game!!!

Closing it out tonight.Rip has a thigh bruise too so he needs the rest.We need this done now because I think with a gimpy Rip other teams will take advantage of it.We need him at as close to 100% for the rest of the playoffs.He opens up so much with his movement and a gimpy Rip is just what the other teams ordered.

4-1..nuff said Ho freekin Hum!

We kicked some booty in the 3rd and and it was over. The team that was out on the floor during the 3rd quarter could beat an allstar team (and has done it I believe). bring on the Cavs, Wiz, Net, Heat, Spurs, Mavs or the even the Olympic champions and we will put them all to rest.

Any doubt that Rip is hurting was premature. He put the hurt on the Bucs tonight. Now he can rest until next week.:fingerscr

I task that if the match of the cavs it goes to contest 7 Detroit has a greatest advantage in how much can prepare the match with tranquillity, it will be able to make a training optimal and to have all the players in good condition for the beginning of the 2 round. I hope wins Cleveland why whit the wizards we have gotten lost 3 time in regular season 2 to the palace even if 1 counted little

sorry for mi english

[roscoe: task = think, nene's getting pretty good at English!]

Any doubt that Rip is hurting was premature. He put the hurt on the Bucs tonight. Now he can rest until next week.:fingerscr
Shows you how much reading the papers gets ya.They wanted the rest and practice as much as the Bucks wanted to go golfing.Next round please.:boxing:

I task that if the match of the cavs it goes to contest 7 Detroit has a greatest advantage in how much can prepare the match with tranquillity, it will be able to make a training optimal and to have all the players in good condition for the beginning of the 2 round. I hope wins Cleveland why whit the wizards we have gotten lost 3 time in regular season 2 to the palace even if 1 counted little

sorry for mi english

The playoffs are a different beast I guess the Cavs would be the better match-up.But I don't think the Wiz beat us in a playoff series.Your english is fine. I've used english all my life and still don't know what I'm saying or writing half the time.

Great game. Even the bench scrubbs were able to take back some of the lead they lost and almost ring it back up to 30 points.

40 points from Rip in just over 3 quarters of play. Sheed had a great game. Have not looked at the box yet but Ben seemed to be boarding well and played some great D.

When Tay hit that mid-range 3 I knew it was going to be one of those games. For a while there I thought we would beat them by 40. If not for Redd we would have. That guy was pesky on the boards.

Great game.

I agree Max.

But I'll bet somebody around here is going to find something to complain about. :rain:

Deeeeeetroit Basketbaaaaaaaaaaaaall!

Man oh man, we smoked these cats. We smacked'em around, we pushed'em around and then we tore their hearts out.

Excellent game. Rip is simply, AMAZING. In the postgame on DFN, he said that Arnie taped him differently than the last couple games. He taped Rip like he wasn't injured because he wanted him to play loose and not thinking about the injury.

KANDER FOR MVP!

Anyway, Ben was pretty good in the post-game too. He's actually starting to sound like the coach talking about how the team played and what they need to do to be successfull. He might be the most valuable 2 point per game player ever! :D

I needed a break from this madness as much as the Pistons. I will truly enjoy spending the rest of this week focusing on taking care of real life business!

I like that the Pistons can now prepare with tranquility. Very nice.

Ok. I am feeling better now that Rip is going again. We can be scary good at times. I mean that is an all-star team playing out there for us. Amazing.

The TNT guys' Photoshop job for the Bucks goin' fishin was classic, with a Happy Days theme mixed in. Bogut, Redd, and Brett Favre were in the middle, with Potsie, Chachi, and Ralph Malph in there as well. And none of Kenny, EJ, or Charles even noticed that The Fonz was jumping the shark in the background!

Of course, there is one negative coming out of this game: no more need for Roscoe's Buck Hunter avatar!

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I was at that game at the Palace tonite. Pretty much the worst seats $25 bucks can buy in the joint, but I still had a kickass time; the atmosphere was amazing. I took my nephews and sister out there and I'm sure they'll never forget the can of whoop-ass we put on the Bucks.

GO PISTONS!@#

I agree Max.

But I'll bet somebody around here is going to find something to complain about. :rain:
yes, there is! How could we let Gadzuric, a defensive- minded player go up for 13 points in 9 minutes??? Is the team going to play like that against the real bigs too?

[don't take this critic too seriously :) )

My one complaint was when Hunter took over in the second and the bucks cut the 22 pt lead to 9. Someone correct me, but the guy has lost some. Also, he is fould prone gaainst quick perimeter guys--the guys he is there to guard. I think a lot of this has to do with the way they call the game now, but it is still the reality. Plus he dribbles so much, at least when Arroyo dribbled to much he had the handles to create something. But if this is the only negative I can deal.

I guess my worries about the demise of Rip's ankle were premature. When that first jumper went down I let out a big breath I must have been holding for days.

Great game. Onward and upward.

I'm still glad he gets some days to rest though.

Although the bambi threat was minimal, the skinning was necessary. The ability of the fawn to procreate in the open court/field made it critical to remove her ovaries before more could herd.
Did everyone bag their limit? Next, move'em out.

I wonder if Stouts will take some heat for not playing Gadzuric at least a few minutes each game. He seemed to work well with Kukoc during the regular season. Obviously he wouldn't have played like he did last night (message time back to the coach?) against the Pistons' starters, but he would have grabbed a couple of offensive boards and probably got a put back or two.

our starters shot what, 10/12 from 3-land? simply amazing. sheed was 8/11 too, and mcdyess put in another 5/8. i really liked how the bench came back in the 4th after giving up all of those transition buckets, and rebuilt the lead to 30 points. i'm looking forward to a healthy rip for the next round.

listening to the radio last night, i love all of the callers saying they're worried about the pistons defense, blah blah. we play it when we have to, but when you can score 107 points a game like we did this round, then simply average defense will suffice (and yes we can turn it on when it matters). that's still pretty amazing how much we've been able to exploit a weak defense, even in the playoffs. 10 more points per game this series than the regular season.

now i'm looking forward to selling game 2 of the next round and getting some $ back ;D

The only difference in our defense was that the Bucks shot 45% instead of 60%. For a game and a half, they were on fire.

Now we know how other teams feel when Rip is 15-23.

oh yeah, highlight of the evening? being 5 feet away from vinnie johnson in one of the suites. our section (for regular season anyway) is 1 away from the suite where joe d. sits, and the suites below is always have detroit sports figures (justin verlander, vinnie johnson, etc.). pretty shweet.

Roscoe, that pic of Rip is an instant classic... even with the white hand :^)
Gotta get them creative juices flowin' for the Cavs (or Wizz)... what the hell is a Cavalier anyways?

Roscoe, that pic of Rip is an instant classic... even with the white hand :^)
Gotta get them creative juices flowin' for the Cavs (or Wizz)... what the hell is a Cavalier anyways?Thanks. Tried to add some colour to the hands but I'm really no artist and wanted to get something up ASAP on the front page.

I'm praying for the Wiz because I have a lot of ideas for those. Also stumped on what to do for a cavalier (headless horseman comes to mind).

yes, there is! How could we let Gadzuric, a defensive- minded player go up for 13 points in 9 minutes??? Is the team going to play like that against the real bigs too?

[don't take this critic too seriously :) )

He scored those 13 points over the bench players. I don't think he could have done that over the starters.

Warts, try and show some class by NOT buggin' them.

Our offense gets more trips down the floor because they pull the trigger quicker than Brown's use the clock strategy. They more trips we take, the more the other team takes. Ergo...more points against. I'm surprised the points against went up so little this season.

Congo, I would tend to agree, but you can trace the increased offense more to efficiency (FG%) than anything else. The Pistons are playing a scheme that gets them better shots and that is worth 4 or 5 points a game.