Chicago April 4th, 7:30 PM
TV - FSN Detroit, ESPN


The Bulls come to the Palace for the last time in the regular season. The Pistons Bulls have 2-1 advantage in the season series. Looks like Nocioni will play in the playoffs, however,how effective will he be with Plantar Fascilitis?

The Bulls are a better team with him in the lineup. With or without Nocioni, we could see this team in round 2 of the post season.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1885/ben20wallacerj8.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4555/skiles060404lc3.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2122/luoldeng295040624ce8.jpg

BONUS PHOTO

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/9171/nocioni4060430eo0.jpg

Chicago April 4th, 7:30 PM
TV - FSN Detroit, ESPN


The Bulls come to the Palace for the last time in the regular season. The Pistons have 2-1 advantage in the season series.

I thought the BULLS have a 2-1 advantage in the season series???:confused:

I thought the BULLS have a 2-1 advantage in the season series???:confused:

You are correct, my bad.

The Bulls won the game in January.........2-1 Bulls..............:hoops:

I really don't see the Bulls getting out of the first round, especially if they're seeded below 4th. Pistons need to "mop up the spill" when we play them this time.:gun1:

The pistons need to change the habbit of starting slow. They need to jump on the bulls early in the game. They need to impose their game. I think Tay has is a key player in this game as well. Is rasheed playing today?

I just saw a report that Ben might not be playing because he is in the hospital because of sinusitis.......whatever that is..... but no word on Sheed yet

I just saw a report that Ben might not be playing because he is in the hospital because of sinusitis.......whatever that is..... but no word on Sheed yet

Rats, Thomas might start and the Pistons have no answer for him.

I just saw a report that Ben might not be playing because he is in the hospital because of sinusitis.......whatever that is..... but no word on Sheed yet


Pistonitus?

Rats, Thomas might start and the Pistons have no answer for him.

Might have to rough him up with the Brahma Bull.

Rats, Thomas might start and the Pistons have no answer for him.
This is a quote from Mcosky's blog ...." Tyrus Thomas also has the flu, and was going to be a game-time decision. The Bulls canceled their shoot-around because of all the sickness. "....... we might not have to wory about him after all

Chat's open!

I am sick of this team. Hopefully Joe-D heard our fans booing our own players. For myself, the thought of the Pistons winning the title this year is starting to look a little silly.

Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince for Co-Defensive Players of the Year.

that was sorry. We can't win at home. That hurts.

Guess I should have come back in chat. What a sorry game.

You could say this one was lost in the third quarter, but actually I am going to say it was before the game when the players, just like the fans thoughtb it would be an easy victory because Ben Wallace would be watching from the locker room. I thought it was lost in the second qtr when the Pistons had a chance to stretch 32-27 lead up to seven, but the five bench players in at the time missed 5 or 6 possession/buckets in a row and allowed the Bulls to hang around. Heinrich got hot and scored 10 pts to close the half and beating Billups around the floor like a drum.

Instead of being up 10 at the half, they were only up 1. The second half they come out cold as ice and the Bulls grabbed all of the long rebounds and hit jumpers, 3 balls, dunks and layups on their way to a 32-16 third quarter and 54% shooting for the game.

Meanwhile Piston lay an egg in the second half scoring only 35 points. How many layups did the Pistons miss...a bunch

If someone was to say that the Pistons lost by 18 pts to the Bulls without Big Ben and Little Ben, I would have to say that we must have played without are starting five....well other than Sheeds 4 three balls and Billups 9 FT's the starters were a no show. Tay and hotheaded Rip only had 2 buckets between them and even without ben, they out boarded the pistons 48-32:yellowprison:

Are we sure we want to meet them in the post season?? They can't shoot 54% all the time, but if they do it IN 3 games they could take it...and based on the way the Pisotns played tonight the two blowout losses could be mental and affect us the next time we play them. This was not a meaningless loss or game IMo. it was a statement game for the Bulls and an embarrasing nationally televised loss for the Pistons.

We started out slow. Chicago scouted us good and used an up tempo game to score easily to start the game. And defense? The Pistons were not playing any. Webber had some good inside scoring for us, but in all he hurts us being out there right now. I assume of course he is not 100% yet, as that was quite a long bout with the flu, and of course the missed games that went with it. Still, it is possible that against Chicago, Webber is the wrong guy. Meanwhile, Billups is still playing hurt, and yes, I still say he should take that week off he was contemplating.

Billups hit some shots, but the opposing point torched us for a whole lot more than CB got. The Pistons did concentrate on getting Gordon in foul trouble. That helped us stay in the game at least having their top scorer only get 2 points and hardly playing.

On our side, we had Rip in foul trouble all game and he scored about 3 points. Tay was agressive, but looks pretty much whooped as his shots were coming up short. In general, yes Flip, you better watch the minutes of your team. Flip said he does not care about the minutes? Ok, two good games of coaching and then stupidity. Mid 2nd quarter. Things are going ok. We have 5 subs in the game. 5 subs doing ok. So Flip decides to lose the game right there. Yes, he did leave two subs in, but Billups and Sheed came in with about 7 minutes to go in the 2nd. He even brought Tay back in for 90 seconds rather than letting him relax and recharge. This is not the way to win games, and its not the way to develop the bench.(Not to mention he is trying to develop a bench with the wrong players.)

Flip Murray scored some. But thats a catch 22. If he scores, he forgets about driving and dishing. When he gets his minutes served to him on a platter, he forgets to take good shots. And defense, something he only plays if he is in danger of being out of the rotation. Flip Saunders has chosen, for some completely unknown reason, to play a guy who fell out of the rotation for lack of effort over a player who has been there all season long playing excellent defense. What kind of message that gives the team should be obvious. Good team play and good D will not be rewarded. So why bother.

Delfino missed shots. Made a three,then was ignored the next time open. By Billups as usual. Delfino triggered several scores by passes that sat up plays. No assist. No points for him. But points for the team. Good team play.

Dyess was invisible in this one. Davis did not play. He was one of the later flu victims so maybe he is not over that yet.

Maxiell did not do a whole lot. But then again, since we don't use an actual point guard when he plays, just how well do you think he can do. A guy named Will Blalock is playing down in the development league that could get Jason the ball in a position to score.

Sheed hit 4 triples. Great. But why was he playing with the banged up hand. Him not being able to catch a pass did not help us much. If a guy is injured, hey, we got other players. I would much rather Sheed have been able to catch the ball down around the basket and score inside.

Ben Wallace was out due to sinusitus. Yet we got outrebounded something horrible. And although we did go inside some, not nearly enough considering how small they were going. Between Billups being injured, and the organization unwisely not letting their only other legitimate point guard play, well, things just ain't getting run too well.

Hunter made a shot. But notice he is not a point guard. He is not driving in and dishing, not creating plays. Thats why his only option is to shoot the ball. Flip does have some talent, but is very inconsistent about when he chooses to use it. Between the two, one horrible backcourt.

We do have a fine young rebounder down in the D League named Amir Johnson just in case the Pistons are interested in going anywhere this year in the playoffs.
lee357 (http://info.detnews.com/pistons/lettersindex.cfm?username=lee357), flint, mi

I'm happy I missed this one. Thanks for the feedback folks.

Pistons are sputtering too much down the stretch to be considered legit. But until we're out, we still have a chance so keep your heads up!

Florida lost 3 of 4 towards the end of the season. They came back in the tourney again. Pistons will swamp their opponents in the playoffs to make it to the finals again..........................or mabye not.:hoops:

Not much for me to add about this game itself...a real stinker. We all know that the Pistons don't usually play anywhere near this badly, but the depressing thing is that getting blown out at home is generally considered one of the dividing lines between 'ship-caliber and not-quite-good enough teams. Having a top-notch road record, which the Pistons do possess, is one good indication of a team's ability to win it all, but embarrassing yourselves like this in your own house is not something that can easily be written off.

weird how the game turned so quickly. rip was off the entire night and really has trouble getting open against chicago. we don't matchup that well with them and that's worrisome for playoffs. hrm...

Not much for me to add about this game itself...a real stinker. We all know that the Pistons don't usually play anywhere near this badly, but the depressing thing is that getting blown out at home is generally considered one of the dividing lines between 'ship-caliber and not-quite-good enough teams. Having a top-notch road record, which the Pistons do possess, is one good indication of a team's ability to win it all, but embarrassing yourselves like this in your own house is not something that can easily be written off.

Well, you have a coach who could care less if his starters are playing badly, especially on D. Why should they play D if the coach is going to leave them in anyway? Flip will not make adjustments. Perhaps he does not care about this game as much as saving all the good stuff for the playoffs. Also, this team is banged up and tired. Many coming off the flu. Flip Saunders is clueless if he thinks missing games from the flu is somehow rest for the player. No, having the flu is a horrid experience. It cuts off your breathing. Nobody gets rest from barely being able to breathe. Of course, Flip will turn around and avoid all guilt, pointing to the trainer to track minutes. Sorry, its the coaches responsibility to know his players, and know when they are tired. Flip lost this one in the 2nd quarter when he took a couple of subs out to put two starters back in. At that point it was a tie game pretty much. Disaster followed that move soon enough. No way this game is an indication of how good the Pistons can do in the playoffs, but it is exactly what will happen if Flip Suanders does not rest his starters this last bit of the season.

Well, you have a coach who could care less if his starters are playing badly, especially on D.
He cared enough to actually make an in-game adjustment and throw the game at the end of the third.

I've never seen him do that before.

I agree, it wasn't a good game by 'Stones. However, I think it is important to get away from ups and downs of regular season. Sure, we can fret over an ugly loss, but I think in the end what matters is the playoffs. Lets not pass any judgment on this team until they play some meaningful games. Look at last year's Miami. They lumbered through the regular season and ended up winning it all. I am not predicting anything for the playoffs, I just don't know. I guess we'll see what happens.

Tyrus Thomas with 13 points and 8 rebounds (5 offensive) in only 10 minutes!!! and he was literally sick... as in flu.

I watch a lot of Bulls games here in Chicago, and it is incredible what a difference he is making in the last month.

I know it won't happen, but Amir does look like a similar player from what I have seen in the D-league... tall, skinny but strong, long arms, incredible hops, good nose for the ball and shock blocking instincts. Tyrus Thomas is basically playing the garbage man role on offense and protecting the paint on D. Maybe Amir could get by with that until the rest of his game gets "NBA ready."

I still think the Bulls would have been better off with Tyson Chandler instead of Ben (even ignoring the huge salary savings they would have with TC).

I also think they should have pulled the trigger on the Gasol deal. Ben Gordon makes spectacular baskets, but they are not really necessary in most cases. There is a bit of fool's gold in him. Tonight he was non-existent and it was one of the Bulls better games.

I just spent like 15 minutes writing a beautiful entry only to have my computer tell me it has encountered an error. It's true what they say, to err is human, to really screw up, it takes a computer.

Anway, this is basically what I had to say:

The optimistic side of me says to just disregard this game. It was, as the French would say, "le crap." But I refuse to take it for more than what it is: 1 game in a series of 4, in a season of 82. Granted, the first game verse the Bulls Detroit lost by like 15. But we were without Chauncey and it was played pre-Webber. And I'm not sure what somebody was thinking when they said something about Rip not being able to play well against the Bulls, he did drop 27 on them in that first meeting (of course, he was getting to the free throw line a lot more in those days), and scored 22 in the win at the Palace. The middle two games were decided by 2 points. The defeat was again played without two starters, Chris and Rip. And then there was this game...Really isn't much to say. I mean, you had the Pistons, a, for lack of a better word, unenergized team, playing against the complete opposite: a team that looked to push the ball and one that is fighting for the second seed in the East. And while the Bulls beat us up pretty badly on the boards, I'm not willing to credit their scrappy (yet effective) defense for the Pistons shooting woes. There were so many missed layups and floaters and other point-blank shots as well as open jumpers that I can't help but believe this was just one of those nights where things didn't go right for the Pistons.

As far as the coaching is concerned, I will shy away from comment as I am not any where near savvy enough to venture into it. I will only say that I believe it is too easy to blame the coach. When we won 64 games last year, nobody was complaining about the way Coach Flip Saunders was running things. But we lose the 8th to last game of the season, and one on the tail-end of a back-to-back, and suddenly the man is on trial. But again, I know nothing about coaching...

All in all I am no more concerned about our run in the playoffs as I was before this game took place. I think what this whole discussion really comes down to is that us fans wanted the win more than the players did.

Chauncey Billups on tonight's game: “You play like that, a team beats you like that at home, all you can do is get over it. You can’t let it linger and can’t let it affect you in your next outing.”

The Pistons need to develop their HCA, and they have to do it quick. It is great that they can win on the road, but they have to make teams scared to come to the Palace. That has not been the case this season.

Chicago Tribune's version of the game:
Bulls thump, anger Pistons

Chicago Tribune news | Registration (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-070404bullsgamer,1,3934754.story?coll=chi-sportstop-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true)

"Maybe the Bulls ought to forget moving up in the standings and try to fall to eighth just to knock out the Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

You call the Pistons the best team in the Eastern Conference"?

Does Rip draw a suspension for continuing to chase Thomas around the court?

"Maybe the Bulls ought to forget moving up in the standings and try to fall to eighth just to knock out the Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

You call the Pistons the best team in the Eastern Conference"?

yeah, bring it on you clown.

Just when you think the pistons got it together. Just when you think all the parts are meshing well. Just when you think the finals are wrapped up. Now who the hell gets paid for thinking??

That game hurt me a lot. I try to pretend that it didn't bother me as i yelled at the kids for whispering too loudly, among other silly little things. Why is this team so bad at home?? One question on my mind is, who needs ben?? I am suppose to be moving on. Wake up, Ben is not coming back.

So what about this game bothers me, you say??

1. Ben was not playing and they played better.
2. Chicago has beat us 3 times this season.
3. Chicago is in the same conference.
4. Billups got burned by Hinrich over and over again.
5. We will see them in the playoffs.

"Maybe the Bulls ought to forget moving up in the standings and try to fall to eighth just to knock out the Pistons in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

You call the Pistons the best team in the Eastern Conference"?

yeah, bring it on you clown.

Who knows, maybe Flip has a bulletin board.

as i've been saying all year, we need repeated slaps in the face or we're just going to take the exact same attitude the playoffs as we did the previous 2 years.

this should be the last one we need (or maybe one more closer to the playoffs).

I agree, it wasn't a good game by 'Stones. However, I think it is important to get away from ups and downs of regular season. Sure, we can fret over an ugly loss, but I think in the end what matters is the playoffs. Lets not pass any judgment on this team until they play some meaningful games. Look at last year's Miami. They lumbered through the regular season and ended up winning it all. I am not predicting anything for the playoffs, I just don't know. I guess we'll see what happens.


So true....look at last year. The Pistons dominated the Bulls and the Cavs. The Cavs almost beat the pistons last year. This was a bad loss, but I do not know if it is an indicator of bad things to come. We just have to wait for the playoffs.

Tyrus Thomas with 13 points and 8 rebounds (5 offensive) in only 10 minutes!!! and he was literally sick... as in flu.

I watch a lot of Bulls games here in Chicago, and it is incredible what a difference he is making in the last month.

I know it won't happen, but Amir does look like a similar player from what I have seen in the D-league... tall, skinny but strong, long arms, incredible hops, good nose for the ball and shock blocking instincts. Tyrus Thomas is basically playing the garbage man role on offense and protecting the paint on D. Maybe Amir could get by with that until the rest of his game gets "NBA ready."

I still think the Bulls would have been better off with Tyson Chandler instead of Ben (even ignoring the huge salary savings they would have with TC).

I also think they should have pulled the trigger on the Gasol deal. Ben Gordon makes spectacular baskets, but they are not really necessary in most cases. There is a bit of fool's gold in him. Tonight he was non-existent and it was one of the Bulls better games.

Skiles has trouble handling players. He had Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler and Elton Brand. I think Skiles has issues.

You could see the energy drain out of the Pistons as Hinrich kept hitting the jumpers and we kept blowing layups. I think there is a huge fatalist component to this team. They see these things a signs that the fates are against them and they have no chance. When one of our guys get hot they think the fates are with us and the confidence of the whole team rises. This is the same thing that killed us in the playoffs last year. It is so important for them to get off to a good start in the first and third quarters. They should purposely start each quarter going for easy shots to build there confidence and stay away from the 20 footers until they feel confident.:victory:

I dunno guys... I think it's less about what the Pistons didn't do and more about the matchups....it looked like that team is so much quicker than ours. They are quicker at every position (Rip may have a slight edge)... Chauncey, Cwebb, Sheed and co. simply couldn't keep up... it's easy for them to break down our perimeter and get to our 2nd & 3rd line of defense.... they are now mature enough to make the extra pass inside.
Of course the Bulls hot shooting forced us to respect the outside game... which created some lanes inside.... wasn't this the team that couldn't score in the paint?

IMO, the Bulls wasted a lot of cap room signing Ben... not that Ben isn't good... but Ty Thomas gives them a similar game with a little more offense.

We're heavy on slow vet experience and soft on athletes (minus Amir & Rip).... IMO the Pistons have a tough time when they are forced to speed up their individual games.

I just spent like 15 minutes writing a beautiful entry only to have my computer tell me it has encountered an error. It's true what they say, to err is human, to really screw up, it takes a computer.

Anway, this is basically what I had to say:

The optimistic side of me says to just disregard this game. It was, as the French would say, "le crap." But I refuse to take it for more than what it is: 1 game in a series of 4, in a season of 82. Granted, the first game verse the Bulls Detroit lost by like 15. But we were without Chauncey and it was played pre-Webber. And I'm not sure what somebody was thinking when they said something about Rip not being able to play well against the Bulls, he did drop 27 on them in that first meeting (of course, he was getting to the free throw line a lot more in those days), and scored 22 in the win at the Palace. The middle two games were decided by 2 points. The defeat was again played without two starters, Chris and Rip. And then there was this game...Really isn't much to say. I mean, you had the Pistons, a, for lack of a better word, unenergized team, playing against the complete opposite: a team that looked to push the ball and one that is fighting for the second seed in the East. And while the Bulls beat us up pretty badly on the boards, I'm not willing to credit their scrappy (yet effective) defense for the Pistons shooting woes. There were so many missed layups and floaters and other point-blank shots as well as open jumpers that I can't help but believe this was just one of those nights where things didn't go right for the Pistons.

As far as the coaching is concerned, I will shy away from comment as I am not any where near savvy enough to venture into it. I will only say that I believe it is too easy to blame the coach. When we won 64 games last year, nobody was complaining about the way Coach Flip Saunders was running things. But we lose the 8th to last game of the season, and one on the tail-end of a back-to-back, and suddenly the man is on trial. But again, I know nothing about coaching...

All in all I am no more concerned about our run in the playoffs as I was before this game took place. I think what this whole discussion really comes down to is that us fans wanted the win more than the players did.

Chauncey Billups on tonight's game: “You play like that, a team beats you like that at home, all you can do is get over it. You can’t let it linger and can’t let it affect you in your next outing.”

You stated nobody complained. Maybe you did not know me then. I complained all year long. Overplaying the starters. Chopping down the rotation. No time at all for Amir nor Maxiell. Etc. The regular season is all about getting the team ready, not how many wins you get-as long as you do win enough to get into the playoffs.

IMO, the Bulls wasted a lot of cap room signing Ben... not that Ben isn't good... but Ty Thomas gives them a similar game with a little more offense.



Here's the thing. The Bulls are paying Ben Wallace $16 Million this year!!!

That is more than they are paying for Hinrich, Deng, Gordon, Nocioni, and Thomas COMBINED. That is just unreal.

Of course, those salaries will go up when the different contract expire... but, they could have kept Tyson Chandler for about $9Mill/ year and saved $7M/ year by having TC instead of Ben. That $7M could have been put to good use in the next few seasons.

And what has Tyson done since he left? He's basically broken out and had a career season... almost averaging a double-double while becoming the 2nd best rebounder in the league.

Unless Ben does something in the Playoffs that he doesn't for them during the regular season, I don't see how you can say this deal worked out well for the Bulls. They got bamboozled.

I don't think they got bamboozled. Chandler was a foul machine compared to Ben.

There is something to be said for having a veteran player on a young team, someone who has been in the trenches of the NBA Finals, and gets a lot of friendly whistles.

After seeing Dwyane Wade punk the Mavs in the Finals from the free throw line, a guy who gets friendly whistles is extremely valuable.

Besides, they paid Ben without going into luxury tax territory, and they structured his annual salary to de-escalate.

You're also forgetting that Chandler was moved for PJ Brown, another veteran presence and 2 second round picks...

A thousand pardons, Lee.

I too agree with TaShawn/Mercury that the bulls could have done just as well by just keeping Chandler. The question is would Skiles have used him the way BScott does in NewOr to have the break out season.

Would we have been better with Ben? Who knows for sure. The stats say we are better, but the record doesn't indicate it. In the end we may only be 12 games worst than we were last year, but Ben could have been the difference as Roscoe says in the post season.

Also agree with Mercury...we appear to be a tad slow at key positions to keep up with some teams. CB was just plain embarrassed out there last night and despite the successful three balls by Sheed, he seem slow and aloof especially with the bandaged hands

That game was flat out embarrasing. All the easy point blank shots from chic, getting out boarded without Ben. No energy or seemingly any will to win. You would think that being down 1-2 in a series with one blowout already would have meant something. Not to mention the fact that it was Bens old team. It meant something to the fans to win that game and its too bad the players did not feel the same way.

Wonder if the Pistons will get fined for the Palace Punk throwing a lip balm at Tyrus as he was escorted out through the tunnel after he was thrown out.

Both PTI and Around the Horn spotlighted it, so you wonder if Stern is looking for more ways to take some more money out of Davison's pockets??

Wonder if the Pistons will get fined for the Palace Punk throwing a lip balm at Tyrus as he was escorted out through the tunnel after he was thrown out.

Both PTI and Around the Horn spotlighted it, so you wonder if Stern is looking for more ways to take some more money out of Davison's pockets??

Missed that. I was unfortunate enought to be at the game. Don't know if they showed it on tv or not but Tyrus only acted tough when he was being restrained. Unrestrained he did not want anything to do with Rip and walked away from him.

Missed that. I was unfortunate enought to be at the game. Don't know if they showed it on tv or not but Tyrus only acted tough when he was being restrained. Unrestrained he did not want anything to do with Rip and walked away from him.

Really?

We call Carmelo, Carmella now for almost that very reason. Should we call Tyrus.......Tyra??:pound:

Really?

We call Carmelo, Carmella now for almost that very reason. Should we call Tyrus.......Tyra??:pound:

Don't know. It was ridiculas. I have not seen anything like that since grade school. You knew and Rip knew that he was not going to do anything. I think thats why Rip kind of taunted him a bit.

Wonder if the Pistons will get fined for the Palace Punk throwing a lip balm at Tyrus as he was escorted out through the tunnel after he was thrown out.

Both PTI and Around the Horn spotlighted it, so you wonder if Stern is looking for more ways to take some more money out of Davison's pockets??

I saw the massive overreaction on PTI. It's not the Pistons' fault that one idiot threw something at Tyrus. TONS of people were hurling stuff at the Pacers during and after the brawl, which was awful...but after two and a half years without any other incidents, one punk throwing something means that there's a "pattern" that the Palace is responsible for? Give me a break.

I thought the Indy game was a wakeup call, but the Pistons won that game. They got away with poor basketball so they didn't get that wakeup call. I think this slap in the face should do the job.

The question I have is:

knowing what they know now, if they could do it over, would they?

It's obviously working out for them OK this way in the short run, I'm just thinking that they really could have become a 5 year force like the Pistons.

I think they thought they were sacrificing all of that to go for it this year, and it just didn't pan out as well as they had hoped.

This year, Ben is:
6th on the Bulls in Roland Rating
5th in production
13th in on court, off court +/-

With the Pistons last year (a better reg season team), he was:
3rd in Roland
2nd in production
3rd in +/-

Is that not a steep drop off?

The Bulls defense gave up an eFG% of .426 last year compared to .477 this year. They only gave up 3 more free throws per game last year.


I don't want to get too carried away, because I still believe that he may be conserving energy and playing to not get injured. He must have another gear he can go to and is saving it for the playoffs, cause this has not been the Ben we all knew and loved.

Here is an interesting article in support of him:

Neutralizing the Shot Blocker (http://www.82games.com/cade1.htm)

None of this alleviated any of my previous fears. Taking any piece of the Pistons for their own was proactively mean.

A thousand pardons, Lee.

Thanks for the apology, I guess. lol. None called for. Sorry if my post had a harsh tone to it. I did not mean it too.

I saw the massive overreaction on PTI. It's not the Pistons' fault that one idiot threw something at Tyrus. TONS of people were hurling stuff at the Pacers during and after the brawl, which was awful...but after two and a half years without any other incidents, one punk throwing something means that there's a "pattern" that the Palace is responsible for? Give me a break.

they could easily solve this by just putting up a see-through net over that portion of the walkway...That way...people won't even bother throwing something if there's no chance to hit anyone.

I saw the massive overreaction on PTI. It's not the Pistons' fault that one idiot threw something at Tyrus. TONS of people were hurling stuff at the Pacers during and after the brawl, which was awful...but after two and a half years without any other incidents, one punk throwing something means that there's a "pattern" that the Palace is responsible for? Give me a break.

I was there too. In an unrelated incident behind the backboard near the Stones bench, a fan who was obviously drunk, was gripping a fresh, large Brew. Only minutes into the second quarter his language and threatening behavior caused enough uproar to have several red jackets escort he and his friend away for the remainder of the game.

I question the Palace guidelines governing sale of alcohol. Don't know that it contributed to lip balm hurling but, but....

The security at the palace is pathetic...too many drunks and not enough control.

I have mentioned before an altercation I had with a drunken fan that nearly caused a fist fight. I was with my young son and went to ask an usher to get security...they came 1/2 hour later which did no good because the drunken fool had slunk off somewhere by then.

Any reputation of poor fan behavior at the Palace is deserved. Fans ...especially the drunks...are allowed to get out of control.

95% of sporting arena crowd problems can be solved by simply not selling alcohol. Its not needed, you can get by for 2.5 hours without having a drink.

At (file://\\At) $8 a glass beer sales are not going to be curtailed anytime soon. It gets real bad during the playoffs.

About the only positive spin I can put on that game to excuse it was that it was the 5th game in 7 days.

Seems like everytime the Pistons played the Bulls there was always something going on. Team not playing well, guys out, get them like this one after a busy stretch. The playoffs are going to be much different if we see them.

I think we're witinessing a changing of the guard... the Bulls are no longer intimidated by the Pistons (Ben's biggest attribute).... Joe is going to have to push some magic buttons this summer.... in previous years status quo was in order for just minor tweaking... this year a power shift in the East is evident... not just because the Bulls seem to have our number but other young teams like the Raps are on the rise.
Some of these young up-n-comming teams are a veteran away from becomming a serious playoff contender... possibly trading partners for some of their young talent.

I think we're witinessing a changing of the guard... the Bulls are no longer intimidated by the Pistons (Ben's biggest attribute).... Joe is going to have to push some magic buttons this summer.... in previous years status quo was in order for just minor tweaking... this year a power shift in the East is evident... not just because the Bulls seem to have our number but other young teams like the Raps are on the rise.
Some of these young up-n-comming teams are a veteran away from becomming a serious playoff contender... possibly trading partners for some of their young talent.
Funny how the Bulls seem to have leapfrogged the Cavs, and quite possibly us too. The combination of Thomas and Nocioni could wind up being more than we can handle.

These guys scare me but not this year.
At least one more year of schooling...I hope.

The knock on the Bulls is that they go through scoring droughts. I seem to remember a similar knock on the 2004 Pistons.

(agreeing with lemonpen), here are the reasons the Bulls could upset us:

1) Ben Wallace can flip the switch. There have been a handful of games this year where he has played like a tornado. It's possible that he has been taking a safe route for most of the year to make sure he makes it to the Playoffs in one piece, so that he can cement his legend.

2) Nocioni comes back, happily comes off the bench, and makes their 2nd unit a pain in the arse to play against.

3) Tyrus Thomas becomes Ben's Sheed and the no fly zone goes into effect. TT continues to clean up all the garbage and the duo exploits the Pistons unathletic rebounders.

4) Skiles out-coaches Flip by making better adjustments and firing up his team with bulletin board material consisting of Sheed and Mr. Big Shot quotes (which haven't been uttered yet).

I am not convinced that Skiles is somekind of playoff genious after a couple of seasons of getting out of the 1st round. Pistons are very vulnerable this year though. I would not be on the Bulls beating us by any means, that 7 game serious from the Cavs last season should open our eyes to the possibility of losing in the 2nd round at least.