1st round game #1

Orlando Sat April 21st 7pm


tv: ESPN, not sure about the local coverage.

Pistons and magic have played each other twice in the post-season. Both were in the 1st round. Magic swept the Pistons in the 1995 series 3-0 and the Pistons beat the Magic 4-3 in 2003.

Each series was full of drama. Back in 1995 Pistons head coach Doug Collins accused the Magic of running up the scores and the most recent 2003 series saw the Pistons comming back from a 1-3 deficit. This was amoungst a controversial statement by Magic star T.McGrady when he called the series over after game 4.

This years matchup is not expected to go past 5 games according to most experts. Many are picking the Pistons to sweep.

tv: ESPN, not sure about the local coverage.


Game 1 is on FSN

Games 2-7 are on WB 20

Don't count Orlando out. Sure, if Hill refuses to adjust in this series, the Pistons should win in 4. But on the other hand, if Hill does change his stripes and do some coaching, Orlando does have a lot of talent to work with. So far, I have seen no sign of Hill being a winner, so I am not too worried.

Silly me. I thought the first round was a best of 5. I must be thinking of baseball or something.

Don't count Orlando out. Sure, if Hill refuses to adjust in this series, the Pistons should win in 4. But on the other hand, if Hill does change his stripes and do some coaching, Orlando does have a lot of talent to work with. So far, I have seen no sign of Hill being a winner, so I am not too worried.

Does Hill have any teamates??

If the Magic , or should I say when the Magic lose this series it can`t be pinned on Grant Hill.

I think lee is referring to the coach, Brian Hill.

I think lee is referring to the coach, Brian Hill.



Yeah, I thought he was referring to Overthe

I think lee is referring to the coach, Brian Hill.



My bad.............:doh:

I'm lookin for a sweep. Big time. We outta be pissed they screwed us out of a lottery pick and put the serious BROOM to em. Swarm D-Ho from jumpstreet, keep somebody in Grant's pocket, boxout, play physical and hit our own dam shots; should be a SWEEP!

Just thinkin bout it makes me hungry. Orlando represents good eatin! Seafood (NOT) "lakefood." I'm thinkin some spiced up baked Grouper sprinkled with Coconut and smothered with cooked pineapple rings sets the stage. Especially over a bed of steamed spicy brown rice. Couple of biscuits to sop up the gravey and we are ON!

Yeah...I'm lookin for a sweep. Rubbin my belly right now just thinkin bout it.

GO PISTONS!

I'm lookin for a sweep. Big time. We outta be pissed they screwed us out of a lottery pick and put the serious BROOM to em. Swarm D-Ho from jumpstreet, keep somebody in Grant's pocket, boxout, play physical and hit our own dam shots; should be a SWEEP!

Just thinkin bout it makes me hungry. Orlando represents good eatin! Seafood (NOT) "lakefood." I'm thinkin some spiced up baked Grouper sprinkled with Coconut and smothered with cooked pineapple rings sets the stage. Especially over a bed of steamed spicy brown rice. Couple of biscuits to sop up the gravey and we are ON!

Yeah...I'm lookin for a sweep. Rubbin my belly right now just thinkin bout it.

GO PISTONS!

Hey Mad, there is a guy on the other forum that is using your name that just said basically the same thing as you. I just answered him over there. :)

Pistons in six..........or SEVEN games. We'll continue to let the lower eschelon teams have hope.........................:hoops:

Hey Mad, there is a guy on the other forum that is using your name that just said basically the same thing as you. I just answered him over there. :)

Zat so? He must be readin my mind! Clever fella ain't he? :MusicBigGrin:

I think ...PISTONSSSSSSS in 4 and.......CLOSEDhttp://www.pistonsforum.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

Love to see Pistons in 4 but you know what they do. They will screw one up and close out in game 5.:gun1:

Love to see Pistons in 4 but you know what they do. They will screw one up and close out in game 5.:gun1:

Got to agree with you there!!!

That's how they do.

Amir Johnson is staying with the big club, due to rules barring a player not on the playoff roster from returning to the D-League after the playoffs start. Someone posted the link on the detnew.com board in case anyone wants to read the article.

It will be interesting to see, now that the Pistons have been forced to do the right thing in keeping Amir here, if he will be dressed for this game ahead of Mohammed.

Amir Johnson is staying with the big club, due to rules barring a player not on the playoff roster from returning to the D-League after the playoffs start. Someone posted the link on the detnew.com board in case anyone wants to read the article.
lurker covered it here yesterday

http://www.pistonsforum.com/82536-post412.html

Does anyone here think Nazr would be enough to get Sioux Falls the Championship if we were allowed to send him down?

Does anyone here think Nazr would be enough to get Sioux Falls the Championship if we were allowed to send him down?

Oh yes he would dominate. Seriously - a seasoned NBA player, even an average one, would rule down there.

Oh yes he would dominate. Seriously - a seasoned NBA player, even an average one, would rule down there.

I would agree with your statement in general...

But Naz seems kind of stiff and slow to the ball. His post moves are terrible and he has really started bricking his FT line J's. I could see him getting some rebounds and put backs, but I just can't imagine him putting up Amir-like #'s. I'd pay to see it though.

i'll be there. see you guys at the game!!

I love making predictions.................First game..........................
Pistons 96 - Magic 93..............

Go Pistons.........

Does Hill have any teamates??

If the Magic , or should I say when the Magic lose this series it can`t be pinned on Grant Hill.

I am talking about the coach Brian Hill

Chat is open!!!

http://www.pistonsforum.com/misc.php?do=flashchat

Im at my desk at work watching the game. We have a 1080HDTV in my office though! Sweet! My see yall in the chat...GO PISTONS!

Orlando shot 60% from the field.

Other than that, good enough.

True to form. 6-8 point difference again with the Magic. Glad we were on the upper end of that score.

Sheed was great! Sheedtastic!

We played well in the first Q, then coasted the rest of the way, a couple times letting Orlando get a little too close for comfort.

If there is a "switch" the Pistons flip, let's hope it stays on for longer than one quarter.

Goooo Pistons!

Bad execution down the stretch allowed Orlando to get back in it, almost all the way back to a one possession game. First and third quarters were great for the Pistons, but the second and fourth were pretty weak. Gonna have to play with more consistency. Magic missed 18 free throws and had 20 turnovers, but we can probably count on similar numbers from them in those two categories in each game.

I'm starting to lose my confidence in Tay.

Where was Flip Jr?

Two 14 pt leads and a 16 pt lead blown all the way down to 3 points. Somebody needs a tongue lashing here. Magic shot better from floor than they did from the FT line. I think the Magic got a moral victory here. If not for their 21 turnovers and 18 missed Ft's they could have beaten the Pistons.

They killed the Pistons in the paint 44-24 and shot 58% from the field. They got a lot of fouls called their way in the first half.

Flip should take some blame here for sitting Sheed to long in the second qtr. The Hunter curse appeared to be affect as he came in at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the 4th and offense bogged down both times. Flip should try Flip jr in game two to see if he can bring more to the table than what Hunter gave us.

Going back to the play in the paint, I think we totally went away from that going down the stretch when the magic thru up the zone. To many long jumpers in those last 5 mins led to magic rebounds and easy buckets on the other end.

CB was the man tonight despite his 4 TO's and 4 pts aft the half. The 22 and 11 was good enough to redeem himself though

Darko played a decent game and he and Hill would love to upset the Pistons. DHoward got his 19 boards, but thank goodness he missed 8 FT's and had six TO's.

Seems like if Sheed gets double digits in paint points and Rip and C-Note near the 45-point mark combined, Pistons win. And that has been a constant whether Brown or Flip has been in charge.

When I was watching the Pistons fritter away the lead in the fourth quarter I felt like I was the one who got poked in the eye. That level of focus won't do it against a good team.

Two 14 pt leads and a 16 pt lead blown all the way down to 3 points. Somebody needs a tongue lashing here. Magic shot better from floor than they did from the FT line. I think the Magic got a moral victory here. If not for their 21 turnovers and 18 missed Ft's they could have beaten the Pistons.

Pistons are going to have to man up a lot better on defense, but I think this was in some ways a typical game for the Magic, albeit on the extremes of a few statistical categories. We know that they usually miss a bunch of FTs and turn it over way too much, so I think we'll probably be seeing more of that as the series goes on, albeit maybe not quite to the extent that we saw today. But if the Pistons pick it up on D, Orlando won't be shooting 58% again either.

I'm starting to lose my confidence in Tay.

Please explain. I thought Tay played pretty solid defense. He scored 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting. He added 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 block. His bucket in the closing seconds sealed the victory.

I am not too worried about the Magic, but it is pretty sad that a number one seed needs to depend on a 7th seeded team to play poorly in order to beat them.

My concern lies in the next round when we play a team that will not beat itself.

But that is a problem for another day. The Pistons won and the Wings won. All in all a very good day. :)

fino played good and darko played good. i enjoyed myself at the game. i had to cheer for darko while the other fans booed. i'm glad people are getting to watch a series full of darko. if nothing else it will destroy that myth that darko is on the bench because he isn't better than battie. we got the short end of that deal.

good win by the pistons. we looked good but lost a little bit of interest in the end. flip murray is still dodging bullets so he was glued to the bench. lindsey sucks in the playoffs. rip got his rhythm cause hill put jameer on him at the start of the game. chauncey is saving his abuse for monday for jameer.

tay's 3 with the shot clock running out was good. then keyon hit a 3 and that was a really big swing in the game.

Pistons outrebounded 33-39??

If it weren`t for 20 Magic turns, we could be down 1 game.

Not to mention the 58% shooting by Orlando.

Like I mentioned above, the Magic turn it over against everyone. They averaged 17 per game this season. You can't give up 58% shooting and expect to win consistently, but I think we can probably expect plenty of bad passes and poor ball-handling from Orlando in the rest of the series.

Pistons outrebounded 33-39??

If it weren`t for 20 Magic turns, we could be down 1 game.

Not to mention the 58% shooting by Orlando.

The only stats that matter now are the Ws and Ls. One down, fifteen to go. Enjoy the win!

The only stats that matter now are the Ws and Ls. One down, fifteen to go. Enjoy the win!

I do enjoy the win, however, as D4E said, if we continue to give up +50% shooting and get outrebounded, we will not reach 15 more wins......

Yeah, but I was really arguing that we're more likely to see Orlando's shooting percentage going down than their turnover numbers. I don't think they can consistently shoot 58% against the Pistons, but I'm pretty sure they're consistently going to turn it over 15-20 times per game.

I am tired from a long drive home from a friend's house. I had great fun watching the game. The most amusing thing to me was watching Howard miss all those free throws. All season long, I rooted for Howard to make his free throws, but right now he the enemy and I loved every miss.

I could not help enjoying see Arroyo and Darko do well, but I thought that was ok as long as they did well in a losing effort.

I am sure many fans can see that Orlando could make some simple adjustments in who they let play and give us an even tougher series. But rest assured, Coach Hill is the most stubborn guy you will ever meet. He won't change a thing as his team goes down in four.

On our side, two things I did not like. we shortened up the bench a bit too much, which anyone could have predicted would happen, and two, why was Chris Webber out there when we had a good lead with 5 minutes to go. A defensive player should have been put in to hold the lead at that point, not Webber.

By the end of the first quarter all the Pistons starters had gotten into the score book. Good sign indeed when all your guys are hitting shots. But other than Sheed hitting a short jumper, it was all outside shots. (Not counting the fast break score by Tay.) Bad sign. Orlando was beating us badly inside, and this continued all game long. As someone noted (I read the comments here and at micro's joint before doing my report) Orlando shot 60%. Thank goodness for Howards complete inability to hang onto the ball. We did not get that many points off turns really, but we certainly had a whole lot more shot attempts. And if you factor in Howards trips to the free throw line, hey, you can add about 3 or 4 more "turns" right there.

Howard certainly did not hurt us with his offense when you consideer all the turns and missed ft's, but he was their only force on the boards. As he played just about the whole game, Detroit certainly failed (or actually did not even try a bit) to get Howard in foul trouble. Dyess was useless in this game. He made a couple of shots, but all he does is shoot outside shots. Not a chance to get Howard in foul trouble, and he was not hitting his shots for the most part. Yes, he had a good day on the boards, but I know he is capable of scoring inside. I was hoping all those outside shots he took the last couple of regular season games was just target practice, and not an indication that he was going to forget the inside game he had been developing. We need inside scoring from him, and fouls on Howard.

Sure I loved to see those 3's from Sheed fall, but again, it is not going to get Howard in foul trouble. Hopefully this is just part of an overall strategy to force Howard out away from the basket for the series, but I don't quite have that much faith in Saunders that its anything but bad coaching.

CB and Rip took turns abusing Nelson. Nelson hit a few shots, but by no means can he make up for his total lack of D in this one. And fortunately for us Piston fans, this will continue all series long, for again, Brian Hill won't change a thing. Thank goodness for him.

Delfino got inside once, and nailed a few outside shots too. Good D as always. No Flip Murray, minimal time for Hunter. Davis and Maxiell got about 4 mintues each. I can just remember Maxiell cutting inside for that dunk.

This was basically a 7 man rotation, the starters plus Delfino and Dyess. Orlando's bench got considerably more playing time, but still not as much as a typical Hill coached game. Apparently, the fact that the games are Nationally televised, with longer TV breaks, is allowing Hill to leave his starters in longer, which can only be to our benefit, as maybe, no, just one of his starters should be starting.

Webber had a bit of of inside game going, plus he made the one outside shot. Without him we would have near zero inside presence. Tay did not do a lot of scoring but had 6 assists. Him not scoring was no big deal as our real mismatch was so often over Nelson. Got to go with what's easy. Stealing candy from a baby really. Should be the same next game. GO PISTONS!!!!!

I'm not sure if it was just that he got off to a good start, but Sheed really seemed focused today. He went inside early and had a nice shot selection overall. I think it was just his body language though. He seemed quieter and looked like he was really concentrating. There were a couple borderline calls against him (although they seemed like the right calls) and he dealt with them in a semi-positive way.

Dyess- I think the defense was bothering his shot. The Magic seemed to be keeping an eye on him and not leaving him open in his sweet spots.

Dale Davis- heck yeah. I hope he gets minutes in every game this series. He is the perfect guy to frustrate Dwight.

What worries me is that Rip, Sheed, and Chauncey all had very good games and we still could have lost. That is not usually the case.


It is worth reiterating how many bone-headed plays the Magic make. They are toast in a half court game. I'm not sure why they don't run. With their shot blockers and athletic players they could do some damage. Their turnovers would probably be less... since 50% of them now are from trying to feed Dwight in the post.


All in all, this is a good warm up series for us. I was more afraid of Milwaukee last year that I am of these guys. There is just no way when it comes down to it that the Pistons wouldn't be able to out execute the Magic.

Missed the game (had to DJ in TRaverse City)... thanks for the Caps, recaps & Leecaps.
Especially nice to hear about Sheed steppin up.

Darko: The magnificent mumbler (or is that bumbler)?





The Pistons took Milicic second overall in the next season's draft. He played Saturday despite spraining his foot earlier in the week.
"Darko was great. I wasn't sure if he was going to play, so I asked him right before game time and he just mumbled," Grant Hill said. "I didn't know what that meant, but I guess I know now that mumbling is good. He had a good game here in Detroit, and I know he was dying to do that."



NBA - Orlando Magic/Detroit Pistons Recap Saturday April 21, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=Aj16JLcbUmtBbccle30HHu85nYcB?gid=200704 2108)

Couple of things. Take all the ifs ands and buts and save them for another game. If Orlando had made more FT's then the game would have been closer and we all know how much differently the Pistons play in close games. They usually find a way to win.

Some good things. Howard was held in check after the break. Ball denial by Sheed there. Grant Hill is intimidated by Prince. There are your 2 best Magic players and the Pistons have answers for them. Some potential problems for the Pistons are Turkoglu ( if he gets hot ) and Ariza. Piston guards have trouble chasing Ariza around and Turloglu presents some matchup problems due to his height. Can switch Prince on Hill to shut him down but if Turk gets hot he can shoot right over Rip.

Pistons are going to sweep this series, I am still confident.

pretty easy game. didn't get to the palace until late in the 1st quarter because i was doing a road rally (and naturally they calculated the placings wrong and we lost out on prize $). had 2 orlando fans sitting in front of us. the crowd was pretty good, several like-minded fans around me (when darko touched the ball we'd yell "SHOOT IT!!" and such).

while part of our strategy was to foul, the refs did their best to keep the magic in this game and the espn viewers from clicking elsewhere. some of the calls were just ridiculous. howard should've gotten an offensive foul on one possession but instead webber got hit with the call. in another case, in the span of a few seconds, the refs botched 3 calls in a row. or the incorrect blocking call on delfino. or the legitimate block tay had on howard that was called a foul. and the game would've been over had they not called that incredibly lame charging on billups when nelson flopped.

thoughts:
- orlando was lucky they got the benefit of the whistle and shot so well, otherwise this would've been a 25-point blowout.
- darko didn't look bad but it's mostly because they weren't checking him.
- sheed is doing a good job spreading howard out, but no one was crashing the boards for us.
- dice had a good game, but took his shots about 1-2 feet past his normal range.
- delfino played great and looked very confident. but he had a hard time defending grant hill because hill gets so much more respect.
- we got lazy at the end on defense, not moving our legs.
- might wanna try flip against arroyo next game ... their guards aren't a huge threat to score so lindsey's defensive prowess isn't as meaningful, and orlando kept crawling back every time he got into the game.
- it's encouraging that we played 10 guys and tay only had 37 minutes.
- rip and sheed were controlled and very focused.

As someone pointed out, if Orlando had hit FTs and held onto the ball ... they wouldn't be Orlando. That's their weakness and it won't get fixed during the playoffs. But do we always have to make it so hard?

PG worries me - not against these guys, but you know what I mean. Chauncey is so set in his "never hurry" ways, he slows the tempo to a crawl late in the game. Guys stand around, the shot clock ticks down and we launch 'em late. We need a change of pace, but Lindsey and Flip aren't the guys to provide it.

Please explain. I thought Tay played pretty solid defense. He scored 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting. He added 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 block. His bucket in the closing seconds sealed the victory.

Who was guarding Hedo?

As someone pointed out, if Orlando had hit FTs and held onto the ball ... they wouldn't be Orlando. That's their weakness and it won't get fixed during the playoffs. But do we always have to make it so hard?

PG worries me - not against these guys, but you know what I mean. Chauncey is so set in his "never hurry" ways, he slows the tempo to a crawl late in the game. Guys stand around, the shot clock ticks down and we launch 'em late. We need a change of pace, but Lindsey and Flip aren't the guys to provide it.

Hey, wonder why we moved Arroyo?:)

- might wanna try flip against arroyo next game ... their guards aren't a huge threat to score so lindsey's defensive prowess isn't as meaningful, and orlando kept crawling back every time he got into the game.
No, Flip Murray can't help. This is a playoff series. Flip Murray has not played point guard since highschool. The few tricks Flip has been taught would be dried up in the first game. Now, is Hunter any better? Nope. Will Blalock should be playing backup point.

I can tell you exactly what we would have seen last night if Blalock was the backup point. Most times down, Blalock would have gotten to the basket and either scored or set up a another Piston for an easy shot.

Orlando is just a warmup. We have to play Miami or Chicago next round. Right now would be the perfect opportunity to start playing Blalock to get him some playoff experiece going into next round. Here is what our bench should look like: Blalock, Delfino, Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell, Dale Davis. Dyess needs to come in early and act as a 6th starter, keeping both Webber's and Sheed's minutes down. Note, this is an 11 man rotation.

People objected to this rotation ealier, thinking no way Amir could be ready if the Pistons are not playing him. Guess what though, a whole lot of people go to see him play the last 4 games. Pretty darn impressive. And they say Blalock is not ready. Not ready? I will give you not ready: Hunter and Murray, neither of which is a point guard. Blalock is a point guard, and if used as one to ignite the unit above could do wonders.

Just to complete this post a bit, lets look at the matchups of our bench vs. Orlando's starters. Blalock vs. Nelson. Blalock is plenty quick enough to guard Nelson, and has enough skill getting to the line to get Nelson in foul trouble-not that its a good idea really to get him in foul trouble in the first place since he is a lousy point guard who hurts Orlando by being in the game.) Blalock, being an actual point guard, would totally outclass Nelson in this respect.

Delfino vs. Grant Hill. Hill looks pretty good these days, but against Delfino he ain't scoring. Delfino being our 2nd best behind Rip at moving without the ball would give Hill all he can handle just to keep up with him.

Next, Amir Johnson vs. Turkoglu. Turk would never score at all, never get a singe board vs. Amir, and be totally unable to defend him.

Next, JMAX vs. Battie. This is laughable. Battie might get a rebound or two vs. the shorter JMAX, but Battie would not in his wildest dreams ever score on JMAX or begin to be able to defend the guy.

Finally, Dale Davis vs. Howard. Obviously, this one is all about team D vs. Howard, but you might as well use a tough defender like Dale as much as possible. Orlando wins this matchup, but overall loses by about 40 points.

By the way, no matter how good Amir or JMAX are potentially, they can't score without a competent backcourt giving them the ball. You put the same front court, JMAX, Amir, and Dale, in with Hunter and Murray, and the result would be Murray and Hunter jacking up a bunch of shots and ignoring the tremendous inside advantage we have. In contrast, Delfino and Blalock would be giving all they have for one purpose, getting the ball inside.
(Wart, did not mean to pick on your post-good post-just the best place I could see to stick my post.)

We need to play more zone. Defensively, the zone negates any advantage Hunter may have over Murray, and Blalock simply does not have enough experience playing in the zone to be effective.

I would rather see Murray who if given the ball can score, and otherwise stays out of the way on offense. Hunter on the other hand cannot feed the post, take his man off the dribble and some of those shots last night were off by a good 12 inches.

If we keep playing zone, and force the Magic to play the ball inside to Howard, we will own this series. With the exception of Turk they don't have the shooting to beat us from the perimeter and the more the ball gets forced inside, the more turnovers we will create.

Like The Low, I don't believe in "the switch". What we saw all year is what we are going to see now. The positive for the Pistons is that they rarely play 3 bad games in 10, meaning that we have a chance to win every series, no matter who we are up against.

And something to keep in mind is that this Pistons squad plays very lazy at home. We're going to be a much tougher opponent in Orlando.

The best news we've received is that Chicago is holding serve and we can expect the Heat to do the same. Our next opponent if we beat the Magic will be going 6 or 7, and we should (note, SHOULD) be able to wrap this up in 5.

lee, i understand you are enthusiastic about blalock, but putting a rookie in with basically no NBA experience, in the playoffs, for the most important position on the floor? that's not going to work.

hunter's reputation as a defensive player is extremely important, but like roscoe said i don't think he's all that necessary against a team like orlando. a zone could hide murray's defensive mishaps, plus he should be able to drive and make plays against orlando. he's also shown a propensity for steals and making some gambling defensive plays, which works well with orlando's turnovers.

like the Detroit News article said today - we showed little zone, no pressing, and no half court traps. we won the game pretty easily and got huge leads without having to even show orlando what we're really capable of. as the series lengthens we can tighten the screws.

orlando fans were encouraged by the 4th quarter yesterday, but that's really misplaced hope.

We need to play more zone. Defensively, the zone negates any advantage Hunter may have over Murray, and Blalock simply does not have enough experience playing in the zone to be effective.

I would rather see Murray who if given the ball can score, and otherwise stays out of the way on offense. Hunter on the other hand cannot feed the post, take his man off the dribble and some of those shots last night were off by a good 12 inches.

If we keep playing zone, and force the Magic to play the ball inside to Howard, we will own this series. With the exception of Turk they don't have the shooting to beat us from the perimeter and the more the ball gets forced inside, the more turnovers we will create.

Like The Low, I don't believe in "the switch". What we saw all year is what we are going to see now. The positive for the Pistons is that they rarely play 3 bad games in 10, meaning that we have a chance to win every series, no matter who we are up against.

And something to keep in mind is that this Pistons squad plays very lazy at home. We're going to be a much tougher opponent in Orlando.

The best news we've received is that Chicago is holding serve and we can expect the Heat to do the same. Our next opponent if we beat the Magic will be going 6 or 7, and we should (note, SHOULD) be able to wrap this up in 5.

If I recall right, Blalock just played 4 years of college ball, and zones are pretty much the norm in college. In contrast, Murray has never played point guard since highschool, so any experience he has playing zone as a point guard is minimal. Blalock is quick, which helps in a zone. He should do fine. of course, with a solid man to man defender like Blalock, it makes our man to man defense better if we want to go that route.

PS, earlier in the season, Murray was so inept at playing in the zone that Flip Saunders pulled him from the rotation altogether. Murray has done better of late, but not consistently. He still tends to go back to watching here and there. He is gaining experience, but no way can you say he is experieced at playing a zone.

When I last saw Blalock play in the zone here in Detroit, it was like a blind squirrel looking for an imaginary nut.

He may have played zone in college, but this isn't the NCAA. It's the NBA playoffs and he would be facing some of the best players in the world.

I'll agree that he is a decent man defender, but he also tends to defend with his arms and body, not with his feet. Hunter can get away with that because the refs know it is his game, but a rookie like Blalock would be a target the moment he stepped on the court.

He's just plain not ready. He wasn't even able to string several good D-league games together.

I LIKE Blalock. But I like Alex Acker, and Cheick Samb. Doesn't mean I think they give us the best chance to win. Heck, Delfino needs a lot more than 7 minutes out there long before we think about playing Blalock over Hunter/Murray.

When I last saw Blalock play in the zone here in Detroit, it was like a blind squirrel looking for an imaginary nut.

He may have played zone in college, but this isn't the NCAA. It's the NBA playoffs and he would be facing some of the best players in the world.

I'll agree that he is a decent man defender, but he also tends to defend with his arms and body, not with his feet. Hunter can get away with that because the refs know it is his game, but a rookie like Blalock would be a target the moment he stepped on the court.

He's just plain not ready. He wasn't even able to string several good D-league games together.

I LIKE Blalock. But I like Alex Acker, and Cheick Samb. Doesn't mean I think they give us the best chance to win. Heck, Delfino needs a lot more than 7 minutes out there long before we think about playing Blalock over Hunter/Murray.

Kind of odd that the numbers show Blalock did so well on defense when he played. We do not have to play zone, but I bet if you wanted Blalock to play zone he could learn it just fine in a practice or two-while Murray will never quite get it.

Your idea of playing Delfino at point for a bit is perfectly ok. Especially if it leaves room for Johnson at small forward. A rotation consisting of Billups, Rip, Tay, Sheed, Webber, Dyess, Delfino, Amir, JMAX, and Dale Davis should be able to beat Chicago or Miami. Thats 10 guys who can really play some hoops. But adding in Blalock gives you a complete sub unit, and is the better option.

Lee, lol. Sometimes I feel that by replying I am just setting up an opportunity for you to post a rotation that includes the 13th man. :)

It would be great to play Johnson and Blalock. I just don't think it is going to happen. Much more important to develop Maxiell and Delfino right now. Neither would win SMOY at their current level.

What Lee is having a hard time understanding is that Blalock has not shown the ability to command respect from the perimiter... this will completely bottle up his driving path (when they sag)...
add in the odds of a rookie being composed enough to run a complicated system effectively (without overthinking).

It simply will not happen.

There is another element to not playing Blalock. Flip's system (going back to Minnesota) relies on a guard who can hit open shots. If you do not have a reliable jumpshot, you will not be able to run this offense. Hence why Murray doesn't excel and Hunter is so inconsistent from game to game.

- darko didn't look bad but it's mostly because they weren't checking him.


darko looked great. he was playing on a bad wheel and nobody scored on him one on one. he even ran out at sheed,dice and tay to make them miss several times. darko never just shot a wide open jumper. he made moves out of the post with people on him. he even dunked a couple. if nobody is checking a 7 footer 3 feet away from the rim something is very wrong with the pistons defense.

Gameflow

PopcornMachine's GameFlow - Orlando @ Detroit (http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20070421&game=ORLDET)

What Lee is having a hard time understanding is that Blalock has not shown the ability to command respect from the perimiter... this will completely bottle up his driving path (when they sag)...
add in the odds of a rookie being composed enough to run a complicated system effectively (without overthinking).

It simply will not happen.

Mercury, I hate to break the news to you, but the all time worst ever shooting percentage in the playoffs belongs to Hunter. Meanwhile, then you have Flip Murray, who simply is not a point guard. Generally a poor decision maker, it does not matter if he can shoot or not. Flip has no clue as to what to do with any advantage he has from being able to shoot an outside shot. Please note, Flip Murray did not play last night. In case you missed it, his team does not want him to play. So who is really living in the fantasy world here. Hunter and Murray are not point guards and no amount of fanciful wishing is going to change that. Complicated sets-exactly why Murray is not playing, and Hunter should not be. Neither is a point guard, and neither can even begin to understand those complicated sets.

I will conclude the discussion for this thread with the fact we started out the 2nd and 4th quarters with a combined minus 10 with Hunter in at point. Just one game, but we can keep track from here. Meanwhile, we have an actual point guard, who is now back with the team, who in the 14 games he played in usually managed to keep us even in a game. (I have posted those stats in another thread). Onto game 2.

How do you guys even read one sentence past any of Lee's posts that start with BLALOCK. He's not even as good as MS Blalock, the nanny from 'The Omen". She coud at least go to her lef.

Excellent game on my Sharp HDTV. I'll think of an excuse to work late again Monday. I just cant drink nothing. I think Ive decided to watch home games in the office and road games at my place.

I thought we were as crisp as a Game 1 allows. Nice forms and follow thru on Sheed's jumpers. Hogg was right when he said Dyess was about 2 ft out more than he usually is on his J's. Billups will avg 22 to 25 PPG in this series, so dont expect Tay to be a big factor on O. He just needs to focus on Round 2 where he'll be big. In this series, we should work in Delfino and Max more to raise their confidence.

Backup points are so irrelevant in the playoffs. Cb will go 38MPG minimum except in blowouts, so someone tell my bro Lee to relax. If we jump out early and put Orlando away by the 6:00 mark in the 4th, if not earlier, rest wfor Cb will be irrelevant. I think as long as CB doesnt turn from his assist first-ways, we'll be fine.

WORRIES?: More Webber....that was it

GOODIES?: ITS PLAYOFF TIME! Im sorry but HEY ..A WIN IS A WIN.

we all year to groan. I just want to go 16-12! SHIP TIME!!!:cheerleader:

Great game! Like Bill and HQ, I'm enjoying the first Pistons WIN of the playoffs. Nice to see that little X over the number one.

I thought that Sheed, Billups, Hamilton, Dice and Delfino had great games.
I haven't really been sold on Carlos so far, but this game made me a fan. He was hustle and energy, and seemed to really have a nose for the boards.

Speaking of the boards, if there is one thing that really concerns me about the Pistons, it's their rebounding. Many times, it seemed like the Pistons made almost no effort to grab a rebound. Hopefully, they turn on that switch soon.

Favorite comment of the game:

Right after Darko was poked in the eye, one of the announcers said something to the effect of, "He's young, and he really hasn't developed the reflexes to close his eye in time"

Hopefully, young Darko heard it, and in addition to shooting free throws after practice, will also blink 1000 times.

I think Darko should poke himself in the eye before shooting FTs. He swished both of them without so much as touching the rim.

Maybe he should go over and poke Dwight in the eye, as well.

But, seriously, the announcers for ESPN, especially Hubie, had a ton of praise for Darko, which I liked to hear, :stirthepot: but the Pistons still won.

No problem. Watch out, though, if Brian wakes up and starts actually doing some coaching :pound: :nerd2: :pound: !!

Who was guarding Hedo?

Rip, Delfino.

I think Darko should poke himself in the eye before shooting FTs. He swished both of them without so much as touching the rim.

Maybe he should go over and poke Dwight in the eye, as well.

But, seriously, the announcers for ESPN, especially Hubie, had a ton of praise for Darko, which I liked to hear !!

For the record, I think that Darko had a pretty nice game yesterday. The kid certainly has a ton of skill, I just question his "head for the game" at times.

I don't know if poking Dwight in the eye would help... but it doesn't seem like it could hurt! :pound:

Hey guys, I meant to do it last night, but I forgot.

Darko wasn't poked in the eye. He faked it.

All through the call, Sheed keeps telling the ref, "I did not poke him in the eye."

So I watch it the replay a couple times this afternoon, and Darko is totally playing it up. On the replay, Sheed's hand never touches Darko's face, although I allowed for the possiblity that he may have got Darko's left eye (definitely did not get the right eye).

At the line, Darko is wincing both eyes, and even rubs them both (hamming it up), but as soon as he goes to shoot the second FT, suddenly both eyes are fine.

Just wanted to clear that up. Mind you, I liked the idea of poking Dwight in the eye. :)

How do you guys even read one sentence past any of Lee's posts that start with BLALOCK. He's not even as good as MS Blalock, the nanny from 'The Omen". She coud at least go to her lef.

Excellent game on my Sharp HDTV. I'll think of an excuse to work late again Monday. I just cant drink nothing. I think Ive decided to watch home games in the office and road games at my place.

I thought we were as crisp as a Game 1 allows. Nice forms and follow thru on Sheed's jumpers. Hogg was right when he said Dyess was about 2 ft out more than he usually is on his J's. Billups will avg 22 to 25 PPG in this series, so dont expect Tay to be a big factor on O. He just needs to focus on Round 2 where he'll be big. In this series, we should work in Delfino and Max more to raise their confidence.

Backup points are so irrelevant in the playoffs. Cb will go 38MPG minimum except in blowouts, so someone tell my bro Lee to relax. If we jump out early and put Orlando away by the 6:00 mark in the 4th, if not earlier, rest wfor Cb will be irrelevant. I think as long as CB doesnt turn from his assist first-ways, we'll be fine.

WORRIES?: More Webber....that was it

GOODIES?: ITS PLAYOFF TIME! Im sorry but HEY ..A WIN IS A WIN.

we all year to groan. I just want to go 16-12! SHIP TIME!!!:cheerleader:
So how many games do we have to lose because of foul trouble on Billups before you think there is a problem? And did you notice that Billups has been injury prone all year. How many games will we have to lose due to minor injuries to Billups before you think there is a problem. The problem is real. Risking a championship like this, by not keeping a backup point guard ready to play, is plain nuts. As far as relaxing, I have the whole off-season for that, after we win it all.

Hey guys, I meant to do it last night, but I forgot.

Darko wasn't poked in the eye. He faked it.

All through the call, Sheed keeps telling the ref, "I did not poke him in the eye."

So I watch it the replay a couple times this afternoon, and Darko is totally playing it up. On the replay, Sheed's hand never touches Darko's face, although I allowed for the possiblity that he may have got Darko's left eye (definitely did not get the right eye).

At the line, Darko is wincing both eyes, and even rubs them both (hamming it up), but as soon as he goes to shoot the second FT, suddenly both eyes are fine.

Just wanted to clear that up. Mind you, I liked the idea of poking Dwight in the eye. :)

Faking an injury to draw a foul on Sheed?!!!

My respect for Darko just increased a little.

Yeah, I'm not saying Darko did anything wrong. In fact, that's pretty savvy because his FTs keyed the Magic comeback.

But he was definitely faking. No wonder Sheed kept arguing it.

I think Darko should poke himself in the eye before shooting FTs. He swished both of them without so much as touching the rim.

Maybe he should go over and poke Dwight in the eye, as well.

But, seriously, the announcers for ESPN, especially Hubie, had a ton of praise for Darko, which I liked to hear, :stirthepot: but the Pistons still won.

No problem. Watch out, though, if Brian wakes up and starts actually doing some coaching :pound: :nerd2: :pound: !!

Noway. Brian Hill is a loser. His team should have made the playoffs last year, but he was too ignorant to start playing Ariza the day he got him. There is hardly an Orlando fan left who does not think Ariza should be starting over Turkoglu. Nelson is another guy the fans would have demoted by now, although they were part of the problem most of the year, believing in the guy despite the painfully obvious facts that he is not a point guard, and that he can't defend most opposing point guards.

Most of the year, it was charity to let Grant Hill start. Even now, he is really not that great a defender and should be coming off the bench. Better defenders such as Dooling and Bogans get way too little use while Grant plays his last season.

And Battie. Half the production per minute vs. Darko. And yet he starts, letting every team start the game off double teaming Howard without a fear in the world. Some coaches get one or two players wrong, Hill has 4 in his starting unit that do not belong there. Good thing for us, he will never change.

The switch? Here is what they say about it.


If the top-seeded Pistons have a weakness that the eighth-seeded Magic can expose in this series, it's that they have a wandering attention span.


Late arrival - Orlando Sentinel : Top Sports Late arrival - Orlando Sentinel : Top Sports (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/local/orl-magic22a07apr22,0,7934493.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines)

It also states that the Magic are 28th in FT% and 29th in TO's. So there are your ifs and buts - its just Magic bball. Its very hard to develope a team that takes care of the ball like the Pistons do. Its something we take for granted but very few teams are like that.

In the Last game, besides all the bad calls, the Pistons did kind of play down to the competition level at times. Good old Pistons there, I don't know if they can change even if they wanted to. Just keep winning!!

Noway. Brian Hill is a loser. His team should have made the playoffs last year, but he was too ignorant to start playing Ariza the day he got him. There is hardly an Orlando fan left who does not think Ariza should be starting over Turkoglu. Nelson is another guy the fans would have demoted by now, although they were part of the problem most of the year, believing in the guy despite the painfully obvious facts that he is not a point guard, and that he can't defend most opposing point guards.

Most of the year, it was charity to let Grant Hill start. Even now, he is really not that great a defender and should be coming off the bench. Better defenders such as Dooling and Bogans get way too little use while Grant plays his last season.

And Battie. Half the production per minute vs. Darko. And yet he starts, letting every team start the game off double teaming Howard without a fear in the world. Some coaches get one or two players wrong, Hill has 4 in his starting unit that do not belong there. Good thing for us, he will never change.

I don't see Neslon as much better than Chuckie Atkins. Nelson is stronger but I never see him use that strength.

Mercury, I hate to break the news to you, but the all time worst ever shooting percentage in the playoffs belongs to Hunter. Meanwhile, then you have Flip Murray, who simply is not a point guard. Generally a poor decision maker, it does not matter if he can shoot or not. Flip has no clue as to what to do with any advantage he has from being able to shoot an outside shot. Please note, Flip Murray did not play last night. In case you missed it, his team does not want him to play. So who is really living in the fantasy world here. Hunter and Murray are not point guards and no amount of fanciful wishing is going to change that. Complicated sets-exactly why Murray is not playing, and Hunter should not be. Neither is a point guard, and neither can even begin to understand those complicated sets.

I will conclude the discussion for this thread with the fact we started out the 2nd and 4th quarters with a combined minus 10 with Hunter in at point. Just one game, but we can keep track from here. Meanwhile, we have an actual point guard, who is now back with the team, who in the 14 games he played in usually managed to keep us even in a game. (I have posted those stats in another thread). Onto game 2.
Ok, thanks or clearing that up...
So we should take a kid that has had little to no success in the NBA (or D-League for that matter) and trust him to turn it on now that the playoffs have started.
Granted L.H. or Flip are not your ideal PG they won't fold under pressure...
I just find it humorous that you're calling for the coaches head because he doesn't have a late 2nd rounder in the rotation in his first year... maybe every team should do this too?... or is it just our team that has these hidden gems?
In Lees world if you are young and on the team you're automatically worthy of taking vets minutes... they are always good... if the kid is foreign he's even better. lol.
I'm done with this silly discussion.... pine on 356

Hey guys, I meant to do it last night, but I forgot.

Darko wasn't poked in the eye. He faked it.

All through the call, Sheed keeps telling the ref, "I did not poke him in the eye."

So I watch it the replay a couple times this afternoon, and Darko is totally playing it up. On the replay, Sheed's hand never touches Darko's face, although I allowed for the possiblity that he may have got Darko's left eye (definitely did not get the right eye).

At the line, Darko is wincing both eyes, and even rubs them both (hamming it up), but as soon as he goes to shoot the second FT, suddenly both eyes are fine.

Just wanted to clear that up. Mind you, I liked the idea of poking Dwight in the eye. :)

I guess it is a different point of view but I saw that Darko's right eye was very red right after he poked Sheed in the finger with his eye. Besides, I thought most of you guys don't think Darko is smart enough to come up with that idea.

Sheed was yelling that Darko was to blame for poking him in the finger with his eye.

I will have to admit though that they do not often call those. When they are accidental, like this one was, they usually let them go, as long as there is not a big puddle of blood on the floor.

Lazy, I watched it frame by frame (30 frames a second) over and over. I'm very sure. Trust me, neither eye teared up, he didn't need a towel and his eyes were not red at the line 15 seconds later even though he kept making like he lost BOTH his contact lenses. lol

I'm quite impressed he pulled a stunt like that. Very clever. No lie.

Lazy, I watched it frame by frame (30 frames a second) over and over. I'm very sure. Trust me, neither eye teared up, he didn't need a towel and his eyes were not red at the line 15 seconds later even though he kept making like he lost BOTH his contact lenses. lol

I'm quite impressed he pulled a stunt like that. Very clever. No lie.
Darko practices that stunt, and if he was in fact using it here you have to give him credit for executing it so well in a pressure situation.

On the other hand, when Sheed is not practicing trick shots he practices poking an opponent's eye and retracting his hand so quickly that you are unlikely to detect it when the frame rate is slower than 100 frames a second.

So how many games do we have to lose because of foul trouble on Billups before you think there is a problem? And did you notice that Billups has been injury prone all year. How many games will we have to lose due to minor injuries to Billups before you think there is a problem. The problem is real. Risking a championship like this, by not keeping a backup point guard ready to play, is plain nuts. As far as relaxing, I have the whole off-season for that, after we win it all.
Lee, how many games did we lose yesterday?...15 to go, buddy! 15 2 go!

The game won is a game won. Mavs and Spurs lost their first games, so we are already doing better than them. No one is guaranteed an easy life, not even in 1 vs 8 matchup. We won the game, and even though Magic got close, it didn't feel like they'd have a shot at this game. Hopefully Pistons won't let this happen and just keep that distance to wrap up the series.

The game won is a game won. Mavs and Spurs lost their first games, so we are already doing better than them. No one is guaranteed an easy life, not even in 1 vs 8 matchup. We won the game, and even though Magic got close, it didn't feel like they'd have a shot at this game. Hopefully Pistons won't let this happen and just keep that distance to wrap up the series.

Thats so true. Easy to knock the Pistons but they did win. Never really seemed like the Magic were in it. Even when they were within 3.