2nd Round Game 4 - At Chicago May 13 3:30PM

tv: ABC

:sweep: :sweeping:

http://www.virtual-knutsford.co.uk/images/images_history/ask_joan/chimney_sweep.gif

Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be...

Gotta love that guy Disney!

I would be very much impressed if the Pistons would end this today. Two sweeps would be nice, so what if it`s the Magic and Bulls.

Let's sweep these bums and start doing therapy/filmwork for the next round.

I hope every other series goes 7 games. With the Pistons newfound focus, time off no longer concerns me.

If they can broom the Bulls, they will get the needed time off to rest-up/nurse some nagging injuries. I hope NJ and Cleveland beat up on each other.

http://www.tntluoma.com/images/beyond30/2004-03-26.clean.garage-400x300.jpg

http://thewizardofoz.warnerbros.com/movie/img/photos/photo5.jpg

another famous broomstress."I'll get u my little pretty's and your little #3, Too!! AHHHHH-HAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHEEEHEEEEHEEEHEEHOOOHOO!"

Okay I had to get in on this as well....

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/walt_disney/mary_poppins/dick_van_dyke/poppins2.jpg

here's what the dharma scribe discovered out on his back porch this morning...

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7946/21sc5.jpg

Ok if the Pistons pull off the sweep we may have to put this thread on a Bulls board... something about rubbing it in to the rivals is truly a thing of beauty (naw don't need a troll influx).... "Deetroit Suuuucks!!!"
Bulls = Piston wannabes

I found a boom at the foot my bed as well but it was really just a hint that I should get to cleaning the house.

By sweeping the deck today we can honor the Pistons and Mom with one sweeping motion.
HAPPY MOMS DAY!

http://www.projects.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/pioneer/images/photos/brooms.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3712/642464366ct024cornbroomqd7.png

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9494/bf1bh1rgb16a47d5da1.png

Today, we give new meaning to 'GOIN 2 WORK!!!!"...pick your poison!!
http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE-952587t110.jpg (http://www.acehardware.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1305604&cp=1254532.1254920)

http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE-952440t110.jpg (http://www.acehardware.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1305576&cp=1254532.1254920)

http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE2-1173881t110.jpg (http://www.acehardware.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1305572&cp=1254532.1254920)http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE2-1173881t110.jpg (http://www.acehardware.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1305572&cp=1254532.1254920)http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE-954779t110.jpg (http://www.acehardware.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1305560&cp=1254532.1254920)

Or as Sal said to Da Mayor in DO THE RIGHT THING "Choose your weapon, Mayor!!!"

Pistons pre-game starts at 2:30 PM on Detroit Local ABC.

http://lc.fdots.com/cc/lc/06/0659b3de4709172c2b3622220eb51ddc.jpg

Just a lil somethin to get yall fired up! A lil OLd Skool !!....is that Warthogg in the crowd??

http://lc.fdots.com/cc/lc/06/0659b3de4709172c2b3622220eb51ddc.jpg

Just a lil somethin to get yall fired up! A lil OLd Skool !!....is that Warthogg in the crowd??


I dunno. Is that his button next to him?

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/5907/89champsdk6.jpg

Glory Daze

Chat is open.

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

i think we will beat chicago

Once again, "hack-a-whoever" fails to work. We were better off when we were forcing them to make mistakes on the offensive end, as they were failing to execute. But, no....we'd rather use a worthless chicken-sh** strategy to get back down 10.

Genius.

One game, big deal, Bulls suck, they'll die on Tuesday.

hack-a-ben is most definitely Flip's biggest flop of the post season to date.

Yeah which doesn't say much considering how much winning we have been doing.

I'm not crazy about it, but Ben has sucked at FTs throughout his Detroit career, and only this year decided to earn his salary by working on his FTs, so it backfired.

The game was lost when Webber didn't show up and Danny Crawford put Billups on the bench.

Well, I bailed again when the Pistons got down big, and of course they started a comeback immediately, at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Not enough, though. I'm not in favor of Hack-a-Ben, but whatever, that wasn't why they lost. Being down by 20 points after 3 quarters and letting them shoot 50% from the floor was.

Detroit just fell back to old habits today, letting the other team get a much better start and falling behind in the first half. The Pistons are a very good team but they aren't a great team yet so they didn't put the hammer down today. I sure wish Flip would play his bench rotation some meaningful minutes instead of relying on the starters to come from behind and get a lead against a team that was playing for a lot of pride today. Maxiell was showing some great energy and he should have been in the first half as well. No Delfino to even give Tay a bit of a breather in the 2nd half so a little disappointing for me since I like to watch my favorite pine guys get some burn.

CWebb will be fine, just let him score early in the next game at home and he'll be back to his normal self.

The scary thing is Gordon hasn't even kicked it into his higher gear yet and how long can we keep him down?

Anyone thinking that Hack-A-Ben was the reason we lost is wrong.

Apparently someone thought it was a bright idea to leave their best 3 point shooter open, which deflated our comeback effort. Plus, we came in the quarter down 21 points. Don't count on beat Chicago with that kind of deficit. We just have to go home and take care of business.

I do like, however, that posterization Flip Murray put on Heinrich's ugly mug, perhaps the only bright spot in that 3rd quarter.

Anyone thinking that Hack-A-Ben was the reason we lost is wrong.

Apparently someone thought it was a bright idea to leave their best 3 point shooter open, which deflated our comeback effort. Plus, we came in the quarter down 21 points. Don't count on beat Chicago with that kind of deficit. We just have to go home and take care of business.

I do like, however, that posterization Flip Murray put on Heinrich's ugly mug, perhaps the only bright spot in that 3rd quarter.

It's not the reason we lost. It's just a stupid %%%%% way to ruin a run that you have going because you keep resorting to a strategy that NEVER works....EVER.

The Heat used it pretty well against us last season. Back when Mitch Albom was writing about Ben's wrists that need surgery, that if I remember correctly, he never had.

A late rally falls short. Why did we get so far behind, and why did we make our move so late? Billups got into foul trouble. And Flip Saunders does not happen to have ever managed to solve the backup point guard problem. Something about the fans being complacement enough to keep their mouthes shut about it. Oh well, you like mediocraty, you got it. You called for Hunter and Flip Murray all year to back up Billups, you got it. Ugly basketball when Billups leaves the floor. Me, I don't like it one bit. Nice rally though.

Anyone notice that when we were making a comeback, JMAX was in the game. Kind of stopped dead cold when he left the game though. The same JMAX the coach in his wisdom decided not to play in the first half.

The rally was mostly Billups getting to the line and making free throws. How ironic when Billups missed two as the rally fizzled. Right after Ben made 2 at the line. I have never liked Hack-a-Ben. For Flip Saunders using it, it would sound awful shallow of me to call him incompetent as a coach. Just call it one really stupid move, killing our rally. How in the heck you going to get any fast break scores off the free throw line? We should have been playing some tough D, there was plenty of time left and we were just down 7.

Rip just could not hit a shot in this game. He was pretty much open as usual. That hurt. Tay was not miraculous on his outside shot. Sheed could not muster up enough threes, and did anyone notice the disappearance of his inside game today? (I mean, all those shorter jumpers just were not happening-why?)

That we got close at the end was incredible considering we were outboarded about 2 to 1. Considering they killed us on fast break points, and just about every category imagineable. Their rookie Ty Thomas loosened up a bit and scored some points on us.

For Chicago to win from here, Billups would have to be in deep foul trouble the rest of the series. Pretty much impossible, but of course Chicago will be doing everything in their power to exploit this horrid weakness of ours. A weakness that so many fans here have cheered on all season.

Webber had a bad game, but you got to realize that Ben Wallace was guarding him. Webber scored 22 the game where they tried Ben guarding Sheed instead. But does that mean I think Webber should play in this series. Nope. JMAX is the much better player for this series. Dyess, I am neutral on him. His game is the complete wrong game for the series. Outside shooting from Dyess just adds to the problem of us not going inside enough. Amir Johnson should have his minutes, and Dale Davis should be playing too. Defense always helps. Our best defenders are Dale Davis, Sheed, JMAX, and Amir, and they should be the ones getting the minutes.

Getting behind that far in two straight games is dangerous. Chicago got their win. I predicted Pistons in 5. Looks like I will be right, not that I care. The only good from this game were those solid minutes turned in by JMAX, in a playoff game, under really high pressure conditions. Could not ask for much better than he did. GO PISTONS!!!!!

I think the Pistons lost this game because the Bulls played much better. Excellent shooting from the guards combined with big rebounds and defensive intimidation from Ben and company led to the Bulls victory.

The Pistons relied on an outside game even though the shots weren't falling, and often seemed very rushed on their offensive execution. Nice games by Sheed and Tayshaun, cool dunk by Flip Murray, and poor judgement by nearly everyone. I'm sure they will regain focus and win this series at home.

It was a %%%%% move that only seems to fail when Flip tries it, I agree.

I'm ecstatic to have at least stole a game in the best home team in the East, however. This should be as good as over.

The Heat used it pretty well against us last season. Back when Mitch Albom was writing about Ben's wrists that need surgery, that if I remember correctly, he never had.

Yeah, it worked if you consider Saunders panicking and pulling him off the floor as "working"

Riles/Jackson don't pull Shaq...Brown/Skiles didn't pull Wallace. It never works if you just leave the guy in there and let the other team waste their time and their fouls.

I think the Pistons lost this game because the Bulls played much better. Excellent shooting from the guards combined with big rebounds and defensive intimidation from Ben and company led to the Bulls victory.

The Pistons relied on an outside game even though the shots weren't falling, and often seemed very rushed on their offensive execution. Nice games by Sheed and Tayshaun, cool dunk by Flip Murray, and poor judgement by nearly everyone. I'm sure they will regain focus and win this series at home.


Good job Linwood. Let's be better than the Bulls and give credit to the opponent. They played well and we did not. We will end the series in Detroit. The sooner it gets here the better. We are up 3-1 but it seems like some people are either freaking out or calling for Flip's head because we lost one game. Going into this series, I am pretty sure every last one of us would have been thrilled if told the Pistons would have a 3-1 lead on the Bulls.

Hopefully, the Red Wings save the evening.

Are you kidding me? Skiles pulls Ben as much if not more than Saunders in 4th quarters this year.

I think the Pistons lost this game because the Bulls played much better. Excellent shooting from the guards combined with big rebounds and defensive intimidation from Ben and company led to the Bulls victory.

The Pistons relied on an outside game even though the shots weren't falling, and often seemed very rushed on their offensive execution. Nice games by Sheed and Tayshaun, cool dunk by Flip Murray, and poor judgement by nearly everyone. I'm sure they will regain focus and win this series at home.


Pistons lost because they wanted to help out Ben Wallace. Ben needed a win to regain some semblance of respect in the Chicago locker room. When Ben went out to dinner with the Pistons players on Friday, they told him, "Wear the fro on Mother's day and we'll give you one in Chicago. They'll believe it was the mighty fro".

And Hack-a-Ben doesn't work if he makes his free throws, which historically he has not, and now claims in Chicago that he worked on his FT shooting this year.

Too bad he didn't work on it last year. We might have won a title.

History has proven me right on this time and time again. It doesn't work.

It will be forgotten in 3 days. I mean, that was a lousy effort, and no one's enduring memory is going to be playing Hack-a-ben down at the end of a game.

I'd rather Flip try this stuff now, up 3-1 against the Infantile Bulls than when it really counts. Let's hope he's learned the lesson.

UHM, and Flip Murray posterized Kirk Hinrich for everyone who missed the game or reference to it.

Yeah, it worked if you consider Saunders panicking and pulling him off the floor as "working"

Riles/Jackson don't pull Shaq...Brown/Skiles didn't pull Wallace. It never works if you just leave the guy in there and let the other team waste their time and their fouls.

Well, Ben's percentage was in the 20s last year during the playoffs. Skiles can keep him out there because he's hitting them. That's the difference, not the coach.

Besides, Skiles doesn't have any other options and he still has pulled him plenty of times in late game situations throughout the year.

YouTube - Murray Posterizes Hinrich (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrUVIxby4do)

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2563/poster1gr7.jpg

Merc recap...

Hinrich needs to break out the check book and buy mama some new dentures.

Next

Pistons lost because they wanted to help out Ben Wallace. Ben needed a win to regain some semblance of respect in the Chicago locker room. When Ben went out to dinner with the Pistons players on Friday, they told him, "Wear the fro on Mother's day and we'll give you one in Chicago. They'll believe it was the mighty fro".

didn't watch much of this game but a comment from my uncle: "it's obvious." i asked what was. "they're throwing this game on purpose." not that i believed they did, or subscribe to my dad's theory of "bill davidson wants more $ and told them to lose", but still.

simply put, we played LAZY. sheed takes TWELVE 3-pointers? and only makes two? we didn't try hard to box out ben, and webber was completely absent. either way, i don't see it as a bad loss, because you could tell the pistons' heads were getting a little too big, and they were looking ahead. back to the palace tuesday, and they're not going to let it slip away this time.

Merc recap...

Hinrich needs to break out the check book and buy mama some new dentures.

Next

I watched the game with some friends at the local bar. They didn't have the sound on, so I was trying to guess who the big toothless woman was that they kept showing.

:pound:

Post game pressers.

Tay looked and sounded like he was stoned. But I really liked his suit.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/7771/prettytaytl3.jpg

Scott "Generous Offer" Skiles

Flip "Hack-somebody" Saunders

Kirk "Poster Boy" Hinrich

Tayshaun "Dazed and Confused" Prince

Looks like kirk covered his eyes before he got dunked on

YouTube - Murray Posterizes Hinrich (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrUVIxby4do)

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2563/poster1gr7.jpg


This was awesome, a win would have made it even sweeter!!!!!

YouTube - Murray Posterizes Hinrich (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrUVIxby4do)

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2563/poster1gr7.jpg
Thanks bossman! It was a great play ..in a bad loss. Typical of him...

I hate him.

I watched the game with some friends at the local bar. They didn't have the sound on, so I was trying to guess who the big toothless woman was that they kept showing.

:pound:Here was my post during the chat:

LOL
@ my thoughts
Nice Interview, Kirk

everyone in my house was carcking up. And who was the guy next to her?

Give her a Mother's day break...:pound:

On the backup PG thing... what the person on the forum protection list may want to consider is that these guys are playing minor minutes... I would hope that the positive plays would also be mentioned (instead of just the bad X10)... I saw a steal by Hunter leading to a Flip facial on Hinney...... I saw some nice inside drives and kick-outs (or score) by Murray.... sure nuff they weren't very good tonight... but besides Prince who was?
Balanced opinions will always be respected more.
It sure looked like the starters gave up most of the points differential before the reserves got in.... but then again it could be that "Pistons only leg fatigue syndrome".

We just didn't play it like a playoff game. Hard to stay with the petal to the metal when up 3-0.

Tuesday we should see a return to playoff basketball.

More games = more risk of injuries.
Has ne1 noticed the beating that Lebron is taking in the NJ series?... Carter also.

Can you blame Riley/Saunders for using Hack-Ben considering how highly effective it was last year? In this game it snuffed out a nice Piston rally. Down by 7 with 2.4 to go we probably would have lost anyway. So I would not focus on that as the main reason why we lost.

I had almost forgotten what a 7-game series feels like. At least its not the 04 2nd round where we were 2-2 at this point with a pending loss in game 5 to follow. This year game #5 is an elimination game.

With all the things the Bulls were doing right and all the things the Pistons were doing wrong the Pistons were still in it. Cut the gap by 12 to almost steal this one. If the Pistons had made more FT's or if just 2 of those many misses had went in then it would be a different story right now.

Well, The new Pistons had just swept their 1st series against Orlando and it did not happen this time. Thats just the way it goes.

I don't think fouling Ben led to the Pistons loss but I hate the hack-a-Shaq strategy. I didn't notice 'Dyess fouling Ben until the commentators pointed it out and I just let out a big sigh. I would have preferred Detroit play good defense. Oh, well...

Definitely the best play of the game was Flurray's dunk over Hinrich and then staring him down like he was the %%%%. lol Oh, Flurray...

Loved Maxiell's play, too. And Tay had a solid game, as usual. I can't believe 'Sheed took 12 3's! One player taking double digit 3's is too much unless you're hitting a lot of them early. Which...he...didn't...

Remember the poll that was posted prior to this series about which player/coach would be the first to be ejected? Huh. Only 2 techs through the first 4 games. We had more than that in the first half of Game 3 of the Orlando series! Kinda crazy...

Post game pressers.

Tay looked and sounded like he was stoned. But I really liked his suit.


I don't understand your reasoning about this. It was perfectly understandable and actually quite accurate:


Detroit is usually very loose.
Detroit play weak and without intensity.
They did not have a strong finish.
The announcer was asking simplistic questions and notice his last comment.

hack-a-ben is most definitely Flip's biggest flop of the post season to date.

Why? Everyone should know the odds are in your favor putting ben on any foul line.

Missed the first half as the TV at the mothers day brunch restaurant was to far away to figure what was going on. Did get back to a real TV to see half the third and the feverish comeback in the 4th.

I think they were down 7 with 3:20 to go before that unchallenged Gordon three ball put the Bulls up 10, and Flip panicked and went into a totally un-necessary hack-a-ben mode. I think they could have trimmed that 10 pt lead back to possible one possession game with a minute left if they had stuck to the plan and continued to attack inside and send someone to the FT line for some and 1 possibilities. Also they panicked with the three ball>throwing those up to early and to often. In fact, if they had concentrated in the paint unstead of hoisting up 25 three balls, they may have won the game. Somebody tell me why Sheed took four 2 point basket attempts and twelve 3 pointers?? Did he do anything in the paint or did Ben intimidate him. Did Cwebb miss the plane to Chicago? Hopefully he is back at the palace practicing his jumper (IN THE PAINT). Brotha needs to be play the post and contain. zero points two games in row??? That hasn't happen since his first two games at Country Day High!!

The three ball and lack of defense defending the three is the the reason why the Warriors are one game away from going fishing :focus:

Like I said, I mssed the first half and will have to review the Tivo or NBA TV, or ESPN at midnight, but how much did the foul trouble affect the Rip and CB's play? Looks to me that the Bulls hit the shots they needed and they beat us in the paint by 16. I think as Deng, Gordon and Heinrich played the like they were supposed to, so give them some credit there.

Looks like the Pistons were going through the motions and thought they could turn it on in the 4th but came up short. Hopefully game one's intensity on both the offensive and defensive end will return on Tuesday and they can rest up for the next opponent.

A very telling ending for the bulls. Up by 20+ and they barely hung on. Ben Gordon's three when Detroit had it under 10 in the fourth was the killer blow.

The bulls may be young and talented, but it looks like they have some serious leadership voids. With game in hand, they continuously choked and every player (except for Ben) had an even hand in it.

I've got a feeling that this is probably going to be the last lousy game the pistons show in the playoffs.

Why? Everyone should know the odds are in your favor putting ben on any foul line.

After seeing what he did against Miami, and considering the fact that we didn't use that tactic at all to cut the 24 point lead to 7 in such a short period of time. It just felt like bad timing. You use hack-a-ben when you can't stop their offense, or when the momentum is going the other way. We had momentum on our side, and that killed it. Stopped the flow of the game and put the game out of reach.

Can you blame Riley/Saunders for using Hack-Ben considering how highly effective it was last year? ...

The only "effect" it had was getting Saunders to take Wallace out of the game. It was not successful at any point in ANY game in getting MIA a win whereas they would have lost had they not hacked Ben.

As a matter of fact, no team has won a game where they used that strategy to try to get the ball back.

Hell, Dunleavy invented the damn strategy and HE's never won a game trying to do it. Doc Rivers tried it relentlessly against us, when we had Ben, and failed repeatedly. Dozens of teams have tried it against Shaq every season and lose every time they try it.

As far as I'm concerned, even if all you "odds" people found a game in which it worked...the "odds," as you like them, are far and away NOT in favor of using this strategy as it results if far more losses than wins (if any).

The only "effect" it had was getting Saunders to take Wallace out of the game. It was not successful at any point in ANY game in getting MIA a win whereas they would have lost had they not hacked Ben.

As a matter of fact, no team has won a game where they used that strategy to try to get the ball back.

Hack-Ben did not work last season, Skiles never pulls Ben out in the 4th quarter. All is good in Ben land.

The Guy had a great yesterday. Be happy with that.

Hack-Ben did not work last season, Skiles never pulls Ben out in the 4th quarter. All is good in Ben land.

The Guy had a great yesterday. Be happy with that.


I'll decide what to be happy with, thank you.

I'll decide what to be happy with, thank you.

As long as you are happy more often than not, I'm fine with that :)

In a roundabout way I'm sort of glad for this loss.

I started thinking about going into the next round with a record 8 game winning streak, and how to hold serve the Pistons would have to stretch that to 10, and the odds against doing that...

Either way this can actually be for the best. :)

In a roundabout way I'm sort of glad for this loss.

I started thinking about going into the next round with a record 8 game winning streak, and how to hold serve the Pistons would have to stretch that to 10, and the odds against doing that...

Either way this can actually be for the best. :)

True. Its like one of those seasonal winning streaks when you know a loss is soon pending.

Reading the news clips today this appears to be a good old classic Pistons mail in deal. Especially after the great comeback in game #3.


Antonio McDyess agreed.
"I definitely think we took this game for granted



Wallace said the Pistons "weren't on the job," Sunday.


"We forgot a lot of what we did to win the first three games out there (Sunday)," said Pistons guard Rip Hamilton

as far as hack a ben goes: i lean towards low's position. i comprehend that if you look at it purely from the standpoint of ft % it might seem like a good idea. but i think there's a psychological factor that needs to be taken into account. first, because it disrupts the "flow" of the game (which if you are in the middle of a rally really does make a difference in my view) and second because it seems to me to send a message to your players that their defensive effort won't be good enough to get the job done (again, the wrong message to send just at the moment when the pistons defense was getting more stops).

however, that said, that is definitely not the reason we lost. in my view, we lost because a) defensive intensity was missing until the 4th quarter (and in this i include the vast rebounding differential) and b) there was little sharing of the ball on offense (except for that little run in the 2nd quarter). to a lesser degree, we just had some open looks that have been falling not go for us.

the first point is pretty obvious i think and made glaringly obvious by the sudden appearance of pistons defense in the 4th quarter. this seems like a clear case of mailing it in for three quarters, as someone else said, or of reading their own press clippings and disrespecting the bulls. we are a better team, sure, but they don't suck and we're in peril if we treat them like we treated orlando. i wouldn't underestimate the pride factor in chicago's favor in sunday's game, but i don't believe that accounts for hinrich going off. partly he was just on a roll, partly though a lot of those were easy open jumpers or layups off drives (or setting up others on the break).

as for the second point, chauncey's foul trouble certainly hurts us, but so does c-webb's reduced minutes. c-webb makes a difference even when he's not scoring. his passing ability is really astonishing and i wonder if letting him stay out there a little longer making good passes, even when he's having trouble scoring, wouldn't eventually get him back in the rhythm. this is not meant to knock dyess, who i believe is an important contributor (including in some ways that c-webb can't or doesn't match). it's just to say that the smoothness of the pistons offense depends on sharing the ball (and liimiting turnovers), and that seems to happen most and best when chauncey and webber on the floor. in any event, i think these are big factors in accounting for rip and sheed's decreased productivity on offense.

so it's just to state the obvious i guess: the pistons regressed for a day to an over-confident, unfocused and half-hearted effort on both ends of the court. i don't think the series is in jeopardy of course (and i agree that in the long run, looking ahead, the loss might be a blessing), but i sure hope they wake-up before tuesday because i think that as far as their title hopes are concerned, game 5 is a must win game. lose game 5, the series likely goes 7 games and if the pistons win in 7, they will go into the ecf physically and psychologically off. they need to demonstrate, in game 5, that game 4 was an anomaly in the scheme of this year's otherwise excellent playoff run.

Pistons started feeling pressure of the playoff winning streak. They're much better when they feel loose. Don't want to get too focused too soon. I believe these guys really understand their "off switch"..........
This will be the last series where we see a player getting hacked cause he can't shoot foul shots..............Is that clear FLIP !!!!!!!!!
:) :gun1: :) :gun1:

In my experience, every team loses its focus. What you didn't see last time was them getting back on track. It will be good to see the team respond in the right way.

i tried watching the 1st half last night and shut it off near the end of the 1st. it was very clear we didn't come to play, and sheed hitting that 3 to start the game was probably the worst thing that could've happened. we started to give them the same amount of respect as we gave orlando (read: none), and it showed because we played the game like it was against orlando.

but chicago is much better than that, and they certainly reminded the pistons of that yesterday. i still think we've gotten hosed on calls all series, but until sunday we had done a good job of playing through it.

Dyess is really making me uncomfortable right now. I know he's doing a lot of rebounding for us, but where this his offense go?

The combination of Webber and Dyess not showing up on offense is a killer. With Sheed playing the perimeter, these guys are our interior presence.


The worst part about that game yesterday was that every time a call went against us, or we made a stupid play, it seemed like the Bulls drained a 3 to reinforce our frustration.

All of these comments make me glad I bit the bullet and took the Mothers to dinner during gametime. Honestly I'm kind of happy we'll play one more game for the home crowd, while shortening our downtime ahead of the next opponent.

With that said, LETS END THIS THING ALREADY.

the main thing about the loss is that it shouldn't result in a turnaround of momentum. it would have been much worse had the bulls gone on to win by 25 and go into game 5 on a high, feeling like they had solved some of their problems.

they just managed to hang on at home and it took a great effort from them. hinrich hardly missed any of his long jumpshots.

flip played a good game.

don't stress too much about c-webb. if we make it to the next round webber should be back to himself against big ZZZZZZ and gooden. they have no chance of stopping him in the lane, and his lack of lateral D will be less noticable. remember webber is going up against an active, quick, athletic bulls team. against the cavs, or even nets it won't be a problem so much.

i was a bit frustrated they didn't go to tay more in the second half, especially in the 3rd.

On the backup PG thing... what the person on the forum protection list may want to consider is that these guys are playing minor minutes... I would hope that the positive plays would also be mentioned (instead of just the bad X10)... I saw a steal by Hunter leading to a Flip facial on Hinney...... I saw some nice inside drives and kick-outs (or score) by Murray.... sure nuff they weren't very good tonight... but besides Prince who was?
Balanced opinions will always be respected more.
It sure looked like the starters gave up most of the points differential before the reserves got in.... but then again it could be that "Pistons only leg fatigue syndrome".

The hope is that they will play minor minutes. We went quite a spell in this game with someone else besides Billups running the point. My point is that our odds of winning it all increase if you plan for such things as injuries, or extensive foul trouble. Last season it was Sheed with an ankle injury, while believe it or not, Dale Davis was already on the roster, as was Maxiell. Just that they had not played any and therefore could not come in and take some of Sheed's minutes. Did I mention we traded away Darko, and if thats not bad enough, we never played Cato any. We just flat out ignored the concept of depth at the big position.

By the way, I love Joe Dumars, but I sure don't think his opinion on this matter is very good. Last year he pretty much stated that if we lost any of our starters we were toast, and so what. He has changed his tune this season, but it does not excuse him for last season. Was he backing up his coach in saying this kind of thing? I have to think so as I hate to think bad about Dumars.

Who was the last team to win a title with an injured starter?

I don't know the answer.

Who was the last team to win a title with an injured starter?

I don't know the answer.

Wasn't it the '80 Lakers with Magic at center?

1994/5 Rockets - Vernon Maxwell (Sam Cassell)

Looks like kirk covered his eyes before he got dunked on

He also punched Flip Jr in his Flip Jr! Check out the 45 second mark of that clip, just after they freeze the shot. Hinrich PUNCHES Flip in the groin. I completely missed it when I first watched it.

Man, that is NOT cool.

I'll even repost the link:
YouTube - Murray Posterizes Hinrich (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrUVIxby4do)