Boston Jan 5th, 7:30 PM
TV - TV20 Detroit, NBALP


The Celtics come to the Palace looking for revenge from a loss a couple weeks back. This will be both teams third game in four nights. At the time of this post Detroit is 10-0, Boston 9-1, in the last 10 games.

No injuries to report.

It's time for the Pistons to get in their heads.

I'll be there.

Of course I would love to see a win. But its not that important. More important to get Amir, Afflalo, Stuckey, and JMAX all in the game in the first half with meaningful minutes. In the long run, its like a hundred times more important to develop these guys vs. one more regular season win.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Conley has been out injured most of the season. A game or two back, Memphis clearly lost a game because they chose to play Conley, who was really not ready to play very well at all. But again, they stuck with him, took the loss, and let him shake off some rust. This last game for Memphis, Conley dominated the play on both ends as Memphis won. It is literally amazing how much better a player can look after they have gotten some extensive time on the floor. For the Pistons sake, they got to bite the bullet, play Amir, and just trust its the right thing to do. It is. (And I doubt it will cost us any games anyway. But even if it does, its still the right thing to do.)

Won't happen, but I am definitely agreeable to the concept of letting players fail (not that I think he would).

To develop a guy like AJ, you need to let him feel the pressure of a close game. See how he responds when the goal is to win, not get himself shot attempts in the last 5 minutes of a blowout.

There is about a 0% chance of us missing the playoffs, so we have about as much cusion as you could ever ask for. The only argument against sacrificing anything is that we can still get the top seed in the East. Right now it looks like Boston will be our biggest challenger in either conference, so getting them off their court could be the difference. Their schedule gets tougher, but so does ours.

I guess if I were the coach, I'd sit Amir against Boston and then play him extensively in games that we should win during the 2nd Q and 4th Q.

I'll be there.

Of course I would love to see a win. But its not that important. More important to get Amir, Afflalo, Stuckey, and JMAX all in the game in the first half with meaningful minutes. In the long run, its like a hundred times more important to develop these guys vs. one more regular season win.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Conley has been out injured most of the season. A game or two back, Memphis clearly lost a game because they chose to play Conley, who was really not ready to play very well at all. But again, they stuck with him, took the loss, and let him shake off some rust. This last game for Memphis, Conley dominated the play on both ends as Memphis won. It is literally amazing how much better a player can look after they have gotten some extensive time on the floor. For the Pistons sake, they got to bite the bullet, play Amir, and just trust its the right thing to do. It is. (And I doubt it will cost us any games anyway. But even if it does, its still the right thing to do.)

You might be able to compare Stuckey to Conley as far as how much PT they can get, but AJ is just an inexperienced not eligible to vote citizen. I think AJ is being handled just fine and am satisfied with the minutes he is getting at this point.

Playing him more at this time would be a big mistake in my opinion. Not only now, but also for the playoffs.

We are not the Clippers nor the Sonics.

:hoops:

Playing him more at this time would be a big mistake in my opinion. Not only now, but also for the playoffs.

We are not the Clippers nor the Sonics.

:hoops:
Thank you for being a voice of reason.

:hoops:

I think that whichever team does better in their game the night before the match (Pistons @Toronto and Boston vs Memphis) will have an upper hand.

I think that whichever team does better in their game the night before the match (Pistons @Toronto and Boston vs Memphis) will have an upper hand.
Coud you elaborate a bit more, please? :)

Coud you elaborate a bit more, please? :)

It's going to be a back to back game for both teams. Whichever team can finish their game on Friday night faster will be able to give their starters more rest.

Playing him more at this time would be a big mistake in my opinion. Not only now, but also for the playoffs.

We are not the Clippers nor the Sonics.


You're just being a contrarian. I know that deep down inside, you want to see him get some burn.

5 blocked shots in 8 minutes against Atlanta.
9 boards in 12 minutes against Inidana (and 6 were offensive!).
Only 10 turnovers on the season (Sheed had 5 last night).

Kid can bring it. He and Maxiell should be right behind Sheed and Dyess in the rotation. Bresec is a special situation backup/ insurance policy.

Dale Davis, Chris Webber, and Nazr Mohammed are all gone. We are not overly stacked with big men right now.

It's going to be a back to back game for both teams. Whichever team can finish their game on Friday night faster will be able to give their starters more rest.
Lots depends on Flip's substitutions. He could bring AA and Stuckey in earlier, and give them some extended burn. He can also rotate 4 bigs, even if it is Brezec since he doesn't trust Amir enough.

You might be able to compare Stuckey to Conley as far as how much PT they can get, but AJ is just an inexperienced not eligible to vote citizen. I think AJ is being handled just fine and am satisfied with the minutes he is getting at this point.

Playing him more at this time would be a big mistake in my opinion. Not only now, but also for the playoffs.

We are not the Clippers nor the Sonics.

:hoops:

You have your opinion. I have mine. I say without Amir Johnson, we will not win a championship this season. With him, we will. He is that good, and he is ready to play for us right now. As far as how he is being handled, I say if it continues, Flip Saunders should be fired for it.

You have your opinion. I have mine. I say without Amir Johnson, we will not win a championship this season. With him, we will. He is that good, and he is ready to play for us right now. As far as how he is being handled, I say if it continues, Flip Saunders should be fired for it.

As I stated before (you didn`t comment) what if the Pistons win the championship without a significant contribution from AJ?

What would you then say?

Because I know if they don`t win it you will say AJ not playing was the reason.

You have your opinion. I have mine. I say without Amir Johnson, we will not win a championship this season. With him, we will. He is that good, and he is ready to play for us right now. As far as how he is being handled, I say if it continues, Flip Saunders should be fired for it.
Of course you realize this means war!

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1982/mk0597px6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

If we don't win it, it's not going to matter who said what to whom about which.

If we don't win it, it's not going to matter who said what to whom about which.

Says who??!!:MusicBigGrin:

You're just being a contrarian. I know that deep down inside, you want to see him get some burn.

5 blocked shots in 8 minutes against Atlanta.
9 boards in 12 minutes against Inidana (and 6 were offensive!).
Only 10 turnovers on the season (Sheed had 5 last night).

Kid can bring it. He and Maxiell should be right behind Sheed and Dyess in the rotation. Bresec is a special situation backup/ insurance policy.

Dale Davis, Chris Webber, and Nazr Mohammed are all gone. We are not overly stacked with big men right now.

I agree with what you are saying except for your first statement.

Perhaps you don't personally perceive the posited position by the particular person as presented to the posters participating in Pistons Forum.

:hoops:

As I stated before (you didn`t comment) what if the Pistons win the championship without a significant contribution from AJ?

What would you then say?

Because I know if they don`t win it you will say AJ not playing was the reason.

Gee, I'd be wrong. Its happened once before. Oh well. But what will you say. Are you willing to state clearly that we are going to win it all, without Amir? Now, I hope that neither of us finds out either way. I hope that Amir does play a significant part in our rotation this upcoming playoffs. Anyway, if you think we can win it all without Amir, then how? By using Brezec? By moving Hayes or Herrmann into our bigs rotation. By playing Samb? (one option by the way I think it is possible to win without playing Amir, though I don't have a lot of faith in it.) Or do you actually think a three man bigs rotation featuring two 33 year old players is going to hold up during the playoffs?

Lee - There is a delicate balance between developing players and trying to win games. However, we do need another big so something has to be done with Amir either way.

In this game though, I think its very important to win it. Have to shake their confidence so they will be thinking about it in the post-season. Not a lot of playoff experience on that Celtic team for all the talent they have.

Of course you realize this means war!

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1982/mk0597px6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Are you proposing a boxer match?:stirthepot:

Are you proposing a boxer match?:stirthepot:
How about celebrity boxing? :sssh:

Gee, I'd be wrong. Its happened once before. Oh well. But what will you say. Are you willing to state clearly that we are going to win it all, without Amir? Now, I hope that neither of us finds out either way. I hope that Amir does play a significant part in our rotation this upcoming playoffs. Anyway, if you think we can win it all without Amir, then how? By using Brezec? By moving Hayes or Herrmann into our bigs rotation. By playing Samb? (one option by the way I think it is possible to win without playing Amir, though I don't have a lot of faith in it.) Or do you actually think a three man bigs rotation featuring two 33 year old players is going to hold up during the playoffs?

Lee all I am saying is, win it or not, it will not depend on Amir playing or not playing. I understand that`s your opinion, however, I don`t understand it at all.

Tell me when a 20 year old with limited NBA experience played a major role in a team winning a championship. I am not saying he couldn`t help, but saying it all depends on a raw 20 year old is puzzling to me.

Lee all I am saying is, win it or not, it will not depend on Amir playing or not playing. I understand that`s your opinion, however, I don`t understand it at all.

Tell me when a 20 year old with limited NBA experience played a major role in a team winning a championship. I am not saying he couldn`t help, but saying it all depends on a raw 20 year old is puzzling to me.


I agree with you here that Amir won't make much of an impact on if we win or lose the title unless he of course gets the key block in game 7 of the finals or ECF ala what Tay did in the 04 ECF vs the Pacers. But I think Magic had not reached his 21st birthday yet when he led the Lakers to the title in the deciding game of the 79-80 series vs the sixers

Lee all I am saying is, win it or not, it will not depend on Amir playing or not playing. I understand that`s your opinion, however, I don`t understand it at all.

Tell me when a 20 year old with limited NBA experience played a major role in a team winning a championship. I am not saying he couldn`t help, but saying it all depends on a raw 20 year old is puzzling to me.

Magic Johnson his first season with the Lakers........

My main concern this year is lack of depth in the front court. I understand how we needed to stock up on perimeter guys to counter Lebran, Ray Allen, etc..
Say something happends like Dyess is injured and Sheed gets into foul trouble. Going into a playoff game with only Maxiel,Primo and an out of practice Amir is not going to cut it.

In this case I do agree that we need to develope Amir or go out and find someone else who can play.

Magic Johnson his first season with the Lakers........

AJ is far from Magic Johnson................

AJ is far from Magic Johnson................


About 2,200 miles to be exact.:pound: :pound: :pound:

AJ is far from Magic Johnson................

besides the far diffence of talent....

Magic had a full year of college.... something about a national championship game?

drafted far far ahead of where AJ was.

don't have to look at the stats to know that Magic was playing serious mins from the start of the season and can only asume he was starting very early in the season.


I think a much better comparison is to ONeil from Ind... from my memory he didn't get much burn at all the first couple years just got to beat against wallace in practice.... i'll take his output down the line from AJ with what i think is 100 percent better attitude.

Since Hunter is inactive for the Raptor's game. Will he be activated for this game? Remember, he played a vital role in helping the Pistons win at Boston. We may need him again here.

Pistons better be ready for a Billups trap. I think Boston will do what Cleveland did in the playoffs last season as far as trying to slow down Chauncey. They would be stupid not to do it.

Pistons better be ready for a Billups trap. I think Boston will do what Cleveland did in the playoffs last season as far as trying to slow down Chauncey. They would be stupid not to do it.
If they do, hopefully Flip has a plan to counter that. If he did improve, that should be a huge indicator of it.

Pistons better be ready for a Billups trap. I think Boston will do what Cleveland did in the playoffs last season as far as trying to slow down Chauncey. They would be stupid not to do it.


If they try and trap Billups we will kill them with our other options. IMO, if they attempt to trap Billups look for someone else to have a big night.

Or, they will give up the trap real quick and try option B, if they have one.

I am looking for a win by a larger point margin than our previous victory in Boston.

If they try and trap Billups we will kill them with our other options.

I think their game plan will be: Don't let Billups beat us. Make the other guys beat us. Hopefully, the others will be up to the challenge, specifically Prince. He needs to make Pierce work hard on D.

And I agree with 356, Amir needs to be part of the equation. Time for Flip to think outside the box on this one.

I think their game plan will be: Don't let Billups beat us. Make the other guys beat us. Hopefully, the others will be up to the challenge, specifically Prince. He needs to make Pierce work hard on D.

And I agree with 356, Amir needs to be part of the equation. Time for Flip to think outside the box on this one.

I agree with your statement about Prince.

IMO, I don`t see AJ cracking the rotation for serious minutes unless there is an injury. I, like everyone else wants to see this kid get some real meaningful PT, however, I just don`t see it happening this year.

i think we havn't had a trap played on bill yet..... but we have worked on how were going to counter it, remember the comments about the point guard being it bill or stuckey not bringing the ball up and prince or rip bringing it up? I think thats somewhat of how we plan on dealing with that trap.

i think we havn't had a trap played on bill yet..... but we have worked on how were going to counter it, remember the comments about the point guard being it bill or stuckey not bringing the ball up and prince or rip bringing it up? I think thats somewhat of how we plan on dealing with that trap.

Well, our plan sounds good, I just wonder if Flip would go along. :MusicBigGrin::stirthepot:

Well, our plan sounds good, I just wonder if Flip would go along. :MusicBigGrin::stirthepot:

i'm hoping that i just discovered his plans.... i know i am reaching lol

Celtics got the win at home over Memphis in a game that was surprisingly competitive in the first half. Boston got 23 each from Pierce and Garnett, with 20 from Allen...oh, wait a minute, that was TONY Allen scoring 20...WTF?! He had 18 in the first half! The "other" Allen almost had his first scoreless game in 11 years, before he hit 2 FTs in the last 10 seconds. Ray was 0-9 from the floor in 35 minutes. He had a big game in the first Pistons-Celtics matchup a few weeks ago, so maybe he got a bad one out of his system tonight?

Celtics got the win at home over Memphis in a game that was surprisingly competitive in the first half. Boston got 23 each from Pierce and Garnett, with 20 from Allen...oh, wait a minute, that was TONY Allen scoring 20...WTF?! He had 18 in the first half! The "other" Allen almost had his first scoreless game in 11 years, before he hit 2 FTs in the last 10 seconds. Ray was 0-9 from the floor in 35 minutes. He had a big game in the first Pistons-Celtics matchup a few weeks ago, so maybe he got a bad one out of his system tonight?

Maybe Celts were looking past Memphis? I know it's NBA, but it shouldn't have been that close of a game.

These Celts need to be punished. Where do they get off jumping out to 27 wins with 3
loses. It's almost like they've spit in the face of time honored traditions of developing chemistry and winning methods steeped in hard earned and learned years of losing.
Nevermind they already did that.
I hope their GM doesn't think he's better than JD.

These Celts need to be punished. Where do they get off jumping out to 27 wins with 3
loses. It's almost like they've spit in the face of time honored traditions of developing chemistry and winning methods steeped in hard earned and learned years of losing.
Nevermind they already did that.
I hope their GM doesn't think he's better than JD.

Who cares what their GM think. We know what Joe can do, and that's what's important. Lets just beat up on them Celts tomorrow.

My main concern this year is lack of depth in the front court. I understand how we needed to stock up on perimeter guys to counter Lebran, Ray Allen, etc..
Say something happends like Dyess is injured and Sheed gets into foul trouble. Going into a playoff game with only Maxiel,Primo and an out of practice Amir is not going to cut it.

In this case I do agree that we need to develope Amir or go out and find someone else who can play.

Max, very good post. Some people mistakenly think that we are talking about Amir Johnson. Nope. We are talking about how the Pistons can win a championship. Its just that Amir Johnson right now is the best option as a fourth big. In my opinion, Dumars and Flip Saunders are still fighting tooth and nail over this issue. (And if Flip gets his way, no 'Ship.)

besides the far diffence of talent....

Magic had a full year of college.... something about a national championship game?

drafted far far ahead of where AJ was.

don't have to look at the stats to know that Magic was playing serious mins from the start of the season and can only asume he was starting very early in the season.


I think a much better comparison is to ONeil from Ind... from my memory he didn't get much burn at all the first couple years just got to beat against wallace in practice.... i'll take his output down the line from AJ with what i think is 100 percent better attitude.

You have a very good point about Magic was playing such heavy minutes so early that season. Getting better game by game. Just like Amir Johnson should be. The window of opportunity is closing fast on us. Its time to holler like crazy for Amir to play now. Next month will be too late. If you want to see the Pistons win a championship, the time is now to get on board with the many of us who want to see the Pistons do more than have a pretty regular season record.

I read in celtics forum some guys suggesting that celtics should sign C Web.

i'm hyped! can't sleep. i think i'll go get breakfast. :nerd2:

Pistons better be ready for a Billups trap. I think Boston will do what Cleveland did in the playoffs last season as far as trying to slow down Chauncey. They would be stupid not to do it.


Based on the few celtics games I have watched, the Celtics don't apply a lot of trapping schemes, I could be wrong ggazoo.

For CB's sake I hope they don't go to that, hx has shown that this is a major weakness for CB.

If they try and trap Billups we will kill them with our other options. IMO, if they attempt to trap Billups look for someone else to have a big night.

Or, they will give up the trap real quick and try option B, if they have one.

I am looking for a win by a larger point margin than our previous victory in Boston.

Well said D. I was hoping for the same thing if they baffle CB with the traps, the Celts may get killed by our other players.

I invision a game where we run waves of players at their starters just to gas them out. High energy level guys who demand that the Boston starters play hard to keep up the pace. I see 11 Pistons playing and the highest minutes total is 32 by Rip. I see a 31-14 scoring difference in the 4th as the Pistons run all over the tired Celtics.............

I invision a game where we run waves of players at their starters just to gas them out. High energy level guys who demand that the Boston starters play hard to keep up the pace. I see 11 Pistons playing and the highest minutes total is 32 by Rip. I see a 31-14 scoring difference in the 4th as the Pistons run all over the tired Celtics.............

This should be our game plan for every game. No other team can match our depth and intensity. We should be like a heavyweight boxer that just keeps coming at you for 14 rounds of body shots and then in the fifteenth; cut off the head!!!!

GAME OVER!

You know things are going well when there are five pages of posts eight hours before the game even starts.

The money people have us as small favorites tonight.

They are looking for a defensive struggle and a relatively low scoring game.

:hoops:

You know things are going well when there are five pages of posts eight hours before the game even starts.

Yeah baby!!!!!

:djparty:

Based on the few celtics games I have watched, the Celtics don't apply a lot of trapping schemes, I could be wrong ggazoo.

For CB's sake I hope they don't go to that, hx has shown that this is a major weakness for CB.

No, you're right. I don't see much trapping from them, but clearly their game plan has to be to shut down Billups. That's a major mismatch for them. At the very least, he'll get doubled if he tries to post up a smaller guard.

I see the Pistons chucking up a lot of outside shots tonight. Boston will clog the paint, per usual. I'd like to see our boys try to draw fouls in there, but I don't see it happening.

It seems to me that it would be very hard to trap on defense when your bigs pack the paint and your two perimeter starters are R. Allen and R. Rondo.

Of course they can always alter their defensive scheme, and while it may help compensate somewhat for the defensive deficiencies on the part of Rondo and R. Allen it may wind up being a net loss overall to Boston's defense.

:hoops:

Basketball Offense - Half-Court Press Breakers

Coach’s Clipboard, Basketball Coaching Playbook, Coach's Clipboard... Coaching Youth & High School Basketball (http://www.coachesclipboard.net) This page contains a number of specific half-court press-breaks. But it doesn't have to be that complicated. If you want an effective half-court press-break that applies to most half-court presses, see the "40" press-break in "80-60-40 Press-Breakers (http://www.coachesclipboard.net/PressBreakers.html)".


Teams will sometimes throw a half-court press at you, especially if they think your ball-handlers are inexperienced and subject to committing turnovers. Steals at half-court can result in easy transition lay-ups for the defense. The half-court press trap can look very intimidating to the point guard bringing the ball up the floor, when he/she sees a wall of two or three defenders just waiting. So how do you counteract this defense?


First, with any half-court press, try to push the ball up the floor as quickly as possible and beat them before they get their defense set. Using a secondary break after the opponent scores is oftentimes effective. O5 quickly gets the ball out of the net, and passes in quickly to your point guard. Meanwhile O2 sprints up the right sideline and O3 sprints up the left sideline. Oftentimes, O1 can hit either O2 or O3 with the long pass for the lay-up. See: Secondary Break (http://www.coachesclipboard.net/SecondaryBreak.html).
It is up to Flipper and his coaches to devise the proper offense to compensate for traps and the like. Then it is of course up to the players to successfully execute that plan.

To be most effective in breaking the half court press and trapping defenses, you need to not only have excellent rebounding but also rebounders who can throw a quick effective outlet pass to get the ball across the half court line ASAP.

When the other team scores you need to move the ball via the pass ASAP across the half court line and attack the basket with quick crisp passing and good ball rotation.

Walking the ball up usually doesn't work very well against traps.

Basketball Offense - Half-Court Press Breakers, Coach's Clipboard Playbook (http://www.coachesclipboard.net/HalfCourtPressBreakers.html)

:hoops:

I want an old-fashioned shootout. Let the defenses rest for a game.

Why isn't this game on national TV!?!? arrghhh.. I know the schedule was set before the season began but surely the national TV networks have the flexibility to pick up games that will draw large crowds during the season.

arghh!!

surely the national TV networks have the flexibility to pick up games that will draw large crowds during the season.

Not on Saturday nights. And certainly not on Saturday nights when the NFL playoffs are on.

ESPN isn't showing the NFL playoffs.

I guess they would figure the cost to show the game can not be recouped when competing against NFL playoffs.

Why isn't this game on national TV!?!?
arghh!!

Most likely because the networks figure that we will win and this will detract from the Celtics hype.

:hoops:

Check it out.

At the end of the video Kenny Smith says "the Celtics will win tonight because they understand the importance of the game."

And the Pistons don't? (this last part is my comment based upon what he said)

This guy sleeps with a Celtics uniform and his pay stub stapled to the jersey.

NBA on Yahoo! Sports - News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba;_ylt=Ar9go2IdQmQ63RNgB0XwT4U5nYcB)

:hoops:

Saying an NBA game on January 5th has greater importance is simply a large overstatement. It'll be fun to watch the two best teams match up, but it's still just 1 of 82.

ESPN already has an obligation to carry a college game. When the schedule was set you know how the NBA thinks. They all think we want to see Lebran/Kobe vs Shaq or who ever than 2 great evenly matched teams.

Chat is open!

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


.

Pistons play better on the road.

I truly hate everything Boston;

Inexcusable loss.

Celts spend the entire game in foul trouble, we give up 50 rebounds at home, and can't seem to manage to stop jump shooting ourselves in the foot.

Stupid win streaks against bad teams are pointless and my guess is there will be similar struggles to follow against DAL and SA. There was no reason for DET to keep letting BOS back into this game and their insistence on launching jumpers and driving 1 out of every 5 possessions is why why will continue to struggle late in the year....damn that's irritating.

Oh well. I am not happy about this one. Pistons threw away some good opportunities in crunch time. Whats up with Bostons Davis? Guy can only jump about a foot and he was in there humiliating our frontcourt.

I think fatigue was a factor. Missed Free throws and shots by Billups/Rip. Billups, Rip and Tay all looked a bit off and it only got worse in the 4th quarter.

Hopefully they will use this game to figure out what adjustments need to be made to win these types of games.

Great game! Total war. Detroit, Boston blood feud. Nothing is better than this.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/994/laimbeer35d91acaqz2.jpg

Big Baby bullied the Pistons down the stretch. The difference in the game was him in the paint under the hoop in the end and the Max sitting on the bench with dice being a liability.

Blame this loss on the Celtics excellent defense, CB's bad play down the stretch and Flip's insisting on playing Dice instead of JMAX in the end.

It will be interesting to see the points in the paint differential. 4th qtr score Pistons 19, Big Baby 19

Kids needed more time late into the game. Boston rested its starters more except for Pierce. Play the youngins and let the veterans feed off their energy.......The worst that happens is that we lose......:stirthepot:

Ugly, frustrating loss tonight. A bad start to the game turned into a monster run for the Pistons as KG sat with two fouls, but the Celtics got back in it in the 2nd quarter with offensive rebounding and winning loose balls. The second half was tight most of the way, but second chance points continued to kill the Pistons, and their execution down the stretch was horriffic. Meanwhile, Boston got penetration on what seemed like every possession and got repeated layups for Big Baby Davis, who LED THEM IN SCORING with 20 points! There is simply no way to beat the Celtics if you let any of their role players beat you that badly.

The refs let this one get out of control pretty early...there were some wretched calls on the Pistons, but I think it largely evened out in the end. Several techs on both teams as well. No doubt that this is now an intense, nasty rivalry, so at least that's something for us to enjoy.

Who was guarding Pierce in the fourth? Trade him.

Kids needed more time late into the game. Boston rested its starters more except for Pierce.

That wasn't by design. KG was in foul trouble in the first half, and the Pistons slaughtered them when he was on the bench. Then Ray sat a lot of the second half with foul trouble as well.

Inexplicable loss, but enough with the overreactions.

ITS THE REGULAR SEASON.

Inexcusable loss.

Celts spend the entire game in foul trouble, we give up 50 rebounds at home, and can't seem to manage to stop jump shooting ourselves in the foot.

Stupid win streaks against bad teams are pointless and my guess is there will be similar struggles to follow against DAL and SA. There was no reason for DET to keep letting BOS back into this game and their insistence on launching jumpers and driving 1 out of every 5 possessions is why why will continue to struggle late in the year....damn that's irritating.

Just had to keep shooting jumpers; maybe they were tired; but pistons will not win jump shooting all the time; they just will not win a championship that way; they will go on long winning streaks, but it will mean nothing.

Who was guarding Pierce in the fourth? Trade him.
Bad defense by both Hayes and Dice in this one.

Although the game was lost in the end, in actuallity we lost is in the second qtr when we gave up the 12 point lead instead of extending it. Once again, Celtics prove why they have the best defense in the league limiting another team to only 85 points.

Boston had 14 assists with 13 turnovers; Pistons were far better in both categories, 23 assists to only 6 turnovers. No question that second chance points were the difference in this one; Boston had a huge lead in that category. Our bench actually produced OK, 23 points in what was a low scoring game...but Boston's bench scored 39!!

:(Hope Rick Mahorn likes wearing a Celtic jersey on NBAtv:yukpuke:

Tell me when a 20 year old with limited NBA experience played a major role in a team winning a championship. I am not saying he couldn`t help, but saying it all depends on a raw 20 year old is puzzling to me.

Hmmm...did you check out Big Baby in our game tonight? A real difference maker. Now granted he had some college experience that AJ didn't have, but even if you don't think AJ is ready the fact remains what Lee said. We need another big out there asap.

Big Baby would have eaten Amir alive.

Dice had no business being in the game in the 4th.

I wouldn't have a problem with the loss if it didn't give me flashbacks of the ECF the last 2 years. Chauncey gets pressured by a bigger player (Ray Allen, Tony Allen in this one), and he is completely taken out of the game. With him out of the equation, the offense dies. Prince takes a year to create offense (and it's usually a 20 foot step back jumper), and Rip struggles to create off the dribble. Sheed gets fronted in the post, which instantly removes him from the play and that's the ball game.

What happend to Tayshaun's post game? Seriously. The only thing he does anymore is face up, and shoot step backs. He used to get solid post position, drive middle and hit the baby hook. Or he would spin baseline for the layup. He hasn't had good post position once this year, and when he does post he shoots some ugly turnaround jumpshot that NEVER goes in. His offensive game has completely regressed. I won't bring up his D on Pierce in the 4th quarter, but I will say this he has been a no show in most big games this year. Not going to jump the gun and say trade him/bench him/etc, but if the Pistons want a title he's got to show up in big games.

Hmmm...did you check out Big Baby in our game tonight? A real difference maker. Now granted he had some college experience that AJ didn't have, but even if you don't think AJ is ready the fact remains what Lee said. We need another big out there asap.

I never said we didn`t need another big, I said it is not reasonable at this time to say the Pistons winning a championship depends on AJ playing.

This is just one game, however, the Pistons were exposed. Rebounding and mental mistakes by our Mr. Big Shot did us in, not to mention Boston is better than I thought defensively.

I agree with whomever said Max should have been in the game instead of Dyess. I wasn`t able to watch the game like I wanted too, but the Pistons are 1-1 against the best team in the league.

I will say AJ would definitely help our rebounding woes, along with Max, they would clean the glass with youth, energy and hustle.

I wouldn't have a problem with the loss if it didn't give me flashbacks of the ECF the last 2 years. Chauncey gets pressured by a bigger player (Ray Allen, Tony Allen in this one), and he is completely taken out of the game. With him out of the equation, the offense dies. Prince takes a year to create offense (and it's usually a 20 foot step back jumper), and Rip struggles to create off the dribble. Sheed gets fronted in the post, which instantly removes him from the play and that's the ball game.

This is why i'm so negative about this team sometimes. Nothing's changed. When the pressure's on, all the mistakes/problems of previous years are exposed. Such a disappointing game.

Afflalo 3 min after the performance he had in BOS. No Max in the 4th. Flip will never learn.

edited to add; It seriously boggled the mind how Flip can't put 2 and 2 together. We were getting killed on dribble penetration; taking jumpshot after jumpshot. He is not a playoff coach plain and simple.

I wouldn't have a problem with the loss if it didn't give me flashbacks of the ECF the last 2 years. Chauncey gets pressured by a bigger player (Ray Allen, Tony Allen in this one), and he is completely taken out of the game. With him out of the equation, the offense dies. Prince takes a year to create offense (and it's usually a 20 foot step back jumper), and Rip struggles to create off the dribble. Sheed gets fronted in the post, which instantly removes him from the play and that's the ball game.

What happend to Tayshaun's post game? Seriously. The only thing he does anymore is face up, and shoot step backs. He used to get solid post position, drive middle and hit the baby hook. Or he would spin baseline for the layup. He hasn't had good post position once this year, and when he does post he shoots some ugly turnaround jumpshot that NEVER goes in. His offensive game has completely regressed. I won't bring up his D on Pierce in the 4th quarter, but I will say this he has been a no show in most big games this year. Not going to jump the gun and say trade him/bench him/etc, but if the Pistons want a title he's got to show up in big games.

I agree; tay has been very strange this year; the offense become stagnant when he handles the ball too much; i think he has regressed offensively and defensively

I wouldn't have a problem with the loss if it didn't give me flashbacks of the ECF the last 2 years. Chauncey gets pressured by a bigger player (Ray Allen, Tony Allen in this one), and he is completely taken out of the game. With him out of the equation, the offense dies. Prince takes a year to create offense (and it's usually a 20 foot step back jumper), and Rip struggles to create off the dribble. Sheed gets fronted in the post, which instantly removes him from the play and that's the ball game.

What happend to Tayshaun's post game? Seriously. The only thing he does anymore is face up, and shoot step backs. He used to get solid post position, drive middle and hit the baby hook. Or he would spin baseline for the layup. He hasn't had good post position once this year, and when he does post he shoots some ugly turnaround jumpshot that NEVER goes in. His offensive game has completely regressed. I won't bring up his D on Pierce in the 4th quarter, but I will say this he has been a no show in most big games this year. Not going to jump the gun and say trade him/bench him/etc, but if the Pistons want a title he's got to show up in big games.

Great post.

I'll add another point to that list of ECF memories.Glen Davis "Gibsoned" the Pistons today. I am sure I can think of more soon.

As for Tayshaun I thought he was going to be a stud this season after out rebounding guys like Dwight on Team USA and after that great game in Miami to open the season. He has slowed down for a while now though.

Um, JMax played the first 7 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter before Dice came in for the final stretch. One could maybe argue that Dice shouldn't have come back into the game at all, but "no Max in the 4th" is not factual.

Um, JMax played the first 7 1/2 minutes of the 4th quarter before Dice came in for the final stretch. One could maybe argue that Dice shouldn't have come back into the game at all, but "no Max in the 4th" is not factual.

Bad phrasing on my part. I meant crunch time.

Flip said in his post game press conference that max was tired that is why he took him out.

rosenberg said that he heard sheed left the arena in full uniform...lol
sheed's wife must be overjoyed at that situation...lol

we gave boston too many second chance points that was the difference

and missed freethrows

we gave boston too many second chance points that was the difference

and missed freethrows

We can't rebound to save our life. 50-36. :eek:

::::develop Amir::::

Agree Fresh Prince and others. Too reminiscent of ECF finals. Get into Billips and Rip and hurt the Piston offense. Why doesn't our staff anticipate this? My only excuse for the game is that we didn't have our hop (tired?).

Observations:

1) Maxiel needs to start. He got fouls on Garnett. He needs to get way more touches in general.

2)Dice was a liability today. We are thin at the center position. Brezec did not play well. We need someone.

Joe may have to deal. Obviously the staff is not confident in AJ but he would have played better than Brezec and Dice today. Joe may have to deal.

This was a dis-spiriting loss. I would have been upset even if they won. It was in one of the papers today that the coaches were talking about how open all their players seemed to be lately. When that is the case DET is a good offensive team.

It is hard to figure out what their game plan was tonight on O. They got nothing out of screen & roll but ran it 95% of the time. It's hard to believe that the man with the ball can have 2 guys on him yet no one else is open. That left them to go 1 on 1 with little time on the shot clock aka the playoff offense. They didn't look to run at all.

I think this team may need to go get a legit PG, not to back up CB, but to pair with him for these types of games. Not turning the ball over is great. Not running anything so you won't turn the ball over is not.

That being said, if they rebounded they could have won by 10 aka what I'll probably be saying after they are eliminated from the playoffs.

Not much to add on this one that hasn't already been said. I was wrong on them trapping Note, but I was right that the Pistons would be chuckers tonight. They were. Flip's offense: The vomit offense. Throw it up and see if it makes it in the toilet. Too many projectiles hit the floor instead. Pistons shot 39.2 percent from the floor. The only bright spot for me was Max. What a stud. I loved how he took on Garnett and then blocked his shot later. Sheed had a decent game, but the guy is too combustible.

I had to listen to the Boston feed tonight. Brutal listening to Heinsohn. He called so many phantom fouls on Detroit, it was ridiculous.

Looks like it doesn't matter if the Pistons get home court. They play pretty well on the road, too.

The Celts played excellent defense tonight. It is very hard to get into an offensive rhythm against them.

The Celts were the aggressors tonight. No bout a doubt it.

Dyess was ineffective and Tay was almost nonexistent. Oh well, only 1 of 82.

I saw the game.

Kudos to our local basketball tv network to change their original schedule of showing Utah vs Portland to the MAIN game of the day.

Round 2 between Detroit and Boston.

Well, game 1 was supposedly Boston's to win and Detroit gutted out a win using their savvy and team play.

Game 2 was Detroit's to win and Boston came back to upset the homecourt favorites.

Observations made were that:

1. Dice sucked in this game. Timid and cold on offense and yielding on defense. He got pushed around by Garnett and whoever who he was against. He wasn't as active on the boards as well, and I mean the kind that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. No inside game and settling for jumpers.

2. Primoz looks funny. I mean funny funny. Hehe, goofy funny. But you gotta give it to the guy. He does work hard with whatever time he gets and he's happy to be out there. He appears not to have any effect because he has so little time.

3. Chauncey and Rip's free throw misses spelled doom.

4. Rebounding took a big hit in this game. It was like almost all the guys under the boards wore green. Even their tipped balls went to a guy in a Celtic uniform. Breaks of the game.

5. Tay played great defense on Pierce as he could but you know that the guy would get his points no matter what, but slowing him down he did. I agree, he has lost some of that post game. Must be that really thick Saunders playbook.

6. Maxiell was great in this one and I agree he should have been in the fourth rather than Dice. On that hard block and foul on Garnett, that should have been a double technical, Garnett started the mouthing first and Maxiell was walking past him but you gotta stand up for yourself when someone's talking down on you man. No complaints from over here JMax!

7. Stuckey looked good out there but got burned on that pick and roll to get Pierce going, and one. He is gonna be fine guys. He's playing with poise and control. He is gonna be our future point. Chauncey-like in build and smarts, different game.

8. Afflalo didn't have enough time to make an impact. But instead of forcing that stab under the goal where he got mugged and blocked, bring the ball outside and set up the offense back young fella.

9. No Amir. Amir is Darko, though time will tell if Amir has JMax's fortitude, perseverance, patience and hard work.

10. Foul trouble was no advantage, as nobody it seemed knew how to guard the reserves.

Overall, it was a game of breaks and execution that Detroit should have won but Boston stole it. Offense was ok but it could have used more inside post games from Dice. Sheed and JMax did their part. Foul trouble should have been exploited but Detroit couldn't capitalize. Defense was good for both teams, I have to say. Blocks, steals, running through screens it was great to see all that again.

Despite the loss, the two happiest things I can take from this game are:

1. That I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the Boston-Detroit regular season games and the games that count in the playoffs. See you in the Eastern Conference Finals Boston!

and

2. These Pistons look hungry again. Yes. Time will tell.


GO DETROIT PISTONS!

:sssh:

Oh and yeah, I had to listen to the Boston commentary too.

So that guy's name was Heinsohn huh, I mean I respect their team's ability and talent but trying to insult my intelligence by calling that game so biased that every call against Detroit were right and the Celtics didn't make mistakes of their own faults.

Idiots.

Couldn't bring myself to mute the set though. Loved the Palace crowd getting up for the Pistons even with the commentary.

GO PISTONS

:MusicBigGrin:

I had to listen to the Boston feed tonight. Brutal listening to Heinsohn. He called so many phantom fouls on Detroit, it was ridiculous.

Yeah League Pass was the Boston announcers. OMG. I have never heard that group before and they certainly would win the award for homer announcers if there was one. Every time a Celtic missed a basket they would assign a foul to a Piston as the reason! Literally. They would name the Piston and what they imagined the foul was that the ref had missed.

At the very very end of the game when it was clear we had lost, one of these announcers said "Well, the Pistons players are all yelling at each other and I'll tell you they're using very bad language, so there's some unrest on the Pistons team right now." (paraphrase) Whoever said it sounded just thrilled to report more bad news about us.

Anyway I think it's a good thing if it's true. They should be very upset about this unnecessary loss. I'd rather have them steaming mad than complacent.

It's the regular season folks. You know how much that means, right? Not much. The Pistons did not get blown out. They were competitive. Even if the game was a blowout either way, do you think it would matter in the least come playoff time? Hecks to the NO!!

None of this matters right now. Two excellent teams played. One won & one lost.

This stuff will only matter in round three when Flipper does his thing. Enjoy the regular season. You'll enjoy lots of wins and only a few losses. The games, relatively speaking, do NOT mean shizzle.

Save your tears for the Eastern Conference Finals...Mark my words,you'll need em.'

:darthvader:

I am not going to say much due to the fact that the game was very hard fought and I really like our chances. You so called experts are reading to much into this believe me. The only thing or aspect of the game I really focused on was our hunger and desire. We are going to be fine folks, this is our what 35th game we are not even at the half way through the season. We have one and they have one as simple as that. Our hunger is there and if Tay and Sheed would have shown up offenseively we would have beaten these guys easily. This was pointed out to me by a Boston fan at the sports bar. I know he knows we will be a tough team to beat, not by his verbsal declarations but by him observing the game with his hands over his mouth the whole game. Boston is scared to death of us and they just won a game that doesn't mean %%%%.

We are just as good as they are and we have them THINKING, believe me folks. We have not been exposed as most of you might think we just happen to lose this one. Even great teams lose ya know. In this series homecourt will not be an issue. It will be a battle of wills not a battle of skills, on any court, Trust. A RARE EXP POST.

Flip said in his post game press conference that max was tired that is why he took him out.

Max said he wasn't tired :stirthepot:

lmao @ the Celtics celebrating like "they won the Superbowl". That's just stupid. Sheridan's already sucking off Boston; predictable. If there was anything good to be gained from this game, it's the fact that the pundits will go back to ignoring us and letting the boys in blue fly under the radar again.
There's no doubt this game meant a lot more to Boston than it did to the Pistons; perhaps more than it should for a regular season game. The Celtics can have the glory, the accolades, the all-star appearances, the best regular season record. It's ok. All that matters is getting the win in June, when it counts; and this squad seems to finally have the hunger back - how they put it to use when it counts, though, remains to be seen.

Yeah League Pass was the Boston announcers. OMG. I have never heard that group before and they certainly would win the award for homer announcers if there was one. Every time a Celtic missed a basket they would assign a foul to a Piston as the reason! Literally. They would name the Piston and what they imagined the foul was that the ref had missed.

At the very very end of the game when it was clear we had lost, one of these announcers said "Well, the Pistons players are all yelling at each other and I'll tell you they're using very bad language, so there's some unrest on the Pistons team right now." (paraphrase) Whoever said it sounded just thrilled to report more bad news about us.

Anyway I think it's a good thing if it's true. They should be very upset about this unnecessary loss. I'd rather have them steaming mad than complacent.


This Celtic announcing team of Mike Gorman and Tommy "points" Heinson sre the biggest homers on the broadcast circuit and they have been that way for years. I have watched most of the Celtic games this year to see if they are for real and no matter how good they have been, Heinson will always find a fault with refs or the opposing teams players. I did hear him say the Pistons players were arguing among themselves and if they were, then I hope they ironed it not for the rest of the season. Gorman asked Heinson at the end did this victory mean something for celtics, but Tommy reluctantly said "no, there are still some Celtic/Pistons matches to come to decide who is really the best."...

In the pregame, the announcers thought that Ray Allen would be the key player:sssh:

Dre,

Heinshon knows the show is not over. Yes, those announcers are big homers. We were brought up on Chick Hearn who was a real professional for the Lakers.

We need to let Maxiel have more play now in the offense. And we need to use Stuckey as a penetrating weapon...Boston coming out on our guards is not a new strategy.

OMG!!! Some of y'all are so clueless to basketball it aint even funny. I'm going to disregard most posts because most of y'all only come around to whine and moan after a loss, you're nowhere to be found after a 20 pt win where we play perfect basketball.

Haven't checked the boxscore but from what I recall, we really kept there big 3 in check. The game was loss because they outrebounded us, that's the only thing that is really fundamentally wrong right now.

Dyess played OK, dude never found a rhythm due to foul trouble, but he battled like a warrior in the trenches every second he was out there.

Davis going off was a result of pick and roll penetration. OK here goes:
KG picks off Tay for Pierce; Sheed shows on the pick; KG rolls; Dyess rotates to KG; Sheed is supposed to recover to Dyess' man (Davis) while Tay recovers to Pierce. Pierce did a fantastic job of fiding Davis open before the Defense recoverd to him, EVEN WHEN MAX WAS IN THE GAME!!!! Maxiel was getting burned by the Davis DumpOff TOO, so do not make Dyess the scape goat here.

The GOAT of the game (if you just have to pick one) IMO was Chauncey. As we watched the game we all new that when the Pistons were down he was going to try and be the HERO instead of the leader. True to form Billups starts Jackin up J's instead of running the offense. yet Rip and Tay did a great job of executing and moving the ball, which got the team open shots, which got us back to a 1 poss game, then BANG!! Big SHot wants to be the BIG HEAD HERO as per usual.

Stuckey had trouble getting the team into the offense today. When he's on the court with Rip or Chauncey he defers too much. Stuckey right now is not 100% comfortable playing the point - neither was CB pre-LB. While he's not a true PG, he is a true playmaker. He's at his best with the rock in his hands and an attitude of aggression, when he's not thinking about anything, just hoopin'.

In the end I'm happy we lost. This is a great Film Game, this is a game that can help Saunders down the road. Bos is not better than us, but they did outwork us just a bit tonight to get a meaningless regular season win. This team has not played its best ball yet and the best is yet to come. So go take your anti-depressants bring the negativity down a notch.

Lastly, Lee's right in ref to Amir-sort of. Today was a perfect example of what Lee's ranting about. Dyess in foul trouble, gotta go to a 4th big, and right now that big aint ready. Getting Amir ready means he checks in the game instead of Primoz. Primoz=Not very good, while Amir has the kind of talent where he can check in the game and get a block or two, a dunk or 2, he has the talent to do things in those situations that could have really boosted our team and kept Sheed and Max fresh because Dyess had foul trouble. Gotta hope Flip realizes this now.

Some midnite thoughts...

Points in the paint Boston 38-Pistons 14 ouch!!!! :messer: This is a stat that Joe should hang up on the bulletin board before the middle of the month checks are handled out. We know all of Big Baby's points were in the paint. Remember he was the 36th player selected in the draft and we didn't need anymore heavy 6"9' guys on the team, because we had Max and Flip would never have put him in the game anyway. Have to say it one more time. 4th qtr, Pistons 19 pts, Big Baby 19:frusty:

Pistons close out on a 19-2 run to end first qtr to lead 22-12. :cheers: Cheers around the palace and the Pistonforum/Network as the it appears that the streak will continue and the boston hype is to be brought to a an end. C's went over 8 mins without a FG until reserve Tony Allen stops the bleeding. Thanks to JMAX for sparking the big run along with Sheed. (pistons shoot 56%, Celtics 26%)

Well a funny thing happen on the way back from the beer run...after a pair of Max FTs, Both Stuckey and Afflolo were stuffed under the hoop by Celtics defense, but Max hits two straight jumpers to keep the lead to at least 9 points. At that point Max had 12 points but only scored 1 more point the the rest of the game..when he was in. Seems like once he had the run in with KG he never scored another bucket the rest of the game. Oh yeah, AA was yanked during a TO and I can't remember if he ever got back in again.

Celtics out gun the Pistons in the second qtr 29-21 as our reserves had to face the resurgent KG and Paul Pierce who started his parade to the FT line. Dice continued to throw up bricks and for some reason Rip wants to be the hero so he shoots and no one passes the rock to our designated sharp shooter Hayes. Halftime score Pistons 43-Celtics 41. What happen to our lead???

Second half Flip decides to play the starters almost the whole 3rd qtr and KG who had three fouls in the first half doesn't get called for a single one in the second half?? No body attacked him, because the Pistons decided to take outside jumpers. Yeah they extended the lead to 3 by the end of the qtr, but the 64-61 Piston lead was a Boston defensive score and I wasn't feeling to comfortable with it.

We all know what happen the 4th...the Boston "D's" (Davis and Defense) took over and Flip lost control, because his players decided to abandon the paint on both the defensive and offensive ends. Dice was ineffective, Prince was ineffective, Primo was ineffective, Hayes was wasted and Billups (3-9 beyond the arc was ineffective when it counted.) The crowd was ineffective. Where was the hero of the first game Lindsey Hunter when we needed him? Sitting behind the bench in street clothes....other tha JMAX first half heroics, our bench was a no show....but so was some of our starters, the 4 total missed FT's by CB and Rip were uncharacteristic but stuff happens...

No need to fret, we will get them next time......we hope and let's pray the last game we play against them this year is a W...especially if it is in June:cheerlie-GOAL:

Time to get some shut eye...:bored:

Great post.

I'll add another point to that list of ECF memories.Glen Davis "Gibsoned" the Pistons today. I am sure I can think of more soon.

As for Tayshaun I thought he was going to be a stud this season after out rebounding guys like Dwight on Team USA and after that great game in Miami to open the season. He has slowed down for a while now though.


Horryed

watched the game at my buddy's house, and it certainly was a weird one. i didn't like the refs early - before the game started we all picked the guy who we thought would make the crappiest calls, and we were right (scott foster or something). this ref looked like he wanted to make a name for himself.

i didn't mind the foul call on max when he went hard against garnett, but i did have a problem when they didn't call it a double technical, when i'm sure one of the refs saw that it was garnett who initiated the discussion. but the calls were pretty bad, and most of ours came after boston was in the bonus. boston had 3 more PFs for the game, yet shot 10 more free throws. i'm not excusing the lose on the refs, but i thought they did a horrible job by calling it inconsistently all night.

anyway, maxiell is a MAN and i'm glad he won't back down from anyone. he played a superb game tonight and saunder's 'tired' excuse was pretty lame. did max look tired to anyone else? not me.

i think a lot of you are overreacting to the loss, but i will agree that there are causes of concern. chauncey was TIRED and LAZY in the 4th, because stuckey didn't get enough minutes and chauncey played too many minutes. notice how well he's played when given the appropriate rest? he didn't have that tonight, and instead took ill-advised shots, made ill-advised decisions, and 9 of his 12 FG attempts were from long range. there was no reason to shorten the rotation today just because flip wanted to win the game - and in fact that could be a big reason why we lost. if you're going to develop your bench and get them ready for the playoffs, AND you've won 11 straight by spreading out the minutes, why deviate from what works?

it almost seemed like we were throwing this game away on purpose, because it's been rare this season that i've seen chauncey make such horrible decisions and try so hard to be the hero. rip was also trying too hard to create his own offense early. we had no ball movement and forced iso matchups rather than move the ball.

i thought the bench played just fine. stuckey had another solid game. he and afflalo forced the action early and seemed a little too excited, but at least they were going hard. afflalo's FG attempt under the basket was not smart, but at least he was under the basket and not launching a 30-foot 3-point shot.

prince kept pierce's FGs in check, but nothing else. the only reason davis had a 'great game' was because of dribble penetration - it's easy to make uncontested layups. sheed had a right to be upset.

dice had an awful game, but at least he played garnett tough in the post...he just got caught with some unfortunate (and iffy) foul calls. chauncey and rip had awful games. tay had an awful game. the only players who were solid tonight were maxiell, stuckey, and sheed, and even sheed missed some easy shots in the post.

why is chauncey playing the entire 1st and 3rd quarters? goodness, make some substitutions.

while i think flip coached a subpar game, i'm kind of glad we haven't really thrown a zone at boston in 2 games. if we save it for the playoffs that's perfectly fine with me.

The GOAT of the game (if you just have to pick one) IMO was Chauncey. As we watched the game we all new that when the Pistons were down he was going to try and be the HERO instead of the leader. True to form Billups starts Jackin up J's instead of running the offense. yet Rip and Tay did a great job of executing and moving the ball, which got the team open shots, which got us back to a 1 poss game, then BANG!! Big SHot wants to be the BIG HEAD HERO as per usual.

In the end I'm happy we lost. This is a great Film Game, this is a game that can help Saunders down the road. Bos is not better than us, but they did outwork us just a bit tonight to get a meaningless regular season win. This team has not played its best ball yet and the best is yet to come. So go take your anti-depressants bring the negativity down a notch.

Lastly, Lee's right in ref to Amir-sort of. Today was a perfect example of what Lee's ranting about. Dyess in foul trouble, gotta go to a 4th big, and right now that big aint ready. Getting Amir ready means he checks in the game instead of Primoz. Primoz=Not very good, while Amir has the kind of talent where he can check in the game and get a block or two, a dunk or 2, he has the talent to do things in those situations that could have really boosted our team and kept Sheed and Max fresh because Dyess had foul trouble. Gotta hope Flip realizes this now.

The problem with this is this is what happens in EVERY ECF. Do you really think things will change? Billups has free rein to do whatever he wants and he's shown he will repeatedly made stupid decisions in the clutch and try to "take over". Flip can't prevent that. He has no control. Also in reference to Amir, you give Flip too much credit. Nothing will change. Amir still won't play.

And the playing the starters in throughout the entire 1st and 3rds (mentioned in another post) won't change either. Flip is locked into what he does.

The reason this is so concerning is because we repeat our mistakes over and over again, ISOs, lack of rebounding, Chauncey chucking. I feel like i'm watching the same movie 20 times.

I guess i don't have reason for optimism b/c while i believe we are the better team, and with a few adjustments we will be fine, I don't think these adjustments will be made. And the past backs up that point.

Had this game been played in March, I would be frustrated. But right now there are 3 players on the bench who are going to get better and more productive as the season goes along. The difference between the past and today is that this team is going to get better, in the past we were what we were. Stuckey, AA, and even Amir are going to get better and help in the obvious areas of concern....pts in the paint, rebounding, and limiting the starters minutes.

Oh and on another note, I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but as the season moves along, Ray Allen is looking like the odd man out. His #'s and FGA's are plumetting. Also he can not check Rip, Rip is so much better than Allen on both ends of the floor it's not even funny. We can smoke this team if Tayshaun leaves %%%%%%%% at home in the closet and forces Pierce to play more defense.

A three man front court rotation has not been getting it done for the Pistons. Thats what we have been trying since 04 and it has not been working in the later stages of the playoffs.

In this game we could have used someone like Amir who is a good rebounder and shot blocker. He could have made a difference. Davis's shots were very blockable. No excuse to let a role player like that score 16 points in the 4th quarter. But if we had someone in there scrambling for boards then the Pistons may not have let Boston back in.

Anyway, like someone else said - it was not a blowout. Just a frusterating lose because the Pistons did lose the hustle game.

Flip will show, what he has learned from this game very soon in Texas...:stirthepot:

We won the first game. Then Boston made adjustments. They were able to win the second game. Now Flip must make adjustments. I can just smell the playoff atmosphere.......Where are my White Castles and Faygo Creme Soda !!!!!! :)

I was at the Palace watching this one, but my seat was rather high up, and behind the basket. I did not feel comfortable reporting on the game before I watched the tape this morning.

Nice to read everyone else's take on things. Thanks to everyone who contributed observations from the game.

I post my game observations here and over at Micro's place. I read what comments there are before writing mine. This morning, there was a whole lot of reading to do.

I'll start with Garnett. Other than when he used Dyess as a doormat here and there, he was held in check very well. Both Sheed and JMAX did a very good job guarding him. That tough defense by Dyess on Garnett? That was a joke. Dyess may try hard, but he is too slow and has too little ups to check Garnett. Besides not being able to gaurd Garnett, Dyess also failed miserably at the job of watching the paint area. Just too slow to react. In all, this was a terrible game for Dyess. He contributed two made jumpers, and a whole lot of misses from the outside. What the team needed, inside play to get Boston into further foul troube, well, nobody seems to have told Dyess what the team needed.

Now Big Baby Glen Davis. 16 points in the 4th quarter, and nary a defensive adjustment made against him. For much of the quarter, JMAX was guarding him. But they had JMAX out fronting the point guard while Davis was free to park himself right under the hoop pretty much. JMAX did get back to Davis, or sometimes Sheed covered him in these situations, but the damage was done. Davis is a wide body, with better ups than some imagine, and good footwork. If you give him the ball right under the basket, he is going to make the shot. Now, I can see this happening once, or twice - but it went on the whole quarter. Even the basket that put the game out of reach was the exact same thing. Dyess was standing under the basket, ignoring Davis, letting him stand right where he wanted. He got the ball and scored with ease. Is Davis that good? No. Our defense simply did not give him any respect. The good news is that this is an obvious adjustment for next game.

Now Pierce. Pearce (sp) is exactly why we should not have Hayes as our primary backup small forward. Its like giving Boston a Christmas

More next post (whole thing won't seem to post at once)

2nd of two (for some reason, the entire post won't seem to go in at once.)

I reviewed the foul calls. I can't see much to complain about in all. Free throws certainly did not lose this one for us. If we wanted to shoot more, we should have drove in more. Like late 3rd. We had them in the penalty (4 fouls on them so the next one gets us to the line) with 4 minutes to go. We capitolized once.

Sheed did not go inside enough either. However, since he was doing very well guarding their star, I will give him a pass. Sheed by no means lost this game for us. And he hit some jumpers.

Tay too was defending one of their stars. I know us Piston fans love to hate Pearce (sp), but he is really a very solid player in pretty much every aspect of the game. Anyway, I will give a pass to Tay on his offense for the same reason. You can't expect one guy to do everything.
Stuckey hit a couple of jumpers, and made both his free throws when he got to the line. (Has he missed more than 1 or 2 free throws yet, in total, in his young career so far.) He also managed to get to loose balls, or pry them loose in the first place. Good hands. And rebouning? Stuckey passes for JMAX when he gets position inside and goes up for the bound. Stuckey is one big strong guard.

Hayes contributed about one made jumper per half. Hardly enough to make up for his poor D. Could the team have passed him the ball more? Maybe. I certainly did not see it though. I mean, maybe we could have ran more plays to get him open, but its not like the team ignores him if he is open. They all know he can shoot.

Brezec drew a key foul on Garnett to sit him down with a few minutes to go in the 1st half. It was on a rebound off a free throw. Rivers hated that call, and really, on reviewing the foul River's had a gripe there. But it mattered not one bit really as it just gave Garnett a bit more rest for the 2nd half and we never pressed the issue of foul trouble on Garnett in the 2nd half.

JMAX hit his first 5 shots. He ended up 5 of 6 I believe, and he did not make a shot in the 2nd half. He was very active on defense, and very effective. I see someone said that Flip tried the excuse "he was tired" for pulling JMAX in favor of Dyess for the last 4 minutes. Nope. Thats just Flip coaching. Put in the starters, regardless. And then making excuses. JMAX drew an offensive foul on Pierce just before he was pulled. Darn good play. And oh, right after that he pulled down an offensive board for us. Tired? More like essential for us. Bad substitution. Just for once Saunders should admit he made a mistake.

. . This team has not played its best ball yet and the best is yet to come. So go take your anti-depressants bring the negativity down a notch.



Yeah, you're right sir, I've been waiting for their best game out here since the day Flip The Great Offense arrived.

Next home game no doubt will be nationally televised. You guys who had to suffer with the Gangreen announcers will probably never hear them again this season. Next time try getting Sirius when it's our home game for a free trial and you can hear Mahorn and Blaha.

One thing that bothers me about the Pistons, it happens some in a win and a loss; the iso plays when CB holds the ball for 3-4 seconds, or Rip holds the ball then goes into a 1 on 1 disoriented deathmatch, or Sheed holds the ball above his head for the 4-5 seconds before telagraphing a pass that sometimes gets stolen.

WTF is that???

Those plays can`t be written up by Flip, or can thay? It is very obvious that Rip and CB has the green light from Flip to do whatever they please, they had 40 and 41mpg respectively, shooting a combined 10-28 from the field and 4-12 from the 3 pt arc.


The Pistons are a much better team when they share the ball. Only 6 TO in this game, however, it`s not the # of TO or bad shots, to me, it`s when these TO and bad shots occured in the game.

The rebounding, hustling, even poor defense could be corrected, but the iso plays and bone head decisions are what bothers me about this team. We have seen it in the past couple of years and there is no signs that it will change.

I hope I am wrong......

Great poiont, now we got fans upstair here talked about adjust by coach and adjustment was what I didn't see during crunch time for 3 years in a row.
Lee has said it, it's just Flip's coaching, I wondered what did Flip wanted when he got Stucky, AA, Jmax and Brezc all on the floor for a while in 2nd quarter, did he has any game plan to the youngs other than just rest the starters ?

Next home game no doubt will be nationally televised. You guys who had to suffer with the Gangreen announcers will probably never hear them again this season. Next time try getting Sirius when it's our home game for a free trial and you can hear Mahorn and Blaha.

The only remaining Pistons-Celtics game this regular season will be in Boston, on Wednesday March 5th at 7:30. ESPN does national TV games on Wedensday nights, but they're showing Phoenix-Denver that night at 9, and I don't think they have "flex" scheduling for those games anyway. So it'll surely be more Heinsohn homerism for all of us with League Pass.

My point about Amir is that you lose nothing if you play him. Let him play. Instead of brezec in should have been amir. If amir failed so be it.

My point about Amir is that you lose nothing if you play him. Let him play. Instead of brezec in should have been amir. If amir failed so be it.

You're right. He has to be allowed to fail a little. Throw him into the deep end.

The Boston announcers mentioned that Pierce went 5-16 in the first game when they were talking about how poorly he played in their pre-game ramblings. They also said something like "I doubt he'll do that again."

Well, thanks to Prince, Pierce went 5-16 again. Remember that he is their leading scorer, so that is pretty good containment.

In fact, their big three were very contained. 12-36 shooting. 18 FTA. 20 rebounds (KG with only 5!). 11 assists. 11 personal fouls. 8 turnovers.

I don't think we can do any better than that. Especially when you consider that Chauncey held their starting point guard to 3 points and ZERO assists.

Really, our only problem was that Glen Davis got 8 layups with 5 and1's and they made 10 more free throws (despite the fact that we fouled them fewer times).


All of the criticism going around about how our offense was stagnant... or course it was. The Celtics are the best defensive team in the league. We got a taste of our own medicine. Did you notice how stagnant their offense was too? I mean both teams made 31 shots. If Davis would have stayed quiet, we would have held them to 26 made shots or so and they would feel violated.

Yeah, the Pistons' problems on offense wouldn't have been decisive if it hadn't been for all those second chance and hustle points the Celtics were getting throughout the game after the first quarter, but it's frustrating because a lot of those should have been preventable. Rondo was indeed shut down, and Pierce had another bad shooting night from the floor, but the Pistons did have a "point guard"-type problem on defense down the stretch in their near-total inability to contain the penetration that resulted in all those layups for Big Baby. Most of that was coming off drives by Pierce.

KGreg,

Have to agree with Lpgrl that this happens too often in big games (the last two ECF). Our offense gets jammed up and we miss a ton of jumpers.

Agree with you that their main guys were taken care of defensively. Also as Lee mentioned, Garnett was somewhat contained.

Dyss has been a nice player but he may be overmatched in what we are asking him to do. And when either Dyss or Sheed get into foul trouble, we are short on the big rotation. Amir would have been a better bet in retrospect but there must be some reason the staff does not trust him. So, I expect a move out of Joe.

We need Maxiel playing as a starter because he will get the other teams front line in foul trouble or he will get easy scores. If we make the other team pay attention to him, then the game will open up for us offensively.

Dyess did a pretty good job on KG.

The reason you see these offensive struggles in the ECF is that we tend to be matched up against the 2nd or 3rd best defensive team in the league at that stage. We were stagnant because nobody could get open. The players trying to pass the ball were smothered too. But that was exactly what we were doing to them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no easy answer against defense like that. In fact, we are the best type of team to beat them, because they can't key on our superstars, we take care of the ball, and we spread the floor well with our 3-point shooters.

Think about why KG didn't get many defensive rebounds in a game where we missed a ton of shots. He was pulled away from the basket.

Glen Davis Maxielled us.

I think some are overreacting. I think emotions got Dice out of the game and hurt the Pistons more than their bad execution at times. The Pistons were manhandled on the boards and took some horrible shots, but they barely lost.

After a night of watching the game twice and sleeping on it, I have had a chance to calm down somewhat and say lets move on to the next game. This game meant more to the Celtics than the Pistons, but now the Pistons should still take tomorrow to review the tape and their defiencies before they head to Texas.

They can still win 55+ games and grab at least the # 2 seed, but like all years they have to adjust or prepare to get to the finals. In years past the question was did we have a body to stop Shaq.... Now it's what do we need to stop Garnett or Baby or Pierce...better yet who will be our stopper in the middle to help Sheed and Max? Certainly can't rely on Tay, Dice or Primo. (or C-Webb:))

At this point we know AJ is not the answer, but when will Flip give him the minutes in non-garbage time to get better?? If we are deep, play everybody!!

Those who think we will get better have a point, but guess what folks: so will the Celtic role players....because Doc has to play them. No need for a knee jerk reaction now as we have the second best defense, but when your chief rival has the #1 defense in 4 key categories, you need to be able to counter it for that ultimate meeting in May. In other words, it is time for Joe to start reviewing the rosters of the non-contenders to find that extra defensive stopper (who can also score in the paint a little and grab some boards) and deal Jr, Primo or Fabio.

Dyess did a pretty good job on KG.

The reason you see these offensive struggles in the ECF is that we tend to be matched up against the 2nd or 3rd best defensive team in the league at that stage. We were stagnant because nobody could get open. The players trying to pass the ball were smothered too. But that was exactly what we were doing to them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no easy answer against defense like that. In fact, we are the best type of team to beat them, because they can't key on our superstars, we take care of the ball, and we spread the floor well with our 3-point shooters.

Think about why KG didn't get many defensive rebounds in a game where we missed a ton of shots. He was pulled away from the basket.

Glen Davis Maxielled us.

Dyess did a pretty good job on KG? Please tell me what play you are talking about. I will be glad to go review it. I've watched the game twice now, and I sure did not catch any good defense from Dyess on KG.

The reason you see these offensive struggles in the ECF is that we tend to be matched up against the 2nd or 3rd best defensive team in the league at that stage.

With Flip's offensive mind/genius/playbook, this should not be an issue.

As far as I can see, Flip has no offensive ingenuity, unless you count repeatedly hoisting up 25-foot J's.

I didn't expect a Pistons win last night so I'm not bothered by any of it, but this Boston team will give Detroit fits come playoff time. I see a Game 7 at the Fleet in Detroit's not-so-distant future.

In other words, it is time for Joe to start reviewing the rosters of the non-contenders to find that extra defensive stopper (who can also score in the paint a little and grab some boards) and deal Jr, Primo or Fabio.

Sounds like you want to get Artest. I'm all for it.

$7.8M Artest

(1.9M) Murray
(2.7M) Bresec
(1.9M) Herrmann
(1.2M) Hayes

They would get a bunch of depth at different positions. They are all expiring contracts. And they get Artest out of there.

We'd have:

Billups/ Stuckey/ Hunter
Rip/ Afflalo/ ACKER
Prince/ Artest/ MEJIA
Dyess/ Maxiell/ RODNEY WHITE
Sheed/ Johnson/ Samb

The zoo crew would be complete. The only downside is that we would have to go crawling back to all those guys we cut so that we could have some guys to fill the suits.

Dyess did a pretty good job on KG? Please tell me what play you are talking about. I will be glad to go review it. I've watched the game twice now, and I sure did not catch any good defense from Dyess on KG.

I'm mainly satisfied with the way that he helped limit KG to 3 rebounds in the 2nd half. Even on a few of Garnett's makes, he made it really tough for him. Also, the some of the plays where Dice got the fouls were pretty good.

Dyess's D was not good when he was off KG. Maybe he was too concerned about helping to stay on his own man.

Dyess did a pretty good job on KG? Please tell me what play you are talking about. I will be glad to go review it. I've watched the game twice now, and I sure did not catch any good defense from Dyess on KG.

I have seen it twice too and IMHO both Dyess and Hayes were repeatedly a half step slow on the defensive end. The only defense that contained KG was his emotions and him being in foul trouble on the bench. He may not have scored a ton of points, but his leadership while he was on the floor was enough to have a few Piston players over play him and leave others open.

Gazzoo,

Agree. The loss isn't the thing. It is the pattern of the loss. We have seen this before.

Dice may not have been helped by the refs on Garnett, but he is a bit undersized and not as quick as needed for what we are asking him to do. Plus, he is playing too many minutes. Dice has played admirably and has looked better than Webber of last year overall in the starter role. But we didn't win it with Webber.

Maxiel should now start. Maxiel will put a lot of pressure on their starters from the get go. Do you risk a foul early or let Maxiel get an easy score? I see Maxi as an early option and a way of taking pressure off of our guards.

You're right. He has to be allowed to fail a little. Throw him into the deep end.

AJ should have played last night, especially in the 4th quarter.

:hoops:

AJ should have played last night, especially in the 4th quarter.

:hoops:

Seems to me you said "AJ isn't ready yet" on another thread.

Seems to me you said "AJ isn't ready yet" on another thread.

Figure it out.

We were winning handily - 2nd best record in the league
We had beaten Boston in Boston
Keep AJ on the bench working hard in practice and getting garbage time since it appeared that we didn't need him to beat Boston. No reason to rush him.

Now

We have proven that we are not the best team in the East and will most likely have a difficult time of beating Boston in the playoffs.
We are so far ahead of Orlando that unless we have a major injury and even then 2nd seed is a lock either up or down from there.
Play AJ and give him the experience.
He won't hurt us enough to make us worse than Orlando
He may make us better enough to beat Boston

Got to be flexible in life and in your thinking.

New facts, old decisions need to be reviewed and revised if beneficial to do so.

Playing AJ now is a total no risk situation

We may not beat Boston with him but based on the Cavs series and yesterday we aren't going to beat Boston in the playoffs without him

Get flexible, Get Real

Play AJ Now.

:hoops:
We

Figure it out.

We were winning handily - 2nd best record in the league
We had beaten Boston in Boston
Keep AJ on the bench working hard in practice and getting garbage time since it appeared that we didn't need him to beat Boston. No reason to rush him.

Now

We have proven that we are not the best team in the East and will most likely have a difficult time of beating Boston in the playoffs.
We are so far ahead of Orlando that unless we have a major injury and even then 2nd seed is a lock either up or down from there.
Play AJ and give him the experience.
He won't hurt us enough to make us worse than Orlando
He may make us better enough to beat Boston

Got to be flexible in life and in your thinking.

New facts, old decisions need to be reviewed and revised if beneficial to do so.

Playing AJ now is a total no risk situation

We may not beat Boston with him but based on the Cavs series and yesterday we aren't going to beat Boston in the playoffs without him

Get flexible, Get Real

Play AJ Now.

:hoops:
We

Are you sure?


There is one more game to play between these two teams before the playoffs. Let`s see which way the wind blows for ya then........

Are you sure?


There is one more game to play between these two teams before the playoffs. Let`s see which way the wind blows for ya then........

Absolutely

I had about 20 hours to think about it since our loss last night.

That was enough time.

It won't happen though, at least not right away.

It will be interesting to see if AJ gets any burn in TX, win or lose.

:hoops:

Absolutely

I had about 20 hours to think about it since our loss last night.

That was enough time.

It won't happen though, at least not right away.

It will be interesting to see if AJ gets any burn in TX, win or lose.

:hoops:
It should be mandatory that he get some burn in Texas whether we are ahead or behind. If you are going to just give him Darko minutes, then just leave him at home with Hunter. I am tired of this he is not ready yet. All you can learn in garbage time is how to fight for a chance to shoot when you are playing against other scrubs fighting for a chance to impress the coach. He has got to play with a teacher/mentor/vet on the floor in real time vs all-pros and not all-crubs!!

It should be mandatory that he get some burn in Texas whether we are ahead or behind. If you are going to just give him Darko minutes, then just leave him at home with Hunter. I am tired of this he is not ready yet. All you can learn in garbage time is how to fight for a chance to shoot when you are playing against other scrubs fighting for a chance to impress the coach. He has got to play with a teacher/mentor/vet on the floor in real time vs all-pros and not all-crubs!!

I agree.

If rookie, Baby Shaq can light up our defense for 16 in the 4th quarter, we need to look elsewhere than what we had on the floor last night. AJ is the most likely candidate.

:hoops:

I agree.

If rookie, Baby Shaq can light up our defense for 16 in the 4th quarter, we need to look elsewhere than what we had on the floor last night. AJ is the most likely candidate.

:hoops:

Speaking of rookies. I know Memphis is far out of the playoff picture at the moment. But they don't plan to stay there. Conley is back from injury and starting at point now for them. Further, Stoudemire is not playing at all for them. Rather, Lowry is doing all the backup point guard minutes. Memphis is a far better team now, for playing a rookie, and a guy who only played 10 games last year in his rookie season.

Further, Navarro is a rookie. Today, he finished out the win for Memphis.

Oh yeah, and Rudy Gay is just in his 2nd year, and has pretty much passed Gasol as their top scorer.

Speaking of rookies. I know Memphis is far out of the playoff picture at the moment. But they don't plan to stay there. Conley is back from injury and starting at point now for them. Further, Stoudemire is not playing at all for them. Rather, Lowry is doing all the backup point guard minutes. Memphis is a far better team now, for playing a rookie, and a guy who only played 10 games last year in his rookie season.

Further, Navarro is a rookie. Today, he finished out the win for Memphis.

Oh yeah, and Rudy Gay is just in his 2nd year, and has pretty much passed Gasol as their top scorer.

I am not for a minute saying AJ, AA or Stuckey`s minutes should be limited, however, Gay, Navarro and Conley are on totally different rosters than this Piston one.

It`s like apple and oranges.

That does make a difference.

The reason you see these offensive struggles in the ECF is that we tend to be matched up against the 2nd or 3rd best defensive team in the league at that stage. We were stagnant because nobody could get open. The players trying to pass the ball were smothered too. But that was exactly what we were doing to them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no easy answer against defense like that. In fact, we are the best type of team to beat them, because they can't key on our superstars, we take care of the ball, and we spread the floor well with our 3-point shooters.

Thought this was a great post to help me make a point. You guys realize that when it comes down to the top 2or3 teams there is not alot of differences. Team for team, it's a toss-up. It's very rare that when 2 teams meet in the Conf Finals or higher that one team is just that much better than the other. The reason why the Pistons have lossed the last 2 years has less to do with Flip than the fact that come game 6 or game 7 the best player on the court does not wear a Piston Jersey.

To win it all you need players to make plays. Wade did it 2 years ago, Bron did it last year. While everybody talks about SA being some great TEAM, the truth is Duncan is arguably the best player to ever play his position, Ginobli is the biggest competitor not named Kobe, and nobody in the league can stay in front of Tony Parker - all of those guys can make a play and get an easy bucket in spite of the defense. There is no Piston who can do that. Not Sheed, Rip, Dyess, Max, Tay, AJ.....NOBODY. Sure we want to believe that we are the best team in the league, and we are, but when it comes down to it, great teams are not going to allow an offense to just execute, somebody HAS to be able to beat their man, somebody has to be able to hit a shot with a hand in their face. If we lose to Bos in the conf finals it will have more to do with Paul Pierce (Not Garnett, Not Allen, Not some role player) Taking over and deciding not to lose, than whether Max or Dyess starts, or AJ plays, or Flip makes "Adjustments".

Remember when we won the ECF in '05? Game 7 in Miami, Wade was playing hurt and was ineffective. I'm not saying anything in particular, but we may have been sent packing had he been healthy, cause prior to his rib injury we had no answer for him.

Remember when we won the ECF in '05? Game 7 in Miami, Wade was playing hurt and was ineffective. I'm not saying anything in particular, but we may have been sent packing had he been healthy, cause prior to his rib injury we had no answer for him.
This was when we had the great LB here, whom I really loved as a coach, I felt we played our best ball under LB but I'm not overly nostalgic like some folk around here:
NBA.com: No Wade... No Way (http://www.nba.com/games/20050604/MIADET/recap.html)

Great post KGREG...finally someone admits that despite having the best 5 or 4.5 starters in the league, not one of them is a bonafied superstar to put us over the top when all of the pieces are not in working order.

We have had an excellent team for 5 years now with a set of flaws that the current coach has not so far been able to overcome despite the fact that Joe has given him what seems to be enough tools to get over the proverbial hump.

We are not going to get that superstar now, but that Rip, AJ & six draft choices for Kobe trade would have certainly done the trick this year and next despite what trio of superstars play 41 games on the parquet floor or in the state of Texas.

We won the first game. Then Boston made adjustments. They were able to win the second game. Now Flip must make adjustments. I can just smell the playoff atmosphere.......Where are my White Castles and Faygo Creme Soda !!!!!! :)

Hey!

No sweetening the pot! There was no Faygo discussed!:gun1:

Yeah, you're right sir, I've been waiting for their best game out here since the day Flip The Great Offense arrived.

Funny how their "best basketball" is always just over the horizon.

...the one that never seems to come.

I still like our formula.

If we had a superstar, we'd have less of something else. Where is Miami now? Why don't we consider the Cavs a threat this year?

When was the last time Kobe's team won a championship?

How about McGrady? I mean he even has Yao on this team and some other nice pieces.

Iverson/Mello?


We lost a close game to an equally matched team. You guys are just freaking out.

You guys are just freaking out.

Well... yeah. It's what we do.

I bet if you look out your window right now to the east you can see a big piece of sky falling.

I bet if you look out your window right now to the east you can see a big piece of sky falling.

Holy crap! You're right. I knew Flip should have played Amir.

Flip not playing Amir is behind all the storms rampaging across the US. All except for the storms in California, those were all about Afflalo needing a few more minutes.

I don't know if I like our 'formula' better but I like our players.

re: Low,
I think its funny how our best basketball is in Dec and Jan. I hope we surge again in the playoffs.