Going to be interesting to see how them not having Hughes will effect their perimiter D. After the trade some were saying that the Pistons will have an easier time against the Cavs without Hughes.
Can't we count "Hitsville USA". Actually, many people would want it in Auburn Hills or another Suburb. Sadness.........
Well, that was a bunch of Sh** if I ever saw it. If this is the way they are going to play when it counts. COUNT ME OUT. Bad enough to hear nothing but BRON BRON BRON without the Pistons just giving them more to talk about. Da** idiots
Great game. NOT!!! Like having a root canal performed with a baseball bat! Flat effort, flat and confused, outhustled, out smarted etc. The refs were bad as usual in Cleveland, but not as bad as they have been in the past. This loss is on the Pistons. They brought a "B" game, and got a "D" result.
Well I hate to say it but what did the Pistons eat or do last night? Wednesday 2/20 103-98 loss to the Bucks Wednesday 2/27 103-98 loss to the Jazz Wedneaday 3/5 90-78 loss to the Celtics Wednesday 3/12 88-82 loss to the Sixers Wednesday 3/19 98-73 loss to the Cavs We won games on all non-Wednesdays since 2/20 which means our next loss is next Wednesday to the Raptors.
I haven't been impressed with Tay's D in a long, long time. Now, I understand that LBJ can make anyone look foolish on D, but it hasn't just been on James that I've been disappointed. I don't know if it's positioning, angles, slow-footedness, lack of desire, or what. He just looks out of position, easily beaten off the dribble, late on help and unmotivated.
Frustrating game. Terrible execution. It's like the offense goes out the crapper whenever we play Cleveland. oh well. At least we play a few more no D running teams in the next few. Unfortunately, the next game's in 3 days.
Cleveland was clearly better. LBJ does what he wants against Detroit and even freakin' Varejao had some nice plays and hit a few J's. For Detroit, I liked the fact that FlipS gave Stuckey some burn in the 4th quarter- he did ok I think. You can still see he needs more experience- just think about his stupid foul after LBJ made a pump fake.
Not really upset at the loss because in any given game on the road you can lose especially playing a tough team at home in Cleveland. What aggrivates me is that you would have thought the Pistons would have came out a little more inspired tonite being that the Cavs eliminated them in last years playoffs. I'm more disappointed in our effort than the actual result. However, I like the fact we played our bench and Stuckey to me is looking more and more comfortable as each game goes by. If he keeps progressing he may be able to be part of the rotation come April. We are still a great team I just hope to God that we will make the neccessary adjustments come playoff time to maximize our talent and experience. To those of you who are already counting the Pistons out and are absolutely sure they are doomed, WHY EVEN WATCH. If i knew a violent, drooling, savage beast was outside my apt. waiting to pounce on me as soon as i come out best be for damn sure I'm staying my ass inside. A RARE EXP POST.
Well, as bad as this game was, things could be worse.... we could be the Miami Heat. They lost 96-54 to the Raptors tonight. They set a franchise "record" for fewest first half points (26), points in a game (54) and field goal percentage (20-of-78 for .256%). They were also 5-for-23 (.217%) from down town. The good news is that they were .90% from the line (9-for-10). Ouch.
I just don't understand how Flip can go to a post game press conference and say he "just didn't like the effort in the second half" when he went with a 7 man rotation in the second half and AA and AJ did not play. Tells me the coach did not attempt to use all his weapons to win the game and gave up. Energy and defensive presence are what AA and AJ are going to give you if given a chance. Funny how he complimented Verejo's play in the second half for giving them extra possessions on hustle plays; when our hustle players di not get off the bench in the second half. I have come to the conclusion that Dice is getting slower. He is losing his explosiveness more and more every game. We have 14 games to make a change. I would like to see Theo take Dice's spot and make Dice the 4th or maybe 5th big depending on opponent. The energy from Max, AJ and Stucky really help us avoid those long droughts when one of them is in.
The Pistons still have the second best defense in the league, but when they play smash down defensive teams like the Celtics and Cavs, they have problems with the matchups. The sixers defense has improved to the 7th best in the league and we struggled with them last week. I still believe we can beat any team in the west (except maybe the Jazz) if we make it to the finals, but Celtics and Cavs will be a tough matchup on the way. I am thinking that despite the C's being the best team, we could take them out in a 7 game series, but the only we can beat the Cavs is with Labron and Varejo out of the line up. Tay can no longer stop Lebron and no one keeps an eye Varejo so he outhustles our guys to every loose ball. I hate to be a pessimest in March, but the only way I see a ring this year is a 4-1 victory over the Wiz in rd 1; a 4-2 series win over the Magic in round 2 and a 4-2 series win over the Celtics in round 3. Facing the Sixers and Cavs in the first two rounds may prevent sixth straight trip to the ECF and an almost sudden pink slip for flip.
Flip failed to make the correct adjustment... again. LB would have went small when we got down by double digits, and ran the Cavs off the floor(or tried to). Then he would have put in the bigs to finish them off. Joe really needs to get a scorer on this team. RIP is a shooter, not a scorer, and in the 4th, NOBODY on this team wants the ball to take over the game. Nobody want to LEAD, and that's the problem. No coaching leadership, and no floor leadership. Sheed talks a good game, but he won't put the team on his back and lead.
That's pretty weird. I thought Cleveland looks really good tonight. We weren't missing easy shots, they were smothering us. Our D is just as good I believe, but they were at home and had the energy that we lacked. It is still possible that they will fully embrace a defensive mindset with Ben and get better still. Whether is it Boston or Cleveland, we are going to find ourselves battling a very very good defensive team for our survival in the playoffs. We need a gameplan that works in those games. I was wrong about the fouls. The refs pretty much let the teams play tonight and it didn't benefit us. I guess that theory only works when we are the better defensive team. 7 free throws for us? Not enough. And conversely, no Pistons had more than 2 fouls. Maybe we could have ratcheted up the pressure more in that case. I'm not terribly upset by this loss, but I think that Flip should be worried about why it happened. It looked a little bit like what happened last year at Clevelant. All these easy wins against offensive minded teams in the next few weeks don't mean much in comarison.
