As me and Mikhail said in chat when it was in the low 30's, we need points to win and we need to finish above 90 to guarantee it. We got 14 in the last 4 mins to hit 50 and most thought we had it...but wtf, the C's open the 3rd on a 13-4 run. But alas we keep our composure and respond with a 12-2 run to temporary control of the game and lead by 9 at the end of 3. Yep they came back within 2 with some crazy play by Theo on both ends, but the starters finally stepped up vs the Celtics for the first time this year (the last 4 games). Rodney STUDDkey was huge in the 4th as he and Hunter were the only zoocrews to scored. Billups returned to glory...we hope We got out boarded 39-31, but the rest of the stats were almost even...both teams hit 35 fgs, both team hit 5 three balls, but the difference was at the free throw line where we got them at the line by 6. Assists were about even, we had 27 points in the paint to their 26. Tonights meaningless stats= Pistons were 34-1 during the regular season when scoring 100 pts or more and now 4-0 in the playoffs. Now nine straight game 2 wins in the playoffs. First team to beat Boston at home and first score to over 100 pts on their # 1 defense Six Pistons in double figures Afflolo got in and played 16 seconds which secured the victory.
Stuckey was the story of this game. Fine on D, great on O. He hit jumpers, after creating his own shot, got to the rack, made the shot or got free throws. He had 13 points in his first 15 minutes. Not bad. In contrast, Boston has nothing for a backup point guard, and indeed, there starting point guard can barely play the game. Billups had about five times the game vs. the 1st game of the series. He was getting around much better. He at one point late in the 2nd quarter seemed to tweak something - but hopefully it was not a re-tweaking of the Hammy. Its amazing that we won considering Allen heated up while Pierce and Garnett still had it going. But we shut down everyone else pretty good. We on the other hand, had 6 guys in double figures, the starters plus Stuckey. Sheed finally buried a three after missing 15 straight, and 19 of his last 20. He added a couple of short to medium jumpers and hit some free throws. On D, he was able to keep Garnett from doing damage in the post. That is not easy. Billups is not 100%, but he got points here and there. A three made, and a lot of driving to the basket. Fortunately, the pointguard for Boston won't even take a shot so Billups speed on defense did not hurt him that much. Billups must be pretty well healed to do what he did tonight without further reinjury. As far as I can tell, he was fine at the end of the game. As far as I can tell anyway. Rip was the scoring hero. Got to appreciate that 95% of the time stead shot of his. Tay did ok. Not great. We are using Hunter to spell the guy, along with spelling Rip. Hunter hit a couple of shots in the first half early in his stint, and made one or two good defensive plays. He had nothing for us in the 2nd half. Theo played. Still can't figure out what he is doing in this series. However, between Maxiell, who I don't think played in the 2nd half, Ratliff, Hunter, and Stuckey, we played the bench quite a bit. Nobody got overplayed in the 1st half. Maxiell did not play enough really to get anything going. Well, thats it. Great win, we took control of the series. Next two games in the D. GO PISTONS!!!!!
This is tangential to a great Pistons win, but I wanted to comment on Van Gundy as announcer. He is really superb in my view. He has a pleasant voice, is witty and articulate, and offers a lot of intelligent insights. He does not hype what is happening on the floor the way Marv Albert does for TNT. He is refreshingly candid about bad calls (or no calls) and about perceived mistakes by players or coaches. Rarely does he open his mouth without saying something interesting.
Now that i saw the score i'm wide awake reading this thread which is exactly what i said i wouldn't do. Anyway i think AA gets a chance on Pierce at home. At least i hope he does. His shooting % is still way too high, and we seem to be unable to stop KG and PP. KG stops himself at the end of games so doing a better job on Pierce is crucial. It's essential we come out like we're on fire. These two games in DET are majorly important. We have a chance to crush BOS' spirit. Reading the game threads, it seems like Theo was killing us. Why was Max so limited? He will show up at home.
Van Gundy is auditioning for the Pistons job and is pretty astute. He will be the first one to interview with Joe, if flip flops
Right now.. Bill Simmons is drinking heavily, but he's not half as freaked out as David Stern. And Kevin Durant is at home polishing his Rookie of the Year trophy. Yessir!
Nice post game interviews with Stuckey and Rip. Stuckey came off great, articulate and confident as he had been doing this for years. Rip dropped about 30 "you knows"..well I lost track of them, but he got his point across.
Well, I hope that there is no "flip-flop." If Flip is even partly responsible for the greater intensity and improved execution by the Pistons tonight, then more power to him.
History was made tonight as Flip actually got credit from THE LOW at one point. When CB got the wide open layup coming out of a timeout in the last minute, pigs flew as Flip was explicitly given credit by his most consistent critic.
Great win for the Pistons. Very impressive. Kudos to Mr. Stuckey and the rest. I will stand by my prediction that the Celtics will win it in 6, but I was thrilled to see the win, and I hope the Pistons prove me wrong.
That floater by Rip in crunch time was the game winner IMO. He misses that, we could have lost. After that, we were in control. And it was an extremely tough shot. Was Ratliff doing anything? I know he didn't show up on the stat sheet, but was he playing good defense? It seemed like he was out there forever and never affected the game at all. How dumb was Lindsey's reach in foul right before halftime? He really needs to quit that. I saw a writer give Taysaun Prince credit the other day for what a great defender he is and how rarely he gambles.
After the game, the pistons left the court in a cool, businesslike manner. There were high fives, but no wild celebration. Just another day at the office, I guess. For us fans, this should be reassuring, they'll not celebrate until they win it all. This makes the Pistons all the more frightening!!!! Woohoo Go Pistons :p_welldone:
This is what I love about the Pistons, even though the flipside is that they seem detached sometimes during games. But when I saw Paul Pierce celebrating his own ability to call a time out at the end of their most recent game 7, I remember thinking "geez... act like you've been somewhere."
He has been somewhere. He went to Miami to watch Walker win a title He is a punk. He would celebrate like that beating the rec bball team from the community center in Harlem. Won't ever change.
Theo wasn't that bad. He was kind of rookie-like, giving back whatever contributions he made. He got a hand on a few shots, came up with the ball off a steal (and threw it away). Hunter played a big part in turning the game around. No way he shouldn't play. Dyess.........at times he is the perfect compliment to the other starters. He did a phenomanal job making Garnett work on offense. The offensive rebounds...... The stretch where CB & Rip got blocked 3 times virtually in a row on fast breaks in the first half near killed me. Everyone who played (for more than 12 seconds - not that they weren't a big 12 seconds) contributed. The first ECF road win of the Flip Saunders era. Please don't give HCA back. I am fired up. I was out at dinner walking around flexing like Paul Pierce.
I told you all they would win this one. Sometimes y'all act like you ain't never seen the Pistons make it to the ECF 5 times in a row. Boston? They have alot of talent, but they aren't a team. Who was on their roster last year? Pierce and Rondo? Garnett, Allen, Cassell, Brown, Posey, and House are all in their first season with the Celtics. Davis is a rookie. I'll take the experienced team with allstar talent over the allstar salary team any day. If Chauncey can play, the Pistons have this one. Better luck next year, KG.
Lindsey is effective as long as he isn't playing more than 10 minutes or so. He's a decent 4th guard at this point in his career. If Theo wasn't mobile, he'd make a better coat-rack. He plays hyper which gets him out of position and confused on defense. The difference between Theo and PJ Brown is enormous.
