How to win this series

I thought it was Max who was everywhere in that game singlehandedly stymying the Cavs pick & rolls, now it turns out it was Amir too? Wow!

It's not like Lee to let this stuff slide.

At the risk of responding to something that is totally sarcastic and doesn't need one; IIRC, Max didn't play much in that game.

The game from November that they won?!?! Lee must be spinning in his grave.

Here is the Leecap from this game. Note: Click on the below link at your own risk. I'm going to go dunk my head in the toilet to try and forget some of the things I said.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/november-2008/9169-cleveland-nov-19-7-30pm-6.html

Wasn't AI active that game though?

It sucks, but we are washed up. The only thing that could win us this series honestly is our "championship pride" but it seems like that has slowly died over the years. When a good team starts fading its not a pretty site.

JMAX played very little in the 2nd game against Cleveland this season. Which makes no sense after what happened in the first game.

I was actually referring to the game in CLE when we lost. We jumped out to that 3rd quarter 10 pt lead, and then Curry took Amir out and never put him back in.

I think you're thinking of the second game against them at home when we held an 8 point lead after 3, only to get out-scored by 18 in the 4th quarter.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons - Box Score - February 01, 2009 - ESPN

I don't know WTH i'm referring to anymore LOL. All i know is there was game, Amir started and played well. We had something like a 10 pt lead at the end of the third, and we went with our senior citizen big line-up to finish the game.

So yea, maybe it was that one.

That was the 3rd game against Cleveland. This was during the 2nd time Amir was in the starting unit. During that time, we were consistently losing close games by having Sheed and Dyess paired at the end of each game.

Two words "Chauncy Billups"

In the 1st game against Cleveland (W: 96-89), we started:
PG: AI
SG: Rip
SF: Tay
PF: Sheed
C: Kwame

After being down 38-49 at the half, Detroit dominated in the 2nd half 58-40. In the 2nd half, we hit 5 3's (compared to 0 in the first half) and we made 13 FT's (compared to 2 in the first half). The rotation in the 2nd half was basically the same, except that Maxiell and Afflalo got major 4th quarter action in place of Kwame and Rip. Afflalo and Maxiell were the +/- leaders. AI had a great game with 23 points on 50% shooting, 6-6 from the line, 4 assists, and 4 steals (+4 turnovers) and was 3rd in the +/- category. Amir had a breakeven stretch in the 2nd quarter where he played OK, but picked up 3 PF's. He was inserted at the end of the 2nd and 3rd quarters for one defensive possession each. Non factor.

Lebron had a solid game with 25 points, 10 FTA's, and 6 assists, but I would say that he was contained. Mo Williams had a great game with 25 points (5-8 from 3-point range).

In the 2nd game against Cleveland (L: 80-90), we started:
PG: Stuckey
SG: Iverson
SF: Prince
PF: Amir
C: Sheed

Rip came off the bench. We basically went with a 7 man rotation. Afflalo and Maxiell each got about 5 minutes in the 2nd quarter, but that was it. Bynum played 1 defensive possession to the the 1st half. Kwame and Herrmann were benched. Iverson played almost the entire game, with 44 total minutes.

Through 3 quarters, we were looking very solid with a 66-58 lead. However, the 4th quarter was a disaster as we got outscored 14-32. We got killed by Lebron (3-5, 8 points), Gibson (3-3, 7 points), and especially by Mo Willaims 5-6, 12 points).

Amir and AI played for the first 2:37 of the 4th and they were yanked as we quickly lost the lead and were down by 1 point. Stuckey came in for AI, missed 2 free throws and was quickly replaced by AI again. Tay and Sheed were pretty bad as they went 1-7 the rest of the quarter, which was disasterous for us as we went -9 from there on out.

Lebron had a big game with 33 points and 8 assists. We did force him to turn it over 5 times, but that's the only positive.

In the 3rd game against Cleveland (L: 78-99), we started:
PG: Stuckey
SG: AI
SF: Prince
PF: Sheed
C: Dyess

Again, Rip came off the bench and Kwame got a DNP-CD (because at this point, the Kwame experiment had ended). Amir and Bynum were on their way to getting DNP-CD's as well, but were put in for the 4th quarter when the game was out of reach.

The 1st quarter was a disaster. Dyess, AI, and Prince all played the entire quarter and were -14. Sheed picked up 2 quick fouls and was replaced after 5:52 by Maxiell, who didn't fare much better.

To start the 2nd quarter, MC threw a curve ball at Mike Brown and went with his secret weapon, small ball, which went -9 in about 5 minutes. When that didn't work, he subbed in AI, Tay, and Herrmann (the dreaded double SF lineup) and Cleveland countered with Lebron. -11 for the rest of the 2nd quarter for the Pistons, which resulted in a 34-67 halftime deficit. Cle was 1 point away from doubling us up.

The 3rd quarter was non-eventful as we won back 3 points by playing the starting lineup for the entire quarter.

The 4th quarter was extended garbage time as Bynum, Rip, Herrmann, Maxiell, and Amir cleaned up against Cleveland's bench and held them to 11 total points. Amir and Max had 11 boards in the quarter. No Bron. Lebron had 20 points and 9 assists through 3 quarters, so pretty nice game by him.




So, 3 games against Cleveland and 3 starting lineups. The first game of the playoffs marked the 4th starting lineup against them in 4 games. The rotations were wildly mixed in the regular season games with different patterns of substitutions, experiments with small ball, short benches, long benches, etc. The 1 game we won against them this year had AI playing a great game and Kwame starting.

Don't know what else to say. If we are going to beat Cleveland, we have to invent a new way to do it. There is no past success that we can draw on.