The Pistons didn’t do well attendance-wise this year? I thought they were one of the better teams in that respect.
Anyway - re: Game 2. If the Pistons aren’t going to double team Shaq and he takes less than 30 shots next game, then the Lakers are too stupid to win.
Ya, you’re right. They are a few thousand up on the NBA average, according to the Free Press. I was thinking of a few years back
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The Lakers are a disgrace, but I still think they’ll win the series pretty easily. I’m not gonna lie and say that I wasn’t shocked by how poorly they played, but I will say this. The Sixers took game 1 of their Finals series, too ('01). We saw how that played out. Obviously this isn’t the same Lakers team, but really, on paper, it should be. Plus, they’re going to get more than six field goals out of the rest of the team on most nights. That’s all they got in game 1- six made field goals and sixteen points out of everyone but Kobe and Shaq. You have to figure at least one of those guys will have an OK night more often than not.
That said, Christ on a cracker, Kobe is a fucking maniac, and not in the good way. He has no concept of a good shot whatso-fucking-ever. I hate the guy, and I hate his team, but even I can’t really enjoy the way he pisses away his talent. He hasn’t learned a freaking thing in- what? Seven years in the L? When Shaq’s standing in the paint, there is absolutely no reason to take ten off-balance 20-footers, under pressure, in a game. He should be killing people every play, every night in this series. The Pistons weren’t even playing all that well on defense, considering some of the performances they’ve turned in this year.
P.S. Karl Malone doesn’t deserve a ring. He really doesn’t.
P.P.S. Ben Wallace might be the most overrated player in the NBA. He’s not, actually, but he might be second.
Can we just take a moment to say “Thank You” to the woman in the white shirt sitting directly behind Phil Jackson? 
Program Director: Ok camera 1, get a tight shot on Phil. Camera 1 on.
Camera 1: Do you want me to slowly zoom out from Phil?
PD: No, stay tight, but keep the boobs behind Phil in frame.
C1: I bet there a millions wondering what this chick looks like from the neck up.
PD: That’s a negative, C1. Keep 'em clueless.
C1: Why?
PD: Those are John Goodman’s boobs.
C1: :eek: :smack:
This is what everyone is saying and I’ve realized that it probably isn’t as easy as it looks. Even when they won their previous championships, the Lakers’ offense is built around a delicate balance of Shaq’s dominance in the paint, Kobe’s spurts of explosiveness and role players hitting the 3/jumpers.
Now, it doesn’t look like Shaq has the energy (especially over a long series) to take 20+ shots every game… Larry Brown has dared Shaq and Kobe to beat them instead of the traditional approach of double and triple teaming which dared the role players to step up. I think this could be an issue for the Lakers. Shaq isn’t what he used to be (you remember him averaging close to 40 pts vs. the Pacers in 2000?) and Kobe is wont to attempt single-handed takeovers of the game given single defensive coverage, which doesn’t work all the time. His 3-point attempts pretty much ruined the comeback they were mounting in the 4th Q of game 1.
This is going to be interesting.
I can’t believe the Lakers pulled this one out. I thought they were done when Detroit went up 6 points with less than a minute left. If Detroit had pulled this one out, I think they would have won the series.
That was a hell of a shot by Kobe- a gutsy steal by the Mailman at the end of regulation as well.
How did they win this one? It was another game won with the help of a suprise player out of nowhere (Fish, Rush and now Luke.) I have written this team off so many times over the coarse of the season and play-offs and then they play up to their potential and pull off a miracle.
I think Kobe sold his soul to the Devil with 1:20 left in the 4th.
Letting this one get away cost Detroit their rings.
Haj
That was one of the most mindless sequence I have ever seen.
Why was Shaq allowed to smell, touch and pass the ball without being hacked in the last few seconds of regulation? The press conference afterwards convinced me that even Larry Brown’s mind fogged up like goggles.
As far as I can gather, Larry Brown asked his players to foul Shaq if he was going to take the shot/go for a dunk. Clearly, he didn’t anticipate the scenario where Shaq will step out to catch the ball though it is standard operation procedure when the guards are hounded by the defense.
Larry Brown didn’t address this particular point and so Big Ben didn’t foul Shaq outside the 3 pt line… I think Ben should have had the presence of mind to foul, instead he went by what was discussed in the last huddle.
The decision to not foul Kobe is less damning. It is a huge risk to foul someone as athletic as Kobe. But, Brown must have explicitly asked his players to foul Shaq or even Luke, the rookie, if they ever touch the ball.
Big blunder.
How sweet was watching L.A. lose last night? How sweet? Oh ho ho ho, it was sweet LIKE CANDY!
Motown is gonna burn to the ground on Tuesday night, baby!
Well, Detroit has handed them their ass on a plate. I’ll be glad once Malone leaves them, he’s a classy guy who doesn’t deserve them.
Asshat.
I hope not, the place is already fucked up enough.
Yeah, but will they be able to acheive L.A.-style riots? C’mon Motor City, start stockpiling! 
(Bucks fan so it kills me to say it, but, go Pistons)
Just over three minutes and the pistons are KILLING the lakers.
Well, that was an odd series. I take my hat off to the Pistons, they played their asses off. Too bad for Malone.
Ooh-wee, that fourth quarter was fun to watch. What a slaughter! Massive props to the Pistons for their complete handling of the Lakers in a series that was a near sweep.
Happy will be glad to know that Detroit was orderly last night. Apparently police learned from the last time the Pistons won a championship.
