So…what’s it going to be this year? Give just enough effort to eek out a series win over the Cavs and then get steamrollered in the finals, or actually step it up and show enough moxy to give me hope?
After watching the Bulls series…dropping two winnable games…and last night’s game against the Cavs which looked…marginal, I’m not sure which Pistons team is going to show up from here on out. The one I love, or the one that disappoints me at every turn.
Thoughts?
Cleveland got a moral victory. Three more moral victories and they go home.
A few years ago my son and I were watching an NBA game and watched a superstar get special calls and get the ball way too much. We agreed that a real team using all its players could be successful. Fortunately Dumars thought the same.
C.Webb could do better.
I agree about the appeal of team play. It’s the reason why after years of not caring a whit about basketball I found myself cheering outloud in my living room for the Pistons in 2003 when they beat the Shaq/Kobe Lakers.
I think C. Webb did ok last night, even though he got in some foul trouble. On a side note, I think it’s interesting that the Pistons replaced the super-physical-but-offensively-incapable Ben Wallace with a nearly-crippled-but-wily-enough-to-score C. Webb in the middle. They seem attracted to players at center with very lopsided games.
Man… I just hope it’s not another San Antonio vs. Detroit series…
ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz…
Your view seems to be the common one. Personally, I don’t get it. Both are pretty exciting teams to me. What gives? Is it just because they’re both relatively small towns with small fan bases, or is there more to it? Not enough superstars? Do tell.
I can’t put my finger on it, but there aren’t any players for which I particularly care on either team.
The Spurs:
Tim Duncan bores me to tears with his “mastery of the fundamentals”, Tony Parker is without a personality – and for the love of God, I’d be happy if ESPN/ABC wouldn’t pan to Eva Longoria every 10 minutes during a Spurs game and mention that she’s with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli is always bleeding over hits that look pretty inocuous (do you think he pre-cuts himself like pro-wrestlers do?), and Horry and Bowen are dirty players.
The Pistons:
Worst. Fans. Ever.
I like Hamilton, but he’s never been the force he was while he played at UConn. Billups is a great player, but a total punk. Same with Rasheed Wallace. One of the bright stars on either side is Tayshaun Prince. He seems to go about his business in a professional manner and he’s definitely one of a best young players in the league. Another positive for Detroit is that they got rid of Ben Wallace. If I had to see him shoot another airball from the stripe in the playoffs, I was going to write David Stern a nastygram.
I guess it comes down to this: It’s entertainment that is not very entertaining. I would have much rather seen a Phoenix vs. Cleveland series.
79-76. Need I say more?
Besides, I don’t like the characterization of LBJ as a kind of MJ trying to win championships as a one man team. (you & gonzomax)
He only took 15 shots last night, 3 in the 4th quarter, and said, “I’m trying to make my team win, and I didn’t think the best way to do it was by taking those shots.”
LBJ has led his team to the conference finals in his 4th year in the league. People on Detroit can call him overhyped all they want.
He’s better for the league, and provides more entertainment per minute and dollar than 50 Detroits.
Agreed about Duncan. You can also add the “wide-eyed ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ look” he gives the refs every time he’s called for a foul to his list of negatives. But Parker gets to the rim an awful lot, which makes him someone to keep your eye on, and even if you think Ginobili plays up his hits too much, you’ve got to admit (or at least I do) that he takes a lot of them for the team, and gets the ball in the hoop in the process.
I can’t take issue with you on Bowen. I’ve seen enough of the “whoops, is that my foot you’re landing on?” replays of him to come around to the view that he tries to hurt people. But aside from the hip-check on Nash during the last series, what’s your beef with Horry?
Anyway, I think the methodical, work the ball through Duncan, boring style of play makes the Spurs good villains to root against, which makes them entertaining for those of us who are hoping the Pistons will take them on in the finals.
Hey! 
Agreed about Tayshaun. I love that he’s scrawny but still takes it to the big guys, and he never takes a night off. And I would have liked to see Pheonix advance too. Really fun basketball.
Tay isn’t scrawny, he’s wiry. And he’s always been good:
I don’t recall saying anything about LBJ (I love that you’ve got me thinking about Lyndon Johnson and Lebron James in the same thought :))…? Only that I like balanced team play because you never know where the action is going to happen. As hard as Lebron works to spread the wealth around on the Cavs these days, you have to admit that when he’s not on the court they don’t stand much of a chance. The third quarter of their last game against the Nets, when he sat out with foul trouble and the Nets made up a huge deficit, illustrated that pretty well. By contrast, there is no one player who makes things happen every night for the Pistons.
As to your entertainment value comment…i guess that’s the source of my question. I’m someone who became a Pistons fan because I found them entertaining to watch, and fun to pull for, because of their style of play. I’m not from Detroit, and I don’t usually have strong rooting interests in any sport. Personally, an effective team with chemistry and heart is more appealing than an athletic force like Lebron James is on his own. And he is impressive - don’t get me wrong.
I do admit, though, that if the Suns (or a similarly fast & explosive team) made it to the finals and faced a Cavs team with more balance than the current roster - one that allowed LBJ to really go to work, it would be damned entertaining, and probably more fun for me than whatever we’ll end up with this year.
Cavs’ fan checking in. When the Cavs lose James gets all the blame no matter what actually happened during the game. Last year it was because he played 1 on 5 and all the other Cleveland guys stood around watching him, and this year he gets blamed for passing out to a guy who was wide open (and who should’ve been in the game well beforehand but who had just entered the game for the first time) and who missed the wide open shot.
As much as I’d like to see LeBron stay with the Cavs (it’s a good story and they’re trying to build something around him), it’s becoming more and more apparent, that unless something changes, he needs out. Larry Hughes isn’t the answer. Something happened to his game when he left Washington.
The Cavs need a Pippen. They need a Lamar Odom-type player. Actually, what they need these days is a Damon Jones, someone that can hit some open 3 pointers, although Donyell Marshall is a fine scorer from behind the arc.
The Pistons are fine. They shot so poorly in that game (and, for a stretch, so did the Cavs). It’s like the end of the last Bulls game. They’ve got that extra gear that nobody in the East seems to have. Additionally, they’ve done this to us (and themselves) seemingly every year…they’re used to it by now. The Cavs simply can’t contend with the Pistons on any level. Any edge they might have with LeBron is marginal.
As far as the Finals, It’s going to be San Antonio. The rest of the basketball world will pout and whine because there’s no New York, no L.A., not even a New Jersey. Boo hoo. I can’t agree more about Duncan either. He’s a great player, one of the best ever at his position, but he’s very nondescript. I don’t hold it against him, though. Manu Ginobili needs to stop flopping. Bill Simmons (of ESPN.com) wrote that the influx of international players is a generation of floppers because it’s such a big part of soccer and they’ve brought it over to basketball. It’s silly, it stops the game, and it’s vastly unappreciated. contrast Manu with Shane Battier who takes charges and does The Little Things properly.
I was watching Golden State/Dallas with a buddy of mine and he was entertained. I hated it. It was painful to watch. Maybe my basketball pallette is completely different from the rest of the universe’s, but that series was a complete bore. I DO like watching the Suns, though, if only for Steve Nash. (Yes, I’m aware that Baron Davis played like a man possessed this postseason. I love his game as well, it’s just a damned shame that it doesn’t come out very often.)
If you look at the teams left over (take last round into account if you wish), all the teams that were in the hunt had the league’s premiere point guards. LeBron, of course, is an anomaly. It depends if you want to throw him in as a “guard”.
Pistons fan here. I don’t think Lebron should shoulder any blame for dishing on the last possession. I agreed with Marv Albert and Steve Kerr that they should have tried to steal one from Detroit at home. Detroit didn’t even seem like they wanted to be there last night. They better watch out when Lebron decides he finally wants to play. Big Z and Varejao (sp?) killed us inside last night. Those two in combination with an aggressive Lebron would be trouble. Chauncey has got to figure out that high trap they brought at him last night on the pick-and-roll.
I would have liked to see the Suns make it to the finals (against the Pistons, of course), and now I’m pulling for the Jazz. I don’t know if Horry has done stuff like that in the past, but his shot on Nash was very dirty. I don’t care if Nash was acting; he clearly knocked the guy on his ass on purpose. It was a cheap shot that arguably won his team the series. Disgusting.
Can’t argue with any of your other points, but can you elaborate on this?
Vareajo and Drew Gooden always give us fits. I figured Mr. Webber would help with one of those, possibly both. Vareajo is a good high-energy guy.
Seconded. (re: Billups = punk)
Nitpick…Horry’s cheap shot didn’t get Stoudemire and Diaw suspended for a game…inflexible rules did. It was definitely a cheap shot, and it may have been intended to hurt Nash, but the hit itself was incidental to the outcome.
On that note, I thought the number of bloody wounds in the Spurs/Suns series was alarming. I know some people yearn for the “good old days” of the '80s when basketball players were clotheslining each other without serious consequence, but I for one prefer a game that doesn’t look like WWF RAW in replay.
Lebron made the right play. Pros are supposed to make uncontested 3 pointers. They would have been heroes.
Suppose Lebron shoots himself and misses. Then everybody’s going to rip him for being selfish and ignoring a wide-open teammate. And if Marshall makes the shot, everybody’d be lauding Lebron for making that pass.
Right. LeBron had to make the decision. He already made it into the paint, but he passed out for the open look. He made the right decision.
This is where someone hypothetically asks if Michael Jordan would have done the same thing. I don’t want to play that game.
Wait, wait, wait. What in the crap are you talking about? The Pistons got lit up in those two losses. How the hell do you consider them “winnable” games? I mean, I suppose they were on the court at tipoff which technically makes them winnable, but they were down 20 for practically the entirety of both games.
Yep - they definitely got walloped in those two games, and the Bulls looked good in them. My point was that, IMO, the Pistons would not have (gotten walloped, that is) if they had played with a sustained sense of purpose. To my frustrated fan’s eye, watching from the comfy armchair confines of my living room, it looked as if the Pistons treated those games as “Ok to lose.” Granted, that’s easy for me to say…
I’m not saying the Bulls can’t win a game against the Pistons. I’m saying that I think the current Pistons squad, playing with fire, could probably avoid dropping two in a row to them.