NBA Playoffs Thread

I don't count the Pistons out yet, because of the McDyess factor. Under any circumstance, I'd love to see a game 7. I love game 7s.

And just a note on the Billups debate, he definitely hits a lot of big shots, but he also misses many of them, and let's not forget how bruce bowen owed him in the last minutes of game 7 in 2005.

 

If the Pistons get boatraced tomorrow night (my own guess, about a 45% chance), my guess is Dumars will blow the roster up. Saunders has got outcoached by Brown (a rather remarkable feat), and it hasn't been on intricate substitution sequences, subtle matchup adjustments, etc etc -- it's been on major, humungous things (like maybe you might want to double a guy who has scored 25 points in a row??), so if the Pistons go down in flames, I think Saunders is in trouble.

Then, you get to the playing roster. Billups has had a mediocre playoffs -- you could go all the way to abysmal, atrocious, etc etc if he hadn't drilled the late 3 last night to save the one overtime -- and while at the end of the regular season, I think they would have broken the FA bank to re-sign him, now I'm not so sure.

They've also got to be getting tired of Sheed's shit, just like Portland got tired of it, "I'm gonna do what I damn well please, nobody tells me what to do, some games I feel like playing and some games I don't and you better just learn to like it, I don't care if you need inside scoring and rebounding, I'm gonna fiddle around the perimeter firing up 3's, I don't care if it's a tie game with 5 minutes left, I'm gonna chuck my headband at the ref, it's so unfair, they're out to get me, I don't care if it puts the other team ahead for good, nobody tells me what to do," yadda yadda blah blah.

Webber is finished, McDyess and Flip Murray useful only in brief stretches, and Nazr Mohammed has dropped off the end of the earth.

If they make a game of it, or even win and send it to Game 7, then some of these decisions become a little easier. But if they get rolled off the court, my guess is they'll nuke the whole shebang. Keep Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Maxiell, and get busy livin.' Or else, get busy dyin.'

 

I'm tired of hearing people bash Sheed because of these techs. And yes, the refs are out to get him. There is such a double standard with these techs it's not even funny. I remember in the last series, Sheed went up to the ref and complained and the ref automatically gave him a tech. Later on, Luol Deng went out and did THE SAME EXACT THING and they didn't do shit.

 

OF COURSE the refs are out to get him -- as they have every right, in fact, every responsibilty, to be.

When you spend every single second of every single game of your whole goddamn career shrieking like a rabid hyena at the refs, how can it come as a surprise that they go out of their way to tee you up?

You do know, according to the rule book, the refs can assess a technical ANY TIME a player disputes a call?

Any. Time.

Any time, and EVERY time, if they so see fit. If Rasheed Wallace doesn't like getting technicals, there's a real simple solution:



That's never going to happen, so at some point the Pistons have to decide when his intermittent spells as an effective player are being outweighed by his immature, self-indulgent selfish behavior, and ship his ass out of town to whatever idiots will take him.

This stuff isn't that hard to overlook when Sheed is 26-28, averaging 17-20 ppg, 8-10 rpg. When he's 31-33, (33 in September) averaging 12, 6.9, it's a bit harder.

 

Chuck, longtime Pistons fan here.

The refs may have it out for Wallace, but he brings most of it on himself. NBA players piss and moan all the time. But Rasheed's emotions are far more animated (throwing his hands at the ref like "oh fuck you and your call" or yelling across the court at a ref several moments after a timeout has been called). He's led the league in techs for most of the past decade because he's a hot head; not simply because the refs have it out for him.

Off the top of my head, though, I can't think of a time when a Wallace tech has cost the Pistons a playoff game.

By the way, is he guaransheeding a win tomorrow? They're like 5-1 when he does.

 

Didn't he try the guaransheed route last year with no success?

 

The tech in Game 4 put them behind for good with just under 6:00 to play. Yes yes yes they had chances to regain the lead, but they never did. And everyone knows there's a hell of a difference in the things you do with a 1-point deficit rather than a 1-point lead in the last few minutes of a game.

 

I'm not bitching to Cavs fan. LeBron's performance was remarkable. Most NBA fans (and sports fans) will see maybe a handful of these games in their lifetime.

I can bitch because of Flip Saunders' coaching ineptitude.

And, yeah, the Pistons have won a title recently. I want them to win another. So what? I'm not saying Cleveland is undeserving of a title or at least a finals appearance, but as a Pistons fan, I don't want the Cavs to win.

 

Probably just my Pistons fanboyishness coming out. Oh well
The only guy out there who understands Rasheed is Dick Bavetta. If he's calls the game, I won't worry about Sheed getting a tech.

P.S. No NDUB, he didn't guaransheeded this one. I don't see why he didn't do it. A loss here could end his this beatiful era. Who knows, maybe he'll do it for game 7

 

Bavetta won't T Sheed up because he's blind deaf and dumb. I'm not even sure the guy knows where he is have the time.
He says "hi" though.

 

Let's be honest here. If the Pistons lose this series, it won't be because of Saunders near as much as that they sorely miss that Wallace guy in the middle. No way LeBron takes it to the hole and dunks as many times in this series -- and especially during crucial moments, like he did in back-to-back possessions near the end of regulation last night -- if Wallace is there.

 

You're right Oz. Wallace would be contesting those dunks. That guy can fly.
I got a chance to talk to Charles Barkley while I was at the game. He told me 'Bron would've been dropped on his ass if he would've been playing during his era.