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SOOOOOO frustrating!!!
This series was ours for the taking, there are some apparent holes on this team and the Pistons helped us reveal this fact.

I think that was definatly a factor.

Pistons do have our number, but its not just that, I think all of us, team and fans alike, truely believe they have it, and we just cant seem to seize games at all.

Ofcourse it exposed some problems in the team; but I think out of all the teams in the NBA, no team would do this more so than the Pistons.

P.S:
- Dont be surprised if this thread gets merged -

I feel like the Magic were toyed with. I feel like the Pistons never took the Magic seriously. That they felt that they could beat the Magic in a 7 game series without there best player. Billups could have played but they knew they could win without him. IMO the Pistons played this last game like they were walking through the motions. You could see every time the Magic made a run or got any momentum they would turn it on. Quickly take control of the game again.

I don't think we beat ourselves. I remember a poster on the general board saying a Piston Magic series would look like a 1 vs 8 match-up. Now I feel that was a completely accurate statement. The fact that the sixers gave the Pistons more trouble is a little disheartening.

It's kinda becoming CLICHE for players to say this. "We beat ourselves, it wasn't anything the other team did", I know the Pistons felt that way last year vs Cleveland and I know that Pistons fans have endured reading that from every player on the teams that they beaten to advance through the playoffs each year.

From watching the series, I think the Pistons did a lot of things to make the Magic "uncomfortable". Shard hardly had 10 open uncontested 3 pters all series long. The Pistons ran especially hard at players like Mo Evans to force him to put the ball on the floor and dribble (something he's not good at). The Piston didn't double down on Dwight the same way every possession, they had him guessing all series.

The Pistons (for the most part) didn't take too many STUPID quick shots that the Magic were able to convert. When the Pistons played smart and controlled tempo in the halfcourt the Magic struggled.

I think the Pistons play had a lot to do with the Magic's struggles. A lot of those turnovers were because the Pistons had the Magic "overthinking" situations.

when the series tally is 4 -1 its awfully hard to make the point that a team beat itself bu t you are right there are holes..

richboy wrote:I feel like the Magic were toyed with. I feel like the Pistons never took the Magic seriously. That they felt that they could beat the Magic in a 7 game series without there best player. Billups could have played but they knew they could win without him. IMO the Pistons played this last game like they were walking through the motions. You could see every time the Magic made a run or got any momentum they would turn it on. Quickly take control of the game again.

I don't think we beat ourselves. I remember a poster on the general board saying a Piston Magic series would look like a 1 vs 8 match-up. Now I feel that was a completely accurate statement. The fact that the sixers gave the Pistons more trouble is a little disheartening.

The Sixers are a completely different animal. They are YOUNG, HUNGRY and HAVE NO FEAR. It's almost like they don't know any better. They attack the rim with reckless abandon. They run the ball down your throats on every possession and they play passing lanes and get steals like none other. They are super-athletic. They didn't seem to back down one bit. The
Magic don't get "in your face" defensively. I thought game 5, they played great D. They didn't give up many uncontested shots and getting in the paint wasn't an easy task for the Pistons. Their transition Defense needs improvement as the Pistons got quite a few fastbreaks off of Magic miscues. The Magic need to play that "in your face defense" all game long if they want to succeed in the playoffs.

All series long, the Magic were quoted that they were losing games more than the Pistons won them. Sad.

Of course we beat ourselves- there is no question in my mind that we were the better team- we should have beaten the pistons

but 21 turnovers and 50% free throw shooting does not win basketball games-

There needs to be improvement in the free throw shooting. That is easier to do than reducing the turnovers in my opinion.

Hopefully we do not make wholesale changes- would have been noce to have Tony Battie in there to help Dwight howard on the boards

We should keep Evans and dooling if their price is not too high-

Say goodbye to pat- carlos -auggie- MArcin does a decent job as a fill in and could get better

If foyle opts out and so does bogans- so be it! Thank you for this year and let us move on-

Oh! One question- when Okur throws his arm out in disgust after the ref calls a foul on him and he gets a technical- how come rasheed does this every time and gets NO Technical?

Did you also see last night where crawford actually put a finger onto the chest of spurs coach and he shoved it off- Why is it Ok for the refs to touch the coaches but if you bump the ref you are out of here?

Crawford should be suspended for touching the coach with the stiff finger!

So basically we are the better team although we had five tries to win (three without their main guy) and won once

and also because the refs treated us unfairly.

im pretty sure we just lost.

Morally speaking, we're in the ECF.

FFBlitzace wrote:Morally speaking, we're in the ECF.

LOL!. Good one

Jackattaq wrote:It's kinda becoming CLICHE for players to say this. "We beat ourselves, it wasn't anything the other team did", I know the Pistons felt that way last year vs Cleveland and I know that Pistons fans have endured reading that from every player on the teams that they beaten to advance through the playoffs each year.

From watching the series, I think the Pistons did a lot of things to make the Magic "uncomfortable". Shard hardly had 10 open uncontested 3 pters all series long. The Pistons ran especially hard at players like Mo Evans to force him to put the ball on the floor and dribble (something he's not good at). The Piston didn't double down on Dwight the same way every possession, they had him guessing all series.

The Pistons (for the most part) didn't take too many STUPID quick shots that the Magic were able to convert. When the Pistons played smart and controlled tempo in the halfcourt the Magic struggled.

I think the Pistons play had a lot to do with the Magic's struggles. A lot of those turnovers were because the Pistons had the Magic "overthinking" situations.

Agreed. We made stupid mistakes ad therefore beat ourselves - because the Pistons forced us to. That's what happens when you play a very tough defensive team.

(wow I've agreed with Jackattaq twice in as many days - glasnost is fully upon us!!)

I bet Detroit wishes they had a dime for every time a fan of a team they beat claimed that they beat themselves. That seems to be the mantra of every team that loses to the Pistons.

The reality is that Detroit MAKES teams beat themselves. They have smothering defense that forces you to make bad decisions. They challenge every shot, they force you out of your comfort zone and they take advantage with a bevy of quality jump shooters. That's just what they do. They've been the most consistent defensive team in the league this decade. Free throws are really the only area where we can truly claim that we beat ourselves.

FFBlitzace wrote:Morally speaking, we're in the ECF.

Which is disappointing, seeing as we hoisted the moral victory trophy with Johnny Davis. There's a virtual banner in the Amway for this accomplishment.

take ur sig down..its embarassing:)

mhectorgato wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Agreed. We made stupid mistakes ad therefore beat ourselves - because the Pistons forced us to. That's what happens when you play a very tough defensive team.

(wow I've agreed with Jackattaq twice in as many days - glasnost is fully upon us!!)

Well it isn't exactly the end of the world. Occasionally I'm able to offer some viable input to a basketball discussion.

I remember starting a post awhile back asking if the Magic fans were happy with the direction that Stan Van Gundy had them going in. I think I went as far as calling the Magic "Phoenix-lite" due to the style of play that SVG has installed. I said that for me, I'm just not a fan of that up and down pace where quick 3's are a mainstay of your offense. I haven't seen too many teams that play that style winning consistently in the playoffs where IMO defense and ball control win games. IMO, the Pistons only having 3 turnovers (especially with a rookie PG) was HUGE in their victory last night. That kind of execution is crucial to being able to "not beat yourself" and win games where quite frankly you don't play well. I thought the Magic played a great defensive game last night as far as how hard they played and how many bad shots Detroit took. The Pistons didn't get too many easy baskets with the exception of transition stuff.

Do you guys still feel that the way the Magic play (in style, of running and 3pt shooting) will be effective or is it time to re-think the best way to be successful in the post-season?

CourtsideTV wrote:take ur sig down..its embarassing:)

I was thinking about keeping up as a reminder of where the bar for the upcoming season is and of the accomplishments of this past season.

Jackattaq wrote:I remember starting a post awhile back asking if the Magic fans were happy with the direction that Stan Van Gundy had them going in. I think I went as far as calling the Magic "Phoenix-lite" due to the style of play that SVG has installed. I said that for me, I'm just not a fan of that up and down pace where quick 3's are a mainstay of your offense. I haven't seen too many teams that play that style winning consistently in the playoffs where IMO defense and ball control win games. IMO, the Pistons only having 3 turnovers (especially with a rookie PG) was HUGE in their victory last night. That kind of execution is crucial to being able to "not beat yourself" and win games where quite frankly you don't play well. I thought the Magic played a great defensive game last night as far as how hard they played and how many bad shots Detroit took. The Pistons didn't get too many easy baskets with the exception of transition stuff.

The fact that we did play good defense - you shot 36% in the last game - shows that we're not an offense only team.

Jackattaq wrote:Do you guys still feel that the way the Magic play (in style, of running and 3pt shooting) will be effective or is it time to re-think the best way to be successful in the post-season?

It will take a little while to digest what happened, but my gut says we're on the right path. We need a guy - SG probably - that slasher/mid-range player who doesn't take a large volume of 3ptrs.

I think it would be a mistake to turn us into a slow 1/2 court team.

In both game 2 and 5 we were right there, but TOs killed us.
In game 4 we were right there, but FTs killed us.

So it's not like we were swept or blown out in ever loss. We are on the right path, imo.

We are a very one dimentional team and it is very difficult to win a series against a very good team because they have seven games to figure us out. The Raptors very nearly did it. They just ran out of talent and size. We were taken out of our game and Detroit didnt have to play very well to win. Without Dwight we are very average and Dwight was reduced to a paperweight in several games. He got frustrated and took himself out of the equation. The refs didnt help and may actually have contributed to the frustration but we cant change that. The way you get refs to adjust their calls is to play hard and agressive. We did not. Simple.

If you look at our team, there are only two people on that team who I can invision in a Pistons uniform.; Dwight and Dooling. We need to get a Pistons attitude in the players we have and everything will fall into place.