RealGM

If you were the Detroit Pistons, do you want to catch Boston and ensure much needed home court advantage against the Celtics and probably in the finals but take the risk of facing the Cavs in the second round?

The Cavs have given them 14 games of pure hell in the past 2 years, would rather get the number 1 and take a chance against the Cavs or stay at number 2, lose home court in the ECF and NBA Finals and face the Magic?`

heck no....they want boston to play the lebrons in the 2nd round

The best seed Detroit could hope for is 2nd. Boston isn't going to implode bad enough to fall, if they implode at all.

Your talking like its their choice.

magicfan4life05 wrote:heck no....they want boston to play the lebrons in the 2nd round

regardless, if you want the championship you have to beat everyone anytime.

let boston grab the top spot, then they won't have the pressure of beings the favorites to come out of the east
and the not facing lebron in the 2nd rd thing

If they dont want to play the Cavs they should stay in the second seed and play the Magic and if they play Cavs in the 3rd round maybe they wouldnt be as strong as the Pistons with there depth around James, last season they played int he second round thouhg.

Detroit can't equal Boston's depth. Their bench is the weakest its been in the Wallace/Billups/Rip era.

If the Playoffs started today:
1 Boston-8 Atlanta
2 Detroit-7 Philadelphia
3 Orlando-6 Washington
4 Cleveland-5 Toronto
Theoretical second round:
1 Boston-4 Cleveland
2 Detroit-3 Orlando
Theoretical ECF:
1 Boston-2 Detroit

Yes, Detroit would have an easier time beating Orlando than Cleveland, but who says Toronto can't beat Cleveland in the first-round and make this whole discussion moot?

I, personally, would rather face Cleveland. We have unfinished business from last season. I'm looking at YOU, Daniel Gibson.

Moses_Malone95 wrote:Detroit can't equal Boston's depth. Their bench is the weakest its been in the Wallace/Billups/Rip era.

We're effectively playing three rookies: Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson, and Arron Afflalo. Jason Maxiell is also very young, and is arguably our 6th man.

However, in the playoffs, you can be assured that Lindsey Hunter, Juan Dixon, and Theo Ratliff will have LARGE roles.

Billups/Stuckey/Hunter
Hamilton/Dixon
Prince/Hayes
McDyess//Maxiell/Johnson
Wallace/Ratliff
With Amir being the 12th man and Afflalo inactive!

Cleveland has the potential to give Detroit a run for their money with the adjustments they made. Their time passed long ago. I think a changing of the guard is in order.

They want the first seed since that would be such a demoralizing blow to the Celtics...

GJense4181 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


We're effectively playing three rookies: Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson, and Arron Afflalo. Jason Maxiell is also very young, and is arguably our 6th man.

However, in the playoffs, you can be assured that Lindsey Hunter, Juan Dixon, and Theo Ratliff will have LARGE roles.

Billups/Stuckey/Hunter
Hamilton/Dixon
Prince/Hayes
McDyess//Maxiell/Johnson
Wallace/Ratliff
With Amir being the 12th man and Afflalo inactive!

In my opinion, the depth of a lineup can be questioned when two or more rookies are on the bench, unless they're ROY candidates, which the Pistons' three clearly aren't. Old injuries still hamper Hayes, Ratliff is a fraction of his former self, and Dixon isn't the type of player you can rely on to be your sixth man. Hunter was a stellar role player, but not now. He doesn't seem to have it like he used to.

The #1 seed in the East is cursed. The past 5-6 years, all the EC Champs have been the #2 seed, IISC.

#2 seed FTW!

Moses_Malone95 wrote:Their bench is the weakest its been in the Wallace/Billups/Rip era.

And the exact opposite is true. It's like you've never seen Detroit play.

Flash3 wrote:The #1 seed in the East is cursed. The past 5-6 years, all the EC Champs have been the #2 seed, IISC.

#2 seed FTW!

QFT

I can't speak for the Pistons, but Piston fans know their record when they have the #1 seed in the conference finals 0-3, while 2-0 being the underdog. Piston fans have been saying it all year, and even the 'experts' have picked up that this team needs to feel disrespected to play the way they are capable. Does that mean they'll win in June? Nah, but they won't be shedding any tears about not getting #1.

DET rather face the unproven ORL in the second round then CLE. If they face CLE they rather it be back in the ECF then the second round IMO.

As for TOR winning making it moot...if TOR advances beyond CLE that will be a sad day for the NBA.

It's not like they have a choice of getting the first seed anyways. BOS now has the tie-breaker so you have to add a .5 to the games behind. Right now they're effectively 5 games behind of the last stretch of 20 games. It's possible but unlikely seeign as DET vets won't invest that much effort into catching up and BOS still needs to prove it to themselfs.

No, Detroit doesn't want the #1 seed, but even if they did, they couldn't get it. Boston has it on lock.

Flash3 wrote:The #1 seed in the East is cursed. The past 5-6 years, all the EC Champs have been the #2 seed, IISC.

#2 seed FTW!

The #1 seed has been cursed out west as well. The last #1 seed to win a title was the 03 Spurs in fact in the West the # 1 seed hasn't made it to the Conference Finals the last two seasons.

I'm more than willing to give up home court against the Celts in order to avoid playing Cleveland and Boston both. Orlando is a good team but not at the level of those teams, IMO.

Than again, Cleveland could still catch Orlando.

Moses_Malone95 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



In my opinion, the depth of a lineup can be questioned when two or more rookies are on the bench, unless they're ROY candidates, which the Pistons' three clearly aren't. Old injuries still hamper Hayes, Ratliff is a fraction of his former self, and Dixon isn't the type of player you can rely on to be your sixth man. Hunter was a stellar role player, but not now. He doesn't seem to have it like he used to.

Wow, you sure know nothing about the Pistons. Their bench is awesome and has single handedly won a few games for them. The way guys like Jason and Rodney bring energy off the bench is unparallaled to what they've ever had. Their lack of depth killed them the last 2 years. This year their depth is a great strength.