Game 34: Boston @ Detroit // Sat. 7.30pm on TV20 Detroit HD

[NCHeels2008]

when are bigs arent bringin much i wouldn't mind us tryin samb and amir in tandem

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/BOSDET_ ... recap.html

Saturday

[nasty daddy]

http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/ ... logid=1121

Some final impressions after Boston-Detroit Round 2: I wish Paul Pierce would act like he's been here before. You know, the guy is a vet. He has been in the playoffs. Granted, he went through a lot of lean years, but the way he was popping and doing his best Ali impression walking off the court Saturday -- "We're the best team in the league" -- it came off as boorish, immature. It's January, Paul. Relax. To his credit, he was more subdued afterward. "You can't take anything away from Detroit," he said. "They're a great team. They're a champion. We're still learning from them what it's like to be in these type of games."It looks to me like Boston is getting caught up in the same trap the Pistons fell into two years ago when they won 64 games. The Celtics, like the Pistons, are expending a lot of energy and putting a lot of weight on winning games right now. They don't give out prizes for having the best record in January. The Celtics are also taking every team's best shot (Saturday, not so much). Some of these lesser teams know they can make their season by stealing a win from the mighty Celtics, plus they know if they don't play hard they can get seriously embarrassed -- so just about every game becomes a grind. That, as the Pistons can attest, can wear on you.

Now don't get me wrong. The Celts are legit. They won me over when they went out West and won all four games -- in five nights, beating the Lakers on getaway night. It's just going to be interesting to see what kind of toll this season takes on them. Already, Ray Allen looks a little spent to me. He wanted no part of Rip Hamilton's aggressive defense Saturday. On another note -- Man, do the Celtics attack Jarvis Hayes every time he's on the court, or not. They clearly do not respect this man's ability to defend. In both games, the minute Hayes stepped onto the court, the Celtics abandoned their offense and ran straight iso plays for Pierce. Advantage Pierce. The Pistons are going to have to figure something out there, because they are going to need Hayes' perimeter shooting to loosen the defense if the teams meet in the playoffs.

Something else that may benefit the Pistons, should the teams meet in the playoffs -- a more battle-tested Rodney Stuckey. He seemed a little slow and hesitant Saturday -- the presence of Kevin Garnett in the middle of a defense can do that. But the Pistons are going to need Stuckey to be in full attack mode. They can't sit back and shoot jumpers all night and beat the Celtics. The Pistons had zero points in the paint in the second half, and not one attempted lay-up. That won't get it done. Stuckey's forte is his ability to break the defense down off the dribble and create plays at the basket. Give him a couple more weeks and you will more of that from him. I know you want to know what was bugging Rasheed Wallace after the game. Why did he leave the arena so hastily? We will know for sure after we see the team again on Monday, but my guess is he was miffed on a bunch of levels. I know he was frustrated with the fact that he wasn't able to take advantage of his offensive mismatch with Glen Davis. Part of that was on him (he missed three of four shots in the fourth) and part of that was on Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton, who were firing up one quick shot after another. Wallace was also miffed at being made to look so bad on the defensive end by Davis. Fact is, Davis was free because the Pistons perimeter defenders could not keep Pierce from penetrating. Mostly, though, Wallace just hates to lose. Don't expect any long-term ramifications from it.

[TheSheriff]

-= original quote snipped =-



Im just glad Boston can cheer for a basketball player other than Bird or McHale is all. Ask Bill Russell and he'll fill you in or just read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Russell

"Matters in Boston were made worse by a hostile press failing to acknowledge Russell's torment, instead citing Russell's perceived "bad attitude" as the problem.[45] "I didn't play for Boston," he once said, "I played for the Celtics."[45] While the Celtics founded the most successful sports dynasty of all time, bringing in 11 NBA championships in 13 years, the Boston Garden was snubbed by the local sports fans. During Russell's career, the crowd averaged a mere 8,406 fans, thousands short of a sellout. By contrast, the Celtics teams of the 1980s led by white legend Larry Bird sold out the 14,890-seat Garden for 662 straight games.[45] The worst case of bigotry was recalled by Russell's white Celtics teammate Tom Heinsohn. He recalled the instance when Russell tried to move from his home in the Boston suburb of Reading to a new home across town in 1968. His would-be neighbors filed a petition trying to block the move, and when that failed, other neighbors banded together to try to purchase the home that Russell wanted to buy.[45] Vandals broke into Russell's home and defecated on his bed. This event that led him to call the city of Boston a "flea market of racism".[46] Heinsohn also added that two white sportswriters from Boston told him they would not vote Russell the league's Most Valuable Player because he was black."

Now tell my where in my post was I being racist

I would not quote wikipedia to make a point. I am not saying Boston did not have racists in the 1960s just like Detroit and every other American city, but Wikipedia should not be cited as a source, ever.

[wigglestrue]

Dude, it's all sourced within the wikipedia article, who cares whether it's on wikipedia if it's sourced. Nevertheless, as I said before: The sellout angle is bogus since the NBA wasn't nearly as popular in the 60's, Reading is a glorified version of Hyde Park which is a hellhole full of imbeciles, and our sportswriters have always been jerks who don't represent our intelligent fanbase. Furthermore, look at what else the wiki article says (and it's also sourced)...

However despite this bitterness which Russell felt toward Boston, in recent years he has visited the city on a regular basis, something he never did in the years after his retirement.[48] Russell still has sore feelings towards the city, but there has been something of a reconciliation in recent years.[48] When Russell originally retired he demanded that the retiring of his jersey be done with no fans present,[49] however on May 6, 1999 the Celtics re-retired Russell's jersey in a ceremony attended by Russell's on-court nemesis Chamberlain, along with Celtics' legend Larry Bird and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.[49] The crowd gave Russell a prolonged standing ovation, which brought tears to his eyes.[49]

[TheSheriff]

Dude, it's all sourced within the wikipedia article, who cares whether it's on wikipedia if it's sourced. Nevertheless, as I said before: The sellout angle is bogus since the NBA wasn't nearly as popular in the 60's, Reading is a glorified version of Hyde Park which is a hellhole full of imbeciles, and our sportswriters have always been jerks who don't represent our intelligent fanbase. Furthermore, look at what else the wiki article says (and it's also sourced)...

The tommy hiensen portion is not sourced. If he wants to quote the source of Wikipedia (http://www.counterpunch.org/zirin06232004.html in this case) go for it, but wikipedia is generally accepted as an awful source.

[wigglestrue]

The tommy hiensen portion is not sourced. If he wants to quote the source of Wikipedia (http://www.counterpunch.org/zirin06232004.html in this case) go for it, but wikipedia is generally accepted as an awful source.

The portion with Heinsohn is sourced, man.
Footnote #45, the counterpunch link you just cited.

Again, if information in a wiki article is sourced within the wiki article, who cares if it's on wiki. This is really a worthless argument to be having.

[colincb]

Alright, I'm wondering if I'm the only person that saw numerous alarming flaws that resurfaced or were exposed in this game, some of the same things that have spelled the Pistons doom in the past three season reared their ugly heads again.

1) Over-reliance on jump shots (especially Chauncey).

That's what the Celtics were giving your Pistons.

2) Blunders by the guards

Billups screwed up. He's still a major mismatch.

3) Unwillingness to pound the post (Nobody can stop Chauncey or Sheed in the post; Tay isn't too bad down there either)

Actually, the Celtics can stop most people in the post and regularly do. Perkins is a good defender and KG is one of the best in the NBA. Wallace took what he could and has been a tough matchup since the Celts are going to pack the lane but KG or Perkins aren't going to chase him outside. Pierce is shutting down Prince defensively. Billups has been most effective at posting up or shooting outside. The Celtics have concentrated on keep Billups from driving and are very good on defending the pick & roll.

4) Poor defensive rotations

The Celts shot under 42% despite Davis's 8 layups. In the first 2 games they've hit 25% of their 3s though they are one of the best beyond the arc. Your defensive lapses wasn't so much rotating as allowing Pierce to drive to the basket. Prince has to take the brunt of the criticism though he has played Pierce well so far. Given a choice between stopping Pierce or uncovering a rookie the pistons did the right thing, but were surprised. Rivers keeping Davis in the game at the end was maybe the best move I've seen Doc make. Pierce is a very good passer, but if Perkins is under the basket he'd screw up half of those feeds. Davis, despite having no lift, is quick on his feet and tough to get over to block his shooting hand.

5) Poor play or disappearing acts on the offensive end from Tay and Dice

Prince is having a lot of trouble offensively. Pierce is a very good defender and Prince isn't that great an offensive threat. Dice sucks. I'd play Maxiel ahead of him.

6) Arrogant or nonchalant attitude about losing (Chauncey's quotes after the game) Sheed also has also displayed this attitude when discussing the 07 ECF.

I really doubt that the Pistons were nonchalant. Guys were diving on the floor all over the place. I think both teams know that the other is the team they'll have to beat. These games are very important not for standings, but for figuring a way to win in the playoffs. The problem for both teams is that there are multiple mismatches on both sides.

If these problems aren't addressed by Joe D and Flip Saunders, the result will be the same as the last three seasons- an intriguing season that ultimately falls short.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... SPORTS0102

The Pistons are going to spin the 92-85 loss to the Celtics Saturday like this: We didn't run our offense, we couldn't shoot, we couldn't rebound, and it still took a once-in-a-lifetime performance by rookie Glen Davis to beat us down the stretch.

The Celtics certainly think they might have discovered an antidote to Chauncey Billups' dominance, which was so pronounced in the Pistons' win in Boston on Dec. 19. Instead of letting him abuse smaller guards Rajon Rondo and Eddie House, they tried to keep a bigger guard on him -- Tony Allen and Ray Allen -- as much as possible.

They applied pressure on Billups for the entire length of the floor, making him work hard to get the ball up court and set up the offense. Once the Pistons got into the attacking zone, the Celtics trapped Billups hard on pick-and-roll plays, taking every opportunity to bump and bang him.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 70354/1051

Next time the Celtics and Pistons meet, Detroit might do well to remember the way Boston walked off the floor after their 92-85 win at the Palace on Saturday. It should serve as fine motivation.

The Celtics made quite a show of their win, with Paul Pierce yelling that the Celtics are the best team in the league, with several Celtics "popping" their jerseys, and, according to an ESPN.com report, with forward James Posey yelling to courtside fans, "Thanks for coming" and a mocking "Deeeee-troit basketball."

In the Pistons' locker room, that display was met with some smirks. "They're acting like they won the title," forward Amir Johnson said. Point guard Chauncey Billups took it one step further. "They're a little more happy than I know we were when we won our game out there," Billups said. "It was just like a regular game for us with two good teams playing. They were kind of playing like it's the Super Bowl, man. "It's just a regular game with two good teams playing. There was probably a little more at stake for them and their psyche than there was for us. But they won. It's cool." After the cool-down period, some Celtics displayed a little more respect in their comments to the media. Pierce said, "I think we felt we didn't want this game to get away. I thought the first game in Boston we outshot them but didn't get the win. Tonight we played great defense, and I think that was the difference in the game. However, you can't take anything away from Detroit; they are a great team, and we are still learning from them what it is like to be in these tougher games. Today was a big step."

[ADM]

BTW, the foolishness about racism in this thread is one of the major reasons that I don't post in game threads until after the game's over. Grow up, all of you. Both Detroit and Boston have some racists living there now and both Detroit and Boston have had a history of racial strife in the past. Neither of those things mean anything with regard to this game.

As for the game itself, the biggest "macro" issue was being outrebounded so badly and the biggest "micro" issues were missed free throws by 85%+ free throw shooters in the 4th and a boneheaded 3 by Chauncey at the end. I'll take my chances in the future that the Pistons will execute better and that Glen Davis won't go nuts in the 4th.

I'm not going to flip out about this loss, just like I didn't flip out about the win last time. Both of these teams are great and a playoff matchup would be epic. They're clearly very well matched and this is the only team we've seen thus far that's on Detroit's level, long-term.

Frankly, I'm fine with them losing. In some way, I hope they lose at least one of the Texas games too. It would knock them down a bit and they can resume playing the underdog, forgotten team role.

[Manocad]

General note to all...

Unfortunately I was out of town and out for the evening during this game, so I apologize that I wasn't able to rein in some of the foolishness while it was occurring. However, let me assure you that:
1) I will not take accusations of racism lightly, and
2) I will not allow non-game thread discussions to take place in a game thread. The game thread is for discussing the game, period.

I have reviewed this thread and have taken/will be taking appropriate action where necessary.

Don't feed the trolls, guys. It only keeps them going. Keep your wits about you.

Thanks.

[nasty daddy]

Well said Manocad.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/langloi ... 80107.html

The way Boston played down the stretch to win at The Palace in the most anticipated game of the NBA season to date told the Pistons that they can expect to see the Celtics for an extended engagement this spring. The way the Celtics reacted to winning told the Pistons that Boston fully anticipates the same thing.

[TurboTitan]

good times

[princeofpalace]

good times

dont know why you are pulling up 6 year old threads nor do I know what screen name you were posting under in 2008 but yes REALGM2008 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. REALGM2014

[kurtis48239]

For nothing else,it was a good read,lol.