Moderators: dVs33, Cowology, theBigLip, Snakebites
( 49 - 18 ) V's 
( 38 - 30 )
Darnell Jackson Wrist. Allen Iverson Rasheed Wallace Lebron James 
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Rasheeed!!! wrote:need to win this one just to
1. keep Orlando away from us
2. keep Cleveland away from Orlando
Courtesy of a blockbuster trade seconds before the NBA trading deadline last month, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a new look about them.However, that new look features a familiar face to Detroit players in ex-Piston Ben Wallace. Wallace, who signed a four-year, $60 million deal with Chicago two summers ago, was part of a three-team trade which sent him to Cleveland. One of the reasons the Bulls were so willing to trade Wallace was because of Chicago's struggles this season, which coincided with his play showing some signs of slippage. While Wallace may not dominate games the way he did when he helped Detroit win an NBA title in 2004, he is still a player that his former teammates worry about heading into Wednesday's game. "Ben is a warrior," Detroit's Chauncey Billups said. "He's going to bring some experience to that team, some toughness to that team. You can never underestimate what he can do."
Odds and ends : Detroit Lions great Barry Sanders was at Tuesday's game. ... Wednesday will be the first of three more regular season games between Detroit and Cleveland. It will also be Detroit's first regular season game in Cleveland since Detroit lost to the Cavs in the Conference finals last June. ... LeBron James did not play in the second half of Detroit's 109-74 win in November after suffering a sprained left index finger injury. ... the Pistons have won their last three games in Cleveland, each by at least 12 points.
P2 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
I guess that means we'll play Cleveland in the East Semis, which wouldn't be a problem at all for us, because it's LeBron and... you know what I mean.
WDFN Pistons pre- and postgame host Matt Dery will be handling more duties than usual tonight in Cleveland. He'll be calling the game, as customary radio play-by-play man Mark Champion is temporarily away broadcasting NCAA Tournament games from the Washington D.C., regional
The Pistons aren't expecting anything new. When they meet the Cavaliers in Cleveland tonight for the first time since their three-team blockbuster trade, the Pistons will handle the new-look Cavs the same way they did the old version. They will try to contain LeBron James (good luck) and don't let any of the other minions get off. If nothing else, the Pistons have to feel good going into the game after the job they did on Denver's two-headed monster, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. In the Pistons' 136-120 victory at The Palace Tuesday night, they held the dynamic duo -- averaging 52 points combined -- to eight first-half points. To their credit, the Pistons (49-18 ) weren't looking ahead. They are as focused as they have been in some time. Still, they were well aware of the next task at hand after taking care of business against the Nuggets, who apparently refuse to play a lick of defense. Nonetheless, it still stings the Pistons that LeBron and the rag-tag Cavs stole their trip to the NBA Finals last season, winning four straight games after the Pistons won the first two games of the best-of-seven series. "It'll be a good test," said forward Jarvis Hayes, who continued his hot shooting with 11 first-half points in eight minutes en route to 17 points for the game. "It'll be good to see how we match up with their new pieces. It'll be exciting." Some thought the trade that brought the Cavs Ben Wallace from Chicago and Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak, both from Seattle, would propel the Cavs over the Celtics and Pistons and give them another chance to get back to the Finals. Thus far, it hasn't happened.
Low-impact deal: In fact, the trade, at the league deadline, has basically been a wash. For sure, it didn't make the Cavs (38-30) better. It also didn't change the way the Cavs win. That's what you want when you move six players from your roster -- Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall -- in the middle of the season and add three new ones. Cleveland's formula to win is still the same -- stay close and hope for a big finish in the fourth quarter by James. "Their team is still the same -- LeBron James," said Pistons coach Flip Saunders, whose team beat the Cavs in the first meeting of the season here. "He's their main focus. They just have different people and the ability to play off him. We'll see what it presents with these different guys." When the Lakers got Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies, they changed how they won. Kobe Bryant didn't have to score 40 to give the Lakers a chance at winning. Gasol was a force all by himself and took a lot of pressure off Kobe. Gasol could still win games for L.A., even if Kobe had an off night.
It's LeBron's show, still: The same can't be said about the Cavs, who are 7-7 since the trade Feb. 21. None of the new players they picked up is going to be a factor whether they win or lose at the end. It's still comes down to James with the ball and the clock winding down. Some thought Szczerbiak was the big piece in the trade, that he would be able to bury shots from the perimeter when James passes out of the double team. It hasn't worked out thus far. In the loss in Orlando on Monday, Szczerbiak played five minutes. Coach Mike Brown said he has some defensive problems. Really? Worse, he's shooting 31.5 percent from the field since coming aboard. "They're a different team now, different personnel," said Chauncey Billups, who had 14 points. "But their main piece is the same, LeBron. He's a handful. He causes us, everybody else a lot of problems. We have to be locked in." Again, nothing new when the Pistons play the Cavs, er, LeBron.
The Detroit Pistons couldn't stop LeBron James as the Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated them from last year's playoffs, also prompting speculation they could be on the decline. Nearly 10 months later, Detroit is as good as ever and still looking for revenge against James. The Pistons go for their sixth win in seven games on Wednesday night when they visit the Cavaliers in what could be James' first full game against them since last postseason. The Central Division rivals met for the first time this season on Nov. 28, but James left in the second quarter with a sprained left index finger, preventing the Pistons from proving that they can beat the player that led the Cavaliers to four straight wins in last season's Eastern Conference finals. Though Pistons players insisted their 109-74 victory over the short-handed Cavs didn't mean any less because James couldn't finish, they'll likely welcome the opportunity to beat a Cleveland team at full strength.
Detroit (49-18 ) hasn't had much difficulty with other strong teams lately. It has won five of six games, including three straight against Western Conference playoff contenders San Antonio, New Orleans and Denver by an average of 13.6 points. Seven Pistons scored in double figures and the team recorded season-high point and assist totals in Tuesday night's 136-120 victory over the Nuggets. They hadn't scored 130 points in regulation since beating Denver 130-116 on March 8, 2000."That's the thing - we don't have to play one style," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "We went out and played San Antonio in a grind-it-out game, and this was a little different. We're not afraid to get out and run. We had 42 assists tonight. That's a lot of assists."Meanwhile, the Cavaliers (38-30) have lost three of four, all to East rivals. James had 30 points, nine rebounds and six assists and went 11-for-22 from the field on Monday, but Cleveland was outscored by 19 points in the second half in its 104-90 loss at Orlando."We had some careless turnovers," said James, who had three of Cleveland's 14 giveaways. "We definitely can't turn the ball over against a team like (Detroit)."
James averaged 25.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and 8.5 assists in six East finals games against Detroit last season, and delivered an incredible performance in Game 5, scoring the Cavaliers' last 25 points and 29 of their last 30 to finish with a career playoff-high 48 in a 109-107 double-overtime victory. That was the third straight win in the series for the Cavs, who completed their rally from 0-2 down with a 98-82 victory in Game 6. These teams are again positioned for deep playoff runs. With the second-best record in the NBA, Detroit trails only Boston in East. The Cavaliers are in fourth place in the conference and second behind the Pistons in the Central Division. The Cavs and Pistons still meet two more times before the end of the regular season - March 29 in Detroit and April 16 in Cleveland."Defensively we have to be in tune because they are very efficient on offensive end. We have to work together," James said of Wednesday's matchup. "It should be fun because we have them a couple more times. We are not going to judge Wednesday's game on the playoff picture, but it should be fun."
No Lindsey Hunter tonight. Joe Dumars isn't going to take any chances with him. He said there was no need for him to play until maybe -- maybe -- the last 10 games of the year.
Flip Saunders had a great line before the game. He was asked for his take on Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor's comment that Kevin Garnett "tanked" games in his last year in Minnesota. "Anyone who has played with or coached Kevin knows that the farthest thing from the truth," he said. "Everyone who has ever gotten out of there, there's always something said about them (by Taylor). So I guess they should be happy with where they are at. All their problems are gone."The T-wolves are a lusty 16-50.
Also talked to Ben Wallace before the game (check detnews.com later). He is a very happy cat right now. But one homer Cleveland radio guy asked him if the key to the game tonight was dealing with Rasheed Wallace's "BS." Ben looked at the guy and said, "You mean Big Shots?" Priceless.
