Deeeeeeeetroit Baaaaaaaaaasketbaaaalllll!

[IggyTheBEaST]

now that we have the 7th seed for sure after that BS cav loss, I am dredding this saying. I was really hoping we could end up playin orlando but I guess pistons it is. Man do I hate them! Im really not looking forward to playing these guys but How sweet would it be if we knocked them out tho...

[noone]

Anyone else not looking foward to hearing that again?

I could never stand that or that stupid horn they sound after a 3 point make.

I remember the Sixers announcers saying "Sixers basketball" to mock them during the series where our favorite Green choked away a game missing crucial free throws with seconds left on the clock.

[CPops57]

Successfully defending the Piston's SG/SF duo is the key to having a fighting shot in this series.

I don't think trotting Green/Iggy out there is going to be that effective against the both of them. Whoever Iggy doesn't guard is nearly guaranteed to have a field day. And as good a defender as Iggy is, I think Prince's size is going to bother him at times too.

One possibility is to start Iggy/Thad and have Iggy on Hamilton and Thad on Prince. Prince is more experienced than Thad, but he's not going to be physically dominant against him either.

Thoughts?

[LongLiveHinkie]

I think Dalembert is the key to the entire series. If he plays well then we got a great shot. If not we don't.

Billups and Hamilton will get theirs. Billups can get a shot off whenever he wants, and if he is hot then tough luck. Hamilton moves too well without the ball to be dogged for 48 minutes. He will get his. The key is to stop their bigs and stop penetration. Sammy does that.

Force them to take outside shots and hope they don't go down. Run them into the ground and tire them out.

[MicrOLak3R]

Sixers in 5

[tmorgan]

#1 Detroit is old and vulnerable. #2 They have been very mediocre in the playoffs the last couple years. #3 Their age causes them to wear down during the course of a season.

#1 is simply not true. The bench is very young, and the starters' average age is 31. That's aging, but it's definitely not "old and vulnerable".

#2 is kind of true -- losing to Cleveland last year was a weak showing. Losing to the eventual champs, Miami, two years ago was just a tough series.

#3 is simply not true. Take a look at minutes played this year, compared to the last two, for the Pistons starters (Player, 05-06 MPG, 06-07 MPG, 07-08 MPG):

Billups, 36.1, 36.2, 32.8
Hamilton, 35.3, 36.8, 34.0
Prince, 35.3, 36.6, 33.3
McDyess, 21.2, 21.0, 29.5 (this is his first season starting for DET)
R. Wallace, 34.7, 32.2, 30.8

And no, that's not because Detroit rested the starters at the end of the season -- they do that every year. These guys are rested this year because the bench is much, much better.

I'm looking forward to seeing Thad Young play, and I'm well aware of the strides Lou Williams has made as well. If you're ready to play Detroit, you better watch out for Rodney Stuckey and Jason Maxiell -- it's not just the starters any more. Arron Afflalo and Amir Johnson probably won't contribute too much in the playoffs this year (kind of like Jason Smith), but the talent is there, so you never know...

[noone]

Successfully defending the Piston's SG/SF duo is the key to having a fighting shot in this series.

I don't think trotting Green/Iggy out there is going to be that effective against the both of them. Whoever Iggy doesn't guard is nearly guaranteed to have a field day. And as good a defender as Iggy is, I think Prince's size is going to bother him at times too.

One possibility is to start Iggy/Thad and have Iggy on Hamilton and Thad on Prince. Prince is more experienced than Thad, but he's not going to be physically dominant against him either.

Thoughts?

Pretty much spot on. I remember begging for that lineup too against the Pistons in an earlier matchup.

First off, defensively I think Iguodala has done a pretty good job on Prince in the past, but I think Young is still a better matchup and could do better. Secondly, I'd much rather force Rip to guard Iguodala rather than Green, make him work on the defensive end. And I think most importantly, having Iguodala and Thad at the wings will allow them to switch much more freely on screens than anyone could ever imagine with Green in the lineup.

At the same time I really wouldn't mind Green running around screens trying to guard Hamilton because he may be the best on the team at it, but for the reasons stated about I think putting Iguodala at SG and Thad at SF gives us far more advantages in our favor.

I highly doubt Mo goes with that lineup, but I sure do hope that if we get down 0-2 or even say 2-1 but continually get down early, that Mo will give this lineup a shot.

Edit: In all this, I don't want to underrate the matchup that Wallace will be. I think he'll be their x-factor. We really don't have anyone on the team that can guard him. If he gets going they'll be hard to beat. Thad is too small and will get posted up. Evans almost refuses to guard the perimeter and is a mismatch in the post also as he's short. If you put Sammy on him, it would really open up the lane because we wouldn't have any shot blockers or real PFs to defend effectively down low. Detroit isn't a team that will get an extremely high number of points in the paint, but they will look to post up any player they feel has an advantage over one of ours. And that makes having Iguodala/Thad at the 2/3 that much more important. If Sammy is forced to guard Sheed on the perimeter, you want big guys on their guards/wings that won't be taken advantage of in the post.

[ProcessDoctor]

The only thing that sucks about starting Thad over Green is that the bench will suck after Thad and Evans start. Bench would be Williams, Green, Carney, and Smith. It could work though. I think we should start Thad and Evans personally.

[ilikepistonslol]

Detroit is old and vulnerable. They have been very mediocre in the playoffs the last couple years. Their age causes them to wear down during the course of a season.

lol, please. The Pistons have had the most rest they've ever had in the past three weeks. Orlando fans tried saying this last year, and Milwaukee fans said it the year before that.

i'm not trying to be a troll, but I don't see the game going past 5 games. The last two games that the Pistons and Sixers played meant much more to the Sixers than it did the Pistons, so please try not to look too much into those games. The playoffs are a different animal. For whatever reason, "boring ball" truimphs run 'n gun in the playoffs nearly every time (GSW-DAL being the exception).

With that said, I like our chances against TOR a little more than our chance against Philly, but regardless, we have to take care of business; who knows what can happen?

[SAKURABA216]

I thought Detroit was going to play Toronto? I would much rather face the Raptors than the 76ers. Your team is young and beat us pretty handily last time. Thaddeus Young is also a beast.

[Dedicated_76ers_fan]

Don't forget that Larry Brown lit a fire under your young Detroit Piston squad that led them to the NBA title, defeating the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers. Our fire is those DAMNED refs.

[bebopdeluxe]

My only thoughts right now about the series is that it is time to take the training wheels off of our starting lineup and substitution patterns. We need to play our BEST players the most minutes. Whether it is Lou getting more minutes than Willie....starting Thad at the SF...whatever.

If we are going to go down, let's go down taking our best shot (which, by the way, would also give our young guys the most experience...is it more important to the future of this francise for Willie and Evans to get more minutes or Thad and Lou?)...

[Pure Hatred]

Our young guys are the X-Factor in the series. If Thad breaks out and regularly posts some of his patented 6-8, 15 points 8 rebound games and Lou has his way against the Pistons backups we have a legit shot in the series, especially if/as(?) the series wears on.

Matchups I'd like to see:

Miller vs. Billups
Hamilton vs. Iguodala
Prince vs. Young
Rasheed vs. Evans
McDyess vs. Dalembert

We wouldn't really have a liability defensively with that lineup; Detroit loves to kill teams off post ups from a switch mismatch (Korver, anyone?).

Game 2 will be key, regardless of whether we win or lose Game 1. It will be interesting to see how both teams adjust to each other (Let it be them adjusting ).

[tk76]

I think the Sixers best shot is to steal game one, and then try to get at split at home with a fired up crowd inspiring a more up-tempo game. I still don'yt see how we would get 4 wins, but at least we could make a series out of it and have something to build on.

If Detroit asserts its will the first game and keeps the score in the 80's, it might be a short series, with Detroit holding a masterclass in playoff basketball.

Regardless of the outcome, I have switched back into the mode of watching Thad and Lou more closely than focussing on the ouitcome.

[SAKURABA216]

As a Detroit fan, I'll admit that Im a little worried

[Nofx8881]

will these games be on tv at all?

i know the nba hates the 76ers so it wouldn't surprise me if they were only on NBATV or something.

[tk76]

You're rigt. This series will not get any national attention until game 7.

[carlos1223]

will these games be on tv at all?

i know the nba hates the 76ers so it wouldn't surprise me if they were only on NBATV or something.

So true Nofx8881. Its not just the NBA that hates the Sixers though. But the NBA loves the Lakers, Mavs, Spurs, Suns, Celtics, Pistons, and Cavs(because of Lebron)

[legacyinthemakin89c]

^^ lol the NBA hates the Pistons, the only reason we get on TV is because we've been good for so long. Its taken us 6 good years to finally be getting a lot of TV time. But our lack of superstars = terrible ratings and "boring" basketball, the league wants to see us lose.

And add Miami to teams they love too much

[tk76]

And add Miami to teams they love too much

Yeah, you can say they are in the NBA's "Fave 5." We'll see how many times they are on TV next year. If they get more airtime than teams like the Sixers and Warriors it would be pretty sad.