DescentBB

Yeah Baby!

I must say, I hate basketball, but I find myself watching this series. Everyone gave the Lakers 4 games in and out and said it was going to be a disgusting series, congrats to the Pistons for showing that you don't always have to have a team full of superstars. A team that plays well together can beat anybody. I hope Detroit does it.

The Lakers are just jealious b/c even their superstar team couldn't beat the leet Bulls. I'll be very happy when the Lakers finally lose, basketball needs more competition.

Being a California guy I am pulling for the Lakers. It doesn't look good however. The Pistons showed up to kick a$$ and takes names. So far it looks like the Lakers showed up to get a$$es kicked and thier names taken.

If the Pistons win it will be because they wanted it more. If the Lakers win it looks like it will be because the Pistons choked.

The Lakers didn't even break 70 last night... that was amazing.

Go Avs!

i'm pulling for the lakers until gary payton gets his ring, unless the cavs make the playoffs next year. i don't think detroit is outmatched by the lakers though. shaq and kobe are the 2 best players on the floor in this series, but the wallaces are stars and hamilton is on the verge of becoming a superstar. not to mention they have solid players in prince and some good players coming off the bench. they just need a better pg, they'll struggle with billups because he takes alot of bad shots and tries to do too much. he isn't a true point gaurd either, and larry brown really hates that about his lineup. i'm glad theres a few more competitive teams out there now though, it was getting kind of boring watching the lakers and the spurs battle each other and then moving on to a series reminiscient of yugoslavia playing the dream team.

i see the pistons winning this in 6 or 7 becuase they are a better team. the lakers have more talent but they don't play together like the pistons do, and the pistons have enough talent to overcome the lakers when they aren't playing team ball; where other teams could not. i'm not rooting for them though, because gary payton is one of my favorites and i'd like to see him get a ring. so until the cavs have a team, go lakers

I like the stars on the Lakers team. Phil Jackson, yea he was on the Bulls, im rooting for him. Shaq-ie baby, gotta love him and how he loves his "momma". Kobe, I believe his story, what kind of hooch would go to a man's room at 11 oclock at night and brag about it later? Then there is the mailman, the guy who played against the Bulls years ago. Yea, he ought to win one if he has'nt already, hes a nice guy.

However the pistons are damn good, and any team who wins by working together the way they do deserves to win. Sorry Lakers, but if it aint the Bulls winning, then its someone elses turn to have the fun.

Heres to competition. <ching>

My brother went to high school with chauncey.

GO PISTONS!

Woot, Go Pistons

A better PG? Billups is what makes that whole team work, thats what a PG is supposed to do. Take for example Jason Kidd and Stephon Marbury...they're on the team to dish out passes and create opportunities for their teammates to score points. If they can't create a shot for their teammates then they have to create shots for themselves and when they do they'll take it, why? because they're the leaders of the team.

Billups isn't nearly the ballhog you make him out to be kur. He also is one of the best 3pt shooters in the eastern conference, which is one of the reasons the Pistons are in the Championship to begin with. He is a guy they NEED to take shots. Thats why they have the Wallaces to get the offensive rebounds and take it to the hoop.

The Pistons are built like a West team this year. They have the size of a West team, but they also have the speed and shooting capabilities of a east team, which IMO makes them a better all around team then the Lakers. I said when the playoffs started that the whole thing would come down to the Lakers and Pistons and that the Pistons have a excellent chance of winning it.

Personally, I think they can win the next two games and make it the first time a team has won all 3 home games in history using the 2/3/2 setup. They've already held LA to under 70pts in a game which is something no other team has done to the Lakers since the shot clock was invented so...

We'll just have to see how it all plays out. I say the series goes either 4-1 DET or 4-2 DET. You can never count out the Lakers though, Kobe always manages to play out of his a[spoiler][/spoiler]ss in these situations. It will be fun to watch thats for sure...too bad I can only listen to it on radio at work.

I wanted to talk about cars...

chauncey is a good player, but he's not anything more than an average point gaurd. he's just a short 2 gaurd playing on a team with no real point. he'd be better suited in the 2 spot where he doesn't have to worry about initialising the offense, and he can focus on scoring where he's best at but they have rip hamilton, so chauncey plays point becuase he's better than the alternative. he's as much of a point man as allen iverson; he can do the job ok when there isn't anyone else to do it, but he's more comfortable in a scoring role. chauncey puts up alot of points and most of the time he's more than a capable player, but a point gaurd he is not. its good front office work no doubt. he fits in with his team and they play well with him on the floor; they found the right pieces to finish the puzzle. but don't mistake that for his point gaurd skills. trade him to the nets for kidd and watch him become half the player he is now and kidd will still shine. just look at gary payton, he's a hall of famer on almost any other team, but he doesn't fit in with the lakers and now he's a scrub. payton is a way better player than billups but he doesn't have the teamwork and system behind him.

chauncey is a deep threat and can put up some points when the defense is focusing on hamilton, but that doesn't make him a good point gaurd. his own coach strongly hints at it all the time that he doesn't really feel comfortable with billups running the offense. i was watching the press conference the day after game 1 and larry brown flat out said he isn't used to coaching a team without a point man and he went on to mention players he's had in the past where he could run his offense. marc jackson and eric snow came up, and he mentioned that he's had to make alot of adjustments now that he doesn't have those kinds of players (point gaurds!).

billups needs to stop running down the court and pulling up for three with nobody underneath to hit the boards. he should slow it down when he's got nothing, instead he forces up a shot. thats one of his glaring weaknesses from what ive seen. i played point for 4 years in high school and my coach would have eaten me alive if i had done that. hopefully with time will come the realization that that's bad basketball and his team would benefit from less of it.

and i beg to differ, sheed and rip make that team work more than chauncey does. were they good before sheed? in eastern conference standards yes. were they capable of beating the lakers or the spurs before rip hamilton kicked it up a notch? no. are they now that they have sheed and rip is emerging as a superstar? yes. without rip playing like vintage reggie and sheed being there they'd have no chance to win this series. but right now they are in a very good spot, and i give credit to hamilton and the wallaces, sheed especially.

sheed may be working right now, but he is bad news and always has been. Big Ben is one of the real reasons why they've been so successful in the playoffs this year and a big (literally) reason why they're even IN the playoffs.

As far as Billups not being a "real" point guard, the point is that he fits into the puzzle of THIS particular Pistons team as you mentioned. This is really all that matters and that is what makes good teams become great teams when the puzzle is completed.

I hate the Lakers. Shaq is an @$$, Kobe is way too cocky, Phil Jackson is way too full of himself, and the mailman is a bully who likes to pick on people half his size.

GO PISTONS

And Stfu in advance, lothar, stow it.

Um, what do you mean by "stow it", Vader? Do you not like us rooting for the same team, now?

Lothar wrote:GO PISTONS!

Three to one...Lakers are going down!

Yeah, I hear the bell tolling now.

Jagger wrote:I wanted to talk about cars...

lol

I have to admit, I always find it tremendously amusing when the underdogs trump the critics.

Go Pistons.

I usually do to but I really want to see Malone and Payton get their rings. Oh well.

HAHA!!! The Lakers are DEAD!!!

Congrats to you, Detroit! You have slain Goliath!

Go Detroit! The Lakers have fallen!

I had a 76 Pinto with Pistons once .. they worked too!

Grats Pistons!

The Lakers got too fat and happy... Ever heard of work ethic, or in Koby's case (alegedly) ethics in general?

Did you see and hear Aritha Franklin's rendition of the national anthem before the game? That had to be one of the worst lipsinks I have ever seen.

Lipsync? I thought it was just a bad performance. They could have picked a better performance if it was lipsynced.

Notes on the game:

Phil Jackson is an idiot. What a coaching disaster that game! In the opening minutes, the lakers were up. They had high spirits, moved the ball well, and looked dominant as Medvidenko was hitting shots, allowing others to get involved more. I really think the series could have been different with Malone in the game. The defense was a HUGE difference. Shaq was taken out with 2 fouls and I screamed at jackson when he did that. Don't mess with hot energy on a team if you are down 3-1 in the finals. Call a timeout and tell Shaq to play lightly or he's yanked. A light Shaq is still much stronger than any replacement.

Shaq's sub in the 1st quarter, although it was still early, was a huge game shifter. The Lakers were confident in the beginning, but as soon as Shaq was gone they crumbled. When he was taken out, Medv got schooled on defense left and right. Taking Shaq out sans-malone (their best defender) was suicide. Great job, Phil. Then I saw phil "Go small" and get run over again and again.

Sure, Phil isn't to blame for the team's terrible performance (Shaq's freethrow's, kobe turnovers, poor shooting overall by the team) but he did contribute to some bad energy shifts.

laker fan!

i got pissed when phil did that too. i kinda get pissed
too when Kobe makes those wild shots. dont get me wrong some of his wild shots won some games but he gets to cocky at times. Lakers seriously need some outside shooters. only ones they got is Kobe (again with the wild shots) Rush and Fisher. but they dont play much. Anyway props to pistons.

kurupt wrote:they just need a better pg, they'll struggle with billups because he takes alot of bad shots and tries to do too much. he isn't a true point gaurd either, and larry brown really hates that about his lineup.

are you talking about the Playoff MVP ?

the finals mvp in this series means jack. nobody really did anything more than anyone else for the pistons, it was a team effort. thats why they won. you could have given it to any of the 5 pistons starters and they would have been deserving. congrats to him all the same though. he's the first finals mvp in the past 30something years who won't make the hall of fame. thats something. i'd have liked to see them give it to all 5 of those guys though.

i wonder if the lakers will fall apart after this year? they've got alot of free agents that are key: kobe, payton (even thogh he didnt play well under the lakers, he'd be an all star on most every other team), fisher, and malone. i bet malone will be back for another year if he's healthy enough to walk onto the court. if the lakers come back next year with the same nucleus you can bet they'll be alot more competitive than they were in the finals this year. it would be interesting to see a rematch next year.

gg pistons.

The lakers are gonna Fission. You'll be lucky if Shaq and Peyton are back next year. Everyone else could be going elsewhere.

Anyone notice Detroit didn't burn after the Pistons triumphed?

Shaq is the most secure staying there, I think. He is under contract.

i'm interested to see if kobe stays. maybe we'll get lucky and he'll play here so lebron can move to 3 and we can win a title for once

woodchip wrote:Anyone notice Detroit didn't burn after the Pistons triumphed?

Yeah, what's up with that? I was a lil disapointed I have to say. I loves me a good riot.

I hear Phil Jackson isn't gonna be back for LA?

the only one thats pretty much a given is shaq, unless they trade him. which they might, gonna be a "funny summer" as the big man said in the paper.