Two atrocious games in a row

Bad losses to the Cavs and the Wizards. Now, both are decent teams,
and both were road games, but the Pistons still looked awful.

Two big concerns. First, no inside game, on either end. The "points
in the paint" stat against the Wizards was especially terrible. More
broadly, Detroit not only doesn't have much of a traditional post
offense (a long-time problem, including the championship year) but
also the Pistons now often seem to have no interior *defense*.
Defense has long been a hallmark of this team, but it was a problem in
the playoffs last year. So they take jump shots, the other team
shoots from close up, not surprising we lose.

Second, the inconsistent rotation. I understand Flip is trying to
work in some new guys (Theo and Dixon); I understand he is trying to
figure out what combinations work. I understand that different
opponents and different situations might call for different
combinations of Pistons players. But I'm also wondering if he really
is getting ready for the playoffs, or whether he's just confused.

Oh well, it's just two bad games (although it's also 10-7 since the
all-star break). And Detroit still has the second-best record in the
NBA. Just a couple of worrying signs. -- Joe

"jslater@NOutnet.utoledoSPAM.edu" <jslater@utnet.utoledo.edu> wrote:

> Bad losses to the Cavs and the Wizards. Now, both are decent teams,
> and both were road games, but the Pistons still looked awful.
>
> Two big concerns. First, no inside game, on either end. The "points
> in the paint" stat against the Wizards was especially terrible. More
> broadly, Detroit not only doesn't have much of a traditional post
> offense (a long-time problem, including the championship year) but
> also the Pistons now often seem to have no interior *defense*.

They did a decent job defending Duncan inside against San Antonio, but
yeah, they were abused by Haywood and Songaila. Wallace was distracted by
his quick fouls and didn't contribute, and too many times they seemed to be
over-committing on the first pass outside and leaving one of their bigs a
free path to the basket.

On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:12:58 GMT, Grey Matters
<greymatters22@ya-who.com> wrote:

>"jslater@NOutnet.utoledoSPAM.edu" <jslater@utnet.utoledo.edu> wrote:
>
>> Bad losses to the Cavs and the Wizards. Now, both are decent teams,
>> and both were road games, but the Pistons still looked awful.
>>
>> Two big concerns. First, no inside game, on either end. The "points
>> in the paint" stat against the Wizards was especially terrible. More
>> broadly, Detroit not only doesn't have much of a traditional post
>> offense (a long-time problem, including the championship year) but
>> also the Pistons now often seem to have no interior *defense*.
>
>They did a decent job defending Duncan inside against San Antonio, but
>yeah, they were abused by Haywood and Songaila. Wallace was distracted by
>his quick fouls and didn't contribute, and too many times they seemed to be
>over-committing on the first pass outside and leaving one of their bigs a
>free path to the basket.

Like Joe said, the Wizards are a decent team but still Detroit's
defense was horrible. The offense seemed alright but they didn't get
enough stops and the Wizards scored way too easily. I understand the
intensity may be lacking some with just 12 games to go in the regular
season, but I believe now is the time to start sending messages to
possible playoff opponents. Bring your lunch pail if you're going to
play us. So far, against the Cavs and Wizards, the message is more
like bring the picnic basket and we'll share a hot dog with you.

Regards,
////
(o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-

"He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
-- Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver,
on his coach, John Jenkins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove nospam to email me.

Steve

An opinion on it all ....

It occured to me that no statement needs to be delivered to the Cavs or
Wizards, unlike the Spurs.
So ... The Pistons may be unmotivated against Eastern Conference foes.
There is little chance the Pistons will move up to the No. 1 seed or drop to
the No. 3 seed. There are still plenty of 'patsies' to punish before
play-off time.
On the other hand the Cavs and Wizards are still jockeying for position and
willing to deliver a 'message' to the Pistons and the rest of the
conference.

Just a view.
Anybody?

the rick

On Mar 24, 1:03*pm, "wyzbang" <wyzb...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> An opinion on it all ....
>
> It occured to me that no statement needs to be delivered to the Cavs or
> Wizards, unlike the Spurs.
> So ... The Pistons may be unmotivated against Eastern Conference foes.
> There is little chance the Pistons will move up to the No. 1 seed or drop to
> the No. 3 seed. There are still plenty of 'patsies' to punish before
> play-off time.
> On the other hand the Cavs and Wizards are still jockeying for position and
> willing to deliver a 'message' to the Pistons and the rest of the
> conference.
>
> Just a view.
> Anybody?
>
> the rick

Now I'm even more confused. They lose to the Wizards after getting
three days rest, then the next day, on a back to back, they beat the
Suns in OT, and they do it without Rip. Again, no disrespect to
Washington, a team with some good players that played hard. But I
would normally bet on getting the win when playing with extra rest,
all five starters, and against the team with the worse record. -- Joe

"jslater@NOutnet.utoledoSPAM.edu" <jslater@utnet.utoledo.edu> wrote in
news:b49196bd-5fea-4c75-9c9e-f9566c303045@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:

>
> Now I'm even more confused. They lose to the Wizards after getting
> three days rest, then the next day, on a back to back, they beat the
> Suns in OT, and they do it without Rip.

It's possible that they won because they didn't have Hamilton. He and they
may have been forcing too much of the offense through him for the past few
games, and if he doesn't have the wheels the Pistons offense and defense
can bog down. You have to give Affalo credit for jumping in despite not
getting a lot of minutes recently.

> Again, no disrespect to
> Washington, a team with some good players that played hard. But I
> would normally bet on getting the win when playing with extra rest,
> all five starters, and against the team with the worse record. --

Billups and Wallace stepped up offensively, and they got better inside
defensive games from Ratliff and Maxiell. There's probably also something
to be said that their two most recent wins are against Denver and Phoenix
and their losses are against Cleveland and DC -- they seem to be doing
better recently against more freewheeling offenses than more structured
clubs.

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:45:34 GMT, Grey Matters
<greymatters22@ya-who.com> wrote:

>"jslater@NOutnet.utoledoSPAM.edu" <jslater@utnet.utoledo.edu> wrote in
>news:b49196bd-5fea-4c75-9c9e-f9566c303045@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:
>
>>
>> Now I'm even more confused. They lose to the Wizards after getting
>> three days rest, then the next day, on a back to back, they beat the
>> Suns in OT, and they do it without Rip.
>
>It's possible that they won because they didn't have Hamilton. He and they
>may have been forcing too much of the offense through him for the past few
>games, and if he doesn't have the wheels the Pistons offense and defense
>can bog down. You have to give Affalo credit for jumping in despite not
>getting a lot of minutes recently.
>

With Afflalo playing instead of Rip, the plays they run are going to
be different and while Stuckey is similar to Chauncey in his play,
Aaron Afflalo is very different than Rip. While Afflalo only scored 6
points, he played Nash as tough as anybody and Stuckey's 13 points
helped as well.

>> Again, no disrespect to
>> Washington, a team with some good players that played hard. But I
>> would normally bet on getting the win when playing with extra rest,
>> all five starters, and against the team with the worse record. --
>
>Billups and Wallace stepped up offensively, and they got better inside
>defensive games from Ratliff and Maxiell. There's probably also something
>to be said that their two most recent wins are against Denver and Phoenix
>and their losses are against Cleveland and DC -- they seem to be doing
>better recently against more freewheeling offenses than more structured
>clubs.

Wizards have an athletic center who can move his feet while the Suns
have the human boulder in Shaq. Actually easier for the guys to
defend against Shaq than Hayworth because they know where he is and
what he's going to do. His footwork is almost non-existent unlike
Hayworth's.

We were bemoaning the loss to the 76ers. They went to Boston last
night and beat them by 5, so maybe our loss wasn't as surprising as we
thought. Both the Wizards and 76ers are playing for better seeding
and are much more intense. The Pistons got up for the Suns because of
them being a WC team and someone they might (though probably not) meet
in the NBA finals.

Regards,
////
(o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-

"He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
-- Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver,
on his coach, John Jenkins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove nospam to email me.

Steve

Billups must of heard me talk about his lone dedication to the
perimeter. He made all the difference taking the ball to the hole.
Really didn't matter who played the two position.

Theo, Maxiell and Sheed's defensive efforts were defining too. Offense
came from everywhere but it was Billups this time who made the
difference going to the inside with a quickness few knew he had.

SkippyPB wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:45:34 GMT, Grey Matters

>
> With Afflalo playing instead of Rip, the plays they run are going to
> be different and while Stuckey is similar to Chauncey in his play,
> Aaron Afflalo is very different than Rip. While Afflalo only scored 6
> points, he played Nash as tough as anybody and Stuckey's 13 points
> helped as well.

Always helps when a team prepares for one offense and faces another style
instead.
Will take a little for the scouting reports to catch up.