Win or Go Home
Yes, it's been a damn long while since I put something up here, mostly due to laziness and apathy. I haven't had one post this year on the Stones and their incredible success and great GM work (Arroyo and Darko for Cato and Orlando's '07 first round pick was a great trade and also freed up money to resign Ben), but then again I didn't really have to. The team seemed invincible, and we pretty much were a concensus pick to go all the way. We were the league's best defensive team, only this year reloaded with offense, pretty much the opposite of the Mavs. Scoring 100 points a game was no problem for us, and we led the league in 3 pointers.
We cruised past the Bucks in the first round, and I was fortunate enough to get a chance to see game one vs. the Cavs with KPhil, whose first row seats right behind the away bench showed how great our basketball team used to be. From our seats you could see the faces up close, and seeing the difference in bench planning was incredible. During each timeout, all the way until the end of game, the Cavs would huddle together closely while Mike Brown drew up the play and strategy. Meanwhile, the Pistons would already be at the scoring table joking around with each other. We would kill the Cavs in game one, partly because of Lindsey hitting four 3s in a row, partly because we were playing the way we should've been playing. At that point I thought we would sweep the Cavs, but it definitely turned out different.
The Stones started shooting awful percentages, and their defense began to break down through the weakness that we've had all season: penetration. In one of the games against San Antonio, Tony Parker had the first 8 points of the game because he kept blowing by our big men inside. The same thing has been the problem throughout the playoffs for us. Lebron, Wade, or even Jason Williams/Antoine Walker, just cut in, wait for the double team, and pitch it out to the 3 ballers sitting on the wings.
You think our coaching staff would've learned this by now, but with Flip's new crew, they've forgotten how we play D best: man to man. It's what the players want to do, because it's how we've had so much success in the past. All the problems you've been hearing about in the lockerroom have stemmed from that disparity. Sure, DWade would cut in and score 40 a game, and sure, Shaq would kill Ben and Rasheed for 30 and 10. But that's how we've always played. Let the superstars do their thing, and shut down the other role players. What's killing us are the open 3s the other three players get because the coaching staff is emphasizing zone and rolling over too much. We beat the Lakers playing man and were minutes away from beating the Spurs with it too. For once, I'm missing Larry Brown.
Look at the Heat last year: they were a 3 point shooting powerhouse with Damon Jones, Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler, and other guys who could fill that role well. We took away that aspect of their game and won, albeit in 7, but still won. Shaq and Wade had phenomenal games that series, but we shut down the other guys and played fine.
On the flipside, we can't really score worth a shit because half of our scoring starters, Rip and Rasheed, are missing shots they normally make. People come up with wild speculations on why they're missing shots, from them being tired to them running too many isolation plays. Yes, they're tired, and yeah, they've been running a lot of iso lately, but the bottom line is, both Rip and Rasheed are still hurt. Their ankles are hurting them more than they're letting on, and it's clearly visible in their performances. Even a little kid realizes that a hurt ankle, regardless of the minority of the sprain, severely affects your shots, especially when you're like Rip or Rasheed and take a lot of jumpshots. Ankles take weeks to heal, not days, and with only a one day break inbetween games (which really isn't a break considering they're practice days) these guys aren't going 100%. All the tape, vegetable ointment, and herbal remedies can't keep your shot from being affected. Tayshaun has been scoring more and has been the "most consistent" out of the starting five, and it seems to be a catchphrase that everyone is saying. But Tayshaun is only scoring more because he has to pick up the slack for Rip and Sheed. We don't want Tayshaun to score more, because he's exceeding his role. Tay is good, but not that good yet.
A lot of skepticism has fallen on Flip Saunders. Through studying Communications, I've learned that it's a common and given fact that the media cannot tell us what to think but rather what to think about. Because the media is putting so much emphasis on Flip being an awful coach, all the Pistons fans suddenly now think the same. It seems that everybody somehow forgot that Flip coached us to the best record not only in the league, but in franchise history. Tell me, why the fuck should he be fired after just one, incredibly successful season? Because we didn't make the Finals? Come on, be realistic. All the people who say he should are either on coke or just insane. We should sign Flip for another three years. Even (God forbid, knock on wood) if we somehow happen to not make it to the Finals this year, give the guy a chance to work on our defense and tool it around.
If I was Flip tonight, I'd tell the players to fuck the schemes, fuck the plays, and would let them do whatever the hell they wanted. We need to unleash the beast tonight because there's no room for cockiness. The Stones can't laugh it off anymore in the lockerroom and we're not even against the ropes; we're tangled up in them.
I'm certainly not going to count out the Stones, and I certainly haven't in the past, regardless of how deep in a shithole we've been. I'm going to put my own personal streak on the line (Super Bowl last year, NBA playoffs last year, CFB Nat'l Championship this year, Super Bowl this year) and guarantee a win tonight. Beyond that, game six will be the determining factor, because if we make it to Game 7 it's over.
We live for situations like this, and as the motto goes, "If it ain't rough it ain't right." Last year I said it doesn't get any rougher than Game 7 in the finals against the Spurs, but right now it's pretty damn grainy.
Can we use this as blackmail or something?
We cruised past the Bucks in the first round, and I was fortunate enough to get a chance to see game one vs. the Cavs with KPhil, whose first row seats right behind the away bench showed how great our basketball team used to be. From our seats you could see the faces up close, and seeing the difference in bench planning was incredible. During each timeout, all the way until the end of game, the Cavs would huddle together closely while Mike Brown drew up the play and strategy. Meanwhile, the Pistons would already be at the scoring table joking around with each other. We would kill the Cavs in game one, partly because of Lindsey hitting four 3s in a row, partly because we were playing the way we should've been playing. At that point I thought we would sweep the Cavs, but it definitely turned out different.
The Stones started shooting awful percentages, and their defense began to break down through the weakness that we've had all season: penetration. In one of the games against San Antonio, Tony Parker had the first 8 points of the game because he kept blowing by our big men inside. The same thing has been the problem throughout the playoffs for us. Lebron, Wade, or even Jason Williams/Antoine Walker, just cut in, wait for the double team, and pitch it out to the 3 ballers sitting on the wings.
You think our coaching staff would've learned this by now, but with Flip's new crew, they've forgotten how we play D best: man to man. It's what the players want to do, because it's how we've had so much success in the past. All the problems you've been hearing about in the lockerroom have stemmed from that disparity. Sure, DWade would cut in and score 40 a game, and sure, Shaq would kill Ben and Rasheed for 30 and 10. But that's how we've always played. Let the superstars do their thing, and shut down the other role players. What's killing us are the open 3s the other three players get because the coaching staff is emphasizing zone and rolling over too much. We beat the Lakers playing man and were minutes away from beating the Spurs with it too. For once, I'm missing Larry Brown.
Look at the Heat last year: they were a 3 point shooting powerhouse with Damon Jones, Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler, and other guys who could fill that role well. We took away that aspect of their game and won, albeit in 7, but still won. Shaq and Wade had phenomenal games that series, but we shut down the other guys and played fine.
On the flipside, we can't really score worth a shit because half of our scoring starters, Rip and Rasheed, are missing shots they normally make. People come up with wild speculations on why they're missing shots, from them being tired to them running too many isolation plays. Yes, they're tired, and yeah, they've been running a lot of iso lately, but the bottom line is, both Rip and Rasheed are still hurt. Their ankles are hurting them more than they're letting on, and it's clearly visible in their performances. Even a little kid realizes that a hurt ankle, regardless of the minority of the sprain, severely affects your shots, especially when you're like Rip or Rasheed and take a lot of jumpshots. Ankles take weeks to heal, not days, and with only a one day break inbetween games (which really isn't a break considering they're practice days) these guys aren't going 100%. All the tape, vegetable ointment, and herbal remedies can't keep your shot from being affected. Tayshaun has been scoring more and has been the "most consistent" out of the starting five, and it seems to be a catchphrase that everyone is saying. But Tayshaun is only scoring more because he has to pick up the slack for Rip and Sheed. We don't want Tayshaun to score more, because he's exceeding his role. Tay is good, but not that good yet.
A lot of skepticism has fallen on Flip Saunders. Through studying Communications, I've learned that it's a common and given fact that the media cannot tell us what to think but rather what to think about. Because the media is putting so much emphasis on Flip being an awful coach, all the Pistons fans suddenly now think the same. It seems that everybody somehow forgot that Flip coached us to the best record not only in the league, but in franchise history. Tell me, why the fuck should he be fired after just one, incredibly successful season? Because we didn't make the Finals? Come on, be realistic. All the people who say he should are either on coke or just insane. We should sign Flip for another three years. Even (God forbid, knock on wood) if we somehow happen to not make it to the Finals this year, give the guy a chance to work on our defense and tool it around.
If I was Flip tonight, I'd tell the players to fuck the schemes, fuck the plays, and would let them do whatever the hell they wanted. We need to unleash the beast tonight because there's no room for cockiness. The Stones can't laugh it off anymore in the lockerroom and we're not even against the ropes; we're tangled up in them.
I'm certainly not going to count out the Stones, and I certainly haven't in the past, regardless of how deep in a shithole we've been. I'm going to put my own personal streak on the line (Super Bowl last year, NBA playoffs last year, CFB Nat'l Championship this year, Super Bowl this year) and guarantee a win tonight. Beyond that, game six will be the determining factor, because if we make it to Game 7 it's over.
We live for situations like this, and as the motto goes, "If it ain't rough it ain't right." Last year I said it doesn't get any rougher than Game 7 in the finals against the Spurs, but right now it's pretty damn grainy.
Can we use this as blackmail or something?
posted by KTrain at 2:22 PM
1 Comments:
Your are Nice. And so is your site! Maybe you need some more pictures. Will return in the near future.
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