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Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
^nice pics. love the thread name, too. :clap
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Game 3 goes to the Detroit Pistons by a score of 87-78.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Pistons take the East Conference's best road show <by far> to Cleveland.
Road could work in Pistons' favor AUBURN HILLS -- The Pistons take more than just a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals to Cleveland this weekend. They also take the knowledge they can play much better. Maybe not on defense -- their defense against LeBron James and the Cavaliers has been suitable for framing. But when it comes to scoring, that's another story. You have to believe the Pistons will put together a complete game in one of the next two games at Quicken Loans Arena. That's what they'll need to do to all but secure this series and their third trip to the NBA Finals in four years. The Pistons haven't made enough shots to get any breathing room, but they've made shots -- none bigger than Rasheed Wallace's 17-foot fadeaway baseline jumper over James in their 79-76 victory Thursday at The Palace. Offense must pitch in Still, the Pistons aren't kidding themselves. They know they need to get their offense going. "We won on our defense," said Richard Hamilton, who was 5-for-14 shooting and scored just 13 points. "We have to get better offensively. We haven't even played our best basketball." Indeed. Tayshaun Prince is 1-for-19 in the series. Chauncey Billups has one more shot (13) than turnovers (12). The Pistons shot 44 percent in Game 2. They had an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers Thursday , which led to 20 Cavaliers points. Still, you have to feel like the Pistons are going to be able to put together four solid quarters and win going away. They are too good for this to continue. It would be one thing if they had played their best and were still in a dogfight. It just hasn't been the case. Plus, the Pistons are a big-time road team. They are 4-1 on the road this postseason, including their closeout victory over the Bulls. Let's not forget the Pistons were the only team in the East with a winning road record during the regular season. And in case the Cavaliers don't remember, the Pistons, facing elimination, won Game 6 in Cleveland in the semifinals last season. Prince is due to rebound Coach Flip Saunders isn't worried about how the Pistons will react to the change in venue. "We know Sunday is going to be a heck of a game," he said. "We know our players -- we seem to play better on the road." As for Prince, granted, he is overworked trying to keep James from going off. You still have to believe Prince's struggles on the offensive end won't continue. He will break through and have a big game on the road. He has done it so many times before. "I believe we're a great road team," Prince said. "They're going to have their crowd there in their building, but that's when we're at our best." http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...705260334/1127 |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
I think we break 80 Pistons 86 Brons 78
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Nice job VJ :clap I love it.
Pistons 85-80 |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
I thought the King was slain in Game 2? Contradiction? Yes.
Cavs by 10. |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
I noticed the poll on nba.com had Cavs-Spurs final (59%). :wtf What's wrong with these people?
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
^Simple. it's just those delusional cavs fans voting like their lives depended on it.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
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Rite aid fire you or are you off tonight loser :lol |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
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And what's so bad about working at Rite Aid part time while in school? Go play with your reef tanks, you butt mongrel. Santa Barbara = STD Central. Hope the herpes don't get you. |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Looks like the Microwave is heating things up again.
:lol |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
The little boy is from Concord never even been to Texas I bet.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
LMAO I'm being sarcastic with you Vinnie. :lol
The game went bad, but ughhhhh......I'm not worried. No, I've never been to Texas, but when I was 6, for some reason I liked the Rockets then the Spurs. And I feel sorry for that lady, holy shit that's gonna take a good 2 hours. |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
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:toast |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Practice over, LeBron James palmed a basketball off the rack in his right hand, and with hardly any windup, fired it toward the hoop at the far end of Quicken Loans Arena.
Swish. Nothing but net from 92 feet. Just like in his commercial. "Wooo!" James hollered. "That's it, I'm out." And back home, where James almost always makes the impossible look routine. Coming off two heartbreaking losses in Detroit, James and his teammates hope they can repeat their performance of a year ago when they face the Pistons in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night. In last year's semifinals, the Cavaliers were down 2-0 before winning three straight -- Games 3 and 4 at home -- to push the Pistons to the brink of elimination. Now, Cleveland's players are banking on that experience to give them an edge. "We've been here before," James said. "That's the best thing that could happen to us. We've been in this situation, so we know how to react to it. We should know what to do and how to capture Game 3." After going 30-11 at home during the regular season, and 4-1 at the Q so far during the playoffs, the Cavaliers feel good about their chances of slicing Detroit's series lead in half. "We're confident that we can get it done, but it won't be easy," center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "But just because we're at home we can't think we don't have to show up. If we do that, we can easily be down three before we know it." Despite dropping the series' first two games, the Cavaliers insist the losses were confidence builders. They know they can go 48 minutes with the playoff ripened Pistons, who are appearing in their fifth consecutive conference final. Games 1 and 2 were rough -- elbows flew, bodies flopped and most of uncontested shots came during warmups. Like last May's semifinals, Detroit's intensity caught the Cavaliers by surprise at the outset. They weren't ready for it, and the Pistons made them pay. "We're definitely prepared for it now," Cavs forward Donyell Marshall said. "They hit us a couple times. They're like the bullies. They're going to keep messing with you until you hit back, and that's what we're going to have to do." Hitting a jump shot every now and then might help, too. The Cavaliers had a chance to win both games in Detroit, but they twice went 0-for-5 from the field in the final minutes. Marshall missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner with 5.9 seconds left in Game 1, and Larry Hughes misfired from short range just before the horn in Game 2. Detroit's defense has been the difference. Whether sagging into the lane to cut off driving lanes or double teaming James, the Pistons have held the Cavaliers to 39 percent shooting overall. Cleveland has made just 7-of-29 3-pointers. Those statistics will have to improve for Cleveland to have any chance. Although he says he must do more, James needs help. And so far he hasn't gotten nearly enough from his teammates. "We as a team have not done a good job of capitalizing on how much attention he gets," said Ilgauskas, who had 22 points in Game 1 but just 3 in Game 2. "We could do a better job of getting better shots and stuff like that." The Pistons' only offensive worry has been Tayshaun Prince, who is 1-of-19 from the field. On Saturday, Prince stayed for nearly an hour after practice doing shooting drills with assistant coach Igor Kokoskov. Prince, whose primary defensive assignment is James, feels there's only one thing he needs to do differently in Game 3. "Be myself," he said. "I wasn't myself the last couple of games. But the important thing about this team, when you don't make shots and you are on the floor for a while, there's other things you've got to do. That's what I've tried to do, pick it up in other areas." James, too, wants to do more. Although he's averaging 24 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists in the playoffs, he may have to put up bigger numbers. But the more he pushes the ball, the more he attacks the rim, the more he tries to please his home fans, the more he may be playing into the Pistons' hands. "That's what we expect him to do (take over the offense)," Prince said. "That's why we pay so much attention to him and that's why Donyell Marshall and Daniel Gibson had so many good looks (in Game 2). "But the situation is there for us to really crowd LeBron, know where he's at and have two or three guys running at him. Our defense is predicated on him being aggressive." As far the Pistons are concerned, he can make as many 92-footers as he wants. |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Up 2-0, Pistons see room to improve across the board
Checklist by Keith Langlois AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – The parking lot outside the Pistons’ practice facility was only sparsely occupied, most of their key players headed home to pack for their late-afternoon flight to Cleveland. At one end of the court, Dale Davis and Ronald Dupree were engaged with assistant coaches Ron Harper and Terry Porter in a shooting competition. At the other, Amir Johnson and Will Blalock worked with two other staff members on post moves and mid-range jump shots. One player didn’t fit among the group just trying to stay in shape and work on their skills. Tayshaun Prince jacked up shots for a good hour after Saturday’s practice ended, outlasting them all. First he worked with Johnson and Blalock’s group, and when they left he stayed behind, extending his range out to the 3-point line. “Get some shots up,” he said when he finally quit and the gym was virtually abandoned. “That’s the whole thing. What else is there to do?” When you’re in a 1 of 19 shooting slump, what else, indeed? That the Pistons have won the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals with Prince going 1 of 19 is a testament to their defensive prowess and to their scoring balance and depth. But the Pistons don’t want to push it. They know the Cavs are close to being even or ahead in the series and could just as easily win two close home games if the Pistons don’t pick it up on their offensive end. Here’s the to-do checklist for the Pistons as the series switches to Quicken Loans Arena. They don’t have to get them all addressed, but the more they do, the easier the wins will come: Get Prince going – They don’t need him to score 20 a game, they don’t need him to match LeBron James point for point, they don’t even need him to hit the 17 a game he was averaging through his first 10 postseason games this year. But half of that would be nice. Something to keep Cleveland honest. Something to make the Cavs pay for switching guards like Larry Hughes or Daniel Gibson on to him. A layup, a garbage rebound that falls to him, an easy basket in transition – anything to get him kick started early in Game 3 would ease him into a comfort zone and make them all feel a little better. “He’s missed some easy shots,” Flip Saunders said. “Sometimes when you’re on a great offensive rhythm everything happens right and the basket seems like it’s 10 feet wide. Right now he’s just struggling. The biggest thing is as long as he takes good shots he’ll be OK.” Cleveland’s defensive game plan to swarm Chauncey Billups has, in many instances, ground Detroit’s offense to a halt and put the ball in Prince’s hands under difficult circumstances. “I do think as a team we’ve held the ball a little bit more,” Saunders said. “Cleveland’s done some things defensively to put us in those situations. When we’re not moving, Tay’s not as effective. He has passed the ball pretty well. He has been involved offensively as far as making plays for other people. We need him to get going a little bit, too.” “I wasn’t myself the last two games,” Prince said. “One thing important about this team is that when you don’t make shots, there’s other things you have to do and that’s what I’ve been trying to do to pick it up in other areas.” Saunders said the Pistons won’t run anything special to try to get Prince going. “That’s not the mentality of our team,” he said. “We’ve got five players. Tay has had 19 pretty good shots. Of those shots, three of them may have been bad shots – low shot clock. He’ll make shots when it comes down to it.” Free Chauncey – For most of their four regular-season games against Cleveland, the Pistons’ offense functioned smoothly. That happened for almost none of their first two playoff games. It starts with Billups, of course, because the ball is almost always in his hands. But it really relies on his teammates to make the plays that will dissuade the Cavs from applying so much pressure to Billups. “It’s not really me,” he said Saturday. “They made up their mind – ‘We’re not going to let him beat us’ – which is understandable. Once I get some slips and Tay’s knocking down some shots and opening it up, they’ll have to direct their focus somewhere else and that will loosen it up.” Billups’ assist-to-turnover ratio during the regular season was nearly 4:1, but through two games against the Cavs he has 11 assists and 12 turnovers. He’s shooting 8 of 13, 4 of 6 from the 3-point arc, but he’s not getting many opportunities. “When he’s got shots, he’s making shots,” Saunders said. “If you want to take him out of the offense, then you’re going to open things up for other players. A guy like (Jason) Maxiell, who is averaging four points a game, gets 15. Those guys have to make plays in order for the other team to loosen up their defense a little bit.” More from Maxiell – Not more as in more than the 15 points and six rebounds he gave them in an eye-opening Game 2 performance, just more of the impact he’s made on both games of the series. Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao has hurt the Pistons, averaging 13.5 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench – but while those numbers might be higher than the Pistons hoped or reasonably anticipated, they knew Varejao would be a handful. The impact of Maxiell – who affects a game in the same ways Varejao does and, in fact, has been used to counter Cleveland’s Brazilian dynamo – is a much bigger surprise to the Cavs. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say that as close as the first two games have been – both coming down to the game’s final possession – the Pistons would be down 2-0 if not for Maxiell’s contributions. “A young guy like that, you’re not judged by what you do one game but what you do the next game,” said Saunders, who is always cautious in his praise of young players. “After you play a good game, you know they’re definitely going to be more aware of what he’s going to do. It’s kind of an interesting matchup when he’s in with Varejao. “He came in a year ago understanding where this team was from an established, veteran type team. He’s worked hard in practice every day. I’ll see him on the road going up in the elevators and I’ll say, ‘Maxy, be ready,’ and he’ll say, ‘Coach, you know I’ll always be ready.’ He says the right things, too.” “It’s all about energy,” Maxiell said. “Flip calls on me, he expects me to produce energy and that’s what I do.” Damage control – LeBron James is averaging 14.5 points and shooting 35 percent. The Pistons expect those numbers to rise, but they want to make scoring points – however many James ends up with – a painful exercise for Cleveland’s superstar. Just because the Pistons have had success against him in the first two games, Saunders won’t stick with the status quo but anticipate Cleveland’s adjustments and come up with new wrinkles to throw at him. “Great players, you can’t go in and think they’re going to play the same each game as the game before,” he said. “They’re going to make adjustments. We constantly look to make adjustments every time we go out to play him.” Grass fires – Cleveland’s Mike Brown changed his rotation from games 1 to 2, using more of backup guards Damon Jones and Daniel Gibson and less of Eric Snow, to good effect. The Pistons will continue to focus their defense on James and dare Cleveland’s role players to beat them, but there’s an NBA axiom that role players and the bench play better at home than on the road. Saunders doesn’t necessarily buy it. “It just depends on the player,” he said. “Some players play good on the road, some players play bad. I don’t think you can just stereotype. Sometimes they play better on the road because there are no expectations. At home, if you play bad, especially if you’re a bench player, the crowd will start mumbling and you’ll lose a little bit of confidence. I think it just depends on the temperament of the player.” http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/practice_070526.html |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Pistons are winning ugly and feeling good
May 27, 2007 BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG FREE PRESS COLUMNIST The Pistons played the first two games against Cleveland like weekend golfers: They couldn't break 80, but they left with a smile anyway. As well they should. I asked Chauncey Billups if this 2-0 series lead feels like a series lead, and his response (I'm paraphrasing here) was, "Of course, you nimrod!" :lol He meant that winning is all that matters. I'll take it a step further. The Pistons were better off squeaking by Cleveland twice than blowing them out. Remember, the Pistons are, by most measures, the better team. One of these days, they should kick it into gear and play at a level Cleveland simply can't reach. The Cavaliers, like any underdog, need to win the close games. And right now they are 0-for-2. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I always thought when you play lousy and win anyway, that's a good sign. :hat As for the suggestion that the Pistons' offense is stuck in the same pothole as last year ... well, who says they can't get out? I seem to remember a six-game series where the Pistons averaged 75.2 points, shot 37% from the field and 28% from three-point range, and committed 14 turnovers per game. Isn't it amazing how I remember those statistics? It's almost like I looked them up. Anyway, the Pistons finally won the series with a 69-65 win that was so ugly, they immediately drew a fine from the FCC. That was the 2004 Eastern Conference finals against Indiana. In the next series, the Pistons whipped the Lakers for the championship. Cleveland coach Mike Brown was an assistant coach for Indiana in 2004 -- I believe his job was to stomp up and down and get technical fouls at the worst possible time, but I could be wrong on that. Brown obviously paid attention to Indiana coach Rick Carlisle's trapping scheme against Chauncey Billups. But Billups said the Cavaliers take it to a new level -- they are more aggressive with their traps, and they employ long-armed defenders to maximum effect. (I love when players are described simply as "long." I love it almost as much as when a neighborhood or group of people is described as "moneyed.") Yet Billups also acknowledged that some of his turnovers are his own fault. He must decide quicker whether to pull back his dribble, drawing the defense away from his teammates, or to break down the defense. And the Pistons have not been particularly effective at "slip screens" -- where a big guy fakes a screen, then cuts away to get open for a shot. And speaking of shots: Tayshaun Prince was the last starter to leave the gym Saturday, and I am here to report that of the many shots he took after practice, some actually went in. Prince said he was "not myself" in Games 1 and 2. That would explain his 1-for-19 shooting performance. It is hard enough to hit shots under playoff pressure; it's almost impossible while inhabiting somebody else's body. Prince also said the unusual humidity in the Palace made his shot feel strange <there's a new one!>. I guess that's why this year's struggles are different from last year's: Now it's not the Heat, it's the humidity. Prince will be fine. So, I suspect, will Billups. If you are going to worry about a starter (because hey, it's a holiday weekend, the game doesn't start until 8:30 p.m., so why not spend the day worrying about a basketball star you've never met?) then worry about Chris Webber. Webber has not played well since the start of the Chicago series. The Pistons will probably beat Cleveland if he keeps this up, but I doubt they can win a championship unless they get contributions from all five starters. Webber's main role these days is to answer all questions with the phrase, "as long as we're winning." Pretty soon, I intend to have the following exchange with him: ME: "Chris, would it be OK if I remove your left arm, raid your investment accounts, put you under heavy anesthesia and tattoo 'I miss Ed Martin' on your forehead?" WEBBER: "As long as we're winning." This is, of course, exactly the right answer. Webber signed with the Pistons for two reasons: to win a championship and to get some long-lost love from his hometown. If he starts complaining about minutes, he'll hurt his chances at both. Webber has been a good soldier. He just hasn't been a very good player lately. He was aggressive in Game 2, but at times he looked like a kid trying stuff to impress his buddies -- Webber would make a fantastic move, then realize he was in no position to shoot the ball. At some point, the Pistons will need more from Webber. In the meantime, they arrive in Cleveland knowing they just need a split, and they haven't played anything close to their best game yet. Pretty soon, they will all be themselves, and that should be enough. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...705270663/1051 |
Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
What's the over under on fouls on Bron tonight? I bet he marches to the line 15 times.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
I predict a piston win tonight.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
I'd say the number is 12. He's going to shoot quite a few tonight and I see the Ps picking up a few Ts out of frustration.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
Does anybody wanna know why I suddenly want the Cavs to beat the Pistons? Because I really like and respect the Pistons players/org.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
I hope no T's on Sheed.
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Re: Suicide King and The Flopping Jester(The Real game 3 Blog)
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