rasheed's points

[td4mvp3]

just checking out rasheed wallace's stats from the rest of the playoffs, mostly because of his futility in game one. it actually doesn't look like futility as much as just a little less than what he's done for most of the playoffs. another problem for detroit is that even if rasheed goes for 20 in game 1, they still lose by one. and he hasn't gone for 20 very often this year.

29, 15, 17, 9 - against philadelphia against a hobbled chris webber

11, 14, 13, 17, 10, 14 - against indiana

20, 15, 13, 20, 2, 11, 20 - against miami and udonis haslem, a far cry from duncan

[Sense]

Expect numbers like the ones in the Pacers' series.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

The Miami numbers are a little misleading. He was saddled with foul trouble in a few of those games and the were guarding him with Zo as well, who is also a few steps about Haslem defensively. And you might as well throw that 11 in game six out since he probably played all of about 12 minutes.

But he really can be quite a rollercoaster. He's probably the guy I'm most worried about come Sunday.

[JamStone]

Rasheed is not a 20 point scorer on this team. His season average was something like 14-15 ppg. The Piston offense runs through Rip Hamilton. He is the main scorer. And, then on any given night, someone else steps in and helps with the scoring load.

That's the unique thing with this Detroit team. If you look at all the playoff games, every starter for Detroit has led the team in scoring in at least one game. Larry Brown stresses unselfishness and balance on the offensive end.

The truth is that the Pistons do not have the superstar scorer other teams have. Rip is a steady scorer, and Chauncey plays big in the fourth quarter, but the offense is not about isolation plays as much as it is about ball movement.

Against many teams, the balanced offense is very effective. Against a great defensive and balanced team like the Spurs, it will be much more difficult not to have that one go-to scorer that will put big numbers up every game.

Rasheed definitely needs more touches and try to make Tim work on the defensive end. But, watching last night's game, Tayshaun's low post scoring and Ben Wallace's offensive rebounding are more of a concern than Rasheed's point production.