wats with the pistons...?

[zocool16]

correct me if I'm wrong but....doesn't the team with the better record get home court advantage in the nba finals?...if so, then why r the pistons throwin games away?..a lot of west teams can still catch up on the record if they do that...have they forgot or they don't care about that?...wat is it !

[BlackSwordsMan]

cause they won't catch the celtics

[zocool16]

cause they won't catch the celtics

yea but if they beat the celtics they're risking not having homecourt should they reach the finals..?

[thekingrobert]

but the spurs hornets or lakers can catch them

[G-Nob]

pistons don't need hca. they just do what they do.

[xtremesteven33]

pistons don't need hca. they just do what they do.



LOSE in the conference finals?

[cheguevara]

if Pistons are destined to beat Celtics, they will do it regardless of HCA

[SpurForLife]

if Pistons are destined to beat Celtics, they will do it regardless of HCA


I second that!!!

[ancestron]

Flip's resting starters. Obviously it is more important to them to be rested than to try and kill themselves chasing HCA they may or may not get. A wise move considering the last 2 years the Pistons' starters have been gassed when the conference finals came around.

[xtremesteven33]

Flip's resting starters. Obviously it is more important to them to be rested than to try and kill themselves chasing HCA they may or may not get. A wise move considering the last 2 years the Pistons' starters have been gassed when the conference finals came around.



resting starters?

last night they played almost all of them and got spanked by 20 points!

pistons right now are... :sleep

[WildcardManu]

if Pistons are destined to beat Celtics, they will do it regardless of HCA


It's not destiny, the Celts are in line for a good ass wooping in the playoffs. Their regular season is just an anomaly together with the western conference not having a dominant team.

[phxspurfan]

Pistons have been in the 2 seed for over a month now -- it's only natural for them to let their guard down once in awhile...

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I think a lot of folks didn't get the point of zocool's post which is that the Pistons aren't trying to catch the Celtics at this point, but should still be careful of not falling behind the top Western teams in order to secure HCA for the Finals.

It's a good point because HCA in the Finals is a lot different than the earlier rounds due to the format.

You don't want to play games 6 and 7 on the road if possible.

[ancestron]

resting starters?

last night they played almost all of them and got spanked by 20 points!

pistons right now are... :sleep


I dont know which Pistons you were watching last night. They lost by 4 points to the knicks.

the most minutes logged by a starter was Billups with 26:59.

the rest of the starters--

Prince 26:30
McDyess 21:03
R. Wallace 22:34
Hamilton DNP

the bench

Johnson 24:43
Dixon 24:00
Stuckey 24:41
Maxiell 22:37
Hayes 16:24
Hermann 10:09

[xtremesteven33]

I dont know which Pistons you were watching last night. They lost by 4 points to the knicks.

the most minutes logged by a starter was Billups with 26:59.

the rest of the starters--

Prince 26:30
McDyess 21:03
R. Wallace 22:34
Hamilton DNP

the bench

Johnson 24:43
Dixon 24:00
Stuckey 24:41
Maxiell 22:37
Hayes 16:24
Hermann 10:09

well they were getting spanked by 20 points at one point.....thats still no excuse....

[JamStone]

Flip is not necessarily resting his starters, but he's definitely allowing the bench to play a lot more, giving them almost all the second quarter minutes. Rip has not been playing because of a hip. He pretty much can play, but they're just being extra cautious. I think they're mindful of HCA against the west but it's not more important than health and freshness at this point. Flip stated a few games ago that the starters would play games against playoff teams the rest of the way, while resting some against non playoff teams.

As for last night's game, there were different factors in the poor performance. They had a ceremony celebrating the "all time Piston" team before the game. The night before, the current Piston players that were included on the all time team along with the other greats had a banquet dinner. Likely they stayed up late, and then they had the festivities before the game. Isiah also gave a speech before the game as one of the all time Pistons. Now, it's no excuse to get down 25 points to the Knicks, but shit happens. Some of the Knicks players alluded to the fact that watching the ceremony inspired them to play really hard, and also that they were aware that Isiah is current under Walsh's microscope. Combine that with the Pistons players not giving their best effort, shooting and missing mostly jump shots as well as the malaise of finishing off the regular season, it became very clear that it was going to be a long night very early on against a Knicks team that played very well. Again, no excuses, just consideration.