The Detroit Pistons are the team to beat

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Originally Posted by Kori Ellis

I think both the Pistons and the Heat will give the Spurs huge match-up problems. A lot of Spurs fans seem to think that after the Suns, it's a cakewalk. I don't think so.

Plus you are right, the Suns series isn't over yet.

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No it won't be a cakewalk if the Spurs and the Pistons met in the finals. But I don't exactly see the Pistons having any dominating matchups. Thats all. It would be a tight battle. But technically the Spurs are the more balanced team. But as we seen in the past Parker can dissapear at times, Manu gets too tired, Duncan loses focus at times, and the offense can go stale. This season the Spurs offense was a lot better than the Pistons, and even slightly better on D. But of course the Pistons matchup well position for position, and Billups is a big game player. Which is why I say if Parker just played him to a stand still, then they would beat the Pistons. If not it would be tough, but not impossible.

i think the pistons will have a harder time scoring against the spurs than the spurs will against the pistons. both of these defenses are great, but san antonio is a far superior team on the offensive end.

The one strength we need to remember against Detroit is kicking and passing the ball. Detroit doesn't hold a candle to the Spurs in that regard. That is the one advantage we have, and we have to play the passing game to perfection, otherwise it will be a long series. No one on this team is going to beat Detroit one on one. They have to play as the ultimate unselfish team, and if they do that it will be Spurs in 6.

i think the Pistons are overrated. Prince, too!

They won the title last year bec Malone was injured. If they were just playing against a healthy Duncan last yr(not the Lakers), I doubt if they could win the title.

come on. surely some of us knows Pops gave Brown some points on how to beat PhilJax's triangle offense, they constantly talked during the series....

If Shaq is just 100% healthy and gives his 100% energy on defense(halftime:5 rbds:huh), the Heat could sweep this team easily.

If Pistons are best team, they could have swept Philly, a team with no real center or the depleted Indiana team, no Artest, injured Jermaine O'Neal.

timvp, what about switching BB onto Prince and have Manu guard Hamilton? Actually, now that I think about it, that would be too tiring for him and hurt his offence too much. But it might work in spurts.

Prince is the big X-factor in a possible series with the Pistons. And you're right that we don't have a defender to matchup well on Chauncy (TP too small, Barry too weak, Beno has disappeared). We may play a lot of zone!?

With our ability to run, we might be able to play an up tempo game against the Pistons and take them out of their comfort zone. How did they do against Washington this year? I just looked it up and they won 3 games but they were all scores in the low 100s, so it can be done. They were 1-1 against Phoenix, both high scoring games. Fascinating matchup.

I think either Pistons or Heat would give us a 6 or 7 game series if we beat the Suns (never over till it's over), although if Shaq is out that would be 5 games. This season is far from over (although I relly like the way we're shaping up!)

i'd be most worried about rasheed on tim, he's been givin him fits for years.

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Originally Posted by milkyway21

i think the Pistons are overrated. Prince, too!

They won the title last year bec Malone was injured. If they were just playing against a healthy Duncan last yr(not the Lakers), I doubt if they could win the title.

come on. surely some of us knows Pops gave Brown some points on how to beat PhilJax's triangle offense, they constantly talked during the series....

If Shaq is just 100% healthy and gives his 100% energy on defense(halftime:5 rbds:huh), the Heat could sweep this team easily.

If Pistons are best team, they could have swept Philly, a team with no real center or the depleted Indiana team, no Artest, injured Jermaine O'Neal.

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oh come on, let's just go by who they played last year, not what if so and so played. even without malone, you'd still expect a team led by Shaq and Kobe to at least take a series past 5 games and they couldn't do it. 1 player would not have been the difference. give the pistons a little more credit than that. i guess it is true that if you don't have 1 certifiable superstar on your team and just a bunch of really good players, you won't get the respect you deserve.

tayshaun prince is not overrated. how can you call him overrated when he regularly shuts down the opposing team's best wing player? he is, IMO, as important, if not more so, as Ben Wallace in keying that great defense.

I'm not sure....Heat and Pistons are both tough but as long as the Spurs play their great defense and do good on offense like they have been then they can beat anyone.

prince is not overrated people...he is good and he is good

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Originally Posted by inagra

prince is not overrated people...he is good and he is good

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yeah...he is good but not as good a Kobe or KG ...there's no cause for alarm.

for me a player who logs in an almost 38min and ave just 14 pts a game is overrated. Look i didn't even hear this player make more than 35 pts in a game.

if there's a player i fear most in Detroit they're Billups, Rip or Rasheed all-around game.

definitely, not Prince.

Sorry, people.

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tayshaun prince is not overrated. how can you call him overrated when he regularly shuts down the opposing team's best wing player

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ok I might be wrong...let's check what he can do, shall we?

Spurs vs Detroit (SA)

Prince: 38 min; 10 pts. 1 blk, 3 fouls; 5 TOs

the opponents:
Manu : 34 min 18 pts.
TP : 39 min 20 pts.

...doesn't look like shutting down to me. it's a vice versa.

:rolleyes:rolleyes

Detroit scares me, because I can see them forcing bad games from Parker, Manu and Duncan all at the same time. They can completely shut down the lane and force us into jump shooting.

However, I think we present the same problems for them with our defense... so maybe they cancel each other out and it will come down to who has the better offense. Let's hope that's us.

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Originally Posted by timvp

How soon Spurs fans forget how the Pistons dominated the team that beat the Spurs last year.

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I hate this analogy.

1. Karl Malone didn't play against the Pistons. Different series with him in there.

2. It's not like we were swept by the Lakers or anything. 0.4 seconds between us and a date with the Pistons.

That said, your first post was very good, and I agree: the Pistons will be our toughest challenge yet.

Hope we get the Pistons. Keep the Freakin Heat away. SHAQ, ALONZO, and WADE plus Miami's deadly 3 pt shooting should keep every spurs fan up at night.

that's good stuff guys...

shut down sheed and all will be well.
if he's on duncan, hopefully TD will tire him out...
and nazr just needs to be ready for the dish when Ben comes over to help out...

i worry about sheeds long range cuz if nazr is on him, those shots will be wide open...

i see a tossup, but as other's have said, i think detroits offensive droughts will be longer than the spurs....I see our Spurs outlasting detroit more than beating them. Homecourt plus manu gives me reason to be optomisitic. I expect horry to hit some big shots as well.

I'm not putting much faith in TP, unfortunately. If we can call it a draw with Billups at the end of each game, i'll be very happy. Prove me wrong TP. And I kind of expect Barry to revert to his shell of himself in the Finals.

But as others have said, and i'm not one to jinx our Spurs...STILL business to take care of with Phoenix. Shut em down boys. Oh, and i'm hoping the East series goes at LEAST six games...a tired opponent will be nice. :smokin

i also went back to the two games in the regular season and saw the tp and billups were about even in everything in the first game, when both starting lineups best mirrored what they had last year. the second game, billups seemed to own parker but duncan was out and i'm sure that does something. at the same time, though, that second game saw manu score nearly as much as prince in half the time. i also don't understand how detroit would be the team to beat when timvp freely admits that SA would be favored by just about everyone. wouldn't that make SA the team to beat? i also disagree with the idea that detroit is the best defensive team in the league when the spurs have owned the points allowed category all year. certainly they've done jack squat to stop the suns, but nash is playing so much better than he did in the regular season and no one's ever stopped amare. given that a spurs team with nesterovich was up by 20 at one point in the first meeting against the pistons and a squad with no TD and very little manu still only lost by nine (not to mention a miami squad with an iffy shaq and bunch of what most folks considered scrubs aside from wade lost by only nine and then won by six), i'd say the series with detroit would be tough but by no means the nightmare it was made out to be.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2005-05/17742608.jpg

It's going to be a battle if Spurs meet the Pistons. I will say what I'm most worried about is RWallace, I saw that play where Tim sprained his ankle and RW slid his feet under there on purpose.

Plus after playing the Suns, who aren't physical and don't like playing defense it's going to be like night and day. Remember what happened to Seattle in Game 1, even the players where saying 'we aren't in sacramento anymore...'

The Pistons are looking a lot less invincible than a lot of people think. Last night's fourth quarter exemplified that. The Pistons go through stretches where they seem to be sleeping walking and then suddenly turn their game back on. I don't know if it's arrogance or lack of focus but I think if the Spurs keep looking like they have in crunch time vs. the Suns then the Pistons could be in a lot of trouble. Of course, if they don't knock that shit off then it may very well be Miami in the finals, not the Pistons.

I don't think they Pistons present the nightmare matchup problems that people think simply the Spurs play great team defense. They hardly ever make one of their players try to stop someone solely by themselves. Remember the huge mismatch Rashard Lewis was supposed to represent? It's going to be the same thing with Manu on Prince. Prince might try to post him up, but Manu is going to have back up. Bowen on Hamilton is going to be fun to watch, although I think I'd give Bruce the edge there. Hamilton can look like Ray Allen at times, but he's been rather cold during the Heat series, and at other key times as well. Billups is a tough cover, but I think Tony is up to the task. He's fast enough that he can stay up in Billups face and try to take away the jumpshot without worrying too hard about getting torched by Chauncey going to the basket. And even if he does there's always those shot blockers helping out. And I doubt that Billups will be asked to post up. The Pistons are so much better when he's out on the perimeter moving the ball around and such. Sheed vs. Duncan will be a great one to watch, simply because Sheed gives Duncan trouble, but it's been a long time since these two have seen each other in the playoffs. Tim has always been able to crank it up to 11 in the finals and I don't expect that to change should they face the Pistons. I think Brown is smart enough to know that doubling Duncan is a kiss of death because the Spurs perimeter has been knocking down threes all playoffs and Nazr has really figured out how to get to the rim in those situations as well. Frankly, I think the Pistons are much more dangerous when Rasheed is down on the blocks because he's a great offensive rebounder in those situations and has enough low post moves to choke a horse. If Tim can keep him on the perimeter rather than having to battle him down low it will be much easier on his body and better for the Spurs in general.

Meanwhile the Spurs are looking at an uphill battle on offense because this Pistons team (when they show up to play) was built for playoff defense. At every position they can outmuscle the Spurs, so barring the refs breaking out the whistles early and often, the Spurs are going to take a licking. But even with all the clotheslines that Parker and Manu took in Seattle they stayed aggressive, so I expect them to keep on ticking in the paint.

Benchwise this is really a push-Arroyo is certainly better than Beno or Barry at the point, but the Spurs have more shooters at their fingertips. The only bench shooter that I've seen out of Detroit so far is Hunter. McDyess and Campbell vs. Rasho and Horry may be an unexpectedly key matchup.

If it's Spurs-Pistons in the finals, I got to go with the Spurs in six, but none of those games are going to be easy to watch.

B.S. the Pistons are a tough and strong team but were a mid level offensive team while as David Dupree points out = Spurs top tier.

Also, it is questionable whether this team could have beaten the Spurs last year and this year a stronger Spurs team (if Duncan healthy) should get through them in 6 games or so. Having Nazr is a great piece against Detroit that kills on the offensive boards I might add.

Lot of matchup problems for the SPurs in a Detroit - SA finals.

One big problem is Bowen - Prince. Prince is as good as Bowen defensively but brings a lot more to the table offnesively. Bowen is ideally suited to playing against a team with a primary perimeter scorer who when taken away disrupts the other teams entire offensive flow. Detroit doesn't have that player. Bowen can take a few points away from Prince or Hamilton but probably not enough to compensate for his limitations at the offensive end.

Can the Spurs find a better balance? Barry? Barry's having an impact in the free flowing, loose defense Suns series but hopw much success will he have in a tough Detorit - SA matchup. Not real confident there. Brown. He might help the O- D balance but unfortunately he hasn't shown he's past his injury. That leaves Big Dog. He hasn't been an impac so far in the playoffs. Could he possibly, hopefully be a key ingredient. If Big Dog could play adequate D on Prince or even Horry on Prince and Robinson on Big Ben maybe, then that would force Prince to play Robinson since Hamilton couldn't and it would in turn force Hamilton to cover Manu. Just fishing for possibilities.

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Originally Posted by milkyway21

They won the title last year bec Malone was injured. If they were just playing against a healthy Duncan last yr(not the Lakers), I doubt if they could win the title.

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I agree with this wholeheartedly, and am glad to see someone thinks the same thing. The Spurs owned the Pistons last year (the matchups just worked in our favor), and don't tell me the regular season doesn't count. One of those games if I recall was for playoff position for both clubs at the end of the year, and the Pistons were hot at that point. If the Spurs get past the Lakers, they could have posed some serious problems for the Pistons. I don't think that the Pistons, great team that they are, would have won the series.

Maybe the Spurs get that chance this year. I wouldn't bet on the Pistons, though.

Our guys' offense in the face of defensive pressure>their guys' offense in the face of defensive pressure.

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Originally Posted by timvp

How soon Spurs fans forget how the Pistons dominated the team that beat the Spurs last year.

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This is not last years team. If the Spurs continue to click on offense and defense, they will run the pistons or heat out of the building while holding either to under 80.

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Originally Posted by timvp

How soon Spurs fans forget how the Pistons dominated the team that beat the Spurs last year.

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Can't really say that ... If team A beats team B, and team B beats team C, there is no guarantee that team A will be team C, this isn't math, and it's all about matchups.
But on the other hand, I agree with your matchup assessment, I do think Pistons match up very well with the Spurs for al the reasons you have listed. The bench is where the Spurs have a big advantage.
Watched the game last night, and the period where the Heat made that big run is when both Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince went to the bench. If the Spurs can wear down the Pistons starter, or get Rasheed, Prince or Billups in foul trouble, the Pistons will struggle mightily on the offensive end.
The Heat on the other hand, are also a tough matchup. Not because of Shaq, and all this talk about Shaq being hurt is just pure bull. He is not hurt, he is just done. He has not been dominant since 2001, and his game has declined considerably since then. Have you noticed all those 5 rebounds games he puts up this year? Anyways, Wade, Mourning and Eddie Jones are the 3 players that have the potential to hurt the Spurs. Wade for obvious reasons, Mourning because he can defend Duncan very well, and Jones because he can slash to the basket and shoot the 3. If Bowen is on Wade, that means Parker will be on Damon Jones, and Manu will be on Eddie Jones, and Manu, with all the energy he has to expend on the offensive end, will be tired in chasing Eddie around those screens ...