Problem is, Bowen will be guarding Hamilton. Prince tends to get a lot of his scores off boards and in transition. Those are going to be limited against the Spurs. He will be tough for the Spurs if the Pistons choose to run a lot of screen rolls between him and Billups or Hamilton with him floating back beyond the arc.
Still, if Detroit wants to limit the number of times they attack the rim all the more better from the Spurs' POV.
I dont think that T. Prince can beat the Spurs alone, if thats the only match up we are exposed at, then I like our chances. We just beat a Suns team it which we had NO answer for Amare, problem for them was everyone else was pretty much held in check. I see the same thing this series, Tayshaun is a matchup problem, but nothing that the Spurs D cant solve, Pop will find a way to take his advantage away.
So the Spurs are starting Horry? LOL
I wouldn't be surprised to see GRobinson get some minutes versus Prince in this series. Physically he can match up with Prince and as we have been pleasantly surprised to find out, he has been willing and able to fit within the Spurs' team defense.
Just ask Carmelo if Big Dog hasn't learned some defensive tricks.
Piston fan needs to put the pipe down if they think Prince is going to lead the Pistons past the Spurs.
You then have to worry about Billups. Like it or not, thats an exploitation waiting to happen.
I think Tony has matured enough from the days he would struggle vs. Marburry. While it could very well be an "exploitation" waiting to happen vs. Billups, I have yet to see Tony be taken out of a game this year by an opposing player... only himself.
That becomes exploitative if the Spurs are able to get out and run. Detroit cannot hang with the Spurs in a transition game. I expect that Larry is going to make his team walk that rock up the court on every posession.
Not that I'm discounting TP's speed, but how has Detroit fared against faster teams this year? Do they ever play uptempo for an entire game? Since I don't know, I'm not going to make the assumption that a lot of people made about the spurs that they can't run. I don't see a big, fat Shaq on Detroit's team.
The pistons went on an 8 game winning streak strictly off running earlier in the season. we are well capable of running and doing it well, but have been reluctant to with ben's bone spurs, rip, and tayshaun's ankle.
Problem for the Pistons is that they will be facing the top transition defense in the NBA. Sorry.
No need to be sorry. your confident "sorry" really means nothing to me. We'll see how the teams match up game 1.
As noted in another thread Rip was 8 - 26 combined in the two meetings with the Spurs this year for a total of 19 points, somewhat below your "All he does is show up and score 20 ppg every night". If Rip can't step it up the Pistons are pretty well screwed, wouldn't you say?
Let's face it, neither team is really going to get out and run a whole lot. Are the Spurs capable of it? Absolutely. But will the Pistons let them? It seemed to me that the Pistons like to play aggressive on the offensive glass which can lead to some transition buckets, but if Detroit can take care of the ball as well as it did in its wins against the Heat then the transition game is probably not going to be the deciding factor, because even though the Spurs have an edge in terms of team speed I don't think that the Pistons are going to be so unaware defensively that the Spurs will really be able to push that advantage.
I guess the obvious thing that comes to mind is that the Spurs HAVE been running, even with <insert Spur here>'s bad ankles, Manu's body falling apart, and our best bench player sidelined with nerve damage in his back (Devin Brown).
We'll find out how the tempo of the game/series goes, I'm pretty confident in my Spurs to win slow or fast.
I have a couple of thoughts about all of this:
1. I highly doubt that we'll ever see Manu matching up with Hamilton for long stretches. I'd think you'd see Bowen on Hamilton and Manu on Prince -- Manu may get Rip for brief stretches when the Spurs play Ginobili and Barry together, but I'd be surprised if those stretches were very long. The idea of Rip running Manu into the ground won't, IMO, ever come to be.
2. Of the guards in this series, I think Manu is the single best player of the bunch, because of his overall floor game. That's not to discount the abilities of Hamilton, Billups or anyone else on the Pistons' roster, but nobody in that mix is as explosive as Manu is and Detroit will have to focus its team defense on trying to control him in some fashion.
3. I'm appalled at how quickly people are willing to cite to the Pistons "experience" as a reason to find their backcourt superior. It's not as if there's some wide gulf in playoff experience between these teams -- Manu and Parker have played in just as many Finals (and won just as many les) as Billups and Hamilton. The same holds for Bowen and Prince. All of these guys have been there and done that -- I can't see that "experience," as some sort of x factor, comes into play here at all. Just in terms of playoff games played, the numbers are remarkably close:
Parker 60
Ginobili 50
Bowen 73
Billups 61
Hamilton 58
Prince 56
4. I think Pistons fans underestimate how much the Spurs will miss Devin Brown as a wing in this series. I'd argue that a healthy Devin Brown might take all of Brent Barry's minutes in this series. FWIW, Devin was tremendous on the Black Sunday in Detroit when the Spurs hung tough without Timmy (and essentially without Manu), doing yeoman's work on Hamilton while scoring an efficient 18 points of his own (5-11 from the floor (4-6 inside the arc) and getting to the line for 8 FTA). It was only one game, but the absence of Devin Brown can't be taken lightly.
A quick $.02:
Parker v. Billups I'd call a wash; between Parker's quickness and Billups's strength, I don't think either can stop the other. Seems to me Parker is a little more consistent, but when the pressure's on, C-Bill is, well, C-Bill.
Rip v. Manu: This one worries me a little. Seems like the Pistons are a little shaky defending a broken offensive set, when things get less predictable, and Ginobili could do some major damage there.
Miami,
Was considered one of the better defensive teams in the league, im not sure what their rank was however we were able to get as many free looks at the basket as we wanted.
The question is if we do it against the Spurs will be be on or off? The Pistons have been anything but consistent, often beating themselves in the Heat series I.M.H.O.
Their scoring droughts are the only thing that worry me about this series, im confident they will get their open looks but man they have looked terrible at times with the exception of most of the last 2 games.
Im excited about this series. Thursday cannot get here soon enough.
On an individual basis as defenders:
Parker > D Jones
Manu > Wade
Bowen > E Jones
Duncan > Haslem
Nazr/Rasho > Shaq (you may argue this but since coming off screens and P&R is such a staple of the Pistons offense and Shaq is a major liability defending those and one reason the Pistons got so many open looks I'm going with Nazr/Rasho)
Team D: Spurs >>>> Heat
I'd be surprised if the Pistons got a lot of free looks in this series. The Spurs don't tend to allow many good looks (much less free looks) because of their team defensive philosophy. The Spurs will generally take a mismatch before giving up an open look -- a mismatch at least keeps a man on each shooter. The Spurs also allow the fewest 3PT attempts in the NBA (and by a wide margin -- Spurs allowed 10.7 3PT/gm this season; Indiana was second at 13.1. Detroit was 4th at 14.8) a testament IMO to their philosophy of sticking with shooters.
Miami, as an example, doesn't have that type of philosophy. Detroit could get lots of open looks against the Heat by involving Shaq in screens and forcing him to make decisions about staying back or coming out. I don't see the Pistons running a ton of screen and roll plays -- more screens to free shooters in a motion-type offense that essentially plays from inside out -- so the real question I think is whether the Spurs will try to play through screens or whether they'll switch things to keep shooters from having great looks. I'd think they'll try to fight through screens, but if they can't do that, you'll see a ton of switching at all points on the floor.
Bottom line, though, is that the Spurs won't give the Pistons many open looks. As a general rule around here, that just doesn't happen.
If the Pistons get open looks, they'd be well advised to hit them.The question is if we do it against the Spurs will be be on or off? The Pistons have been anything but consistent, often beating themselves in the Heat series I.M.H.O.
How, exactly, are the Pistons going to get open looks? You've got to explain that to me before I'll believe it as gospel. It would be contrary to everything the Spurs are to concede open looks, so I'm really curious how the Pistons are going to consistently get those kinds of opportunities in half-court sets.Their scoring droughts are the only thing that worry me about this series, im confident they will get their open looks but man they have looked terrible at times with the exception of most of the last 2 games.
I agree with that.Im excited about this series. Thursday cannot get here soon enough.
Last edited by FromWayDowntown; 06-08-2005 at 12:27 PM.
^^ other than running rip off some screens they'll post their guys up.
DETROIT FANS: Does prince have trouble keeping up w/ guys who likes to slash rather than shoot jumpers? i looked up the box scores of some guys and they tend to have an efficient game.
Yeah, but miami had alot of injuries. Maybe during the reg season they were good, during the ecf's they were bad.
This was the plan when Zo and Shaq were in the game at the same time. If you noticed, it was always Sheed and Dyess in when those 2 were in (barring foul trouble). This was so Detroit could do pick and pops and force Shaq or Zo out on the perimeter to play defense. I think that strategy worked out well and I'm sure Larry will think of something to get Duncan or Nazr to come out and have to play around the perimeter.
Both back courts are great. They both bring different looks. We will see which is best after the finals I guess.
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