We're taking this Sunday

[MadDog73]

Don't expect anything different for the rest of the series. The spurs have been solved.

Gee, I hope all the Pistons are feeling this way! They'll never know what hit them...

[PistonFreak]

, when Ben Wallace is dropping ing 18 footers and the Spurs are getting ing hacked in the paint all night with just a few calls, it was time to go to game 5. Duncan just ing realized it in the first quarter.

I mean, wtf. The NBA needs this series to last, drain all the ing money they can. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan are probably the top 3 out of 4 players in this series and they are getting assraped on the offensive end.

Parker is getting bumped all the way down the court, that's a ing foul.

Pistons are not playing any perimeter defense, that is illegal.

Duncan is getting held by his shirt and shorts when he is in the paint. He doesn't usually play like a 6 footer.

Ginobili is getting denied any driving lane by sudden illegal blocks.

I mean wtf do you expect? Stevie Wonder could see that and that mofo is ing blind.

No ing way are the Pistons 50+ points better in 2 games.

Again, I keep saying this over and over and over again, the NBA is turning into Wrestling.

Also, why in the am I hearing about Kobe and Phil Jackson?

I am quite sure, no one in San Antonio or Detroit gives a about the Lakers.......

the NBA.

ROFLAO....Spurs in 4.........LOL

[ObiwanGinobili]

I've been saying it for a while now, the officiating in this postseason has been brutal. No consistency from game to game, from possession to possession.

But both teams have benefited from it in this series so it isn't like they are favoring one team i.e. Lakers.

I totally agree. It almost seems as tho the league were trying to drag this series out. I can honestly say that game 2 wwas calle dbadly againstthe Pistons, and game 4 was called atrociously against the Spurs.
Watching these 2 games specifically how can Stern say there is no problem with the refs??

All i know is, game4 I saw that Bavetta was on the floor and I knew right then that it was the Piston's game.

[Das Texan]

Great players win big games.


There is no better player than Tim Duncan on the floor.


Tim Duncan is going to take the team and tell them to ride his back. Great players carry their teams in big games.

There will be big shots made by other players, but in the end, no player will have greater numbers than Tim Duncan tomorrow.


I want Ginobili to go off, but the simple truth is, Tim Duncan is the San Antonio Spurs. We often forget about him in many ways. He is going to show us just how special of a player he is for all the reasons baseline bum said.

Duncan may again approach that quad double of game 6 versus New Jersey. Let the Pistons bring all their thuggish gangster to the floor in game 5, along with that zoo of an arena, along with the only announcer to get camera time in NBA history that I can recall. Who cares. Great players win. There will be no Bavetta or Bennett Salvatore tomorrow to assrape the spurs. Its on.




Believe

[Ishta]

Great players win big games.


There is no better player than Tim Duncan on the floor.


Tim Duncan is going to take the team and tell them to ride his back. Great players carry their teams in big games.

There will be big shots made by other players, but in the end, no player will have greater numbers than Tim Duncan tomorrow.


I want Ginobili to go off, but the simple truth is, Tim Duncan is the San Antonio Spurs. We often forget about him in many ways. He is going to show us just how special of a player he is for all the reasons baseline bum said.

Duncan may again approach that quad double of game 6 versus New Jersey. Let the Pistons bring all their thuggish gangster to the floor in game 5, along with that zoo of an arena, along with the only announcer to get camera time in NBA history that I can recall. Who cares. Great players win. There will be no Bavetta or Bennett Salvatore tomorrow to assrape the spurs. Its on.




Believe

Couldn't have said it any better myself.....
Go Spurs Go

BELIEVE

[geerussell]

I totally agree. It almost seems as tho the league were trying to drag this series out. I can honestly say that game 2 wwas calle dbadly againstthe Pistons, and game 4 was called atrociously against the Spurs.
Watching these 2 games specifically how can Stern say there is no problem with the refs??

All i know is, game4 I saw that Bavetta was on the floor and I knew right then that it was the Piston's game.

What a difference a day makes. Between games 2 and 3 everyone here said the officiating was great (which it wasn't) and the pistons were crybabies (which they were). Now you have spurs fans echoing Rasheed Wallace's conspiracy theories.

[smeagol]

What bugs me the most is that the idiots that are quick to label TD as a "softie" are going to be celebrating with the rest of the Spurs fan in a couple of days.

You "soft" fans should not be allowed to go to the parade. Moreso, you should be forced to root for the Hawks for a year.

[GINNNNNNNNNNNNOBILI]

Duncan or Ginobili need to dunk on someone EARLY in this game, I think if we can get that done, it will give the spurs confidence, and it will fire the team up.

[Russ]

Okay, baseline, good news, bad news . . .

The bad news is you're probably gonna have to be called Detroit's .

The good news is that the Spurs may (probably will?) win the championship, anyway.

Would you take that outcome?

[misterduckman]

The Spurs Are Dead! They Were Exposed Last Two Games, Cant Play Physical Ball. 7 Detroit Playes In Double Figures Now Thats Team Ball. Spurs Are A Two Man Team, And If You Take Out Ginobilli Its All Over. Detroit Wins And Wraps Up le In San Antone.

[baseline bum]

This is the same Detroit team that barely beat Miami with Dwayne Wade at maybe 50% in game 7 and 0% in game 6. This is the same Spurs team that was on pace for 65 wins before the Duncan injury. This is the team that adapted to the cheap shots of Seattle, the thug-ball and run-and-gun of Denver, and outran the Suns in convincing fashion. This team is just better than the Pistons, and it's going to show Sunday and then again Tuesday. After all the Spurs have fought through to get here there's no way they're dropping this thing to a team that backed into the finals. Detroit isn't the 96 Bulls, and they're not even the 2004 Pistons.

[whottt]

This is the same Detroit team that barely beat Miami with Dwayne Wade at maybe 50% in game 7 and 0% in game 6. This is the same Spurs team that was on pace for 65 wins before the Duncan injury. This is the team that adapted to the cheap shots of Seattle, the thug-ball and run-and-gun of Denver, and outran the Suns in convincing fashion. This team is just better than the Pistons, and it's going to show Sunday and then again Tuesday. After all the Spurs have fought through to get here there's no way they're dropping this thing to a team that backed into the finals. Detroit isn't the 96 Bulls, and they're not even the 2004 Pistons.

That post doesn't quite have the conviction of Tony Parker you ing ...but I can tell there is a sincere belief in what you say.

[pooh]

This will be the closest game of all the four so far, in my opinion. Detroit has to come out with the same intensity that allowed them to even up the series in order to finish off the Spurs. The Spurs on the other hand, have to re-build their confidence and realize that if they win or lose game five, they can seal the deal at home. If they can't get back their "swagger", they're toast. And Detroit "closes" out series, they don't waste any time either.

[slayermin]

A seven game series is a roller coaster of emotion. I think the Pistons played at their pinnacle the last two games. They had to play at their best or the series was over.

It's the Spurs turn to answer the call. I think the Pistons will level off a little and the Spurs will play better.

IMO, the Pistons have the pressure. They haven't won in San Antonio in eight years. I expect them to start the game with great energy but I do not expect them to shoot the lights out like they did in game four.

Also, the law of averages is in play here. It doesn't discriminate. They would have to win their third straight against the Spurs. IMO, the Pistons will have to blow out the Spurs. If it's a close game, I think that favors San Antonio. To blow out the Spurs three games in a row would be incredible.

If the Pistons win on Sunday, they would sweep the three middle games in the Finals for the second straight season. They would be the only team to ever sweep the middle three games going back 18 years of playing the 2-3-2 format in the Finals. I do not see that happening either. There is a reason that no team ever did that before last season. It's freakin' difficult.

The Pistons played arguably the best game ever in Finals history. Are they the greatest team ever? No. Was their performance special? yes. I cannot see anyone duplicating that type of performance two games in a row.

The home team received homer treatment as far as the calls went the first four games. I expect the next three to be officiated in more neutral terms. This favors San Antonio. In game four, we went to the line 24 times. It should have been more like 34. The Pistons do not have guys that can take a defender off the dribble like the Spurs, yet they still went to the line 23 times. The Spurs should always have an advantage at the line because of the way TP and Manu attack the basket along with the calls TD usually draws.

Manu and TD are as great as advertised. I don't care what anyone says about TD's heart or Manu's possible injury. To me, TD plays the best when he's contributing in all facets of the game. I mean, a quadruple double tomorrow would be ideal but I'm not brave enough to predict it. Manu doesn't look hurt to me. I think he will be ready.

Yeah, Detroit has heart. Detroit is playing well. But I didn't dig all that confetti after a game four. That was cheezy, imo. I don't recall the Spurs dropping confetti after any big wins during the reg. season or the playoffs. It's about championships and I think the Pistons are just relieved they are tied up 2-2.

I like the Spurs on Sunday. 91-88

[ForestBrain]

I don't know why, but I keep remembering that Lakers/Spurs series. When the Spurs won the first two, then lost four in a row.
My motto:
Stay humble, expect the worst.
Detroit is a good team, SA is a good team. I have a feeling the next few games will be very closely called, and I have no idea who will win it all.

[slayermin]

I don't know why, but I keep remembering that Lakers/Spurs series. When the Spurs won the first two, then lost four in a row.

To the Spurs, the Pistons are not the Lakers.

There is a huge difference in playing a team that has beaten you before and a team that has not.

[whottt]

If you wanna bring up the Lakers bring up the fact that the Spurs were 2-2 against the Lakers the last time we won the le...and we played horribly in LA that year...

Salvatore fouled Drob out in like 12 minutes in one of those games...I'd say we looked about as bad in LA as we do in Detroit...

I think this years team looks a lot more like the 03 team than it does last years team.

[geerussell]

The Pistons played arguably the best game ever in Finals history. Are they the greatest team ever? No. Was their performance special? yes. I cannot see anyone duplicating that type of performance two games in a row.

Say the pistons come down a little from that high and the spurs come up a little from that low... ok, now you're back to game 3 levels and it's still ugly for the spurs.

The Spurs should always have an advantage at the line because of the way TP and Manu attack the basket along with the calls TD usually draws.

That would be true... except the pistons have closed the lane. TP and Manu looked for penetration but the openings just weren't there. There is an intimidation factor going on here when they try to penetrate that's causing them to bail out because they don't want their shot blocked or to end up on the floor again even if they get the foul call.

Yeah, Detroit has heart. Detroit is playing well. But I didn't dig all that confetti after a game four. That was cheezy, imo. I don't recall the Spurs dropping confetti after any big wins during the reg. season or the playoffs. It's about championships and I think the Pistons are just relieved they are tied up 2-2.

Confetti? You think the team notices or cares? Seriously, do you? The palace drops it for the fans after every win. Fans get pumped about every victory and celebrate it, players go back to the locker room hungry for the next one. You'd be making a big mistake to confuse the two.

[SpursWoman]

Hey, man....GTFO of our Rah!Rah! thread, er!

[pooh]

haha

[ForestBrain]

Hm, from the media you would get Spurs fans are great, and Pistons fans are terrible. I'm sick of this holier-than-thou Spurs fans thing. I've been on both boards, and the Pistons fans are about ten times nicer. pff, I'm not going to gloat about my team, I'm not going to be a jerk, I walk with trepidation concerning my team and know that anything can happen. I don't treat the other teams fans meanly or anything when their team wins. The whole Lakers thing sucked. The refs gave them that series.
In all honesty, in this series, the refs have helped the Spurs out a bit. It's because Detroit has the rep of being dirty (which their not, they just play hard). The last game was called fairly, if the rest can be like that (concerning calls) then everything will be fair, no matter who wins or loses.
I think the Spurs are a great team, and I'm being completely honest.

[boutons]

all you trolls.

You say hear to say absolutely nothing except Pistons good/Spurs bad.

How can you holier-than-thou nit-wits think you're going to convice anybody here over to your side? You know you won't.

You're here with nothing but bad will to get in the face of the Spurs fans here and trash the Spurs and pimp your team.

We're not all choirboys here, so STFU and GTFO.

I KNOW the Pistons are a great team, but I don't go say that on a Pistons board "in all honestly". GMAFB with your pretensions of good will here.

[slayermin]

That would be true... except the pistons have closed the lane. TP and Manu looked for penetration but the openings just weren't there. There is an intimidation factor going on here when they try to penetrate that's causing them to bail out because they don't want their shot blocked or to end up on the floor again even if they get the foul call.

There were some calls against TP & Manu that were not called in game four, that I have a feeling will be called in game five. Pistons got away with some interesting strips. A few calls against Detroit will calm that crap down.

[jalbre6]

There were some calls against TP & Manu that were not called in game four, that I have a feeling will be called in game five. Pistons got away with some interesting strips. A few calls against Detroit will calm that crap down.

We flop. They hack.
Relying on the infinite wisdom of NBA officials is not the way to get things done. Causing more then four turnovers is.

[slayermin]

We flop. They hack.
Relying on the infinite wisdom of NBA officials is not the way to get things done. Causing more then four turnovers is.

Hacking causes many more turnovers. The Spurs should use the same tactics unless they start calling the game tighter. That is one way to be more physical.

I am watching game five from the 2003 Finals and damn, I miss Speedy. Eerily, Lindsay Hunter's play in game four, reminds of the way Speedy played during our '03 le run.