The Pistons will host the Cleveland Cavaliers this afternoon for what could be their last game of the season. Down three games to the Cavs and showing little or no signs of life, more than just an early playoff exit is at stake for this Detroit team.
Familiar endings and new beginnings.
With the team missing their swagger (as well as their leader) all season long this group will most likely be playing its last game (or games if they can pull it out today) together. So enjoy this game for whatever it is Pistons fans, your favorite players just may be playing their last games in red, white and blue.
Michael Curry
“Guys are down, but that’s anywhere when you’re down like this in a series and it’s tough. The biggest thing is getting just focused on one game. What you tend to do when you’re down in a series is go back over the whole season. So you start looking at things that you have no control over.” Via The Detroit Free Press
Tip off is at 3:30 and will broadcast nationally on ABC. If you can’t watch the early afternoon game, you can listen over at WDFN 1130 AM or follow the game live over at NBA.com.
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments or Chat Live at gametime.
April 26, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Yep, thanks Nat, hope you get feeling better.
And thank you Detroit Pistons, hope you get feeling better too. It’s been a great run, I’m excited to see the changes this off season.
April 26, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Hey Maxaholic that was a great response up there to me…i really didnt know that thanks for that info…great sports fans are those ppl who appreciate the whole game and who arent ignorant…we need more fans like u!!!
April 26, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Sweep!!! Bye Bye Sheed… Hope you find a great team next season. I still believe that you can still be an All Star calliber next season.
I think Joe Dumars & the Pistons made some big mistakes this year…
1.The Billups vs Iverson trade w/c is a big mistake made by him.
2. Hiring a bad Coach. Bad offensive and defensive strategies by Curry(Replace him!!! They should hire Jeff Van Gundy next season and replace Curry. lol).
3.A bad decision by Coach Curry. He should have made Iverson the starting point guard and not putting him in the bench(which discourages Iverson not to play anymore with the pistons). He should not have made Stuckey the starting guard cause stuckey doesn’t know how to be a point guard (even though he can score for the team) and he doesn’t play defense at all.
April 26, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Thanks Natalie for keeping this up. I love this site.
April 26, 2009 at 7:22 pm
It seemed to me like Tay and Sheed could not wait for this last game to come. They wanted this dissappointing season to end. Tay hung his head almost the entire series and Sheed showed zero emotion. Dumars has a lot of work to do.
Another season over, glad we have the best fan site on the net to track our team
Keep up the great work Natalie.
April 26, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Yup Nat i hope you get feeling better soon! and i cant thank you enough for that great Blog!!! Damn what a season and i feel sorry for DICE that men has so much Heart a true Warrior! 26p and 10 reb’s once again he was giving us his best he had deserved a much longer season damn!!!
April 26, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Thanks for the memories sheed. Natalie i enjoy all the posts and updates, i will always be a piston and sheed fan. Now its time to root for chauncy. BBBB BILLUPS
April 26, 2009 at 7:34 pm
You rock, Natalie.
April 26, 2009 at 7:47 pm
–NEED4WILL–
April 26, 2009 at 7:59 pm
When Nat gets back to full strength I wanna see her lay in into Dumars and Curry, and perhaps even advocate a Curry firing.
Maybe even advocate trading Tay and Rip.
April 26, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Tay, Rip, and Sheed all are coming off injuries. That is one of the big reasons for their seemingly uninspired play. I think losing Chauncy was also a big part of it. It is probably time for the big three to move on or at least take supporting roles on this team. But they gave us a great run and many trips to the ECF plus two to the finals themselves. I hope we make some good moves in the offseason and that we continue to be a team that plays “Team” ball without some “superstar” in the mix. We are the Statue of Liberty of bball, “Give me your poor, hungry, huddled masses…” that’s who we need to aquire for next year. Hungry as hell players who don’t care about personal glory but just want to form a team that kicks ass, just like the 03-04 Detroit Pistons!!
April 26, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Thanks Nat for working so hard on updating us about the Pistons and I hope you get better soon. What a season it has been!!! It is truly an end of era. Words could not articulate what I’m feeling at the moment.
April 26, 2009 at 8:12 pm
FIRE CURRY:)….And Joe, please get us legitimate basketball players…Keep Rip and Tay and gut the rest of the team. Please get us one of the top 4 draft picks some how…it would be nice to have Hasheem Thabeet, Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio or someone with real potential. Please FIRE CURRY ASAP. I mean, does he have some evidence against you, I mean, I still dont see any real reason why he was given a job when so many much more highly qualified people are around (Jeff Van Gundy, Avery Johnson, Mike Fratello, Dave Cowens, Terry Porter, hell, even Isiah Thomas would have been better…)…please get rid of these projects…Amir Johnson, Maxiell, Walter Sharpe, etc, and replace them with legitimate NBA players…I really wish u hadn’t traded the heart of your team for a cancer, leaving a corpse like we have for a team now….
Detroit is the greatest city in North America for an athlete to come to. If you win here, you will be revered forever. If you lose, then we will pick you up and support you…Our city might not be the greatest, but our suburbs are better than 99% of the places out there. Hockey players hunger to be Red wings…and some day soon, hoopsters will return to Detroit….
Natalie, thank you for all of your work and interest in our team, and on behalf of all of your readers, we appreciate you
April 26, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I always knew I should have started Need2GetRidofSheed.com.
Guy is the opposite of winner. He gave Detroit 4 months of playing hard and spent the next 4 years no-showing.
Good riddance.
April 26, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Thanks for the great blog Natalie. It has make being a fan during this era all that much more enjoyable.
Looking forward to how things pan out.
April 26, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Thanks for all that you do Nat. Here’s to a better season next year.
April 26, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Whats the deal with Bynum? I have only seen the Pistons play a couple of times since he started putting up numbers, is he really that good? On paper he seems to have been our best player over the past 30 or so games. Does that statement even pass the laugh test or is he just padding his stats against opposing benches? Is he a challenge to Stuckey in the future?
April 26, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Id like to keep Rip. The others can be traded.
April 26, 2009 at 11:10 pm
We have the whole summer to talk about trades and free angents, for now let’s enjoy the rest of the Playoffs. I for one, will be rooting for Denver to win it all!
April 26, 2009 at 11:40 pm
wat an end to an era. i will miss these pistons. nd Go chauncey!!!!!!!!! hez going to take denver to finals!!!
April 27, 2009 at 12:11 am
Well now its GO NUGGETS! Billups is still a Piston to me, so that’s where my playoff hopes are now, given Pistons won’t be back till Fall.
April 27, 2009 at 12:48 am
I think this season couldve gone better had they defined a rotation. I don’t see why stuckey is starting pg I seen him as sg. I would had bynum rip tay sheed and kwame. Stuckey couldve came off the bench and learned to play sg from rip. That way when rips contract is up stuckey has learned and seen some things. Little late now tho. So go billups! Beat LA!
April 27, 2009 at 4:34 am
I wish we could have an interview with a piston insider, and ask him what he thinks about this summer.
Yes Detroit isn’t the prettiest city, but look at Billups, Hamilton, and even Wallace (not anymore) but they all said, they want(ed) to retire here, because they feel a special connection.
When you live in Michigan, then you leave the state/ city, believe me, you do miss something.
We don’t have a great city, downtown is more compared to San Andreas GTA game, than to NYC, but this place does have something special.
The problem is, we first need to get the players here.
Thank you Natalie for this site, first thing I do every morning, is come on this blog and see what is new.
We do have great fans.
April 27, 2009 at 5:16 am
Hi Natalie,
What will happen to Need4Sheed if Sheed won’t be back in Detroit next season?
Thank you 4 having this site 4 Detroit Fans! (”,)
April 27, 2009 at 5:55 am
it’s fun while it last..hehe
let’s just w8 nxt season..hope there are better things to come in detroit.. i’m still a big fan of detroit pistons
well like i say “everything is not permanent”
as for now i;m rooting 4 chauncey and his denver nuggets
hehe
and oh
dont u dare say that jason maxiell is nothing.. he is one hell of a player he plays hard defense
hope he is still here nxt season
April 27, 2009 at 7:07 am
I think the saddest thing for me yesterday was hearing all the Cleveland fans in The Palace. That was sickening to me, a true sign that people know an era is ending.
I wonder if Dice sat in his locker stall after the game thinking to himself “Man, I should have stayed with Chauncey in Denver.” He’s the only one on the team I feel true pain for right now, because he is the only player on that team that gave 110% EVERY night. I tip my hat to you Antonio, you deserved better.
April 27, 2009 at 8:11 am
Tom..Will Bynum is the real deal. I think he is going to be extremely important to this team in the future if they play him right. The most important thing is getting next seasons team together immediately and as soon as possible having them practice and play together to form the bond that it seems we never had this year. I look forward to seeing Will, Rodney, Aaron, Kwame, McDyess, and Max. They all hustled and cared this year and deserve a spot on the roster.
April 27, 2009 at 9:40 am
For everyone feeling bad for McDyess: Let’s hope he addresses with his teammates the apparent lack of enthusiasm, focus, and muscle. He has every right to call them out on their shortcomings.
It was very mature and honorable that he played the way he did, though others took an early vacation.