In seasons past what happened on Sunday wouldn’t mean much to the Pistons or their fans, but as we all know things can change quickly in the NBA. The Detroit Pistons, who are fighting for a playoff spot, accomplished quite a feat, a win on the second half of a back to back, to make it two wins in a row, against the Philadelphia 76ers, at home, in a game with an early tip, on Sunday. Doesn’t seem like much, but the 101-97 victory may just be the biggest win for Detroit this season.

Key Points:

• The victory moved Detroit up to the 7 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.  If the Playoffs were to start today, Detroit would match up with an Orlando team that they have had their way with for quite some time. The Pistons’ magic number to secure a spot is seven and it seems as though Dwight Howard wants Detroit in the first round.
• The win also stopped an 8 game Sunday home losing streak at The Palace.
• Detroit came back from deficits in every quarter except the fourth.
• The Pistons turned the ball over nine times in the first half, which helped the Sixers stay in the game.  They buckled down in the second half adding only two more for the rest of the game.
• Iguodala scored a game high 27 points, but it was his uncontested dunk that wowed the Palace crowd.
• The Pistons fourth quarter defense looked much better.
• Tayshaun Prince was red hot in the first half scoring 19 points on 7-for-7 shooting.  Prince carried the team in the first half and finished with a team-high 21 points and 3 assists.

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• 46 points in the paint for the Sixers to Detroit’s 36.
• NBA.com Highlights of the game.
• Amir Johnson played some key minutes and did a fine job helping the Pistons lock this one up. He finished with 5 points, 4 boards and a steal in 18 minutes. It was with the help of Amir’s defense that the Pistons locked things down for the Sixers in the fourth quarter. No foul trouble for Johnson in this one.
• Rodney Stuckey seems to be getting back to his old form. He put up 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting, with 5 assists, 3 steals and zero turnovers.
• The Sixers looked like the Pistons of old, racking up 4 technical fouls during the game. I guess it helps Detroit in terms of Techs when Sheed and Rip aren’t playing
• How bout 40% shooting from downtown for the Pistons. Tayshaun himself was 3-for-4.
• Five Pistons in double figures.
• Allen Iverson made his debut after a long absence, with 8 points, on 3-for-9 shooting with 2 boards, and 2 assists in 21 minutes on the floor.  I don’t know about you but he looked good out there alongside Will Bynum.

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• “The most important thing is we got the win,” said Iverson, who scored eight points in 21 minutes. “I have a lot of respect for guys that come off the bench, even more now than ever. It’s hard to get yourself going. Sitting there for a long period of time, then having to jump right into the fire — that’s different for me. It’s hard. But I honestly feel I can get through it. I am a professional. I can figure out a way to do it and be effective.” Via The Detroit News. That was part of Iverson’s post game press conference, which I watched from start to finish, and despite this quote it rubbed me the wrong way. He started his comments about how he was telling his friends that a man with his resume really had no business coming off the bench. That aside, I give him credit for finally hitting the floor for Detroit when their playoff fate is on the line.
• Iverson is not happy about being questioned on his injury.
• We wondered what would happen to Will Bynum’s minutes once Allen and Rip were back, well it was Arron Afflalo who didn’t play in Sunday’s win.
• Fantastic scoop pass from Iverson to Will Bynum who was running the floor. Will didn’t make the layup, but he did make his free throws.
• Will Bynum scored nine points during a 14-2 run in the fourth that took the Pistons from five points down to six points up with 4:03 left. He finished with 12 points, 4 assists, 5 boards and 3 turnovers in 22 minutes.

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• Will Bynum on the court in crunch time instead of Rodney Stuckey. “Will could be in there or (Rodney) Stuckey could be in there,” Curry said. “But the big key is, we have to run stuff through Will regardless of who is on the court.” Via The Detroit News
• Another solid performance from Mr. Kwame Brown, who scored 13 points for Detroit in 21 minutes on the floor. The big man trying to do his thing and working down low made 7 of his 13 points at the free throw line.
• This one was close, the game was tied 12 times with 20 lead changes.
• Happy Birthday to my main man George Blaha.
• Eight points and six boards from Antonio McDyess. When you look at his numbers the past two games with Rip back and then AI, it’s obvious that Dyess just about carried the team when they were short handed.
• A relatively quiet night for Jason Maxiell, who scored 4 points, grabbed 5 boards, and had a blocked shot in 19 minutes.
• “Now my whole thing is trying to be the best sixth man I can be, the best sixth man in the league.” said Iverson.  Via MLive. If that indeed is the case, this team has a chance come playoff time.
• A Battle with the Cavs in Cleveland, where they have only lost one game at home all season long should be rough.  If Sheed indeed comes back, the Pistons chances skyrocket. At this point we know every game is crucial.

Things have really changed around here when we are celebrating a two game winning streak. The Pistons closed out their tough five game road trip with a solid win in Boston against the World Champion Celtics. The Celtics were without Kevin Garnett, but Detroit’s 105-95 road victory was impressive regardless of the former league’s MVP absence (2004). Remember, the Pistons were without their former MVP Allen Iverson (2001).

Key Points:

• Detroit started the game off strong and went on plenty of runs throughout the game.  What changed in this game was Detroit didn’t let the runs that Boston went on get out of hand.
• Remember when we used the word poised when describing the way Detroit played? Well this is the first I’ve seen of it all season long.
• Detroit had lost five straight regular season games to the Celtics and 9-of-11 including a six-game Eastern Conference final.
• Detroit is back to playing .500 ball and has the same record as the Sixers. They are currently holding on to the 7th playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Get this….16.5 games back of Cleveland.
• Detroit played a solid 48 minutes.
• Rip Hamilton once again led this team to victory with 25 points, an assist away from a double-double. He added six boards in 39 minutes, while shooting 50% from the floor and went 11-for-12 from the line.  Is he trying to emphasize the fact that he should have never lost his starting job?  If he is, and this is the outcome we get…..keep it up Rip.

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• Rip Hamilton’s post game comments. (video)
• “We played our type of basketball,” Hamilton said. “That’s the thing for me with Tayshaun, Rasheed (Wallace) and (Antonio) McDyess, I always know they’re going to be at all times.” Via NBA.com
• Thank you NBA Referees, we bitch when you’re wrong (like when you missed Rip getting mauled at the end of the game) so it’s only right when we thank you for your fine work. That’s just how we roll in Detroit.  Detroit made a season-high 34 free throws, in 40 attempts.
• Sheed 15 points, 6 boards, 2 blocked shots and a steal. Solid defensive game for Sheed. I still wonder if he thinks he can make some of the crazy threes he jacks up.  Maybe it should be Jack ….instead of Roscoe?
  
• Outrebounded 35-31.
  
• Iverson still questionable for Tuesday’s game against Denver.
• Tayshaun Prince again asserted himself in a big game.  Prince scored 15 with 8 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. How about the kind bounce on the three in the third quarter…nice.
  

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• NBA.com Pistons vs Celtics Video Recap.
• God love Hubie Brown and his pronunciations.
• Pistons led at the half 55-47 and didn’t give the lead up at all until Boston went on a run. Boston led 85-81 when Rasheed hit a tree pointer with 7:04 left to start a 13-4 run that left the Pistons ahead 94-89. They never looked back.
• Maxiell making clutch free throws with under three minutes left in the game.
  
• Rodney Stuckey held his own Sunday afternoon with 10 points, 5 assists, 3 boards, a rebound and just one turnover.
• Will Bynum made a bigger splash and is making a case for more playing time with 9 points, 2 assists, and 3 steals in just 12 minutes.  The takeaway from Marbury that lead to a layup was a thing of beauty, not to mention hard work.
• I will never understand the head tattoo.
• How about Detroit’s determination to come back and regain the lead in the fourth quarter and close the game out?
• 40 points in the paint for Boston to 18 for Detroit.
• Can we just say all hail to The Mighty THOR!  Walter Herrmann was a huge boost for Detroit making 4 of his 5 shots for 11 quick points for Detroit.

Original Thor Drawing/Marvel Comics

• Say what you will, but that inbound pass he tried at the end of the half still has me laughing.  Remember MIGHTY THOR!

• 15 lead changes and this one was tied 20 times.
• Defense…the Pistons had 8 steals  and 3 blocked shots
• 15th technical foul for Rasheed Wallace.
• Stat line of the night, just 6 turnovers for Detroit.
• Look I’m usually not one to bash other teams or their fans, (except Varejoke) but I think Celtics fans have it coming. I can’t tell you how many vile comments I deleted all day by the classy people of Boston. So when I saw this picture of Glen “Big Baby” with that look on his face I found it quite amusing that even the fans reacted with the cry big baby dramatics.

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• Antonio McDyess 10 points, 5 boards and a blocked shot while Jason Maxiell had 8 points in 17 minutes.
• For the second game in a row the ball movement was flowing and the team looked in sync. Be careful to judge these two games as “the Pistons are back,” in fact it may be more difficult once Allen Iverson is back from injury and the rotation issues become prevalent. The problems haven’t disappeared just because of a big win. If the egos can handle what’s going on and they commit to playing the way they did the last two games then they just may have a chance to become respectable again.
• 30 Bench points for Detroit.
• “You can tell they’re playing the system they played before Iverson got there,” said Celtics forward Paul Pierce, who scored 26. “When Iverson is out there they’re still trying to figure out how to use each other, how to all be successful. But that group that’s out there is definitely comfortable because they’ve played together for years.’‘ Via NBA.com
• I’m loving the Blind Date comparison in the comments of the game thread. Feel free to keep them coming.

Great way to finish of a presser that really made Iverson sound like he’s on a mission. It will be up in it’s entirety shortly. Till then I put this up for you now!

FULL VIDEO of the Pistons, Allen Iverson Press Conference

“The Detroit Pistons have reached a tentative agreement to trade Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. Neither player was at this morning’s shoot-around. Team officials said that more information would be forthcoming later today.”

A. Sherrod from MLive

UPDATE:

Justin in the comments just mentioned that “Ric Bucher just said Cheikh Samb also included.”

UPDATE:

Just heard on WDFN that Dyess will be waived so we can resign him in 30 Days.

It wasn’t in the cards for our boys this season, six trips to the Eastern Conference Finals and one glorious Championship is what they have to show for it. Pretty impressive, just ask anyone in Charlotte, Seattle, or Memphis if you don’t think so.

If you are like me, it’s all a bit surreal right now. In fact I was in a bit of a daze driving home after the game Friday night and the whole thing honestly didn’t hit me until today.

It’s not quite the feeling that I felt when we lost to the Spurs in game seven and it honestly didn’t hurt as much as the ride home from the Pistons Game Five loss to Cleveland last season. Why, I don’t know. Maybe I have gotten spoiled and used to underaveivement

I am completely blown away, not that they didn’t get to The Finals. I can’t believe that they didn’t win Game Five. I was sure it was going to go Seven and at that point it really was a tossup who would come out victorious.

Boston is a great team and they deserve to get credit for what they did this season and how they took us down in the playoffs. Good luck to them. I’ll watch these Finals for the pure basketball enjoyment of it, no investment in either team.

Funny how confident I was headed to the game and how quickly things changed when the opening buzzer was growing close. As I followed text messages and comments during the game many Pistons fans were calling for Sheed to do something….anything and what we got was nothing.

It started from the his body language as I watched the warm ups. It followed during the introductions when he didn’t get ready for his ritual with Rip in the corner. It was extremely awkward when he didn’t do the pre-game dance, he just stood in the circle and looked around and then did a bit of knee slapping with the rest of the crew. He didn’t hug KG like he had throughout the series, maybe because of all the slack he was getting. Most disturbing, he didn’t rally the crowd before the jump ball like he has been doing FOR YEARS.

I knew it was going to be bad, but I hoped for the best.

I thought maybe it was just me, but it seems even more disturbing things unfolded behind the scenes with Sheed.

This run is over , things will change, we just don’t really know what those things will be. Sheed may go, Flip may be gone, Rip could be traded as well as Tay. Things are uncertain…we wait.

And you know what, that’s OK. We’ll ride right on Joe D’s bandwagon and trust that whatever he does with this team is what he thinks is best. Who are we to judge, he’s given us six straight years of glory, excitement and entertainment.

Joe, you’ve spoiled us and for that we thank you. Do what you gotta do, we will follow. If we go through some adversity it’s OK. With adversity brings excellence, any athlete knows that.

Joe, you have given us a true Team, and for that we are most thankful.

Instead of analyzing trade talks or looking at the free agents, I’ll wait for Joe’s moves and go from there. When Joe was on court you could always trust him with the last shot, he’s got the ball now and I am sure he’ll hit the bottom of the net for us.

Get ready for the shakeup that we all knew was coming if this team didn’t make the Finals.

It’s not over Piston fans…….it’s The Beginning!

Stay tuned.

P.S. Please stop with the website name change suggestions. 40 in 2 days is more than I can handle and I know more will come if I don’t mention it. I know you mean well, but Sheed or no Sheed there will always be a Need4Sheed.com. The name stays even if the player doesn’t. Who doesn’t have a Need4Sheed anyway? It’s an attitude and a lifestyle and plenty of good times.

“I don’t want to be no ring-chaser, I don’t want to be moving team to team being a ring-chaser. I can’t do that. If I have to do that, I would definitely give it up. I mean, if I stay on this team another couple of years, we still have a chance, we just got to put our heart into it and do it.” Via Fanhouse

The quote came from MW at Fanhouse but I suggest you head over there and read the entire piece.

I mentioned that I was upset the Pistons didn’t accomplish their final task, but most of all I was devastated for Dyess.

“I ain’t got no choice,” Hamilton said. “I told guys today don’t look at me as a handicap out there. I am ready. I am good to go.”

Hamilton said he talked to his father Thursday, and his dad simply told him to “spit” on it.

“This is now or never,” Hamilton said. “Usually when you talk to your dad he is like take your time son. But he said spit on it. You are at war right now. You ain’t got no choice.” Via The Detroit News

Thanks to Team Need4Sheed member Donnie B for sending the link. Apparently I missed the fact that PistonsNationBlog had this as well as DBB

“Rasheed Wallace was slapped with a 25,000 dollar fine for criticism of officials after Wednesday’s 106-102 loss to the Boston Celtics in game five of the semi-finals.

It was just the latest outburst from the outspoken Wallace, who ranted about the rampant flopping in Wednesday’s National Basketball Association contest as players tried to bait officials into calling fouls.

In a profanity-laced tirade, Wallace specifically called out referees Mike Callahan and Kenny Mauer, saying it “ain’t basketball out there.” Via AP

Detroit rallied back from a double digit deficit in the third quarter to send Game Five of The Eastern Conference Finals to the wire. Detroit’s fourth quarter surge unfortunately wasn’t enough to take the game, after getting within one point with eight seconds left on the clock. The Celtics, now in control after their 102-106 victory, are just one win away from the NBA Finals.

Detroit has plenty of work to do on Friday.

Key Points:

• Things looked good for the Pistons right from the start, in fact a good sign early came from Rasheed, who knocked down his first three of the night early.
• Though loss for Pistons fans, but surprising finish to a Pistons team that looked cooked in the third quarter. Had Detroit played with half the defensive intensity in the third as they did in the fourth things would be very different.
• The Pistons almost came all the way back from a 17-point hole, that either says something about Boston, or Detroit. Probably both but I still like Detroit’s chances even with their backs to the wall. Hell, don’t they like it like that? It’s that whole “If it ain’t rough it ain’t right” mentality. I personally would prefer to be up 3-2 right now.
• Plenty of things went Boston’s way, including a huge game from Kendrick Perkins who dominated the game for the Celtics early, grabbing boards from the opening tip. Perkins 18 point, 16 board game was clearly his best of the series. Weren’t we all begging Detroit to give him a little taste of the old school Bad Boys?
• Boston looked timid down the stretch, even though Garnett had a huge game with 33 (best of this season’s playoffs) he was passing up wide open shots. Scared to take the it KG?
• Rip was a little cool to start the game, but his jumpers were hitting the bottom with ease when it counted. Rip finished with 25 points and was one of the reasons Detroit got back in the game in the fourth. Hamilton scored nine straight points to start the fourth quarter. What we worry about…is his elbow injury that happened with second left in the game. I’m sure we’ll get a complete update soon.

• “He got a little bit of, I think, hyperextended in there on the rebound on that one defensive sequence that we had,” Saunders said. “He was great again tonight, especially in the last three quarters. Hopefully he’s going to be ready to go for us.” Via Yahoo.com
• Our recent hero Antonio McDyess didn’t come up big in Game Five. Dyess got into early foul trouble and never seemed to be able to get going. We missed his boards last night after getting walloped on the glass 42-25. That just can’t happen again.
• Dyess finished with just 4 points and 5 boards eventually fouling out mid fourth quarter. With the troubles he was having, he still gave 110% every second he was out there. Ice for Dyess I tell you!
• Sheed is clearly not happy. Is that a good thing?

• “That (bleep) ain’t basketball out there,” Wallace said. “It’s all (bleeping) entertainment. You all should know that (bleep). It”s all (bleeping) entertainment.” Via The Detroit Free Press
• I really did think Detroit was going to pull it off, especially after the HUGE three pointer by Stuckey late in the game. I actually felt bad for him after he made his last free throw when he was clearly supposed to miss it. He played well otherwise, 13 points, 2 steals and 3 assists. Glad to see Saunders didn’t pull him when he was on a roll in the forth.
• Same goes for Lindsey Hunter who played his usual pesky D. “All decisions I make aren’t popular with the media, players or whoever,” Saunders said. “Lindsey did a great job for us and I wasn’t going to hesitate to put him back in. But I thought we had some scattering offensive sequences and we needed to make sure we had a guy out there to run the show.” Via The Detroit News
• 11 minutes for Maxiell who scored 6 points in a hurry and was an instant spark. What happened?
• Highlight of the game besides the near comeback, alley oop from Lindsey to Maxiell.

• The Pistons are in serious need of a big game from Prince. His lone highlight was the block he had that the ESPN announcers argued about for what seemed to be 10 minuets.
• Flagrant foul on P.J. Brown on Maxiell was borderline but you Peirce’s foul on Billups later looked worse.
• Van Gundy is miserable, I’m going out on a limb saying he’s neck and neck with Walton right now in by book. You have no idea how huge that is for me. Oh how I wish TNT had the rights to all NBA playoff games.
• It didn’t look like Big Shot was back, but he showed up strong leading the Pistons with 26 points, 6 assists, a steal and 5 boards. Chauncey was a perfect 9-for-9 from the line. His shooting percentage wasn’t great (7-for-17), but it was nice to see his shot go down.

• Keith Langlois – True Blue Pistons - “There are ample reasons for optimism that the Pistons can get this done – no matter that NBA history says 83 percent of the time the Game 5 winner of a 2-2 series prevails. Billups, for one. He looked better than good for much of Game 5 and seems to have pushed the hamstring strain out of his mind. “This is the best I’ve felt,” he said.”I felt really good in Game 2 before I tweaked it. This is the best I’ve felt, movement-wise and being able to explode and get that step by people and hopefully I continue to get better. I feel good about it.”
• NBA.com Highlights of The Game.
• Allen got his grove back, for the night anyway. He finished with 29, none bigger than the three late in the game to pretty much seal Detroit’s fate.
• 36 points in the paint for the Celtics, just 18 for Detroit. Where was that no layup attitude?
• Never did like Posey, his ridiculous mouthpiece makes me sick and so does his attitude. He’s got to jaw with Rip when the game is on the line? Shows his character and his stupidity.
• How great was it to have Sheed and his three back? RA knocked down 6 treys on the game but one thing that bothers me is when his three is going down he doesn’t play in the post. Sheed finished with 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting with 4 boards and 3 blocked shots. Foul trouble stopped him from adding to his best game of this series.

• For those of you counting, Sheed is a tech away from a suspension.
• The D was on point for 36 minutes..Boston still shot 50% on the night to Detroit’s 46%.
• Pistons biggest lead – 8 points.
• No doubt in my mind that I will be confident walking into the Palace come Friday.
• If you’re going to the game on Friday….Loud and Proud, they need us!
• “Our experience of being in so many of these situations will help us and being in front of our fans will help us,” Billups said. “Those are the things you’ve got to lean on when you are facing elimination. We’re going to scratch and claw and do the things we’ve been known to do and try and get back here (to Boston) for Game 7.” Via The Detroit News

With the series at 2 all, I’m not saying this game in Boston is a must win for The Pistons, but it would make things a lot easier to wrap the series up. If Doc Rivers knows how to make adjustments, they won’t be leaving Mr. McDyess open all game long, so someone else may have to step up.

Detroit’s success hinges on the play of Chauncey Billups, sadly I don’t think they can pull it out tonight if he struggles like he did in every game of this series except Game 2 unless Saunders shelves him and gives Stuckey the go ahead if his game is off again.

I’m hoping for more stifling D, and one of these.

But block or not, I’ll take a W at the end of the night.

For further inspiration, they are selling Celtic’s ECF Champion T-Shirts down in Florida.

Tip off is at 8:30 PM and will be Nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN360 is streaming the game live for those of you who don’t have cable. If you can’t catch it on the tube you can always tune in to 1130 AM WDFN The Fan, or stream it live through your computer at NBA.com.

Leave ‘em in the comments.