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.

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.

FULL VIDEO of the Pistons, Allen Iverson Press Conference

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.

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.

We know Rip is going to give it a go tonight, let’s hope his elbow doesn’t bother his shot too much.

Sheed needs to bring his game, not his mouth.

Chauncey need to be Big.

Tayshaun needs to play up to his abilities.

Dyess needs to bring his heart.

And everyone else needs to play like they want it.

A little inspiration.

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

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