Miami was everybody’s pick to win the Eastern Conference this season (paper champions). They even started to believe the hype themselves and did a whole lot of talking about how they were ready for Detroit but that wasn’t the case on December 29th and once again it will not be the case today. Let’s get to the important stuff, here the match ups.
Center – Shaquille (Shaq Fu) O’Neal vs. Ben (Body) Wallace
Round 1 – Shaq – 26 points on cheap elbows and bad breath, with only 6 rebounds and one block from someone whose 7’1, 340 pounds.
Ben – 14 rebounds and 2 blocked shots to go along with 2 steals.
Body has always given Shaq problems on the block, this game will be no different. Even though Shaq won’t say it in public, he knows what Ben does to him.
Advantage – Body
Power Forwards – Udonis Haslem vs. Rasheed (Sheed) Wallace
Round 1 – Haslem 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 quick fouls.
Rasheed – 21 points, 12 of them from behind the three point line.
Haslem caught the Pistons off guard last time, he’s now able to hit a 10 foot shot, wow! Sheed just abused Haslem on the inside and outside, the same will happen today.
Advantage – Sheed
Small Forwards – James Posey vs. Tayshaun (Prince of the Palace) Prince
Round 1 – Posey – 2 points and 5 rebounds.
Tay – 13 points and 2 blocks.
Posey has some real issues trying to score on Tay last time. He is used to bullying his way to the basket but with Tay defending him, he gets shut down. That makes Posey a non factor in this one.
Advantage – Tay
Shooting Guard – Dwayne (I’m a model) Wade vs. Richard (Rip) Hamilton
Round 1 – The Model – 33 points and 9 assists.
Rip – 25 points and 9 assists.
The Model brought his A game to the table the last time these two met but even Michael Jordan knows one man cannot win a ball game. Dwayne was voted a starter for the East All Stars which should have went to Rip. You know Rip knows that, and he’s going to play his best game this year to let the voters know that they once again made a huge mistake.
Advantage – Rip
Point Guard – Jason (J Dub) Williams vs. Chauncey (MVP) Billups
Round 1 – J Dub – 20 points 5 assists and 3 steals.
Billups – 30 points and 7 assists.
No contest.
Advantage – Billups
Benches – A. Walker, A. Mourning, G. Payton vs. Dice, Hunter, Delfino, Mo Evans
Round 1 – Heat – 12 points, 6 rebounds.
Pistons – 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
Both coaches played their starters for most of the game the last time they met. Neither coach will do that this game. The benches should be a huge factor in this game.
Advantage – Pistons
Coaches – Pat Riley vs. Flip Saunders
Riley 0 Flip 1
Pat Riley is really starting to wonder if he did the right thing by wanting to take the glory away from Ron Jeremy, oops I mean Van Gundy. Pat is probably kicking himself right now for putting together all of these egos, including his own. Flip is quietly building his legacy in the NBA with these Pistons and he’s going to show people that he is one of the brightest coaches in the game.
Advantage – Pistons
Don’t expect this one to be close at all. It should be over by the end of the 3rd quarter. The Pistons are going make the world take notice that they are witnessing one of the greatest TEAMS in all of sports.
That’s all for now, but I’ll be back with my picks for All-Star weekend.
IN SHEED WE TRUST!
Dominique Wilford
Nique3011@aol.com
haslems always been a good role player, and always had his jump shot. just to let you know.its ovious that you dont watch much basketball and believe what you want to belive. just like with lidnesy hunter.
so biased…. and I’m saying that being a Piston fan myself…
Mr.Anonymous you must not watch basketball at all. Haslems never had a jump shot in college he always stayed in the post and as far as he’s NBA Career he’s never been a consistent shooter. Now this year he seems to be knocking down that little 10 footer with ease with somebody in his face.
haslems is a role player, say it with me ROLE PLAYER. his job isnt to post up power fowards in this league his job is to make his 10-15 foot jump shot when shaq gets double teamed in the post and hes very good at that role. THAT IS A FACT!!!!!!!!! hes always been a constient jump shooter in the nba, im just shocked that you cant see that. you just dont want to give anyone else credit that isnt a piston and that pathetic.
“Don’t expect this one to be close at all. It should be over by the end of the 3rd quarter. The Pistons are going make the world take notice that they are witnessing one of the greatest TEAMS in all of sports.”
it WAS over at the end of the 3rd quarter, but the pistons let this one slip away…maybe we shouldn’t be so biased toward the pistons and realize that there are other great players in this league besides the fab 5…give d wade and udonis some credit…miami is one of those teams we might see again in the not-so-far-away playoff future…
p.s. i can’t say i agree with rip having the advantage over dwyane wade and there is no way that ben, or for that case- anyone, has the advantage over shaq…
I agree with all these comments.
Dominique you need to open your eyes and quit being so biased. Your whole attitude towards the Pistons is simply ridiculous. I am a huge fan but your opinions seem to have little merit.
You need to get over yourself and start being realistic. Even the Pistons themselves don’t think they have the advantage over every single opponent. Jeb was right on the money. Get real, nobody agrees with you.
i agree with jeb 100%. shaq has always dominated ben wallace even when the pistons won 2 years ago. shaq averaged 30 some points a game. that doesnt sound like ben has his number to me. i love ben but the truth is hes overmatched agaist shaq and so is everyone else in the league its not his fault he does a ok job at times agist shaq but giving him the edge was just rediciouls. and iv been leaving the comments about haslem and its becoming more clear that you dont watch ANY BASKETBALL at all. i love ur website but u need to get real when u make ur picks and make them not so biased towards teh pistons. there are other good teams in hte nba not named the pistons, with this said tho i still expcet them to win but u need to give other people credit and respect where it is due.
Yes I was wrong that we didn’t win the ball game. But honestly if we had win that game. Most of you would have still been on the Pistons Bandwagon. It’s just one game. And yes Dwayne Wade had to prove it to me that he was a better player than Rip had with that wonderful performance on Sunday he did just that. Shaq is over rated but that’s my personal opinon. He’s allowed to throw his eblows all over the place as a weapon and I guarntee you if he wasn’t allowed that he wouldn’t have been as effective. And as far as Haslem goes. Well I stand by what I said and that’s the end of that one. And yes I will admit I had pistons fever for a second. And you have to look at the way the Heat were playing before that game which wasn’t that great with losses to Dallas and Jersey that week. And as far as watching basketball goes I’ve been involved in the game as a player and coach for over 10 years. If you go back to my previous post my track record as been pretty flawless up to this point except for this one game.
“But honestly if we had win that game. Most of you would have still been on the Pistons Bandwagon.”
I made my comment before the game was played…
Gongon,
Thank you for coming to my site and enjoying it. Just to let you know I am not the one who writes the game previews and I did not write this, that was actually a fellow Pistons fan like yourself, named Dominique. I actually told him he was being biased before I posted this but, as he said “he has Pistons fever”, he believes in our boys no matter what. Either way it sparked a heavy debate and hopefully next time our Pistons will be on the winning end.
Again to all of you who visit daily, thanks for stopping by and I appreciate all the positive feedback. This actually turned into something bigger than I had ever intended.
Natalie
lol….what a waste of web space..lol..sheed made some pretty useless comments about beating miami..lol..what happened???..huuumm i’ll tell you what happen..whup assssss…dats rite whup ass!!! and guess what..dwane wade”flash” for the knowledgeable is the 2nd best player in the league..