The Pistons closed out The Bulls in Chicago to go to their fifth straight Eastern Conference Finals. It wasn’t easy for Detroit, who played this one like they really wanted it, beating The Bulls on their home court 95-85. The game was close in the first half, with The Bulls leading at halftime, but the Pistons came out strong in the third quarter and kept control of the game no matter what The Bulls seemed to throw at them.
Key Points:
- Rasheed didn’t need to make a GuaranSheed… His performance did it for him.
- Pistons put the D back in Defense in game six.
- Richard Hamilton was making ridiculous shots all night. Rip led the team with 23 points and was 5-for-5 from the line.
- Detroit played all 48 minutes of this one.
- Jason Maxiell made every second of his 7 minutes count. J Max is playing crucial playoff minutes and doing it well.
- Lindsey Hunter was a huge spark off the bench. He bothered The Bulls on D and knocked down some critical shots in the first half.
- I am not going to lie, even though the Pistons were playing Detroit Basketball from the opening tip, I was still a bit nervous.
- Hard fouls on both ends of the floor. Neither team was giving up easy baskets.
- Rip hit his first 5 shots from the floor.
- C-Web played 23 minutes and scored 5 points, his 9 rebounds were key. Though he didn’t score much in this series, he was defiantly a plus when he was on the floor.
- I am not exaggerating when I say that this one was SHEEDtastic. Rasheed was key in this win. Sheed dominated, with 16 points and 13 rebounds along with 2 blocked shots. Mr. Wallace hasn’t had this much fire in him in a very long time. His drive alone can win this team a championship.
Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images
- The Bulls rode P. J. Brown in the first half, but the Pistons shut him down in the second. Brown scored a season high 20 points, all of which came in the first half.
- The Pistons held the Bulls to 37% shooting while they went 42% from the floor.
- Ben Wallace was a non factor with just 7 rebounds and six points. He sat most of the second half, finishing with just 28 minutes, the least among all of the Bulls starters.
- Chauncey Billups mentioned how quiet the United Center was after the game. If there’s one benefit to closing out a series on the road, that’s it. “In a strange sort of way it always feels better to close it out on the road,” Billups said. “That silence, like church.”
- On a very odd play late in the game, Antonio McDyess blocked a Nocioni three. As Nocioni was falling to the ground after the shot, he pulled Dice down by the shoulder and McDyess got called for a foul. Nocioni went to the line for three free throws. He made all three.
- The Pistons took control of the boards in the second half, outrebounding Chicago 14-7 in the third quarter and finishing with 48-35 edge.
- Chauncey finished the game with 21 points on 3-for-12 shooting with 7 assists and 2 steals. Chauncey was a perfect 14-14 from the free throw line.
Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images
- Antonio McDyess seem to be everywhere at all times. Dice scored 5 points and pulled down 10 important rebounds.
- “We never talked about having a Game 7,” Prince said. “We wanted to really make a statement with this game.”
- Sheed hit a 3 pointer 30 seconds into the second half to start a 12-1 run.
- C-Webb had a sweet behind the back feed to Rip for a layup.
- The refs didn’t see eye to eye with Sheed, he was called for a tech on a possession call that looked like it went off Hinrich. In fact it was called Detroit ball until a ref (Bennett Salvatore?) from across the floor reversed the call. Needless to say Sheed was upset. The refs also took away two crucial Sheed baskets, one was a putback jam that was taken away and called loose ball foul, the other was a traveling call.
- Its been a while since I have seen Tayshaun Prince this emotional during a game. He was pumped!
- Taysaun Prince was fantastic, especially in the fourth quarter, he was making everything. He was backing down Deng in the paint and hitting hooks right over him. He finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images
- Did you know that Tayshaun Price has gone to the Conference finals every single year he’s been in the league. That’s got to be some kind of record.
- Ben Wallace was on the bench in the closing minutes of the game. I wonder how he feels about that.
- Scott Skiles isn’t happy and didn’t have anything nice to say about Detroit. Poor sport.
- Referee Jack Nies actually went over to Flip Saunders and warned him he wasn’t going to take anything from Sheed. That was before he was called for his 4th Tech of these playoffs.
- Pistons assistant coach Ron Harper said there actually was some bad blood being felt by the Pistons toward Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni, even though there was still plenty of love for departed Piston Ben Wallace.
- When Ron Harper was asked “Who do the Pistons hate?” his answer, “Cleveland. We don’t like Cleveland. That series is going to be fun.” If they win.
- One of Rasheed’s four assists was a bullet pass to Tayshaun in the Paint for a dunk.
- It was comforting to get to watch the game on local television and get to listen to Blaha call the game.
- Full Sheed Ahead: Great peice on Sheed by Michael Rosenberg of the Freep. “In the locker room after the clinching victory, Wallace took a rare break from his profanity-laced rap music and went with some disco: “Hot Stuff,” by Donna Summer. And then Rasheed danced while Summer sang…”
- Everyone on the Pistons hustled for this win, they all played with heart.
- On to the Eastern Conference Finals!
Manau Ginobli and Noccioni are both Argentinian. They also both got 3 point free throws on back to back nights in the play offs just now. Both were questionable calls which looked rediculous in the replays. I think it’s an interesting coincidence. Both were in favor of teams I wanted to lose too! Oh well- Stones pulled it off tonight!!!
~Richie~
Boy those refs are something else. Leave Sheed alone!! Anyway, I was glad to see Hunter get his minutes and play well. He should average at least 5 fouls a game. Just play aggresive and frustrate those guards. He did that well. What can we say about Tay. You never hear about “the experts” saying his name in the reg. season. But boy do they sure talk him up during the playoffs. I would imagine he has no problem with that. He is going to be huge in the next series. I am really really really glad that series is over. Man our guys are good!!
-Junior
sheed very sneakily grabbed henricks arm when the lose ball bounced off his foot and thats what was overturned. I wasnt watching with the sound on so i didnt hear what happened but they definitely showed it in replay and it was way more obvious than i would have imagined he would have thought he could get away with but obviously he almost did
Well done, Pistons.
Anyone see Tay get all up in Sheed’s face when he got that tech?? Plus when he got that backdown deuce over Deng?? I have never seen Tay so fired up!!! Thats what I want to see from him! Skiles is such a jerk…
there was this quote in the freep from skiles:
“Almost all the time in a seven-game series, the best team wins,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. “They are the best team right now. They deserve to win.”
THE PISTONS ARE PUTTING MICHIGAN BACK ON THE MAP. IT WOULD BE SWEET TO SEE THE PISTONS, REDWINGS, TIGERS AND WOLVERINES ALL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR. IT IS VERY POSSIBLE TOO. C’MON NOW LIONS< YOU NEED TO GET WITH THE PROGRAM TOO.
GOD I LOVE LIVING IN MICHIGAN!
Nothing beats springtime in Michigan.
Great Win!
Love the Stuffed and Mounted picture Natalie.
I think Tay was a big part of the win too.
I love him!
DEETROIT BASKETBAAAALLL
tay was amazing..i agree with jessica i love tay too! and he’s so cute when he’s fired up!!! WOOO anyways.. everyone played with a ton of heart and tonite it looked like they really wanted it… let’s finish out the eastern confrence… TIME TO GO TO WORK!
oh, also, does anyone have a guess on when the next game might be?? When does the cavs and nets have game 7?? well hopefully soon i can’t wait! thx! GO PISTONS!
It was an amazing game.. I LOVE SHEED.. and like I said earlier he had 20 points for the night in my book cause those two calls were the worst calls I have ever seen in my life! The refs were just pissin me off..
and guess what everyone.. the rashad interview with the pistons is on nba.com homepage if anyone wants to watch!!
Game 1 of the ECF will be Monday if the Cavs win tonight and Wednesday if the series goes to 7.
It’s hard to pick the player of the game in this one, ’cause there were several players who deserved it. In my opinion, a toss up between Tayshaun and ‘Sheed. I kinda perked up in my seat and went “wow” when I saw Tayshaun get up in ‘Sheed’s face after the Tech. Tay was really in this game and wanted the win seemingly more than anyone else. And ‘Sheed was just everywhere on the defensive end and in the right spots on the offensive end. Those calls were ridiculous but an emotional and pissed off ‘Sheed is the greatest kind!
Kinda hopin’ for Pistons-Cavs ECF ’cause I think that’d be the most fun for the players as well as the fans. Everyone knows the Cavs fans are wannabe Pistons fans. lol Oh what fun we could have!
Oh and jess, I loved the part in one of the videos where Rashad said he was hoping to talk to ‘Sheed and Chauncey said something about how they can answer for him and then Chauncey goes “Both teams played hard.” I laughed out loud when I heard that. Too funny, too funny…
The funniest part for me about Sheed’s tech was when he was running down the floor, you could see Flip in the background begging him to not get a technical. The look on Flip’s face was just priceless.
In hindsight, it might be good that we lost a couple games in this series. Nobody got hurt and 2 extra games shouldn’t hurt us that bad in the long run. Plus with there being a pretty good chance the Cavs series is going 7, our layoff would’ve been a LONG one if we had swept. Now it should be just right.
The only downfall is that it gave Sheed 2 more opportunities to get technicals. We’re going to lose him for a game at some point if this run keeps going, and that could be HUGE. If they had swept, he’d only have 2 and would probably be safe.
boyy,, do i love the pistons or wahtt?!
thanks amanda :)i can’t wait! it’s gonna be sweet!
I know Amanda. I was laughing my ass off when he said that. That was hallarious!
TAY IS THE MAN
GO PISTONS
were playing the cavs =]
cavs won so cavs pistons is the east conferance finals
cant wait
Looks like the Cavs are going to be the Pistons next vict– er, I mean worthy opponent.
Bring on the LeBron lovers, the “ZZZZ” hummers, the “CLEVENLAND BAKSETBALL” chanters, and the Varejao wig wearing fools!
Wow, I can spell Varejao but not Cleveland or basketball….
PIStons spurs in the finals
i dont know if u saw this but tayshaun has been more pushy against his team… if they made a mistake… he was all in there face…it was kind of surprising
I loved how tay lead this team tonight. the whoke team played well but tay really was on everyones backs. He even played some point when chauncey was on the floor it was great. He is such a great player and I love how well he plays. This is a great team and they have everyone’s back. This was a great win and if they play with the passion we have seen this playoffs the ship will be ours. Bring on the cavs.
“I am watching the game right now on raptors tv cause i couldn’t watch it earlier and they said webber was yellowing from the sidelines last game you are not going to take my ring from me, so funny.” ~Jessi
He really said that?? That’s great stuff!
yes they really said that he was yelling from the bench you are not going to take my ship away from me, I couldn’t stop laughing. They were talking about how much he and dyess wanted to win.
he said ring not ship but it was really funny when they said it cause I could see him doing it, game 6 he looked like he was yelling from the bench as well he really wants his ring and I hope he gets it
what game did he say that?
During game 5 thats what the announcers of game 6 said.
Pistons/Spurs rematch! 😀
EEEWWWW! No Pistons Spurs rematch, boring ass game and I really hate the Dirty Spurs now. I liked them better when the Admiral was still there, at least they had class.
Spurs biggest bunch of flopping pussys I have ever seen.
2 boring ass teams coming out of the west…..
ohhh geezz everyone get ready for this next series and all of the obnoxious fans that come with it :/
you spelled tayshaun’s name wrong in this paragraph
Taysaun<---- Prince was fantastic, especially in the fourth quarter, he was making everything. He was backing down Deng in the paint and hitting hooks right over him. He finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
I’m ready!
its not the fans to worry about its the off arm elbow/offensive foul of lebron
Michigan!!!!!
I’m proud to be living in Michigan, because we have three great teams that are doing really good right now, the Pistons, Redwings, and the Tigers.
Like Sheed said early in the season, ” I’m glad they(the media) swept us under the rug right now, cause come playoff time they are all gonna be on our jocks”.
Where is that video^^^?
It’s under the “stupor stars” in the video section at the very bottom left.
He says ” we have no stupor stars, no poster boys, nutin like that. We play team basketball. I’m glad they swept us under the rug right now, but come playoff time, I guarentee the same people who counted us out are gonna be on our jocks.”
Natalie, Please post this video^^^
yay we are playing the lebrons!!
they havent really been tested in the playoffs.
PLus, last year doesnt mean a thing, especially because we have different players.
9:45, she did post it, it’s in the video section
What was up with refs last game. I really think they wanted bulls to win. But i all ways go with my quote “cheters never win winners never cheat”.
No way Why the f do they say cavaliers basketball!?!?!?!??!!??! thats bullshit they copy us beacause they want to be us!!!!!!!!