The Pistons take on the 60-13 Cavaliers tonight in Cleveland. The Cavaliers are two games head of the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA’s best overall record, are 35-1 at home this season and have won a franchise-record 12 straight. And don’t forget they dismantled the Pistons in their last meeting.
The Pistons should have Rasheed Wallace back tonight after missing the last 11 games with a strained left calf.
Ben Wallace, who broke his leg remains out, but the Cavs should get him back in time for the postseason.
We know every game counts and a win against Cleveland is a tall as the Pistons remain two games ahead of Chicago in the loss column and three ahead of Charlotte in the chase for the final two playoff spots though the Bulls have played two more games than either team.
Tip off is at 7:00 PM and will be locally broadcast on FSN Detroit and on NBA.TV. If you can’t catch the broadcast you can listen live on WDFN 1130 AM or follow the game over at NBA.com.
Hope we can get a W in Cleveland! It would be good for the chemistry and morale of the team,but it would also help us to stay at that 7th spot in the rankings…
Go Pistons!
I think we come out with a WIN. I believe it. THERE IS A NEED 4 SHEED!
We could do it, the whole team is back and we beat them in November, I just hope we have the stamina.
Miracles can happen! Lets hope the guys can catch Cleveland with their guard down
Yes we can win tonight, they are not invencibles,they are not the 96-97 Bulls they are just the cavs, contain Lebron and everything else will be fine.
Go Pistons!!!
If everything comes together tonight we do have a chance.
Hey Nat thanks for the Will Bynum cartoon on the left, he deserves to be there.
Go Detroit
I hope we can keep the game close til the 4th and make a good run to finish it. A win against Cleveland would be so sweet…
@ Serbiaz Piston:
Da li si iz Srbije?
Sheeds playing!
I have a feeling that Sheed is gonna get a tech today! lol
good to see that NBA refs still dont call traveling on Lebron
go cavz theirs no hope for pistons lolz
man we do not like to pass the ball do we? only 3 guys at any point in time touch the ball. We have wide open guys who are not even touching the ball
whats uptoughguys pistons becoming floppers?
hamilton and prince flopping all the time
and rasheed wallace is screaming old idiot.
OK, khmm and iverson313, why do you even bother coming here, i dont understand why you have to come here and bring your negative comments, come on, stop being as$holes, no one needs that. So just get off, and shut the hell up
Hey khmm…
Watched all kind of sports for a long long time.
Your snotty remarks are not needed,what exactly are your letters to denote?
Krackheadmentalmidget?
Close huh?
Go have momma change those diapers!lol
cleveland fans have no good websites, so they come on ours. I mean it’s cool they steal everything else from us.
If you’re sick of that stupid handoff play curry drew up raise your hand
RAISES HAND
Verajo is the most gumpiest player in the league
is it me or do the refs just give every call to d wade and lebron
i mean damn
and i hope the bulls lose tonight
i am never watching the pistons play the heat, cavs or lakers. it so stupid and pointless. lebron, kode, and d-wade get every call and it makes me so pissed off. i cant stand the NBA and im never wathcing it again
^^^
thts the NBA, goes like this
Higher Market Teams= more foul calls late in games, less early
Lower Market Teams= little amount of foul calls early in the game, NO FOUL CALLS LATE IN THE GAME
= no wins for lower market teams
altan
u said perfectly
its jus not fair and im not jus saying this bc we lost
its total bullshit
I blame this loss on the coaching. I say that because Bynum was doing great… I mean his shot wasn’t going in but still his defensive presence was helping us stay in the game. Curry replaced him with Prince who had to guard James. I got that. OK, BUT I DID NOT GET WHY AI HAD TO GET OUT OF THE GAME!! :@ Rip was doing SHIT tonight. Right when he got in, he got a turnover. And took some more stupid shots after and Pistons lost.
Our lineup in the last quarter was doing really well. Curry shouldn’t have replaced ANYONE, not even Herrmann who was doing a fine job on LBJ.
BTW, thank god Bulls lost! 🙂
@ Atlans comment, so true :]
does the bobcat victory effect us?
wow they had a computer or something saying “DEFENSE” over the loud speaker every pistons possession. soooooooo annoying. i watched the whole game on mute bcuz i couldnt take it. Dont they have fans that can chant that? Cavs are garbage, i hope they get blown out in the playoffs, cant stand lebron or anyone on their team.
Yeah, and they’re not the only ones with that same annoying sound, e rich. I’ve heard other arenas use the exact same annoying defense sound.
lebron is a little cocky now…
You’d be cocky too if you were LBJ.
iverson played 18 minutes
curry you are an idiot
dumars you are stupid
piston fans if you believe your team is going anywhere with iverson playing less then 35 a night you are ignorant
why did sheed play so much in his first game back as a game time decision?
I don’t even mind that we lost tonight. If you look at the box score, we had a ton of guys that were scoring. the only guy that didn’t score was WH, and that’s because he had to guard lebron when he was playing… poor guy.
everyone else had at least 6 points and contributed in assists or rebounds. This was probably the most balanced attack we’ve had all year, and against the leagues best team (so far) on the road.
We fought and didn’t really give much away defensively. We could beat most teams the way we played today. Pick up that 3rd quarter slack and we’re in business. Everyone is now healthy and ready to go, well, after sheed gets back for serving his tech, which he did not deserve… again.
At worst, we play orlando first round at the 7, assuming they stand pat and boston stands pat w/ kg limping. at best, we move up to the 5 and play atlanta or the sixers. we can win first round and build momentum.
we’re showing signs of life and we’re still playing our bench regularly. we’ll see how MC does in the playoffs at playing bench, unlike LB and FS.
“Avery Johnson” fuck u and Iverson. Coach made good decisions this game.
Blameu2, i would love to see you rationalize the statement you just made…. how was it a good decesion? you take out AI who had been playing well and insert stuckey who had one of the worst stat lines for a point guard in recent memory. i believe he was 3-14 for 6 points and 1 assist…. Dreadful. the fact that ai played less minutes than everyone but hermann is an absolute joke and frankly disrespectful.
It was great to see the turd brigade reunited (pistons starting 5 plus iverson). The pistons should just let the bobcats knock them out of the playoffs. At least the bobcats stand a chance to win one game in the first round. The pistons will get blown out no matter who they play.
Did someone really call Cleveland a big market team?
bronzilla – we’re talking about the pistons here.. not your mom. We’ll be in good shape if we get orlando in the first round; maybe by then Curry will have learned how to use his players.
actually, orlando still can’t beat us in a 7 game series. i only worry about boston and cleveland. hopefully chicago gives them hell and they have to play atlanta, with atlanta playing like they did last year first round. we’ll see, that’s all we can say.
I hate LeBron,Wade,Kobe & co.! They are all MVP candidates because they are scoring 30 points per game,but nobody actually watch the game itself. They get all the calls from the refs. That’s about 8-10 freethrows a game,and they are shooting awful(for example yesterday:LeBron FG 9-24 or Bryant FG 11-28! wtf?
@ dunkonu: Jesam iz Srbije,ali trenutno zivim u Svajcarskoj =)
Pozdrav fanovima Pistonsa iz Srbije. Ja sam iz no1 fan iz Hrvatske.
Nice to see Bynum finally added on the left!
And evenmore the rotation by Curry. Hope he sticks by it. It was never about the personal stats with the Pistons, it’s all about the team play. Let’s go to work.
imagine the cavs, without lebron. Their all getting pretty cocky about all these games. Half the players think their so good, its all lebron
Pozdrav fanovima Pistonsa iz Srbije i Hrvatske. Ja sam iz no. 1 fan iz Slovenije.
Cleveland’s not even that good, a few shots and we would win this game, Sheeds back, I fell confident…lets get to another eastern conference finals…AT LEAST!!!
e rich I know that defense recording is so annoying. I think they do it because the Cleveland fans don’t know what to chant when the other team has the ball. lol. You would think the NBA Commissioner would crack down on the refs giving LeBra, Kobe and Wade a free ride to the free throw line. It would also be nice if when LaBra (or should I say Cry Baby) made a shot he would quite posing. What’s is looking for a centerfold in Playgirl? Anytime the game gets close you know which way the calls will fall.
ai got upset after only 18 minutes in the game… and i don’t blame him, he was the only one doing really good on offense and michael curry cant coach on the fly, he gets a gameplan before the game, and sticks with it no matter what, even if a bench player is our offensive spark and a hall of famer. i can’t wait to see where iverson goes next year. we better get the 7th seed and go at least to ECF
if the playoffs started today we would likely play orlando, then boston/philly/miami, then cleveland/chicago/charlotte right?
curry cant coach 4 quarter 4 mins left and iverson wasnt in the game !!!thats crazy then he drawing up plays with walter herman taking the last shot???what the fuck!! 4th quarters it use to be when we played our best basketball now thats when we self destruct cant win like that fire curry !!!!! he change the starting line up like 8 times we cant win like that 4 quarter max should stay in the game max is like big ben on the boards he hungry and definatly iverson what is curry smoking?? he not smoking kush 4 sho now sheed got to miss another game because of something stupid we just self detructing
Ok, let’s go one step at the time. The main goal is to keep no7 and play vs. Orlando in the 1st round. 😉
And yes, AI deserves more minutes. He could be our force from the bench but Bynum plays so well now… IMO Stuckey needs to get less minutes cause Iverson makes much better playmaker.
Curry, are you serious with not playing Iverson the last quarter and finishing with him? That was just plain stupidity on your part! I could’ve sworn that when we were down 67-65 and NO ONE was providing scoring that Iverson scored 2 straight buckets (with ease)to make it 69-67… and then DUMBA$$ Curry takes him out for Bynum( who i like btw)and he screws up along with Sheed’s dumba$$ too. This guy doesn’t know what he’s doing. Kwame actually has been playin decent lately which is good, but Sheed needs to go, I’m sorry he doesn’t do anything but bring us down not to mention his age being a big factor now cuz u can def see it in his game. he doesn’t go down for rebounds and then when he ends up goig for a rebound he feels it’s better to tip the ball rather than grab it with force. He’s a flatout joke and if he thinks about getting anywhere near the money he got from us these past yrs, he might as well call it quits from the leagure becuz he will be takin a huge cut after this non-productive season he’s had.
Screw Iverson… Who whines about coming off the bench and playing 18 minutes in the second straight game off a 1 month absence? Iverson needs to go, I cannot stand to see him on the court. He has hit the self-destruct button this team and they play harder and with more heart with him gone. Why can’t we treat a punk of a player like the Knicks did? Cause Iverson is so great? What kind of “HOF” player does acts this way towards his team? There is a fine line between cocky/confident and being an A-HOLE….
And to add to my previous comment, just because you’ve had a great career doesn’t give you the right to be an A-HOLE to your team… Iverson said it himself that his conditioning is at a 1 OUT OF 10… How does he warrant more than what he got? Why do we have to bend over backwards for this punk? We have a great lineup and EVERYONE deserves to get a lot of minutes but no body else complains, and if they do, it certainly is NOT to the national media. That’s the difference between a good team player and a self-centered dickhead. You gotta cut the cancer out. Sit Iverson like the Knicks did Marbury.
i love all you iverson haters. rip was playing shitty, that was iverson was out, you need to be happy be played as good as we did against a team like that cavs. At least we were playing like a team.
ps im dislexic
I respect Iverson’s skills but there is a lot more to basketball than how accurate you are at shooting the ball. Iverson is a shining example of that. Spoutin’ off to the media about how you “can’t believe this and it’s so tough for a guy with my resume”. That doesn’t help the team, that’s not me bein a hater, that’s flat out detrimental to a team’s psyche and progress. Who u wanna pass the ball to? A guy who can do their job and work to accept the cards he’s been given or a guy who complains incessantly about how he doesn’t think he should be dealt those cards?
Youd be mad too if you were one of the best scorers in the history of basketball and the rookie head coach of the team you were traded to played you 18 minutes in a game and sat you in the 4th while the rest of the team was stagnant.
Curry and Dumars are A$$holes. PERIOD.
all the hate man. The problem is that the pistons just aren’t that good this year. ‘Sheed hasn’t been the same as that one year, when the pistons got their rings, in retrospect, chauncey meant a lot more to the pistons that we realized at the time, particularly his ability to knock down those 3’s at the end of the game, and his passing.
But despite it all, if the pistons were winning nobody would complain about AI, or ‘sheed or curry. That’s the problem when your team just isn’t good enough. Everyone gets into the blame game, it’s curry’s fault, or rip’s fault, it’s nobody’s.
Can you imagine how great the pistons would be if they had lebron? Not gonna happen, but Detroit has the cap space to pay for him in 2010. Then there’s Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade.
the worst thing about detroit is the same problem that cleveland has, it’s not an elite city, so the big ball players don’t want to have to move here.
Cleveland is so incredibly fortunate that by an accident of birth Lebron James came from Akron. You know that’s the only reason he might stay, he’s a home boy.
But anyway you look at it, Detroit HAS TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT. The reason is that when that 2010 free agent class starts looking at what team they want to play for, the only reason they would go to detroit is if they thought they might win a championship. So it’s critical that we don’t screw this up, and make as long and deep run as possible.
We have to hope to beat Orland in the 1st round, then take Boston to 7 games in the second round.
Curry is a retard!!!! how can u bench iverson in the closing minutes nd play him 18 minutes the whole game. i feel iverson. joe dumars needs to go upto curry and ask him why the hell he isnt playn ivo. he was takin ova in the fourth quarter nd then curry takes him out. wat a retard.
I wanna make it clear that I don’t *blame* Iverson for our issues; I realize that teams will ebb and flows with their victories. I understand that this year just isn’t our year and we need to retool. My problem with Iverson is that he has done it with as little of class as he could muster without being out-and-out dropped from the organization. I don’t care if he’s one of the most prolific scorers in history, he’s a temper-tantrum throwing child and deserves to be treated as such. It’s not his fault, but like I said, it was the hand of cards he was dealt; a real “professional” deals with what he has and gives max effort and doesn’t complain about it. Never heard Jordan cry about not beating the Pistons back in the late 80s because he “didn’t play enough”.
I can’t wait for you Iverson f***ers to hit the goddamn road.
****in’ nomads.
I tell you what, in the games that Iverson has played he may score 20 pts a night, but it is at the expense of every other player on the court. Iverson may score a lot but one guy alone can’t take all the scoring opportunities away from a very talented squad and expect to win. And beyond that dude is atrocious on D.
Everyone on Iverson’s jock makin’ excuses, what happened to callin’ it like it is? Dude doesn’t fit here and I can’t wait till the end of the season and dude can mosey on elsewhere.
Aren’t the bench players supposed to come off the floor in the final minutes of the game. AI in his own admission on Sunday said his conditioning was a 1, on a scale of 1 to 10, so that accounts for the only 18 minutes.
Overall, what more could you realistically expect to happen in that game. The Cavs have the best record in basketball, were 32-1 at home (with only lose being a close game to the Lakers (2nd best record in the NBA), Rip, AI and Sheed just got back from prolonged injuries, have barely practiced and are not in game shape yet.
I think we more than held our own in that game. Las Vegas had us a 10 point underdog and we almost won it outright. Expect a win tonight, even without Sheed.
This “superstars not getting calls against them” thing is silly.
MaxiellEatsLittleOnes- I understand your point, but the fact of the matter is the game he played 18 minutes in when he was the only one doing anything late in the game. It didn’t make sense to take him out at that point, it looked as though he was heating up when he scored two straight buckets and the Curry takes him out. It was kinda dumb IMO. IDC if he said what he said in Philly, maybe he felt as though he could’ve done more and helped us come out of there with a W and not a L. Playing someone with as much talent as Iverson has for only a limited amount of time is just kinda stupid. Any other team would be happy with Iverson playin heavy minutes and him producing the way he has been for years, not the Pistons though. We are so set on this system of not having a prolific scorer, do you really think after Iverson any of these big time names are gonna want to come here? Let’s see what Joe D does, but I wouldn’t be suprised if he: A. Left the team alone for a few years or B. Got a mediocre player that is actually is a role player on another team. IDC about the salary cap room, I’m sure plenty of teams are gonna have that to compete with us. Players want championships and the crap play that we display isn’t gonna cut it. I agree with eric taylor though in the aspect of us trying to get as far as possible in the playoffs because that will be the only possibility of us getting anyone these next two seasons.
First Of All, It all about pistons they don’t need Iverson what they need is a team effort and they must beat Cavaliers. If they do, they will go to the top and get that trophy.
I BELIEVE IN THEM
Hamilton+Prince+Billups+ R. Wallace+ B. Wallace= Best Starting 5 and championship