With the 102-106 loss in Indiana Saturday night the Pistons are now a half game behind the Bulls in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Richard Hamilton is saying all the right things:
“It really don’t matter to us, to tell you the truth,” said Hamilton. “We’re already near the bottom in the playoffs, so at this point, regardless who we play, we can’t worry about who we’re going to play. We’ve just got to know that we made it to the playoffs and hopefully we can have a run.” Via The Detroit Free Press
Tayshaun is realistic:
“There is no worst-case scenario for us right now, the way we’ve been playing all year,” Prince said. “The best-case scenario is we got in the playoffs, so hopefully we can go in there and do some damage. I don’t think being the eight-seed that we’re in a situation we can’t handle. Any situation would have been tough for us, the way we’ve been playing, the ups and downs we’ve had all season.” Via The Detroit Free Press
If Detroit stays in the 8th spot they will face The Cavaliers, who locked up the best record in the East. There is a bright side that Dave Dial points out:
“The Pistons season this year has been pretty tough on fans to watch, but can fans imagine what would happen if Detroit upset the Cavs in the first-round of the NBA playoffs? However unlikely it is for that to happen, it’s something for Piston fans to get behind. Denying LeBron James and Cleveland the chance to contend for their first NBA Title, while possibly ensuring that James lands in New York for the 2010 season, may just be something for Piston fans to get excited about.”
The race is not over yet, with two games to go Monday nights game at home against the Bulls just keep getting bigger.
Sheed picked up his 17th technical foul Saturday one more and he would be suspended. So he’s good for the Bulls, but if he picks one up on Monday, he doesn’t play Wednesday in Miami. Let’s hope Sheed stays calm, especially since Kwame Brown’s hamstring is still iffy. As for Sheed’s techs, all is cleared come playoff time.
So Detroit’s fate rests on their last two games as well how Philly and Chicago finish. Unfamiliar territory? Yes, but it just makes it that much more exciting. Plus….doesn’t Detroit like playing as the underdog that flies under the radar? Well if this scenario doesn’t speak volumes to their preference, I don’t know what does.
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I’m very happy that ‘Sheed isn’t suspended for the game agaisnt the Bulls. It means that we have a legitamate chance nto tie them up again. These last couple of games will be exciting.
Seeing the Cavs beating the Celtics right now, I think we should not be relaxing and we should do everything possible to reach the 7th seed.
Look at the bright side of this. We won’t have to set through 20 plus games during the playoffs just to see them loss in the finals. It would be nice to see an upset with Cleveland. We owe them that much!
Oh my gush Cavs just dominating the Celtics..
The truth is I’m scared for the Pistons if they have to face the Cavaliers. I would much rather see a Pistons/Celtics series. Orlando in the first round would have been ideal but I think this team has a legitimate shot at knocking the Celtics out. Either way, it’s going to be an exciting series.
Im scared to see them with cavs too but lets face it, we would have to meet them at some point anyway. So why not now? Is it really that much of a difference specially for our Pistons? For them anything but championship is a lost season.
dudes u honestly cant be wishing for us playin the cavs, i mean even if we are at the top of our game and everyones playing above average we still have to worry about jewbag david stern and his referee. puppets to send calls lebrons way every second, im thinking sterns plan is to have lakers-cavs finals,
the lebron-kobe facing each other in the finals would rack up so much revenue for the league through advertisment and just overall attention the finals would get, prolly even more so than celtics-lakers ‘historic rivalry’ bullshit that was made up last year just to generate as much revenue as possible.
and for fucks sake, its pistons fault they gonna end up 8th and get their doors blown off by the cavs, we had a legitimate chance to be 6th or even 5th in chart but no we lost all our MUST win games, so if we exit in the first round i dont wanna hear ppl say ‘oh if we gotten celtics or magic we would have advanced to the 2nd round’, thats crap and u deserve the seed u get at the end, i mean i hope they win their last two games and maybe get 7th seed…
It really doesn’t matter who we play because in the end we will end up playing whatever team we want to avoid. Look at it this way if you think David Stern is going to make sure that the Cavs make it to the finals than what makes you think if the Pistons play the Celtics that everything is going to be different? At the end of the day its all the same.
Lets just get it over with and play whomever is ready for some pistons basketball!
I get what ur saying Andrew but will we be so much happier to lose in 2nd round than in the 1st?? Whats the fuckin difference? Its still shit. Sometimes when I see what kind of calls Pierce gets I rather take Lebron traveling plus stern reffs.
u guys are right, its almost no difference whether we lose in 1st or 2nd round except minor details like we get to watch pistons for few weeks longer and enjoy play off basketball, our bench would get more experience and maybe if we’re super lucky and make it to 2nd round we can face someone easy like hawks or orlando. i wish our team the best this post season and hope we can make some sort of an upset whether its celtics (somewhat likely) or cavs (not so likely).
lol check out what guys from boston globe think who celtics should play in the first round
http://tinyurl.com/cpg6bv
its pretty funny….
wow
I can see I am on my own with this one…but I WANT THE CAVS. F it..Our best chance to beat em is 1st round. WE CAN BEAT THOSE GUYS.
I know its a different league now, however, the key to beating Cleveland is to knock LeBron on his ass HARD. Do this often and early.
Pistons are going to get a shafted whistle anyway…so make these fouls count. Take Intentionals, flagrants… whatever.
Kwame Brown should foul out of every game he plays in, with all 6 fouls on LeBron.
I want the Cavs and I want them 1st round. I have a feeling Cle is the only team to shake the Pistons into the playoff mentality needed to make a run.
We lose..so what..we were supposed to. F the Cavs.
I think that Pistons have a chance against Boston or Cleveland. I would love to knock out the Cavs, but Sheed and Rip have to keep their cool when the whistles are blowing. Wasn’t it the Cavs series when Sheed went bleeping during a postgame interview about Anderson “floppingjao”? I actually hope Sheed gets a technical in the next game and sits during the Miami game. This way he’ll have space for 2 technicals during the playoffs.
Prince can defend great against James
If we get the Cavs, then Sheed/Dyess have to stay close to Ilgauskus, b/c he has a pretty good outside shot. (side note: I heard an announcer say that Ilgauskus was a point guard before he had a growth spurt)
But one question remains for me is “How will Curry handle the playoffs?” He usually creates a questionable rotation in the 4th quarter.
Every players technicals are set to 0 at the beginning of the playoffs.
Folks, andrew is right.. I share the same sentiments with him. This is a Money Revenue League controlled by David Stern and the Basketball Mafias.. NCAA and Euroleagues are much better.
Kudos to Junior on Kwame B, to use his 6 fouls on lebrontosaurus. that’s right make him bleed or something.. LOL!
Wallace has to unleash his fury against Anderson Vereflop.. i will be glad if Sheed threw an elbow right on Vereflop’s face.. LOL!
Go Deeetroiiit Baskeeeetbaaallll!
Gimme a break! You seem to be a bunch of name calling conspiratists. Basketball Mafias? Jewbags and puppets? How stupid and obnoxious! If the Pistons play well, they’ll advance. And then the media will come up with a catchy tagline like “the underdog Pistons have rallied” or some such. Look at the stats for this season and you will see (duh) that the most likely outcome is the Lakers in the west and the Cavs in the east. That’s what the media is hyping and in case you hadn’t noticed, hype is the their job.
I have to disagree to Rip’s comment this time. This loss will most likely prohibit them to earn a sixth seed, although there’s stil a slim chance. If they came into this game with his kind of mentality, you know that a team who only plays for pride might just beat them like what actually happened. As opposed to what he said, this game really mattered a lot to them and they blew it.
It is about money dear….
Understand this but love the game anyway.
All the world revolves around it,superstars come and go but the game lives on.
Their are the chosen(those that can be used to make money) for the league: and then there are other very talented players who because of lack of marketability
for whatever reason never become STARS!
It’s not a matter of just talent alone all you have to do is watch this game to see that.
I don’t care for Stern either but you just have to play because you love the game,Sheed must learn this
not let the calls faze him and enjoy the game!
Winning is important but it isn’t everything!lol
Detroit Basketball forever!
Whether we play the Cavs or the Celtics in the first round, I’d like to see some really great basketball. A fight to the finish; take the series to 7 games; and no 20+ point losses. Personally, I think we can take the Cavs. It’s gonna take a mental toughness that I know our guys are capable of.
Flip Saunders to WIZARDS!!
What’s funny to me is that the Boston Globe guys don’t realize that we’re much better with Poison Ivy. I think we’re set to make a run no matter who we play. Hopefully we pull off these last two wins, and go into the playoffs with momentum.
If we win these next two games philly could ned up losing both their last two and we could easily be plaed in the 6 or 7 seed! I know that’s not likely, but there’s a possibility…I sure don’t wanna play the Cavs ( they murdered the Celtics last night!) i hope we can end up a bit higher in the rankings… But we have had our ups and downs like they said and it really doesn’t matter who we play at this point, we just gotta go out and play to the fullest basically…
I agree, Richie, that was weird! Just as kooky as that Rick Kamla diatribe (see April 9 at detroitbadboys.com). I thought these sport commentator guys were supposed to know what was going on, but boy, was I wrong!
We do NOT want the cavs in the first round. Remember this is a pretty physical sport and anything can happen.
In retrospect, seeing how great Dwayne Wade is when he is healthy, and how bad wade is when he is injured, I think the 2004 championship run owes a lot to the fact that Wade wasn’t at his best that year.
Now, I don’t want to wish injury on anyone, BUT, when you face a team like the lakers or the cavs, you always want them in the finals, not in the 1st round. In the first round, everyone will be healthy, because they have been healing up. Hell, look at the pistons, both ‘sheed and rip weren’t played much last month for one reason only: to heal up for the playoffs. Come playoffs, everyone is as near 100% as possible. And there will be injuries, every team has them, especially players that have been rushed back like Lamar Odom. Odom will be back for the playoffs, but the pace of a championship game might be too much for his knees and bam, he’ll be gone.
It’s no joke, you do not want the cavs round one. We want the celtics 1st round. Once you make the finals, anything is possible, but that first round, everyone is back, everyone is healed up, and the pistons are an underdog, I don’t think we can beat the cavs 1st round.
I think anything is possible in the later rounds, as players get t-ed out, there are injuries, and some players just get tired from the pace of a playoff intensity game.
Detroit could end up at the 6th spot afterall. If we win, and win big tonight, we will have the tiebreaker vs. chicago if we end even with them. On the other hand, Philly has two very loseable games, Boston and Cleveland. Dwight may get his wish afterall.
Well it is the cavs…and since there are no newer threads I’ll state my peace here.
I hope we play well,even if we are swept which I smell in the air.Hope all the games are close.
And by the by we faced an injured Wade in 2005 not 2004.Then in 2006 Miami faced an injured Sheed: that was the playoffs in which the Lebrons took us to seven and Sheed turned that ankle so badly.
Really don’t think it’s been right since.
Anyway everyone have a great evening….
amen AMEN!