The Pistons Play Smarter When your big man goes 16-for-21, feed him the ball until he pukes. Feed it to him until Bill Laimbeer and Bob Lanier foul out. Feed it to him until the final buzzer. But that didn't happen. It's hard to say a guy didn't get to shoot enough when he got 21 shots, but with Shaq in Game 4, that was the case. On the other hand, when Rasheed Wallace was hot, the Pistons went to him. When he went cold, the Pistons fell back to their safety net -- the backcourt. They ran the break when they had numbers and they were patient in the halfcourt offense. The Pistons made each situation work for them. But the Lakers can't seem to get their heads together. When asked why he was shooting so poorly and what he could do to improve it, Kobe remained steadfast. "I just gotta shoot through it." Famous last words. http://www.nba.com/finals2004/blog.html Sounds familiar doesn't it??? theSAGE
I think we have to blame this on media We heard almost every game, those announcers are saying that "shooters shoot, when they are in the slump, they keep shooting, and they will make big shots on the end." etc. You can see this mentality on the rockets team sometimes as well.
??? I was saying MJ never had anyone like Shaq, Longley and Kerr would not be having 32/20 nights. That's why when you saw MJ passed to them ocassionally, you could not assume he would pass to the hot hand all night long if he had Shaq on his team. But on the other hand, we can be almost certain that Kobe would pass to Kerr or Longley occasioanlly if he was in MJ's position. If I am not mistaken, Shaq got most assists from Kobe in all those championship years.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...80.column?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba-lakers On the other hand, there's no other place like Philadelphia, where fans don't hold grudges longer than a decade or two. "Allen, I know there was talk of issues with me," Brown says, "but most of the issues were not because he didn't care or he didn't try hard. "I was always frustrated that he never realized the impact he had on young people and how much more he can do for our game because of how special he was. And I didn't know if I could ever get that across. Not because he didn't want to, but because of a lot of issues around him. "And then when I left, it was almost like I was a traitor and in my heart, I thought it was all I could do. I couldn't do anymore. So that bothered me because I thought people in Philly would say, 'Hey, the guy went as far as he could, the team wasn't going to get any better.' "So I take the Detroit job, I think for the right reasons, and then I impact Rick Carlisle's life without realizing it, even though they had made a decision that he's gone. Didn't give that any thought. "It happened so late, I impacted my whole family. Shelly [his wife] was ready to go to Houston, she had that in her mind. I left the meeting [with the Rockets] and I was going there. "LeBron [James] called me the day of the lottery, right after [the Cleveland Cavaliers] picked his name out. He calls me, so I thought that was a possibility. "And then my owner [76ers' boss Ed Snider] calls [Clipper owner] Donald Sterling even before I even resigned and said, 'Larry's not coming back. I want you to know that his wife's from there and that would be a great place for him.' "This thing happened so suddenly, so we weren't prepared, so the kids stayed in school. Our kids are so happy in Philly. So it was really more difficult. I felt like I've been on the road for 100 games…. "I was starting to remember a lot of things that happened with Madison and L.J. [his children with Shelly] that I realized I missed with Kristie and Alli [his grown-up daughters from his first marriage], and I didn't want that to happen again. And, lo and behold, here I am in Detroit and they're there." One thing about being Larry Brown, you're never short of options. We were so close to get Larry Brown as our coach. Could we be 3-1 up against the lakers if LB was our coach?
I'm ready to conclude we cannot communicate on this one. It makes for boring reading for everyone else anyway. Peace.
Sure, if we had Billips at the point Rip at the 2, and either Ben or Sheed to man the 4, plus a better bench. Take nothing away from Larry Brown, but Detriot was pretty good last year (WCfinalist) and they are loaded with athleticism, toughness, and skill at every position, and are deep to boot.
Ralph Wiley (RIP) wrote the following column on May 27, during the conference finals. The Lakers Armor is Tarnishing (excerpts) This seems as good a time as any to examine the Laker Myth -- the premise that this is one the great basketball teams in recorded American history (if not the greatest team in history) because it is perhaps (and perhaps not) about to win its fourth NBA title in five years with Kobe and Shaq, the Irresistible Force and Immovable Object of basketball, and various supporting players. That is the premise. Everything -- the great wheel of NBA commerce (of which ESPN and I are happy partners) and ancillaries such as fame, celebrity endorsement income, V.I.P. parking, great dip, vestigial cameos in movies, pretty much everything, perk-wise, that comes along with that central myth, including a certain amount of protection provided by everything from NBA referees to kick-ass defense lawyers. Everything works off that, this myth. But, like most things in sports, it is in point of fact only a myth. In fact, if either the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Detroit Pistons were at their full-strength rosters, and sound of mind as well as body, each of them, it can be argued, could win the NBA title; and one of them should win the NBA title this year. I do not include the Indiana Pacers because I do not see them as yet capable of beating the Lakers, unless coach Carlisle, the Cable Guy, suddenly turns into Bruce Almighty. Not even then. He doesn't play. Whether or not the Wolves or the Pistons actually do it is almost a moot point. One of them should, and one of them just might -- that one being the Pistons. But these Lakers already pulled one rabbit out of their hats when Derek Fisher, a fortunate man, career-wise, flipped in an improbable shot with 00.4 seconds left to win pivotal Game 5 of the San Antonio series. That's how fine the difference is at this level these days. If Fisher doesn't throw that one in, it can easily be argued that San Antonio could be going for its third NBA title in six years. So what would that make the Spurs? See what I mean? Myth. Thus, the point has already been made. ..... (continued, see site link) ------------------------------------------ Wiley rocked.
Guess that's your word. Man, I don't see any logic there. MJ passed to crappy players, that is a fact. Kobe passed to crappy players, that's a fact too. And Kobe passed to Shaq a lot, but not all night long, especially in game 4, that's a fact too. ALL I am saying is that you can NOT assume that MJ would pass to Shaq all night long, there is no logic or fact to lead there. I just happen to believe strongly in logic. Peace
i bet lakers will win today. Phil jackson threw out some bait to the refs and they will fetch it. Just something to watch. Im not saying the refs will decide the game.
Faker will come out strong in the first quarter but burn off quickly, the Pistons are on such a high right now that they will not let this thing go back to LA. Larry brown will have this team ready for tonites game like he did for game 3. Pistons will be ready!!
Terrible National Anthem, especially for a singer as legendary as Aretha. Don't try to throw in your own little twists. Don't put music behind it. Don't put the song to a beat. Just sing it. The only successful twist of the National Anthem that I've ever heard is Marvin Gaye's from a past All-Star game.
I have a terrible feeling that Kobe will go nuts and Lakers will win this game back to LA. Pistons can't allow other Lakers to beat them.
That no-call by the refs when Kobe faked Prince into the air at the end of the first quarter was the NBA's way of saying, "We've had enough of the Lakers. No more Jordan calls for you."
halftime lakers finally have another person in double figures pistons have more personal fouls than the lakers YET they are up by 10 points GO PISTONS GIVE KARLA WHAT HE DESERVES.....FUTILENESS AND A BARE HAND!!!!!!!!
I'll go insane if I have to hear another word from the ABC crew about the Pistons' amazingly high shooting percentage. THEY ARE DUNKING THE BALL, YOU MORONS. THAT'S A 100% SHOT.
