Piston fall in Boston
The Celtics took the season series against the Pistons last night with a 90-78 win at home and securing a playoff birth. Detroit played this game from behind from the opening tip when Bostons went up 17-3 early. Detroit tied the score early in the fourth quarter, but Bostons went on a run to crush all hopes of pulling this one out. A game that started off Bostons way, that looked like it was going to go down to the wire, finished with a sold Celtic win.
Key Points:
Key Points:
- The Celtics came to play, Detroit (excluding Sheed) didn't.
- You have to give it to Boston, they played a great game led by 31 points from KG.
- Kendrick Perkins 20 boards and 10 points. Was it not a concern that he was gobbling up boards?
- Tayshaun was invisible offensively until the second half. He did pull down 10 boards and finished the game with 7 points.
- Where's the urgency?
- No excuses. Had the Pistons really wanted this one they could have taken it. Sheed was the only one out there that looked hungry for the W.
- Very physical game starting with the elbow to Rip Hamilton from Ray Allen, who had a horrible game going 1-for-9 from the floor for 3 points. Give it to Rip for hounding him all night.
- Sheed really was the only one who kept the Pistons in the game. RA finished with 23 points and 4 boards. I do think he took a bit too many 3's late in the game, but you have to think it may have been because he tweaked that ankle. Help him Arnie!
Photo/Getty Images
- 5 Pistons bench points.
- I wasn't surprised that Flip went with Dixon over Afflalo in a game like this. Does that show his true colors? Maybe, but if Dixon or Hayes would have knocked down some shots I probably wouldn't be second guessing.
- Do you really believe that this game meant more to Boston than Detroit? I don't. I do think Boston was hungry and The Pistons went in there thinking they weren't going to have a problem.
- The late fourth quarter collapse from Detroit was hard to watch. I wonder if that's humbling for the team, who let it slip away after tying the game.
- Maxiell, if you're going to foul Rondo that hard make sure he doesn't make the dunk. Please.
- I am sorry for all of you who had to watch the Boston side of this on League Pass.
- 18 of Chauncey's 23 points came in the third quarter. Chauncey shot just 4-for-12, but went 14-for-15 from the stripe.
Photo/Getty Images
- The Pistons never led.
- "He did his thing tonight," Amir Johnson said of Garnett. "I couldn't really stop him tonight. He played good." Via MLive
- Rasheed's late fourth quarter fouls on Garnett, within seconds of each other, really hurt the Pistons down the stretch. Not only did Sheed have to leave, but having him play with 5 when the game is on the line is never good.
- 13 first quarter points and 11 fourth quarter points.
- Crushed on the boards 50-38.
- Chauncey and Sheed shot 14 three's between them.
- "Part of the problem is when things start going south, our guys think they can do it by themselves," Saunders said. "We don't have those type of players. Our players are geared towards somebody else making a play for somebody. That's how this team is built." Via MLive
- Do you really want to watch the Highlights for this one?
- Friday MSG against New York, where the Pistons got blown out in their last meeting in in NYC.
- Leave your
frustrationsthoughts in the comments, even though many of you left them last night. Sometimes we need a good night sleep to see things more rationally. Right?
posted by Natalie Sitto at 9:46 AM link to this post
52 Comments:
I knew Flip Saunders was a peice of shit from the get go..and everyone jumped down my throat for sayin it..but now i see more and more people agreeing with me.. that that goofy jew nosed prick single handedly destroyed a dynasty..why did LB leave anyways? why did dumars let him go? i hate flip saunders more than ever and if he doesnt leave if we lose in the playoffs i will never watch this team again till hes gone!...GO TIGERS...FIRE FLIP PLEASE! wat somone needs to do is blow out KG,LEBRON,KOBE,AND PIERCES KNEE WITH A SLEDGE HAMMER SO WE CAN JUST WIN IT..DIRTY OR NOT WERE FROM THE MURDER CAPITOL
I can't blame this one bit on Flip Saunders...everyone jumps on him because he hasn't won the big one, and yeah, I understand he isn't the best coach ever, but there is only so much a coach can do....these players aren't in the NBA because of how good their coaches were growing up, they are in the NBA because of the talent they all possess...I blame the team for getting down early and letting it get to them. I also blame the fact that we as fans pour our hearts and souls into things like the Pistons and as much as they care about winning a title, it is still just their job to play and thats exactly how they played last night, just like it was their job, they came and went through the motions and had no emotion.
They've gotten too comfortable just coasting along to 50+ wins every season and not having the urgency when its needed in the playoffs. Something needs to shake this team up to get them to play with the urgency into the playoffs.
If I was Flip, the next big game the Pistons have against like the Cavs, I would start J-Max, Amir, Jarvis, Dixon and Stuckey and show the starters that they can't just assume they are always going to be the go to guys...shake things up a little!
I honestly and seriously considered this question last night: Are the Pistons trying to lose this game on purpose?
Thoughts?
Jason ... I've said all along why not mix up the starting lineup, especially against the "weaker" teams. For the experience. Not so sure about against Cleveland. But do you think the true starters would have a problem with that?
nat or anyone, who was the reserve guarding garnett last night??? (sorry, i was just listening to the radio, i don't have nba league pass, im from LA)its obvious that ratliff could be a handy man...sheed and dyess practically did their job, but bcuz of foul trouble, they couldn't play agressive down the stretch. max and amir played decent, except garnett is more experience down the stretch. thats when rat's presence would matter a lot, i know we had max and amir at the same time during seattles game, but who are u kidding if u think seattle's game and boston's games are the same. im excited to see rat to on the floor with either one of our bigs. he'll blend in perfectly.
I hate to say this... yesterday was just horrible defense... no boxing out.... kendrick perkins - 20 boards... thats a no-no if u have to win and where's the ball movement. we dont have a players that can one on one and win the ball game...i thought that we could have won the game had it not been for some stupid decision making from players and shooting so many from downtown when we should be driving in and putting there players in foul trouble too. Theo needs to be dressed for action immediately.
I'm going to touch on the last post made. I definitely don't think they tried to lose last nights game, but I honestly believe it will be good for us in the long run and here are my reasons why; 1) This pretty much locks Boston into the #1 seed, which means they will likely play the Cavs and Lebron in the second round. No offense to Orlando, our likely second round opponent, but I would much rather play them then Cleveland...2) The Pistons always play better as the underdog...now Boston will be the favorite and the media will be hyping them up big time b/c they won the season series and will have home court advantage(rightfully so). For whatever reason the Pistons always play best under these circumstances...3) This ties into my last point; In the last 5 eastern conference finals, we are 2-0 when we don't have home court advantage and 0-3 when we do. 4) After reading the quotes from Pistons players I was glad to see that no one was making excuses about the loss, which these guys tend to do (i.e. Cleveland last couple years). They could have talked about arriving in Boston the night before at 3:00 AM after playing a game, while Boston has been at home for a week and hasn’t played since Sunday, or some of the questionable officiating…no fouls on Boston until 1:15 left in the fourth in an a very physical game? The Pistons obviously respect Boston, which is a good thing.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Pistons are definitely going to the finals now, but I truly believe losing this game increases our chances.
Also, I wanted to discuss Flip. I'm not saying he's the best coach, but some of the hating needs to stop. It's not his fault our starters come out with no energy and we're quickly down 17-3. It's not his fault that we were quickly jacking up shots in the last 5 minutes of the game with no ball movement...this is on the players, we aren't a good team when our guys try to take people one on one. When we execute his offense (ball movement from side to side, screens, player movement) we are a very efficient offense.
Natalie, thanks for the great website and all the effort you put into it.
some thigns i noticed from yesterday, rip is a pure shooter and a great scorer but smetimes he feels like if he gets close to the net then he has to jack it up, i can tell sheed isnt down with it sometimes too, he just needs to cut that down abit, it was really garnett who killed us last night ther ewas no D on him, rsheed looked out of it other then jump shooting, his D wasnt there last night, but hey its only the regular season
and who cares about home court anyway, we didnt have home court when we won it all
Well, at least Detroit Children's Hospital won that Colgate Fun Center thing.
need 4 the lead
Um...why wouldn't we go with Dixon over Afflalo any night?
the "X" factor was Tay! and i gotta question, "where was he tonight?" Tay the big reason why we fell flat on the offense tonight. it doesnt take a rocket-scientist to see that when Prince does well, we're an incredible team. Was Paul Pierce really doing that great defensively on Tay? (Give me a break...that guy can't D worth crap!)
2nd point is this and i dont know if anyone touched base on it...BRING BACK LINDSAY!
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the good side:
I thought playing Juan Dixon was great move, but you definitely shouldnt play him with Stuck in the lineup. Juan needs to be within the veteran presence since he doesnt know the rooks yet and dont trust them enough to make a play for him. And Stuck needs to alway play alongside one of our Vet Backcourts. Same goes for Arron.
the lost doesnt mean much. have faith you bleeders of red/white/blue. We're still the BEASTS OF THE EAST!
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ps: watching this game from NBA League pass and listening to those motherfawkin Boston announcers made me wanna puke! i nearly wanted to strangle them each time they made a retarded comment about everything....gosh, shoot me please!
Mr Hamilton needs to bring game!
He was doing the D thing... but...
As far as the difficulty of watching this game last night I totally agree with you, it was just hard to watch. We have the best roster in the NBA as far as I'm concerned. So why is it that a lot of times we have only two to three guys step it up each night? Games like this we need our guys to be aggressive. There is no doubt they were tired and Boston was well rested. But we can't rely on Chauncey showing up in the third and forcing fouls just to get back into the game. And as much as I like Tayshaun, I would say he looked scared to hold the ball on the offensive end last night. We need guys to be aggressive, I don't care how tired they are. Other wise we might as well hand Boston a free ticket to the Finals.
And is it just me, or does Ray Allen seem extremely cocky?
Not to stray away from the discussion about the game, but I was honestly at wits end with the annoucing of this game. It was just absolutely hard to listen to the ignorance the duo was putting out. For example, all his comments about Chauncey and his comment about Maxie's foul on Rondo -- "They let him get away with one."
Really? Why did I not hear the same comment when Ray (aka Jesus) gave Rip an elbow to the neck? Why not comment about all the hacking down low and the complete lack of calls going the Pistons way? I know its frustrating as an opponent's fan to watch Chauncey use his wits and strength to get himself to the line. He is not D.Wade but he is effective in his abilities.
Just call the game as you see it... instead of making true basketball fans want to shoot themselves.
Praise Sheed's individual effort all you like but it's a team loss. Sloppy play on both sides of the ball. I'm sure Wallace doesn't care that his boxscore looks pretty, rather that the team got the L.
Yeah gotta say it was hard to listen to as a general basketball fan, not even taking into account my bias towards the Pistons.
Simply put, this team was tired. Playing a back to back is extremely tiring especially since they were not able to put the Sonics away earlier. I believe Tay played 40 minutes in that game and then had to hound Pierce this game -- not an easy task.
One concern, the lack of rhythm of our second unit in these games of recent. A lot has been made of our bench strength, but it is JUST the regular season, and playoff time is a whole different beast. I have my serious doubts about who will be able to get buckets from this unit in the playoffs. I sincerely do not see the comparison between the bench of the '04 Champions versus this one. Mike James was lights out along side Memo and Corliss. All three of those guys are known for their offensive game. I can't say the same for Maxie, Amir, and Affalo. Also, Stuckey is just simply reckless at times and throws up awful shots/layups. When baskets are hard to come by, this inability (or better put, his rawness) will be highlighted a lot more and will stand out in games.
I also had to listen to the Boston announcers on League Pass. Those two gave a new definition to the word biased. I understand pulling for your hometown team, but can we be a little bit objective and give credit where credit is due. Apparently, the Celtics never foul anyone, or never commit any violations. My favorite comment was when they gave Chauncey that technical for arguing in the 4th, and one of them said it was about time because the Celtics had already been whistled for three techs for defensive three seconds. How are those two even related?
STUCKEY=MATEEN CLEAVES
AFFLALO=GOOD D LEAGUER
DARKO=COULD HAVE HAD MELO,WADE,BOSH
DUMARS CANT DRAFT WORTH SHIT IM SICK OF THIS TEAM..
TIGERS BABY 2008 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Where is Lindsey Hunter in a game like this? Detroit is 2-0 this season when Lindsey plays. Oh, and for those keeping track, those games are at Boston and at San Antonio.
Why do they never try, they didnt look hungry at ALL!!!!!!!
THEY LEFT AMIR IN WAYYYYYYY too long he was getting burned down low by KG
It is absolutely pathetic of rip to go 1-9, if you arent having a good game pass the damn ball
Detroit did not play D at all AT ALL, they also didnt push anything in the paint, did they even have a dunk?
After watching the game last night, a couple of things became very apparent to me. The first being, that come playoff time, our bench will be a non-factor. Too much inexperience. Johnson and Maxiell bring great energy and hustle, but offer no scoring threat whatsoever. They pick up garbage points on putbacks, and can block some shots, but that is about it. Stuckey is just too out of control right now, and throws up too many wild shots to be a real scoring threat (basically he is what he is, a rookie). Afflalo is a non-factor, because he is rarely in there during crunch time anyway. Dixon and Hayes are way too inconsistent. They might light up the scoreboard one night and disappear the next. I think this bench has potential, but not enough real game time to be counted on in the tight late round playoff games.
Second, I thought the whole point of developing the bench this season was to have the starters rested and ready to go for games like these. But then when it comes down to crunch time, they are still having meltdowns, and not getting it done much like the past two seasons. I know in the grand scheme of things this game means jack squat, and I still feel like this team is good enough to win it all, but I can't help feel like we just got a big fat preview of what the playoffs will look like this year.
this game was a joke... the pistons fell flat on their face just like amir when kg burned him for that monster jam.... if the pistons are gonna get shit on like that i seriously doubt our chances in a 7 game series with them or maybe even a less talented team
anybody need cheering up?
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/rasheed_wallace_has
flip is a crap coach always been and always will...rasheed showing off to the boston fans diden't help detroit. Rip is in a slump. this is not looking good for the playoffs. CAN FLIP JOE D!!!!!!!!!!!
We just looked tired the whole game. Bottom Line we weren't ready. Maybe it was travel, maybe it was the storm, maybe a little ref help might have been good (where was the offensive on Garnett for shoving Amir off with the elbiow before the dunk....?), but we just didn't look good period. I think the bench could have helped us more for sure than Flip gave them a chance to.
the game came down to who played better defense...(and the fact that at times detroit "couldnt throw a beachball in the ocean" to quote chauncey billups.) I completely agree about the boston announcers. I watched the 4th quarter with the tv on mute. if i didnt know any better, id think Tommy was gay with the way he talks about KG. Every shot the pistons made it was because boston allowed it...also the comment about ray allen needing to "take things into his own hands" by elbowing rip hamilton was absolutley ridiculous. He also had the nerve to call chauncey billups a flopper. ummm no its called a pump fake, you dumbass. then garnett uses the same move and all of the sudden its a "good play". But all the 7 times chauncey did he was simply "a good actor".
yeah i watched it on channelsurfing.net and having to listen to those boston announcers ruined the whole game.
i mean at one point the announcer kept saying that rondo should take advantage of rip when they switched rip and chauncey, dumbass doesnt reallize that rip is way faster than chaunce
At least there was this on msnbc:
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23494766/
Pistons have to like their chances vs. Celtics
Yes, they've lost 2 of 3, but Detroit style could prove victorious in playoffs is the header.
Bad game, move on....
unfortunately i can't pin this one on saunders. we needed shots and dixon was more likely to get them than afflalo. why he didn't is beyond me.
why on earth did no one come to help amir when garnett had the ball that close to the net? the kid's a good defender, but nobody can stop kg when he's that close.
sheeds foul trouble hurt amir's performance, he doesn't do as well with the other bigs.
we can't have any more games where tay, rip and chauncey aren't shooting well. what is up with rip's shot lately?
in the end, though it was horrible to see (and even more horrible to hear, dear god heinsohn sucks all joy from the game), i'm ok with the loss. this team's number one problem seems to be motivation. and losses like this *should* let them know that they'll have to fight harder for this championship then the last one. they're going to have to fight harder than they ever have in their lives. they need to know that.
Garnett kept punching Rasheed in the mouth, yet Sheed tried to out-three the Celtics?
Mark my words: With the Sheed we saw last night this will never be a championship team. We have enough guys that shoot threes, and much better than him to boot.
Too much bias in this piece Nat. You say Sheed/CB shot 14 threes between them but Sheed took ten of them by himself.
There is a reason why TD is a winner and that's because he sticks to him true game. With that said I do love this blog and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Sheed was so bad last night. I don't know how he got 23 pts but he was shooting so many bad shots. Nat put Sheed and Chauncey combined for 14 threes but sheed shot 10. Garnett showed why he is better than sheed. Sheed even lost the handle on a three. Tell me what you think Nat. Sheed was terrible, and he didn't even give you a both teams played hard. Change the name of the site.
I think even Sheed knows he's no Garnett. What disgusted me was not getting outplayed, but the way he went about trying to score.
ALERT: You are the 6th best 3-point shooter on the team, behind CB, Rip, Tayshaun, Hayes, and Dixon. STICK TO YOUR STRENGTH.
Until he's willing to change, as well as other habits such as Rip/Tay isolations, i'm not going to waste my time. What this team should excel at is BALL MOVEMENT
ok enough about shhed all I read is sheed and his shots but please don;t forget who has carried this team so many time this seaosn it has been sheed... Sheed left the floor and went to the locker room due to dis ankle does it ever make you wonder that he was trying not to do anything more to hurt it.. he could have been like other players who go and sit on the benhc and leave it up to everyone else(L. James with the score pinky figure on his non shotting had sitting out a few game)
the pistons should not have one this game due to not bring it... I have one question how ever I know tay was off in this game but when he finally hit some shots (6 point in a row) flip sat him, I know he wasn't hitting but whenhe finally did flips takes him right out, I have seen this so many times this season which different players amd I do not under stand it...
hahah hey... u guys know me... i always say im down for nationally televised games because the announcers are unbiased, despite what many say... hey i love bill walton too even tho many of u hate him... and even other commentators i often like to listen to because even when they're biased i love seeing the pistons prove them wrong, and even they often have to say good things about the pistons every once in a while, even when the pistons lose... they may say "good win because that's one heck of a team"
but NOT boston... even last year when boston sucked, i hated their commentators... they've always been like this... they are the personification of what i hate about local commentary...cuz they are the worst of the worst... no hating, i mean i dont care that they were pro-boston, they're suppose to be... but the insult the intelligence of the viewers... maybe ONCE or TWICE they said good things about the pistons, even when they rallied... and EVERY call or no call was a bad one when it favoured the pistons... EVERY single one of them... it was hilarious, even when the highlights made it clear it was a good call or no call.. they would laugh and snicker, and say pistons got away with one... im not talking one or two events like this, every single time... it got tiring, wow... and then on the other end, they wouldnt admit when celtics got a nice call
urghh... so for ONCE i agree with most of u, it was brutal listening to that commentary... i seriously dont think u can compare bill walton to them, cuz at least he flip flops when the pistons do well and make a push... these guys are just blind
Mannie, you do a great job describing Boston's commentators and I totally agree. I'm pretty much stuck with watching everything on league pass, and I watch more than just Pistons, so I can tell you I have listened to exactly what you described numerous times this season.
As for everyone else, you can get off the cliff. It's one game. Yeah we wanted it, but it's over. It didn't do much to change the standings and likely will not change the postseason either. If anything, I think it will make the Pistons realize they need to bring their game next time.
I am not ready to fire Flip either. He hasn't pushed them over the hump for the ship, but how many out there have done a better job consistently. Overall, since he has come to the Pistons, he has probably done a better job than anybody but Pop with San Antonio. Yeah, some coaches have stepped up for a moment, but right back down afterwards.
I'm not ready to throw the towl in on Flip or the team. I also like our odds much better if folks beleve we can't win it. When we are on top we relax and get sloppy. When folks disbelieve, we prove them wrong.
i was seriously yelling at my computer (where i was streaming the game) because of the Boston announcers. Tommy Heinsohn in particularly. He was just plain ridiculous.
I won't say anything about Tommy Heinsohn the player, but Tommy Heinsohn the announcer is the worst i've heard in all of sports (and I've seen lots of games from around the league). He's like a rabid drunk Celtics fan. I'd be ashamed if I was a Celtics fan. He represents an organization with such a rich storied history in the poorest way possible.
I've even read that many Celtics fans hate this guy.
This loss was even more frustrating because of this guy. I hope he's gone by playoff time.
we all should smoke the herb with sheeeed !! lol
hey the guys at redsarmy are talking trash about maxiell having to get used to rondo in the future and how the pistons kept using the back to back in the blizzard excuse.
Consider this with Pistons seasons, end of season standings and postseason results...
~03-04 / 2nd in EC / NBA Champs
~04-05 / 2nd in EC / EC Champs
~05-06 / 1st in NBA / Lost EC Finals
~06-07 / 1st in EC / Lost EC Finals
Given recent history, I think we WANT to end 2nd in the EC.