BlueMonk

Having said that, the offensive line is a joke. Harrington is getting crushed out there on every play.

The Lions aren't protecting Harrington, but he has to take advantage of the times when he does have enough time and he has an open man. He's not doing that. He's way off target even on those little dump offs in the backfield. He's a psychological mess right now. I never have the feeling that the Lions can do anything with the ball. This Carolina team ranked near the bottom of the league in pass defense, but they look invincible against the Lions offense.

Milicic is playing great! Never mind the numbers even, just watching him play like a regular basketball player instead of a kid who's cowering in the corner, waiting for the next beating from his abusive father. Darko is hustling on both ends of the court, playing with confidence and just playing basketball. I'm so impressed that I'm already convinced that he's going to be fine. By the end of last season, I had my doubts that he could even play in the NBA. Right now, based on what I've seen, he's taken the next step. I like Maurice Evans so far, and I think Jason Maxiell will be a perfect fit. The depth in the frontcourt is outstanding. After Ben and Rasheed, you've got Dale Davis, McDyess, Darko and Maxiell. Good mix of young and old in there. If the young guys perform at all, they'll be a fierce group.

Harrington and Rogers will end up on another team and become the new Manning-Harrison tandem. That's usually how it goes for the Lions, yeah....

The situation with Harrington really sucks. I agree with Matt, it's at the point where the team really needs to cut the cord. Sad to invest that high pick and all that time in the guy and not have him pan out. The truth is that it's common with high draft pick QBs. It could happen with Leinart next year, you never know. But just once, it would be cool to see the Lions get an actual break at the QB position.

Miami will be a major contender this year, obviously. I'm just confused by the overhaul. You've got Shaq saying he needed to add 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason because he spent too much time on cardio last year and wasn't strong enough (wasn't strong enough??). You've got two of the starters replaced with controversial choices. This was a really good team last year. I don't get the way they're blowing it up and starting over. They're only going to go as far as Shaq takes them anyway, so why not stick with a group who understood their roles on the team instead of adding guys who are notorious ball hogs? If Miami wins the title, they might point to these changes as the reason why, but I really believe it's all about Shaq and all the shuffling will only be incidental.

That was just an example. Rogers is an unproven entity. Huge amounts of talent, but nobody knows yet what he's capable of at the NFL level. There's a good chance he could still be a great player. My point is that his off the field problems won't deter teams from taking a look at him.

Don't underestimate what teams will take a chance on. As long as Al Davis is out there....

Yeah, this is unfortunate. The Lions won't miss him much for the next four weeks. It's not like he was a factor on the field at all. Maybe a few weeks of Mike Williams will be good for the team. Hopefully, Rogers can come back with his priorities straight and start to contribute. He's going to have to keep his nose clean from now on to save his career. If he doesn't come around, the Lions should consider moving him in the offseason. They have enough receivers and could probably acquire something really good in return. Some team will take a chance at Rogers if it comes down to that.

There is no comparison whatsoever between this Spurs team and the Bulls of the 90s. That team won 6 titles in 8 years. This one hasn't even made it to the Finals two years in a row in the last 7 years. The future remains bright, and they may prove to be a dynasty yet, but this team so far is not a dominant champion. They barely beat an exhausted Detroit team last year.

I didn't see the kind of evidence on that replay that overturns the call made on the field. But regardless, the offense looks awful. They wasted a really good effort by the defense. The offensive line finally showed up, but the backs and receivers looked awful. The receivers were flat out quitting on some of their routes, and when they had a chance at a catch, they just dropped the football. Harrington throwing it behind them didn't help. It's always something. Good pass, dropped ball. Bad but catchable, dropped ball. Great catch, ball is out of bounds.

I don't know that these moves improve the Heat. I'm surprised they shook the team up so much considering how close they came last season. You'd figure another year of experience for Wade and they'd like their chances. The problem with the moves is the chemistry. I'm not talking about in the lockerroom, but on the court. Williams and Walker? Two of the biggest ball hogs in the NBA. Are there enough basketballs on the court for these guys to share? The Heat are about Shaq and then Wade. They'll only go as far as Shaq takes them. He hasn't won a title in the past three seasons despite some strong supporting players. The moves to add talent to the Shaq/Wade core were tried in 2003-4 with the Lakers, and that didn't turn out so well. Sometimes having role players who know their place is more important than talent. I'm more worried about the Pacers, to be honest. I think they're the strongest team in the East right now, and extremely motivated.

Interesting article debunking the myth of Big Shot Bob.

You have to tip your hat to the Spurs. They made the big shots down the stretch and played great defense. The criticism of Tim Duncan throughout this series was overreactionary. The fact is the Detroit frontcourt plays some of the toughest defense anyone has ever seen. Of course he wasn't going to go 35 and 20 every game against the Pistons. But he was still the best player on the floor, no doubt about it. Nothing for the Pistons to hang their heads about, that's for sure. They had one hell of a season and removed any doubt about their 2004 championship with another great postseason. 31 playoff wins in two seasons isn't bad!

It's been an amazing series. I think Chauncey Billups is the series MVP, regardless of which team wins. Regarding Duncan's free throws, good point about the knees. If you watch Duncan, when he really takes his time at the line, he shoots it well. When he hurries, he doesn't. And the difference seems to be he goes through some kind of mental checklist, including using his knees, because when he doesn't, the free throws almost always come up short. In my book, this game seven comes down to San Antonio's home court advantage and Detroit's mental and physical toughness advantage. It figures to be a monster game. I was astounded to hear that the Spurs have never played a game seven under Popovich. Considering how many playoff series they've been involved in over all those years, I have trouble believing that.

I've never seen that look on Tim Duncan's face that I saw tonight. He and the Spurs looked heavily demoralized.

What a clinic. Where's Duncan? Ginobili? Parker? This is on pace to be the worst blowout the Spurs have ever faced in the Finals. The national media is taking a big sh** right now. What will Tim Legler write tomorrow morning? If the Pistons lose the next two, this will still be a rewarding Finals for me. Just watching the Pistons show how f**king good they can be against a great team. This team was no fluke last year, and they're no fluke this year. They are the real deal.

I'm withholding being impressed until the Pistons win this game. The Spurs could afford the difference between 3-0 and 2-1 in this series, the Pistons could not. But the Spurs don't want this to go back to even at 2 games a piece. As much as they have to like their chances with home court, they're going to have last year's choke fresh on their minds, and the Pistons will have a lot of confidence. Tony Parker plays about as well in big games as Curtis Joseph does. They can't take any chances. The Spurs want to take care of this thing tonight and get a 3-1 lead. So if the Pistons win, I'll be impressed, because they will get the Spurs' best shot and it will mean a lot more than game three did.

Two teams have, actually. It's the 3-0 hole that signals the end.

Correction: Ben's two close friends (one of whom was named Sam, hence the "RIP Sam" on the inside of Ben's shoes) died in a fire during the East Finals. It was not a car accident.

Sure. Ben's son had surgery to correct a hernia and apparently wasn't recovering as quickly as hoped. Then, Ben's close childhood friend was killed in a car crash. Both of these things happened in the past couple of weeks. The stories today reported that Ben wore a memorial note on the inside of his shoes in memory of his friend.

That was a great effort by Detroit. Duncan was 5 for 15, worst game in his career in the NBA Finals. The Pistons got a lot more whistles go their way tonight, and for once the Pistons just played through the b/s instead of going beserk and melting down. The Spurs got off to a fast start with the rest they had coming into this series. That should even out now, with fatigue more even between the teams. Hamilton played great, overcoming everything Bowen could throw at him tonight. And Ben awoke! There are obviously personal problems slowing him down, but he bounced back big tonight.

Absolutely. Complaints about the officiating are hard for me to understand. My complaint about the officiating in this series is the wild difference between how closely they called game 2 after letting so much contact occur in game 1. But the NBA is always like that, and it looked to me like they called it the same both ways. The Spurs were smart enough to figure it out early on and adjust, the Pistons weren't and didn't. The aggressive team gets the benefit of the doubt, and the Spurs had way more energy (which is inexcusable for the Pistons down 1-0 in a huge game 2). Detroit may show up strong at home, I don't know. But the Spurs have completely outplayed them in these two games, no excuses. The Pistons need to come out on fire on both ends of the court and outhustle the Spurs. They have to be the team with the most energy. The officiating problems will take care of themselves if they do that. One thing that even Hubie Brown is failing to acknowledge is how much of the blame for the "easy shots" the Pistons are missing is a result of the Spurs' defense. They close in on the shooter so incredibly fast that the Pistons are rushing those shots. If they take their time and set their shot, it will likely be blocked. The Pistons did the same thing to teams last year, and they also didn't get credit for it, and everyone called it ugly basketball. Sorry, but the defense has a lot to do with that by altering and rushing the shots. It would be nice for the TV guys to at least give credit where credit is due.

You gotta hand it to the Spurs. They're just that good. They've learned a lot since last season. They choked away a series against the Lakers. Got a big lead and then were just dissected in the next four games. They're smarter now. The Spurs' weakness is Tony Parker. But they can easily overcome that. So much depth and the defensive tenacity is incredible. This team could be a dynasty if the key players stick around. Very impressive.

For a game against a rested Spurs team on their home court, this really isn't a terrible game for the Pistons. They can play much better than this. The defense by the Spurs has been great, but the Pistons got more open looks than I might have expected. Adjustments will come and the Pistons have plenty of room to improve. Rasheed's defense on Duncan has been very impressive.