BlueMonk

I don't think the ABC guys are showing bias at all. I have no problem with Michaels or Hubie Brown.

And again, Arroyo is horrible. Bad decision making and can't fight through a screen. The worst defender on the team by a huge margin.

Feels like it. The Pistons are missing some good looks. The good news is they're getting some. Rasheed has blocked how many of Duncan's shots? Amazing. They have to do something about him on the boards, though. He's grabbed like a hundred rebounds.

I wasn't being sarcastic! I was serious, I just posted before I saw your post. I agree with you.

Arroyo sucks. Uh, your job is to move the ball, not hold it as long as possible.

I hate the 2-3-2 format when the team I'm rooting for has the 3 home games. The problem is that no team ever has won all three of those middle home games except for the Pistons last year. That was the first time it ever happened. So the team that opens the series at home can drop one of the first two and still expect to have a good chance at winning one of three on the road. Then they can come home and win in 6 or 7. Bowen is a tremendous defender, by the way. The only small forward who compares is, ironically, Prince. I don't think the Spurs can matchup with Prince. But they have enough team defense with Duncan down low to cause Prince problems. The Spurs beat teams with significant injuries too, but for whatever reason, nobody talks about it. The problem with the Pistons is that they historically have done just enough to win. They play their best games when they have their backs against the wall. It gives the impression that they're not all that good. I'll say this, though: If they win this series, it will permanently silence the doubters. This Spurs team is really good. One thing Detroit has going for it tonight is a chance to catch the Spurs off guard. They've been known to blow a home game or two. They're reading the press clippings and everyone's saying how great they are. They've had a long rest. Detroit might be able to steal one tonight. We'll see.

Hobbled and old, Shaq is still on par with Duncan. Five years ago, it wasn't even close. Duncan's game is and has always been more versatile, but he's never been impossible to matchup against like Shaq was in his prime.

Yeah, that's true. The Pistons bench is not as good. Although there are some key defensive reserves that make them a bit underrated. People look at the point production and it's not pretty. But when Arroyo comes in and assists one of the starters, that's an effective contribution that isn't showing up as bench points. The Spurs have much better scorers coming off the bench, and there's the very professional big game play of Robert Horry. But in general, the Spurs are kind of like the Pistons only with a little more in the tank. They can afford to rest their starters more, while the Pistons play some key starters 45-48 minutes. The Spurs never do that. I have a lot of concerns about that.

I agree about the foul disparity, Matt. Detroit was too busy exploiting Shaq's (career long) inability to defend pick and roll jumpers to even try to get past the bigs for points in the paint. The Heat earned those trips to the foul line, for the most part. Having said that, this series was one of the worst examples of officiating I've ever seen. It was awful both ways. Barkley, who I rarely take seriously (but enjoy for entertainment purposes anyway) made a great point. The playoffs are supposed to be officiated differently. The teams are playing too intense, too much defense, to call the same things fouls. The flow of the game is destroyed. The teams don't stop playing tough defense because of it, so it doesn't have the intended effect of discouraging it. You can't allow layups, that gives the other team an edge you can't afford to let them have. So instead, the game grinds to a halt while both teams end up in foul trouble. I tell you, the stuff Shaq gets away with is old news, but it never ceases to amaze me. I guess he's just really hard to officiate with his freakish size. But the number of hooking fouls he commits as he clears a path to the basket is amazing. He had to practically remove Ben Wallace's dentition in game 5 to get whistled for a charge. I guess they couldn't look the other way when the defender was lying on the ground feeling around the court for his front teeth. The Pistons had chances to win in games 2 and 3 and wasted them. If they give away games against the Spurs, they won't recover. The Spurs are a championship team just like the Pistons. Sloppiness will be punished immediately.

The matchups for these teams are kind of strange. Big edge to the Spurs with their bench. Detroit's bench was built to beat Miami and they performed exactly the way they were supposed to. But it's not that well suited to beat the Spurs. Arroyo will be a pivotal guy in this series. He needs to get something going on offense when he plays. Billups and Parker are an interesting matchup. The strange thing is I don't think either guy can stop the other. Parker is probably a little too fast for Billups, and Billups is much too strong for Parker. But Billups makes big shots in big games, while Parker folds like a tent under pressure (see the 2004 playoff series Spurs vs. Lakers in games 3 through 6). Ginobili is not really a stoppable guy. I don't know who will guard Rip. Bowen? That leaves Prince without a suitable defender. If Bowen guards Rip, Ginobili can't guard Prince. I'm not sure Bowen can, either. Prince is a matchup problem with his length. Duncan is Duncan. Rasheed can guard him as well as anyone. But... Duncan is Duncan. Freed up from the impossible role of guarding Shaq, Ben will return to form as a huge presence as an off the ball defender. Mohammed and Nesterovic shouldn't present any major problems for Ben. But Duncan can rebound, something Shaq and Mourning weren't really doing effectively. Both coaches are great. The Spurs like to run, but in the end, I think the Pistons will handle that OK. It figures to be a slow paced, low scoring series. Both teams will play to their strengths. Spurs should win. But people in general are underestimating the Pistons again. They will cause the Spurs more problems than everyone thinks. The Spurs have looked really smooth playing their last two series against teams that didn't offer much defensive resistance. Also, although the media would have you believe that only the Pistons face injured teams, the Spurs had the benefit of facing Seattle (Lewis, Radmanovic) and Phoenix (Johnson) without key players. This will be the toughest test for them in the playoffs.

Amazing effort to win a game 7 on the road. I'm impressed. Lots of press about Shaq and Wade's injuries, but the Pistons survived the better part of two series with Hamilton totally out of sync. Nobody wants to talk about that, though. Anyway, facing the Spurs will be almost a relief after this series. The Spurs are a better team than Miami, but Detroit matches up better with them. Ben Wallace has spent a seven game series being essentially neutralized by being unable to do his usual off the ball defense. That will change now. Rasheed is the best defensive 4 around, and he will be able to handle Duncan one on one (not shut him down, but contain him). Ben can patrol the paint now. It will be a different pace, with the Spurs trying to run more. But the brutal impossibility of handling Shaq is over. It will be a great series, with the edge going to San Antonio. But this was a big win! YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!

Oh, I think the Kobe-Wade comparisons are on the money. I'm not saying that Wade is a ball hog with selfish ambitions. Far from it. But they played essentially the same way, at least in this one game. Wade is accustomed to having an open teammate, so he makes his move and gets ready to pass when he doesn't have a shot, but... there's no open teammate. The Pistons aren't double teaming anyone. It's an adjustment. Wade will probably improve in game two. But I think we also have to cut Kobe some slack and start crediting Detroit for a lot more of the problems the Lakers had. Everyone wanted to make the excuse that they imploded because Kobe wouldn't give the ball up. Well, when everyone's got a man draped on him, who do you want taking the difficult shot? Kobe Bryant, or Slava Medvedenko? Same thing with Wade. He was taking tough shots, but better him than Damon Jones, I guess. Anyway, I expect the Heat to bounce back. Rasheed won't play like that two games in a row. The way he stepped out worked well, but ultimately I'd like to see him try to post up a little bit, too. Regardless, this was a huge win for the Pistons. Game one winners at this level go on to win the series at a really high clip.

The Phoenix-San Antonio game was pretty exciting yesterday. The Suns had to play an emotional OT game to close out their series with Dallas on Friday night, then had to play a matinee game on Sunday? Brutal. Unfortunately for them, losing game one could be decisive. The Spurs don't f**k around. With home court advantage, it will be hard to beat them on their own court. Phoenix has made a habit all season of keeping the game close until the fourth quarter, then blowing the other team out by just running them into the ground. Yesterday, the Suns were the ones who lost it late in the game, whether by fatigue or what, I don't know. Pistons-Heat should be a competitive series. No idea what to say about the final outcome. The Heat look pretty solid and they're playing together as a team, making sacrifices to get wins. I do think Wade will be slowed down by the Pistons. If Shaq is effective, they have a good chance to advance. My biggest concern is the Pistons playing below their peak during this series. They did it during both of their other series and got away with it, but against Miami it will cost them.

Looks like the Pistons will face the Pacers in round two. The Celtics could still pull the series out, but Indy is too well coached and too playoff tested to blow this, IMO. I wanted Boston, because they'll take less physical toll on Detroit, but you get what you get. Indy will make this a tough series. They have lots of motivating factors, what with the brawl, the rivalry from last season's playoffs, the retirement of Reggie. But Detroit is a better team and should win the series. Should be exciting.

Looking forward to a great playoff season, with some of the most evenly matched series we've seen in a long time. There is no obvious favorite, just some really good, well matched teams. The Pistons should not have too much trouble with the Sixers. I'm glad we avoided an Indiana-Detroit series in the first round. The teams could easily meet in round two, but I would rather avoid that scenario altogether. Too much attention from the media on non-basketball related s**t and not enough on the games. I like the Heat over the Nets, but I think the Nets will be a tough first round opponent. Except for Shaq, the Heat are new to being the team with the bullseye on them in a playoff series. It will be interesting to see how the Joneses (Eddie and Damon) and Haslem handle it. The Nets have some tested playoff veterans. In the end, though, the team with Shaq should prevail. In the West, it's wide open. San Antonio and Phoenix are both favorites, with wildly contrasting styles. If Duncan is healthy, I like the Spurs. If not, Phoenix is going to be tough to stop. Most fast break teams struggle in the playoffs, but most fast break teams don't have all five guys who can run and shoot like the Suns, not to mention a low post threat or two. Stoudemire can post up and run like hell. We've never seen that before on teams like Dallas or Sacramento that fell short in the playoffs. Dallas and Denver are both good teams, too. Don't think the Nuggets will survive round one, though. San Antonio is too tough.