Cruiser008

Agreed on all accounts. In fact since both Kindl and McGrath play for Kitchener and I live in the area, I'll have to go down there to watch a few Rangers game and (pretend) to scout our prospects myself when I get the chance!

Just read the article. Man listening to Hakan gush about guys I've never heard of makes me wanna become an amateur NHL scout! His enthusiasm in this article (as well as the one on Lofberg), as well the lengths he goes to make sure we get these guys, is incredible. Now if only our NA scouts had similar tricks up their sleeves to hide prospects!

Oh man wouldn't it be awesome if they tried Palmeiro for purjury? Being rich and all he could hire some hot-shot Latino lawyer and have the guy spout off quotes like "If the needle don't fit, you must acquit!"

This just in from Barry Bonds! "It's not cheating unless you get caught."

A 3rd line forward?? Damn that's pretty underwhelming for a 2nd round pick.

Good article. I agree with virtually all of their plans, although Filppula perhaps could use another year in Europe as well.

IMO this was a gutsy move on Dumar's part, but the right one. Hopefully we get someone good (e.g. Flip). But knowing Detroit's management I'm sure they have a plan in place already. At least I would hope so.

Now that summer is here (and hockey and basketball are done) I usually turn my attention to tennis (and golf to an extent). Wimbledon is my favourite tennis event of the year, particularly since I like the serve-and-volley game. Both defending champions (Federer and Sharapova) come in as favourites, with Serena, Davenport, Roddick and Hewitt not far behind. Once again both French Open champions have crashed out early. There are few other sports where surface makes such a big difference.

Venus vs Davenport should be fun tomorrow. Then Sunday it's Federer vs. overmatched victim (sorry Roddick fans, but he's not there yet).

Well the regular season is over. I figured it would be appropriate to start a separate thread for the playoffs, since the subtitle for the other thread doesn't really fit anymore, and the playoffs ARE a whole new ball-game. The Pistons will take on the Sixers in the 1st round, personally I think this is a good matchup for the 'stons since AI will be out to prove something against Larry Brown, but on the other hand LB may know AI's tendencies. Also Philly isn't very big up front, and AI aside the Pistons have the edge at every other position. Prediction: Pistons in 5

A few final thoughts about Game 7 (and the series) from me now that's I've had some time to digest the disappointing loss yesterday. 1) Popovich is a GENIUS; he called an early TO to calm down Parker thus allowing him to hold his own against Billups, he at least had some part in bring Duncan's confidence back, esp. at the free throw line, and the most ingenius move of all, putting Bowen on Chauncey (which works because Billips isn't particularly quick)and Parker on Rip (which works because Hamilton doesn't have a post-up game) during the 4th quarter 2) The officials called the game pretty tightly (although it was a fairly reffed game), a fact that hurt the Pistons 3) Hunter and Hamilton let Detroit down; Lindsey especially couldn't hit an open jumper to save his life 4) Lastly, while Hunter and McDyess played admirably, the lack of a dependable back-up at the 2/3 positions REALLY hurt Detroit in this series. Most of the time neither Hamilton nor Prince had a jump in their step, and by game 7 both players were running on FUMES. It's awfully tough when almost half the team has nothing left in the tank. Looking ahead, the Pistons will DEFINITELY be back, but they've missed a GOLDEN opportunity. We were fortunate that most of our lineup was healthy, whereas teams like Miami and Phoenix had their hopes derailed by significant injuries to key players (i.e D Wade and J Johnson). It would also be nice if Detroit could get a better regular season record. However I don't know if that's likely since so much of our game relies on energy and hustle, and as Detroit showed in these playoffs, there's only so many times you can go to the 'well'. As for next year, the keys for Detroit are Delfino and the development of Milicic. I haven't criticised Joe D. for picking him yet, but next year is gonna be the make-or-break year for Darko. It was enjoyable following the Pistons this year, but despite having seen an epic NBA finals, I'd still say that game for game, minute for minute, NOTHING beats the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"We didn't lose the game, we just ran out of gas at the end". Honestly though Game 5 was what really killed us, I don't know if even the Pistons last year (or the Lakers championship teams for that matter) could have won two games in San Antonio. *Sigh*... Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs; they were the better team tonight.

The game has been GUTWRENCHING. 12 mins. left.

The Detroit Free Press had asked posters to give their best 'Front Page Headline' SHOULD Detroit win tonight... a bunch had things like "REPEAT!" and "This is what we do!". Here are few of the... um more creative ones. Spurs fold in front of Full House Darko 2 LeBron, Carmelo, Wade 0 We Messed with Texas! Man I CAN'T wait for tip-off!

A few things I need to get off my chest 1) Yeeeeaaah!! (no dancing bananas yet, but you can damn well bet they'll be out in FORCE on Thursday if Detroit wins!) 2) The Spurs attempted 28 threes today and made only 8.... keep it up! 3) Horry's Oscar-winning (for best short film) MJ impersonation notwithstanding Detroit has outplayed SA in EACH of the last 4 games, an encouraging sign. 4) So much for SA's superior bench; tonight BOTH teams went a whole 2 players deep! 5) History is not on Detroit's side in Game 7 (it rarely is for the underdogs in the NBA), but maybe when Rip says "They don't know that's what we do! They don't know that's what we do!" he's also referring to Detroit's propensity to REWRITE history. One can only hope so. Can't wait for game 7!!!!!

Sheed is taking a LOT of criticism today and most of it is DESERVED. I mean trying to call a TO when there was none left, knowing seen C-Webb do it time after time on the news and with UNC..... WTF R U kidding me?? I suppose losing in OT isn't as bad as if we had lost in regulation on either 1) A game-winning tip-in by Duncan, or 2) A technical foul.... at least we still know that Timmy is UN-CLUTCH. For game 6 (assuming we can't win running away, 'cause the Spurs are freakin' amazing at home. P.S. I do hope Detroit can prove me wrong on this assumption) all Detroit can do is play scrappy, keep the game close and force the ball into Duncan's hands during crunch time.

That was absolutely GLORIOUS.

Given the reffing situation (see the link to the article), I GUARANTEE a win tonight by Detroit.

Here's an interesting twist on the so-called biased reffing in these NBA playoffs. Who's the biased ref?

We've been thoroughly outplayed since about the 4 minute mark of the 1st quarter of game 1; simple as that. Now let me address the officiating. The Spurs ARE getting more calls than us, but it's not as if the officials are out to get us at all. Of the players on SA, only Duncan and Ginobili are getting the benefit of the doubt on 50/50 calls, aka the 'Star Treatment'. Ya know why? 'Cause they are STARS! This goes back to the point I made earlier about the NBA's fundamental flaw with respect to fairness; namely the fact that its a STAR-DRIVEN league, and as such the quantity and quality of favourable calls a player receives is (in general, especially in the playoffs when more people are watching) directly proportional to a player's star power. This is precisely why Detroit was getting ripped off by officiating so much during the Miami series (Shaq and Wade are two of the most popular Superstars in the league). With San Antonio the reffing has been practically fair, and frankly Detroit needs to DEAL WITH IT, a LOT better than they have been.

This game is pretty much OVER. I'm disappointed not because we're gonna lose, but more because we're not playing up to our potential.

Well half way through Game 2 and we haven't figured out a way yet. Maybe it's just an adjustment period when it comes to defending a dynamic lefty, 'cause otherwise there's some major problems. Offensively we simply don't have any game-breakers. Normally our patience in our offensive sets allows us to score enough points, but the Spurs rotate so well (it sure as hell doesn't help when Popovich knows LB's playbook inside out) that our patience is being tested.

One could argue that Duncan isn't even the best PF in the league (KG, even if he isn't better, is more versatile). Timmy D may not have to guard Sheed though. Robert Horry I suspect will be used on Sheed early and often. Horry is actually very good defensively, not to mention a monster in the clutch.

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. I agree with most of your points. Game 7 was pretty fair for the most part... certainly better than game 5. And it's wasn't like the whole Heat team was getting calls their way; it was just Shaq and D Wade for the most part. IMO the key against the Spurs will be how well we defend Ginobili. Duncan will get his 20 pts and 10 boards, but Sheed should prevent him from dominating. Parker, who has yet to face ANY resistence in the playoffs thus far, should see his effectiveness limited for Hunter's persistent pressure. So that leaves Ginobili. I expect Prince to draw the assignement of guarding him, with a dose of Hamilton. Rip however, must deal with Bruce Bowen on the other end, which is a tall order considering Bowen most recently reduced Shawn Marion to a bystander in the SA/Phoenix series. Offensively speaking Chauncey and Sheed MUST step up for Detroit and be more consistent for Detroit then they were against Miami (although Sheed may already have his hands full on D). Chauncey is the key since Parker is the weakest link in SA's team defence. The thing that will really hurt us is the fact that the Spurs bench is far deeper and significantly better than ours. Given that we've just completed a grueling series against Miami, our lack of depth could become the deciding factor if the series goes deep. Also if Detroit hands San Antonio even 1 free game (as we did with that careless effort in Game 2 against Miami), we won't win the Series. Prediction.... make that predictions (yes I'm being cheap!) Detroit in 6, or SA in 7

Pistons/Spurs should be great! For now though I'm just glad we won. There are definitely similarities between this Series and Det/LA last year. Similarities: - Both Miami and LA were led by 2 Superstars - Both Miami and LA were favoured - Both Miami and LA had home court advantage - In both Series Shaq was unstoppable, but Detroit for the most part shut down all the role players Differences: - LA did NOT play 'The Right Way' whereas Miami did (for the most part) - Miami's role players stepped up, whereas LA's faltered But the biggest difference (IMO) is that last year there were people (i.e. Laker haters) including the media who wanted to see us win (esp. since LA already had 3 championships). This year however almost no one, esp. the media and of course the Powers that Be wanted to see us back in the finals (esp. since the brawl and all). But the Pistons sure showed them!