# This upcoming pistons series..



## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

This will be the toughest series they face all playoffs long barring facing SA in the finals. The thing about us is that we can play the half court game with detroit, and it helps us a bit because we can actaully utilize big z.. Over the past 2 years we have played detroit VERY well and lebron has dominated on a couple of times.. i mean when youre at the level of a lebron or kobe you cannot be stopped the only person that can stop you is yourself


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

I hope Cleveland gives their best effort and makes a fight of it. Every young and inexperienced team unfortunately faces growing pains. The Pistons are going to be very sharp, very crisp. The mistakes we made against the Wizards (turnovers in late game situations) will kill us. Zydrunas has to stand his ground. If he gets pushed off the block again, like he was against Washington, then there's a chance Detroit's physical defense will pitch his finesse shots to add insult to injury. I want to see the Ilgauskas who played ping-pong on the offensive glass and didn't always resort to finesse, sweeping hooks. How about some aggressive hooks moving towards the basket and not away from it?


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## Morongk22 (Jan 11, 2006)

This series is going to be very tough and we have to come out and play physical with these guys(something we don't know how to do). Gooden or z needs to lay a big hit on sheed early on to let him know they arent messing around. We are also gonna need some solid play from marshall, snow, and hughes if we plan on extending this series past 4 games.

I would be very shocked to not see damon jones playing this series, hughes and flip are up and down and eric snow is eric snow. We need to find a consistent outside shot to keep detroit honest so we can open up the inside and find z, gooden, and varejao and damon brings that to the table. 

Like last series marshall will have a big impact and if he can shoot the ball well that will make things easier for everyone, expect him to come out firing.

I would say this series goes 5, maybe 6 games, we have to win 1 of these first 2 to give ourselves a shot.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Everybody is counting the Cavs out. I think this will focus the team and raise the level of play. We can play with Detroit. It's just about making shots and rebounding missed shots from Detroit.

Plus everyone is saying Lebron won't be able to do **** against the Pistons. Hopefully that just adds fuel to his fire. People don't understand that there is nothing that can be done with Lebron if he decides to go to the hoop everytime down. And hopefully he accepts the challenge.


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## GM3 (May 5, 2005)

Good to luck to you guys.

ECF needs some new blood.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Grandmazter3 said:


> Good to luck to you guys.
> 
> ECF needs some new blood.


I told you guys. We'll play you again. In the ECF. :clap:


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## JPSeraph (Dec 17, 2005)

I won't be surprised to see the series go six games, but the Pistons are IMO too good this year for even LeBron to find a way to upset them.


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## cima (Nov 6, 2003)

think big. pistons are overrated! cavs in 7, LeBron certifies himself as the GOAT, retires to go play football, only to return three years later right in time for his prime, and proceeds to win eight championships in nine years (he loses the sixth due to injury). BOOK IT!


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

People act like Detroit is one of the all-time great teams. They are just one tweeked ankle away from being the Pacers. This team is beatable. And tomorrow the Cavs will show ya.
In the game the Cavs blew apart Detroit here were the numbers:

18 from Z
13 Gooden
Lebron 30/7/7
6 from Snow
16 from Hughes
13 from Marshall

2 from Newble

That's it.

That's doable.

We shot 43 percent from the field and still won by 13.

We won the rebound and the turnover battle. That was the big thing.

You gotta believe. All we need is Lebron to have an average series, Z to play like he did in the regular season. Marginal contributions from Flip/Larry. Marshall to knock down his shots. And we're there. Gooden and Verejao just have to do their business on the glass.

Remember. We have the best player in the series.

If you ranked them out:

1. Lebron
2. Rasheed
3. Billups
4. Ben
5. Z
6. Hughes
7. Hamilton
8. Verejao
9. Prince
10. Gooden

This is doable. If Lebron, Larry, and Z can outplay Rasheed, Chauncy, and Ben--why can't we win? And why is that impossible?

It's time for Larry and Z to justify their paychecks.


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## Copper (Dec 9, 2004)

You would seriously rate Hughes over Rip? It is true that an injury will turn a series. However as well as LBJ has done....the Cavs will have to be at the top of their games and they will need the Pistons to not be. All things being equal? If the Pistons are playing at their upper level and the Cavs are playing at their upper level? the Pistons win every time. They just have a more complete roster, and experience through the roster.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

The Cavs at their top level cannot be beat by anyone. We've not really seen many games where the Cavs all have it clicking. But you're talking about Marshall hitting 40 percent from 3, getting double digit boards. Z with a double double. Gooden rebounding like a madman. Verejao gettings steals, charges, and putbacks. Hughes dropping 30 with about 5/6 assists. Damon Jones getting about 15 points from 3. Flip Murray going to the basket hard.

We've never seen all of these elements happen at the same time. And the few games where the Cavs have had 70 percent of them going, they've destroyed their opponent. You can't guard Lebron James if the Cavs shooters are knocking down shots.

But whatever. Series starts tomorrow. I think people are foolish to think that the Pistons are going to have an easier time with the Cavs than they had with the Bucks.


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## notting_hill (Dec 18, 2005)

What we benefit from is Everybody'S feeling that it will be such an easy one. Cleveland has met the expecatation so far by going to second round. After 13 years, passing the first round will give the players relief on this round. It is Detroit who is supposed to win and this will put preassure on. Bu we feel Ok. And I believe we will get some help from big Z and gooden which may result in a surprise win for us.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

That's a good point. The team will definitely feel like they are playing with house money. The downside to that is that if the Pistons come out and destroy them early, they might fold it up. But if they get an early win, wow. That would put so much pressure on the Pistons. Especially since there is almost a week between game 2 and 3. If the Cavs can win one of the first two games, especially game 2, then the Pistons have to deal with an entire weeks worth of press about how vulnerable they may or may not be.

We know for sure though that Lebron and probably Z are not going to come into this series content just to be there. Lebron wants to write his legend. Z wants to win before his clock runs out. If they can get the rest of the team to believe...wooo it'll be fun.


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## www.sportsinferno.com (Apr 22, 2006)

First off WTF is a "withnesses" notting hill?


Next, when has Cleveland played Detroit in the Playoffs? Of course you CAVS fans wouldnt know much about the playoffs but it is a different bird...


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

www.sportsinferno.com said:


> First off WTF is a "withnesses" notting hill?


I would assume his english isn't perfect, being that he's from turkey. How is your second or third language profieciency? Are you posting in message boards in it? How about if you are going to troll our posters, you not post on this board. Let's talk about basketball, how about?


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

notting hill is Turkish: I wouldn't be ripping him for his English


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> It's time for Larry and Z to justify their paychecks.


This is the bottom line, for me.

We need CONSISTENT production from our top 3 guys.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

futuristxen said:


> I would assume his english isn't perfect, being that he's from turkey. How is your second or third language profieciency? Are you posting in message boards in it? How about if you are going to troll our posters, you not post on this board. Let's talk about basketball, how about?


:clap:


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## -33- (Aug 6, 2002)

futuristxen said:


> People act like Detroit is one of the all-time great teams. They are just one tweeked ankle away from being the Pacers. This team is beatable. And tomorrow the Cavs will show ya.
> In the game the Cavs blew apart Detroit here were the numbers:
> 
> 18 from Z
> ...


After 30 minutes of laughing, I wanna ask a few questions about these rankings...

--Hughes better than Rip?? When exactly has he shown that this season, or any season? 

--Varejao better than Prince and Gooden? Varejao doesn't even start! He plays hard, but he's nothing more than a high-energy sub that contributes based on hustle. Prince is a borderline all-star, how could you ever dream that Varejao is a better player than him right now? 

--Hughes/Bron/Z outscoring Sheed/Billups/Ben sounds great, but you forgot about the next 9 advantages they have moving down the board. Rip vs. Snow? Prince vs. Gooden? (Wash) McDyess vs. Marshall? Delk vs. Damon? The Pistons depth just keeps coming, and the Cavs lack of depth keeps getting bigger.


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## Copper (Dec 9, 2004)

Hey future...would you like to recant your rankings? Do you seriously believe that if Detroit and the Cavs both play at their best....the Cavs would win? c'mon...The Cavs may steal a game or 2 in the series but that would be if the Pistons went cold from the field. The Cavs shot well yesterday and the Pistons starters left in the 3rd quarter with a 30+ pt lead. I know they wont shoot that gaudy of a # in nearly most games, but the Cavs will have to learn a little defense if they want to win a game.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Shaq_Diesel said:


> After 30 minutes of laughing, I wanna ask a few questions about these rankings...
> 
> --Hughes better than Rip?? When exactly has he shown that this season, or any season?


22/6/5 player when healthy who also gets you almost 3 steals per game vs. a 20/3/3 guy--is 2 more than 1?

Rip fills a niche on a team. Larry does multiple things well. His shot and finishing ability got murdered this year because of the hand injury, but his slashing ability stomps Rips to pieces. His defense...let's just say if Larry was in the Pistons system he'd probably average almost 6 steals per game. And his passing--nobody is going to ever let Rip Hamilton run the point.



> --Varejao better than Prince and Gooden? Varejao doesn't even start! He plays hard, but he's nothing more than a high-energy sub that contributes based on hustle. Prince is a borderline all-star, how could you ever dream that Varejao is a better player than him right now?


The only reason Anderson doesn't start is because he was injured for half the year, and Mike Brown didn't know what he had. But it says a lot that the future of a player like Gooden who is a double double threat on any given night, is in doubt. Anderson's quick feet, ball handling ability, passing ability, and shooting touch(free throw line exempted), in addition to his ability to jump passing lanes and block shots, and draw charges, are pretty unrivaled. If Prince weren't on the Pistons I doubt he'd get half the attention he gets now. He's passive. A streaky shooter. He's not that quick. If he didn't have the Wallace's behind him, he'd get torched by most 3's in this league. He's not better than Gerald Wallace for instance. And I don't think he's better than Jarred Jefferies. Jefferies is what Prince would look like on a team not the Pistons.



> --Hughes/Bron/Z outscoring Sheed/Billups/Ben sounds great, but you forgot about the next 9 advantages they have moving down the board. Rip vs. Snow? Prince vs. Gooden? (Wash) McDyess vs. Marshall? Delk vs. Damon? The Pistons depth just keeps coming, and the Cavs lack of depth keeps getting bigger.


Actually it would be Rip vs. Flip, Damon doesn't play, and I already covered how Verejao is a better player than Prince. McDyess is better than Marshall, but not to the extent that the Hughes/Bron/Z trio should outscore the pistons trio. I'm looking for them to outscore the Pistons trio 70-40. 20 from Hughes and Z. 30 from Bron. Get 10 from Marshall and Flip. A pair of 8's from Gooden and Verejao. 6 from Snow. That's 104. Cavs will win most games against the Pistons if they get that. I don't think it should be unreasonable fofr that kind of output to be expected from this group. That's not even going nuts and shooting lights out. That's just a good game from the team. That should be the result for at least 50 percent of the time, and increasing as the years go up. This team is underachieving right now. You really have to questioin at this point Mike Brown's decision to bench Flip for Larry. Because Larry never has found his stroke. Whereas Flip has lost his. We were playing so well that last month. I think Mike may have tinkered too much.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Copper said:


> Hey future...would you like to recant your rankings? Do you seriously believe that if Detroit and the Cavs both play at their best....the Cavs would win? c'mon...The Cavs may steal a game or 2 in the series but that would be if the Pistons went cold from the field. The Cavs shot well yesterday and the Pistons starters left in the 3rd quarter with a 30+ pt lead. I know they wont shoot that gaudy of a # in nearly most games, but the Cavs will have to learn a little defense if they want to win a game.


Sorry. But it's just one game. And it was on the Pistons homecourt. We still have 3 more chances to steal one on the road, and the Pistons have yet to beat us on our court in this series. Right now both teams are just holding serve. I'm almost glad it was a blowout in game 1, because it will wake the Cavs up and we'll come out more focused in Game 2. If it had been a close loss, they might not have been as receptive to changes in the game plan. But after a loss like that, Mike Brown will have their full undivided attention. You can win the first game by a thousand, and you still don't get a free pass to the next round. It's a 7 game series, margin of victory in the first game doesn't mean a damn thing. Especially since it was on the road anyways.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> I'm looking for them to outscore the Pistons trio 70-40. 20 from Hughes and Z. 30 from Bron. Get 10 from Marshall and Flip. A pair of 8's from Gooden and Verejao. 6 from Snow. That's 104. Cavs will win most games against the Pistons if they get that. I don't think it should be unreasonable fofr that kind of output to be expected from this group. That's not even going nuts and shooting lights out. That's just a good game from the team. That should be the result for at least 50 percent of the time, and increasing as the years go up. This team is underachieving right now. You really have to questioin at this point Mike Brown's decision to bench Flip for Larry. Because Larry never has found his stroke. Whereas Flip has lost his. We were playing so well that last month. I think Mike may have tinkered too much.


On paper yes you'd expect that production from those 2, but the reality has been FAR different. Z pretty much only scores now on layups on passes from Lebron. Hughes can get you 20 one night, and throw up 6-8pts the next couple games. 

I agree with the last part, I think we should have kept Flip in the starting lineup and brought Larry off the bench. Flip was playing lights out and Larry was doing solid off the pine, it also allowed us to play Larry/Flip/Lebron more frequently in the flow of the game. Larry would have probably started *****ing eventually but right now we're just not playing as well as that late stretch.


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## Copper (Dec 9, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> Sorry. But it's just one game. And it was on the Pistons homecourt. We still have 3 more chances to steal one on the road, and the Pistons have yet to beat us on our court in this series. Right now both teams are just holding serve. I'm almost glad it was a blowout in game 1, because it will wake the Cavs up and we'll come out more focused in Game 2. If it had been a close loss, they might not have been as receptive to changes in the game plan. But after a loss like that, Mike Brown will have their full undivided attention. You can win the first game by a thousand, and you still don't get a free pass to the next round. It's a 7 game series, margin of victory in the first game doesn't mean a damn thing. Especially since it was on the road anyways.


 I guess the only way you will see how overmatched the Cavs are by the Pistons will be to witness 3 more losses. I guess the concensus is that if each player on the Pistons roster wasnt on the Pistons roster that they wouldnt be any good. That is probably why Joe D was able to put together all these unwanted and less talented players an win a trophy and compete for more? As for Tays defense? ask LBJ how easy it is....I guarantee if the Cavs management were asked if they wanted to swap players? they wouldnt hesitate.


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## rpoulos (Mar 24, 2005)

Dude, those rankings are nuts...Varejao in front of any of the Pistons top 6 players is ludicrous...Z and Hughes are a stretch...

The only guy on the Cavs that can play with the top 6 guys on the 'stones is LeBron...that's it. Your guys have some talent, but we're talking about 4 almost 5 all stars in the D people!!!

Good Grief


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Hey guys. At least we're not the Heat. Getting blown out is bad enough. But getting blown out in game 1 on your home floor is an abomination. If the Heat do make it to the ECF, I have a hard time seeing them being anymore of a challenge to the Pistons than we are.


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## rpoulos (Mar 24, 2005)

Yeah, the Heat are a joke right now...how can you get blown out at home like that when you have Shaq and D Wade....unreal


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## Cap (Nov 5, 2003)

The Cavs at their best cannot beat the Pistons or Spurs, sorry futuristxen. That'll be proven this series. Plus the Cavs _can't_ play their best against those types of championship teams because those teams are elite defensively. Marshall isn't going to shoot 40% all serires, Hughes isn't going to be consistently great (or hell, maybe not even healthy looking at this history), Z isn't going to dominate Big Ben or Duncan, Damon certainly isn't going to get anywhere near that 15 ppg production off 3-pointers against a championship defense, etc. etc. etc. 

Cavs are what they are, a very good Eastern Conference team. They need additional pieces and more playoff experience if they ever hope of competing with the Pistons and Spurs, or even just the Mavs or Suns (when Amare's back).


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## JPSeraph (Dec 17, 2005)

The Cavs still resemble the Bulls teams of 85-88. One rare talent surrounded by the wrong guys.

Hopefully, the can hold serve for at least one game at home. I was hoping for a Game 6 in Cleveland...


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## clownskull (Jun 21, 2002)

this series could go 5 maybe 6 games. detroit is not overated. they are imo- the best team in the league. the cavs will give it a run but, they cannot compete with the pistons great defense.


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## zeebneeb (Mar 5, 2004)

I actually laughed so hard My eyes watered, and I got a headache. Thanks future.

I understand the meaning of "homer", but the level you brought it to is almost unheard of.


You should hang out at realgm with the cavs board Mod, lbj4mvp. You 2 would get along great.


The current Cavs team is junk, save for Lebron. I know how hard it is to except that, but without major changes it will be like this year in, and year out. Lebron is THAT good that he makes the current Cavs roster seem somehow good.

If the Cvs played at thier absolute 100% best, Detroit could beat them at half speed. Now, wether or not you accept that as fact is up to you, but thats exactly what it is, FACT.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

goddamn it. Let's at least let the Cavs defend their homecourt. Cavs are a better team at home.


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

whatd i tell you guys.. we matchup well.. we are playing some amazing d and eric snow is on roids


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

zeebneeb said:


> I actually laughed so hard My eyes watered, and I got a headache. Thanks future.
> 
> If the Cvs played at thier absolute 100% best, Detroit could beat them at half speed. Now, wether or not you accept that as fact is up to you, but thats exactly what it is, FACT.


OUCH! BURRRRNNNN.

Any other facts you want to share?


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

rpoulos said:


> Dude, those rankings are nuts...Varejao in front of any of the Pistons top 6 players is ludicrous...Z and Hughes are a stretch...
> 
> The only guy on the Cavs that can play with the top 6 guys on the 'stones is LeBron...that's it. Your guys have some talent, but we're talking about 4 almost 5 all stars in the D people!!!
> 
> Good Grief


Verejao is the second best Cav.


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