# Round Two, Game 4: Detroit Pistons vs. New Jersey Nets



## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

<center>*Eastern Conference Semifinals
Game 3*</center>

*<center>New Jersey Nets vs. Detroit Pistons*



<center>*







vs.







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*vs.*









































</center>*







Bench:*

*F* - Rodney Rogers 
*G* - Lucious Harris 
*F* - Aaron Williams 
*G* - Brandon Armstrong 
*F* - Brian Scalabrine 
*G/F* - Tamar Slay 
*F* - Zoran Planinic



</center>*







Bench:*

*G* - Lindsey Hunter 
*F/C* - Mehmet Okur 
*F* - Corliss Williamson
*G* - Mike James
*F* - Darvin Ham 
*F/C* - Darko Milicic 
*C* - Elden Campbell


Big, big game coming up... We have to get this game to get rid of whatever confidence New Jersey gained by winning game 3. Tayshaun, Memo, and Sheed need to step up and our team as a whole needs to shoot a lot better.


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## Lope31 (Jun 11, 2002)

If we do not win this game the whole series is in jeopardy.


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## fear the fro (May 28, 2003)

This game is pretty close to being a must-win, but not quite. If we lose this game then New Jersey will clearly have regained pretty much all the momentum but we will still have a good shot of ending it in 6 or even 7. If we can pull out a W we will almost definitely win it in 5. The key, like I said last time, is getting off to a good start. Against most teams, a bad shot is just a bad shot, but against the Nets it's a guaranteed fast break bucket for them every time. Our offense has got to be a lot more smooth from the get-go this time. It's a lot easier to come from behind at home than it is on the road.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

The guard tandem needs to play alot better. Like others I'm not convinced the Kittles and Kidd defensive switch is "working wonders". Billups missed alot of open shots and Rip got to the hole plenty of times, he just couldn't connect.

The whole team needs to come out with a Ben Wallace like demeanor. Win or go home...


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## froggyvk (Sep 12, 2002)

Woo DetBNyce starts the thread - Book this W!

Detroit 3, New Jersey 1  

I guess it's good knowing Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Mehmet Okur and so on all played miserable games but we were still in it at halftime. If we can get even halfway decent games from those guys, we have a shot. Wallace can't hang out by the 3-pt line so much, his biggest strength is his inside game and he must exploit that. Billups and Hamilton need to heat up. They are getting open looks but didn't knock them down last game. Tay has played two poor games in a row, he must play well to avoid the pain of 20 minutes of Darvin Ham.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

Sheed got one bull over the back cal early on, but he just walked away. So far, so good. Tied at 2.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

Well, there's #2 on Sheed... Chauncey needs to get his act together, he's playing terribly.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

I just don't understand how Memo can look so bad one nigh and so good on another.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

21-18 NJ end of 1st qtr.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Sheed's 2 quick calls will force Larry to sit him for a while. This may take Sheed out the flow of the game. Something to watch for.


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## D.Spartan (Nov 21, 2002)

Corliss is killing us!


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

Please take Corliss out... Please... he is doing nothing but making turnovers. This is ridculous. Don't these refs just love us...


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Full court pressure getting to Detroit. 3 straight turnovers leading to NJ points.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

At this point I don't care about fouls or anything. All I want is five guys on the court who want to win and will give 100% effort to make that happen. This half-*** play should embarass the Pistons.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

Not much the Pistons can do when the Nets get the ball in the paint, we can't afford to pick up any fouls.


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## irishfury (Jun 8, 2003)

yeah lord knows rasheed might sneeze and get his third


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

I think it's finally clicking in Rasheed's head that we need him on the block. And the Nets will continue to get dunks as long as our big man, mostly Sheed, have fouls.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

What this game will boil down to is can the Pisotns score. All these missed shots are leading to Nets' fastbreak points. Make shots and it forces them to play at a slower pace. Put them in the halfcourt and the advantage swings our way big time.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Wow... look at that full court lob to Kidd off of Hamilton's free throw shot. Poor defensive play.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

NJ looking good in the 1st half. 47-40. Hope it continues.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

Great, just _give_ them two more points...

If I'm Larry Brown at halftime, I challenge ever single last one of the guyd so called heart and pride. This kind of effort from a team that hangs its hat on 'Goin to Work' is despicable. Simple as that.


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## irishfury (Jun 8, 2003)

Well at least rip showed up


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Oh Oh... Barkley predicted Detroit will win this game. What has he been watching??


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>irishfury</b>!
> Well at least rip showed up


I will admit that.


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## froggyvk (Sep 12, 2002)

Down 7 at half, I'll take it. Subtract those 20 seconds of great Nets trap defense and it could easily be tied.


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## Petey (Aug 23, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Excel</b>!
> Wow... look at that full court lob to Kidd off of Hamilton's free throw shot. Poor defensive play.


Stop baiting the Piston fans please.

-Petey


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Petey</b>!
> Stop baiting the Piston fans please.
> -Petey


I'm not baiting. I'm color commentating. If the same play happened to NJ, I would have made the same post.

I appologize to any Pistons fan if they feel that I'm baiting. I thought we were just discussing the game online. I'll leave the commentating to Steve Kerr.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>DetBNyce</b>!
> Great, just _give_ them two more points...
> 
> If I'm Larry Brown at halftime, I challenge ever single last one of the guyd so called heart and pride. This kind of effort from a team that hangs its hat on 'Goin to Work' is despicable. Simple as that.


The game's not over yet though & Larry's a great coach. I'm sure he'll come up with a game plan & make adjustments in the 2nd half to give them a chance to win.


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## ian (Jun 4, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Excel</b>!
> 
> 
> I'm not baiting. I'm color commentating. If the same play happened to NJ, I would have made the same post.
> ...


Every post you've made (6) has been pro-Nets. Zero have said anything negative about them / good about the Pistons. I don't really care, but don't act as if you're not biased and not speaking only of good Nets plays. You would NOT have posted had it happened to NJ.

edit: now you go and make a pro-Pistons post... yet you said they didn't have a chance at winning before. i'm confused


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

RIP's still hot out of the gate.


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## ian (Jun 4, 2003)

how come a 6'4" guard can knock down a forward with a 7'4" wingspan and it's not a foul? it should be pretty obvious it wasn't a clean block


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

In the words of the Great Jvanbusk:

"This performance is disgusting"...


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>ian</b>!
> Every post you've made (6) has been pro-Nets. Zero have said anything negative about them / good about the Pistons. I don't really care, but don't act as if you're not biased and not speaking only of good Nets plays. You would NOT have posted had it happened to NJ.
> 
> edit: now you go and make a pro-Pistons post... yet you said they didn't have a chance at winning before. i'm confused


1st of all you don't know me. I have never been or will be an instigator. Detroit isn't playing well. If they were playing well I would be giving them props. And I would be ****ting on NJ. 

2nd of all, don't tell me what I would or wouldn't do. Had situations been reversed I would still be posting on here "commentating". I'm still waiting for Detroit to make a nice play then I would say so.

3rd, the only reason why I'm here is because DetBNyce came to our board & posted about the game. So I took that as an invite to do the same. I thought I kept the dialoge respectful. I'm not making inflamitory statements like "the Pistons are playing like ****" or "you guys are garbage". Re-read my post nothing inflammitory.

4th, I appologized to anyone on your board who felt dissed, even though I didn't feel like I did anything wrong.

Now if only I can learn to spell inflammitory.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Excel</b>!
> 
> 
> 1st of all you don't know me. I have never been or will be an instigator. Detroit isn't playing well. If they were playing well I would be giving them props. And I would be ****ting on NJ.
> ...


You're always welcome man, no problems from me...


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Ian,

And just to extend an olive branch... I'm handing you your 1st 5 star post rating.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>DetBNyce</b>!
> You're always welcome man, no problems from me...


Thanx man.


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## ian (Jun 4, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Excel</b>!
> Ian,
> 
> And just to extend an olive branch... I'm handing you your 1st 5 star post rating.


Well, thanks. I wasn't trying to imply you shouldn't post here, I just saw a bunch of posts that didn't seem completely fair. I'm not completely fair; I'm biased for the Pistons! The more posters here, the better.


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## Petey (Aug 23, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>DetBNyce</b>!
> 
> 
> You're always welcome man, no problems from me...


Oh so I'm the bad guy? 

-Petey


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## TP3 (Jan 26, 2003)

Anyone over here sick of Rasheed yet? Just curious what you think of him now that he's been a Piston for a while.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Game Commentary:

I'm sure the Pistons will play more inspired ball in Detroit. Larry Brown will definitely talk to his team about throwing up 2 stinkers in the Meadowlands. But I think Sheeds 2 quick fouls threw him & his team out of rhythm both offensively & on the boards. As pointed out, only RIP showed up.

To be honest, I'm shocked at how many fastbreak points NJ had. Judging by the 1st 2 games I thought Brown had figured out how to stop them.

On the other side, I think we all see that NJ's players & game opens up when they can run. Nice game all around by a number of Nets.

Can't wait for game 5.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>TP3</b>!
> Anyone over here sick of Rasheed yet? Just curious what you think of him now that he's been a Piston for a while.


Honestly, I think the foot is bothering him a lot more than he or the Pistons are letting on. His play has dropped a little since about midway through the Milwaukee series. The only time I've been pissed at him was last game when he shot five 3's. I have no problem with Sheed being a Piston, I think he's great.


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## froggyvk (Sep 12, 2002)

As bad as our past two games have been, there is no need to panic (yet). If you recall, the same thing happened last year against Philadelphia. We won the first two games at home, lost the next two on the road, and then came back to win Games 5 & 6 to take the series. Coming back home better be a huge boost to the team. You'd better believe the fans will be rockin' at the Palace...

That said, Game 5 is as close to a must-win as it comes without actually being a "must win." Going down 3-2 and coming back to NJ in a hostile environment wouldn't be a good situation.


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## Excel (Aug 5, 2002)

Sheed's a keeper. Trust me you don't want to get rid of him. (Unless he starts actin afool again.  )


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## Brian. (Jul 11, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Excel</b>!
> Can't wait for game 5.


I believe that game will be the series. Either team has shown any ability to beat the other on their court. Thank god for home court advantage.


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## PistonFAN81 (May 30, 2003)

The stats in the pistons favor looked nasty man....I wonder why we are struggling so much now....? Just a lil dishearted I guess. I thought that both teams would have at least made these games against each other close not 2 blow outs in each home town....


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## Brian. (Jul 11, 2002)

I was half joking with DBN on aim that how nice would it be for the pistons to have carmello right now. Cause Prince isn't doing anything offensively and he isn't stopping RJ right now. We would at least get some offense will dearly need right now. I still like the Darko pick and think it was the right move but this is just something to chew on...


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## froggyvk (Sep 12, 2002)

Prince has been very bad this series outside of the first game. Of course the whole team has sucked the past two games, with the exception of Ben in Game 3 and Rip tonight.


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## Lope31 (Jun 11, 2002)

In the second half (I was buying a suit in the first half!)
-Wallace was great on the glass. I didn't see him take a play off which he has sometimes done.
-Rip was amazing, except from the line
-Sheed was lazy and ineffective
-Billups did nothing to impress
-Jason Kidd was this games Richard Jefferson
-I heard we hit the first 15 ft's but were to mediocre when I saw
-This not only ties the series at 2 but gives NJ two things, one being momentum and the other being a second chance. They won't take this for granted again. I'm scared

I am scared that we will lose this but still believe we can finish it off.


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## DetBNyce (Jul 23, 2002)

We're right back where we started. Wondering if we can beat New Jersey again. I thought we all but squashed that theory in the first two games, but the Pistons have to be wondering right now. It's down to a best of 3 series now. 

I can take a loss if the effort is there, but I can't stand losses that include subpar effort.


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## Midnight_Marauder (Dec 1, 2003)

The only Piston who showed up is Hamilton in this game.....of course was gonna have a lot of rebounds.....I bet over half of them where offensive rebounds because the Pistons where shooting so bad.....


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## jvanbusk (Jun 9, 2002)

I couldn't even stomach to watch the 4th quarter. To come out and play the way they did after the 3rd game of this series tells me alot about character. You get blown out in game 3, with very little emotion, and then you come out in game 4 and the same crap that occured in game 3? You would think that if your backs are against the wall with play that is very low in effort you would come out with a fury of intensity in the next game. Didn't happen.

What can you really say? That's just about as bad as it gets for a two game road trip. How can you expect the Pistons to come out in the next game and magically turn it on? I think we had to win one game in Jersey, and that didn't happen, and we didn't even give ourselves a chance. Now with Rasheed hobbling around and Chauncey with a bum back, I have my doubts if we even win another game in this series. If we don't win the next game, there's no way we go to New Jersey and win a game 6.

There are two reasons for this loss:

1. Carelessness. In the most important game of the season to date, you have got to take care of the basketball. You can't turn the ball over especially to a team like New Jersey that lives off of getting easy buckets in transition. That one stretch in the second quarter with 3 or 4 consecutive turnovers, followed by a Rip technical, was especially brutal. You go from being down just 2 to being down 9, and that's where the game was put away. As a sidenote: as much as Rip was scoring, 5 turnovers and just 2 turnovers. That is horrible, and it can't happen.

2. 49-33. A lack of effort led to a lack of rebounding. 49-33! How is that even remotely possible for a team that is suppose to be so much longer, and so much more athletic. It's pathetic, and it's really a disgrace. New Jersey had 20! offensive rebounds. Unreal. If you limit a poor shooting perimeter shooting team to one shot at the basket during a possession, you should win. But when you give said team 2nd and 3rd chances, your chances drastically decrease. Some one grab a damned rebound! Where you at Tayshaun? Where you at Chauncey? Where you at Memo, how do you play 15 minutes as a 7 footer and not grab one rebound? Rasheed, where you at? I've been saying it for months, it really amazes me that this team gets outrebounded the way it does.

Oh well, that's my rant. Obviously, I'm pissed.


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## fear the fro (May 28, 2003)

I'm really down on the Pistons right now. I always get mad when they lose, but the way they've been playing these past two games it seems like their goal isn't to advance in the playoffs but to get more ping pong balls in the draft lottery. News flash: We don't have a first rounder this year, guys. Rip played good. Memo played pretty good but didn't have enough touches to really affect the game. I hope Rasheed really is hurt, because that's the only excuse for how he has been playing. Tayshaun has been worthless, despite the obvious attempts by Larry Brown to get him going early. Chauncey can't score, Corliss can't hold on to the ball, and no one really seems to care enough to do anything about it. All I have to say is I really hope if we lose to New Jersey that this is not the same team that Joe D. puts on the floor next year.


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