# Game #56: Cavs @ Pistons (2/26/2006)



## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

_*Game 56*_


*Cleveland Cavaliers* *(32-23) @* *Detroit Pistons** (45-9)*

_*Sunday, February 26, 2006*_
*Time:* 9:00am PT, 12:00pm ET
*TV:* *ABC*
*Radio:* *WTAM 1100*
*Location:* *The Palace of Auburn Hills*, Auburn Hills, Michigan

*HEAD COACHES*


*PROBABLE STARTERS*
 
 

*CLEVELAND CAVALIERS’ BENCH*
 

*DETROIT PISTONS' BENCH*


*CLEVELAND CAVALIERS’ NOTES*

*•* Play a solid brand of basketball. Eliminate mistakes, don’t attempt to do too much at any one moment in time and play the percentages. Cleveland tactically needs to have one of their best nights.

*•* After being trashed on the boards by the Wizards, the Cavaliers cannot let Detroit outwork them. If Cleveland can’t hold up physically, they’ll proceed to get punked out.

*DETROIT PISTONS' NOTES*

*•* Test Cleveland’s heart early by making the game as physical as possible. Go all out for every offensive rebound--make Cleveland prove they can box you out. Drive the ball to the hole everytime until Cleveland stops it. 

*•* Since Cleveland is a team of runs, deliver the death blow once you have a solid run going. If Cleveland is allowed to come back, they’ll surge and play out of their minds for the remainder of the game.

*OVERVIEW*

Cleveland has a win over Detroit earlier in the season and could make a strong statement to the rest of the Eastern Conference if they could do the impossible: beat Detroit at home. For whatever reason, Cleveland has managed to play the Pistons tough in games past. Hanging with Detroit is an accomplishment in itself but the time now calls for Cleveland to believe they can do more than hang with the best - but beat them. Put the stinging loss to the Wizards behind to take care of business.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

The way we're playing right now, we have no chance to win this game. 

The Pistons will just take Lebron out of it and force Snow and everyone else to hit shots. Gooden will prob play well as a result but we won't get enough production from our backcourt to win with Hughes out unless Flip or Sasha has a big game.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

I think they'll win it or at least give the Pistons a game. If you can't come out focused and ready to play against the Pistons, something is wrong with you. With the Cavs it's just a matter of focusing on the little things and executing on both ends of the floor.


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## Brian. (Jul 11, 2002)

I look forward to this back to back series we have coming up. You guys handled us pretty easily back in December at your place. Were not playing that well right now either so I would be happy if we could get the split.


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## CHKNWANG321 (Sep 3, 2005)

Brian said:


> I look forward to this back to back series we have coming up. You guys handled us pretty easily back in December at your place. Were not playing that well right now either so I would be happy if we could get the split.


 wow, not a very optimistic pistons fan 

If i were a piston's fan i would only be satisfied with a sweep


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

*Beacon Journal | 02/26/2006 | Ignoring Ilgauskas goes not unnoted*












> *Ignoring Ilgauskas goes not unnoted*
> *Snow seems to be only one who doesn't turn cold shoulder on post*
> 
> By Brian Windhorst
> ...


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

We really need this win guys...let's hope they come out ready to play!


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

See somebody needs to step up when Z gets hit like that....get in Sheed's face. 

Pistons trying to punk us


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> See somebody needs to step up when Z gets hit like that....get in Sheed's face.
> 
> Pistons trying to punk us


Agreed. Remember when Danny Fortson did something like that to Z? Lebron led the charge at Fortson. You can't be scared of the Pistons just because they're the pistons. You can't let the take your starting center out of the game with no repurcussions.


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## char_renee (Dec 17, 2005)

CHKNWANG321 said:


> wow, not a very optimistic pistons fan
> 
> If i were a piston's fan i would only be satisfied with a sweep


 being only the regular season it's just 1 loss so it's not like it's gonna change antything in the playoffs.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Big Z is back.


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## Pnack (Aug 23, 2005)

Damn Lebron, you good.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Cleveland is down by 8 points at the end of the first quarter (17-25).


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## CHKNWANG321 (Sep 3, 2005)

We need to start dishing the ball to Z more. He should touch the ball every time on O


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## Morongk22 (Jan 11, 2006)

Pretty ugly shooting in the first quarter...nothing too suprising seeing how we always come out flat

Also, this officiating is ridiculous...i understand calling it tight...but i think the refs made up a couple calls, it seems like they have a quota on the number of calls they have to make


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Flip looking good again


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Bring Lebron back before we get blown out


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Not good when Flip Murray, a player you acquired two days ago, look like you're best player


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Pioneer10 said:


> Not good when Flip Murray, a player you acquired two days ago, look like you're best player


 other then Lebron of course


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## Morongk22 (Jan 11, 2006)

After seeing that replay of Sheed's hit on Z why is Sheed still allowed to play? The fine for that one better be pretty big


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

like this lineup: flip, sasha, lebron


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Cavs hanging around.

We just need to pick it up defensively, that's what's killed us the last few games.

Gotta put together some stops


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## Morongk22 (Jan 11, 2006)

Ahhhhh....wow these refs are just gonna give Detriot this game.... :curse:


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Lebron passing very well today

Missed foul shots again killing us...ridiculous


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Morongk22 said:


> Ahhhhh....wow these refs are just gonna give Detriot this game.... :curse:


Pistons have been getting every call and get away with bodying us up every time we drive.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Reffing in this game has been bull****


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## Morongk22 (Jan 11, 2006)

Well i think that Lebron has missed that identical looking lay-up twice in a row....not looking good at all


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Cleveland needs to surge or they'll go down by 20 at the half. If that happens, the game is over. But if the game is 10 or 11 points at the half, anything is possible.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Reffing in this game has been bull****


 national tv and we get no calls again


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Lebron needs to always finish like that, forget the layups they're not giving him the calls


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Go Lil Flip!


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Hard to believe we got Flip Murray for Wilks


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## Morongk22 (Jan 11, 2006)

Well this was a pretty impressive minute...lets get 1 more bucket before going into the half


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

At halftime, Cleveland trails by 11 points (33-44). The Cavs wanted a foul called at the end but to no avail.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Man im sorry but the Pistons get too much respect from the refs, the same ticky tack calls the pistons get on drives we're not getting AT ALL


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

God we're 8-15 from the FT line...what happened to this team. It's not a slump cause we've been shooting like that for weeks now

Early in the year we were like #1 in the entire league in FT %


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

No movement whatsoever in the offense.

This starting 5 has played horrible.

Z has been playing timid ever since that hard foul and Gooden has been a ghost out there for the 2nd game in a row


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

This starting lineup isn't working. I would go with AV, Marshall, Lebron, Flip, and Sasha.


Snow is an incredible liabilty when playing a good defensive team. They simply don't care about him


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

For whatever reason when Flip comes in we play much better


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Our offense has no movement...it's unbelievable

And Snow has been playing like crap lately


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Snow is killing us on offense: he's overdribbling and not making any decisive decision when he is in there.

I would play Flip and Sasha in the backcourt


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

^I agree, go with Flip/Sasha/LBJ/AV/Marshall or Gooden if he keeps scoring.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Instead Brown brings in D. Jones who looks lost. Sometimes I wonder if coaches just forget about lineups that work


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Djones has done nothing for awhile now.

It's pick your poison when Brown plays Snow or Djones.

Snow they just don't even guard him and have his man Shadow Lebron. 

DJ just gets killed on D and can't bring the ball up against the press. 

We REALLY miss Hughes against good teams.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Despite getting tons of questionnable calls go there way, every Detroit player gets on the refs case whren there is timeout. Looks like it works


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Pioneer10 said:


> Despite getting tons of questionnable calls go there way, every Detroit player gets on the refs case whren there is timeout. Looks like it works


Pistons whine about every call.

And your right it works, cause they get the benefit of the doubt every time.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Snow again blows a fast break oppurtunity


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

How is that not a foul on Rasheed:; two hands in the back?


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> How is that not a foul on Rasheed:; two hands in the back?


Hah. I wondered the same thing. The Pistons are getting away with a lot against Z. It's no wonder he can't find a rhythm. The Pistons are knocking him around everytime down. It's like watching a boxing match down there on the block. At some point Z is just going to swing on someone.


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## Aurelino (Jul 25, 2003)

18 turnovers and 9 assists. That's the problem right there.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Despite as bad as this game has been, if Cleveland were sharper, they could have made a better run at this. It reminds me of the Wizards game. There were several runs that could have turned the tide.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

omg marshall: wtf


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Why is D. Jones in the game?


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Lebron has spoonfed Jones and Marshall this game and they've hit squat


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> Why is D. Jones in the game?


Spread the floor.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

I'm starting to really dislike Damon Jones


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

futuristxen said:


> Spread the floor.


 When he can't make shots: Rip Hamilton or any other SG tears him up. Play Flip and sasha


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> I'm starting to really dislike Damon Jones


I'm willing to let a few more games pass before making a more final judgment on D. Jones. But my gut feeling is that he's a poor man's Redick and if that's the case, I'd much rather have the real thing.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Snow is in again? Blah


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## CHKNWANG321 (Sep 3, 2005)

remy23 said:


> I'm willing to let a few more games pass before making a more final judgment on D. Jones. But my gut feeling is that he's a poor man's Redick and if that's the case, I'd much rather have the real thing.


 :cheers:


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Brown gave up in this game. If you're down by 15 in the fourth show some creativity and courage and try something different.

Put Lebron at PF and go small. Or move Lebron to SG and have Marshall Guard Prince. Just gave up and went with two players who played awful in Snow and jones. 

I've been saying all year long D. Jones can't play Sg effectively yet we continue to see it.


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

At least we have a Marty sighting.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Marty V has a strange body type. He's got this big trunk and these super thin arms


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## CHKNWANG321 (Sep 3, 2005)

Looks like i need to make a new sig. Sasha is crapping it up again 2 points.

The way Flip is looking, iam guessing he will be starting in due time


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

CHKNWANG321 said:


> Looks like i need to make a new sig. Sasha is crapping it up again 2 points.
> 
> The way Flip is looking, iam guessing he will be starting in due time


Flip turned it on a little on garbage time too. It makes the final score of this game look closer and more respectable than it truly was.


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## CHKNWANG321 (Sep 3, 2005)

ONly lost by 12. Thats what i expected from this game. Hopefully we will come out with some intensity tomorrow, and maybe even get some calls


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

CHKNWANG321 said:


> Looks like i need to make a new sig. Sasha is crapping it up again 2 points.
> 
> The way Flip is looking, iam guessing he will be starting in due time


 I didn't think Sasha looked bad out there. I would have played him more


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

I just don't think we can beat 100% healthy Detroit without Larry Hughes. 

Hamilton tears up our other wings and if you switch Lebron on him, they will just post up Prince. With our defense broken down as a result we just can't string together stops. On offense they just load up on Lebron with 3 or 4 guys and you see the result.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

I think we'll win tomorrow night. It's just about executing sharper, and knocking down the open shot. It's not like we were planning on sweeping the Pistons anyways. If we win tomorrow it gives a 2-1 edge on the season series. You can't play from behind the Pistons. And that's what the Cavs did. Losing Z early in the game threw our rhythm off, and threw Z's game off. You can't win this game without Gooden and Z giving you something down low.

Flip looks like a good aquisition considering he only cost Mike Wilks. He really is Larry Hughes lite. He can do a lot of the same things on the court, just not quite as well. He'll probably start tomorrow's game.


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## CHKNWANG321 (Sep 3, 2005)

Well atleast we dont have a hard next two weeks. 

Sacremento, chicago, chicago, toronto, toronto. (**me like**)

We gotta win those games, since we have to play some west teams in the games after that


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

*Box Score*

*Cleveland 78, Detroit 90*


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

*Re: Box Score*

The problem I see with Flip is that he attacks the basket so hard he gets trapped down low with no way out. He doesn't seem to have the vision (ala Lebron) to pass after he gets the first step

He is like Hughes w/o the passing ability


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

*Double Post*


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

CHKNWANG321 said:


> Well atleast we dont have a hard next two weeks.
> 
> Sacremento, chicago, chicago, toronto, toronto. (**me like**)
> 
> We gotta win those games, since we have to play some west teams in the games after that


Honestly that's not an easy stretch..

Sacramento has Ron Artest
Chicago has been picking it up lately and we don't have our big backcourt advantage without Larry
Toronto has been around .500 since a horrible start, I just watched them take Dallas to OT on the road and Mike James will eat up our backcourt. 

With Hughes in the lineup we likely sweep those games. But it appears we're essentially a .500 team right now without him


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## char_renee (Dec 17, 2005)

you guys can call sheed a dirty player all you want but Z even admitted after the game he elbowed sheed 2 times before sheed elbowed him.ESPN reported it!


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

Well too take our mind off this horrible game. Did anyone watch the fourth quarter of the Miami Heat vs Seattle game last night???? Mike Wilks single handely brought the Sonics back, you can even ask Shaq_Diesel. It was nice to see him out their playing, they were trailing by 19 and when he was in the game the Sonics went on a 20-4 run.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

char_renee said:


> you guys can call sheed a dirty player all you want but Z even admitted after the game he elbowed sheed 2 times before sheed elbowed him.ESPN reported it!


 Sorry I forgot the elbow that Z threw onto Sheed's face causing him to get 10 stitches [/sarcasm]


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

LBJ to LJ for 3 said:


> Well too take our mind off this horrible game. Did anyone watch the fourth quarter of the Miami Heat vs Seattle game last night???? Mike Wilks single handely brought the Sonics back, you can even ask Shaq_Diesel. It was nice to see him out their playing, they were trailing by 19 and when he was in the game the Sonics went on a 20-4 run.



I watched it. Wilks looked great. 

He was playing with confidence, pushing the tempo, even finishing his drives.

He never really played bad for us though, so it's not that surprising. Good to see him do well.


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