It is working!

Look at that! I stop watching the Detroit Pistons and they start winning. Everyone can thank me later, and the Pistons better send me over something or I might start watching. Luckily I have my Nintendo Wii and my T.M.X. Elmo to keep me company.

I don't like the Pistons falling behind every game, but they have been finishing games very well. I hope Rasheed Wallace can keep playing like he is.

Way to get of the schnide Pistons.

Snore

Halftime against Washington losing at home. At least Sheed is playing good. This is not what I had in mind this year. I think I am jinxing them.

I started out the year not missing one second of the first 8 games of the year, but I can't take this crap right now. This is not a good team right now. They are a soft, tired, jump-shot shooting team that cannot stop anyone when they need to or otherwise. They need 3 guys to score 20 a night, and even still the games are close. The Pistons cannot afford to give away points every game, and they constantly do.

I am going to watch them, but not update for a little while. I might play my PS3 instead, make some money making websites, I am not sure.

I turned off the game, lets see how this works.

Kings 99-86

2-3 record, 0-2 on the west coast trip. This game was as ugly as I thought it would be. The one real bright spot was Chauncey woke up and had 25 points, 4-9 for threes, and had a dozen points in the second and the third quarter each.

Rasheed scored 0 points, but had 15 boards. Rip ended with 20. Our starting front line (Sheed, Prince, and Mohammed) scored 8 points total. The whole team had problems in the 4th. Game was tied at the half 39-39 and we got outscored 60-47 in the second half. They cannot give up 60 points in a half and expect to win.

Two more techs. Surprise surprise. We seem to really enjoy getting down early and trading streaks the rest of the game. This is getting a little old fast.

Brutal 2nd quarter

Why am I watching this crap? Just a bunch of runs and droughts. Tough to watch at times. Just when we finish with a 7-0 run in the first to get back in it, the Kings start out the second on a 9-2 run and it is back to a 14 point lead, 27-13. Then just when we need it the Piston run off 10 straight and an 18-4 run themselves.

Jason Maxiell is looking mighty beastly. Must be fouled to be stopped. Funny seing Corliss Williamson out there alive and kicking. Looking at Maxiell reminds me of a bigger, stronger, faster version of Williamson. He is still very raw and very young and has a lot of learning to do, but there is a lot of potential.

I can't believe the game is tied at 31-31 with 3 minutes left in the quarter. The bench really sparked the whole thing. Even still, brutal game to watch so far.

Game 5 vs Sacramento

Wow what a late game. Game is on FSN and ESPN and both are showing the ends of other games. Looks like I did not miss anything because the time the game comes on it is 8-2 Sacramento, and before you know it is 18-4 and the Pistons have two more T's. This is getting very old.

Rip scores first 8 in the quarter and the Pistons end the quarter on a 7-0 run to make it 18-11 at the end of 1. Ugly. Refs suck again. Chauncey gets called for double dribbling when he didn't, and then gets a tech for talking to the ref. This is going to be a brutal game, I can feel it.

Random thoughts

Just watched that Jazz game again, man what a good game. Even with the poor officiating the game was very exciting. Tough one to lose but hey, it happens.

If I still had a choice between signing Big Ben or signing Okur, I sign Okur and it is not even close. Big guy, can shoot 18 footers and three pointers very well for a big man, and surprisingly can take the ball to the hole.

Thinking about that, I remember that they told us that we could not sign both Rasheed and Okur. A main reason of this was the saving for Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups. We made it back to the finals and could have easily went either way, so the choice worked out keeping Rasheed.

Last year we traded Darko Milicec for absolutely nothing. It was another move to make cap space for signing Ben and Chauncey. Obviously they were not willing to make the offer to Ben, which might well be the correct move. But everything leading up to that moment shouted that they would, that was the plan, and now they abandoned ship.

The Pistons are in this weird stage as a franchise. They collected all these throw away players from various teams and made it work. None of these guys were max contract guys when we got them (maybe Rasheed was) and it looks like the Pistons are not willing to make any max offers.

So what if Chauncey wants a max contract? Will they sign him? There are rumblings already that if Billups is not cooperating with an extension they will try to trade him. If this happens, my respect for Joe Dumars will go down the toilet quickly. He has made many poor draft picks, and these last couple of trades and non signings are making me worry. Hopefully everything works out.

Game 4 vs Utah

Utah 103, Detroit 101.

What a game, back and forth all night. Rasheed was unreal in the 4th yet again. 3 nights in a row. Actually he has not had a bad 4th quarter all season since he T'd out in the first game. I have been waiting a long time for Rasheed to play like this, and it is awesome to see. Rasheed finished with 25 points, 12 boards, and 4 blocks.

Down 10 to start the 4th, the Pistons went on a 7-0 run capped by a 30 footer from Carlos Delfino.

The game was tied with 9 minutes left.

The Pistons were in the bonus with 8 minutes left in the quarter.

They had the lead with 6 minutes left.

Game was close the rest of the way, until a foul on Sheed and a tech on a Pistons bench coach with 2 minutes left, and all of a sudden we were down 5 with 2 minutes left. Cut it to one with a minute left and then Chauncy got called for an offensive foul that was some home cooking for sure.

Refs were terrible tonight. Can't complain too much because we shot about 204 free throws.

Okur was fouled with 33 seconds left and hit both to make it a 3 point game. Chauncy gets fouled with 31 seconds and hit the first and missed the second. Utah runs the clock down and then an incredible finish. Missed shot, Sheed rebounds, gets stripped, Utah pass gets deflected, Tayshaun steals the ball, almost gets stripped, Chauncey picks it up, passes to Rip who tries to go one on 3, drives and gets stuffed. Buzzer, game over.

Forget what I ever said about Flip Murray. The guy was on fire tonight in the first half and kept us in the game. I really like to see him at the point backing up Chauncey. Chauncey again struggled shooting the ball. He also passed up multiple wide open 3's. But he did hit a huge 3 with 4 minutes left.

Utah did not struggle shooting. The whole team was money the entire night. They hit a ton of long jumpers and were very hot most of the night. It is sad to see Okur in a different uniform. I really liked him a lot, and was sad to see him go. I am glad he is doing well, just don't want to see him make us eat it. Well he made us eat it tonight. Gordon Giricek did not miss all night.

Rasheed another T, Flip Saunders got a T, Rip got a T, and the bench got a T. Flip and Sheed got theirs on the same play. The next play Flip yelled "3 seconds" for about 5 straight seconds, whcih resulted in a 3 second violation called against the Jazz. Rasheed continued to not get any calls and continued to talk most of the game. This is a sign of things to come, and it is going to cost the team some games. Come to think of it is possibly cost us this one. Sheed, go get some anger management counsling or possibly try using some common sense and shut up already.

Tough start to the road trip. Good luck with the rest of them guys.

Game 3

Detroit 95, Memphis 86

Getting ready to watch the Utah game and see I forgot to post my thoughts on the Grizzly game. Good game by the Pistons. Game felt like they used to feel and the Pistons looked great.

Memphis would not go away, and they were shorthanded. They were down 11 late in the third quarter, and tied it with 5 minutes left. Pistons go on a 14-5 run to end the game. No Gasol and they made it interesting most of the way. Had a good look at Hakim Warrick and see what kind of potential this kid has.

Notes:

Rip had another great game. 3rd in a row, if he keeps this up we will have a very good season. 24 points, very strong in the 4th. Good game Rip, you look like an All Star right now.

Sheed picked up another T, 3rd in 3 games. It was weak, but Sheed you have to know better. It inspired him though as he scored 10 points after he got the T late in the third quarter. That's 2 very good games, and in particular 4th quarters, for Sheed in a row. If he plays like this consistantly, we will be very tough to stop.

Chauncey is quietly becoming a true point guard. He only scored 7, but had 10 assists and really ran the show. Third straight nite of poor shooting. He was 1-9 and 0-4 for threes, I think his not caring about scoring is affecting his shooting. He only played 29 minutes, and sat most of the third out. We will need you to snap out of it Chauncey.

13 each from Maxiel and Mohammed. They fed Mohammed in the beginning of the game, and he hit the first three shots for the Pistons. Looked good too. He makes his free throws too. Maxiel is only going to get better.

Carlos Delfino outplayed Flip Murray again, but I saw something that is very promising. Flip played some point guard and played pretty well. Had 5 assists. If that means that Lindsey Hunter stays on the bench, then I am excited.

About 15 minutes before game time, go Pistons.

That's more like it

Ok, maybe they were rusty. Maybe they started to believe they were better then they really are and just needed a wake up call. Either way I'll take it.

The game started off very poorly. 12-4 Boston very early in the game. Detroit missed their first 8 shots. I almost thought about turning off the game. We were down all half, but Rip hit a shot from about 35 feet at the end of the second quarter and it really sparked the team.

Sheed was into the game and really started taking over in the second half. It was so good to see. He needed a bounce back game and he got it. He looked like he was having fun. Dunks. 3's, a huge block on Paul Pierce, jumping up and down the court, and of course talking garbage ("AND 1!", "Ball don't lie", etc). When he is playing good , I love hearing him talk crap. It fires me up when I am watching him. But someone needs to tell him that he hasn't played like a guy who gets to talk a lot of crap in a long time. I want him to be a force. I want him to be a guy that deserves 20 mil. Yes, he has his games and his moments, but we need him to consistently do so if we want to have a good year. There is no reason that he cannot average 20 points and 10 boards a game. So DO IT Sheed.

Rip and Chauncey both had very good games. Chauncey was a brick house early and often (1 for his first 8), but really got it together in the 4th. Dropping dimes all over the place, taking it to the hole, finishing and getting fouled, and he was money from the line. I am watching Chauncey learn that he is getting good enough to get calls when he drives. He watch D Wade do it all last year in the playoffs. He has been doing it for a while now (trying to draw calls) but the problem was that the refs gave him no love. I saw him drive on Paul Pierce late in the game, saw clearly a clean block, and Chauncey got the call. I like it, this bodes well for the Pistons.

I will stop calling Rip spaz if he continues to play like he did against the Celtics. He was all over the place, like the Tazmanian Devil, and there was nothing that anyone could do. When he is on, he is unstoppable. When he is off, he looks like he is completely out of control and rushing everything. He hit some shots that he got up so fast I wasn't sure if he had even looked at the basket. Great game Rip.

Much cleaner game tonight. Only 6 turnovers. This I hope will be a nice blueprint game for the Pistons. Take care of the ball, and Rip, Chauncey and Sheed each score 20, and we are all good. We will have our scoring droughts, like we did last year. Started cold as ice in the first, and early in the 4th they had a 9-0 run against them. But the difference in this game was that they also had some huge runs themselves.

Nazr, I will give you the benefit of the doubt for now. I don't think you are ready to play as a full time starting center, but you need to learn sometime. He did have some nice blocks, scored 14, and didn't look uncomfortable with the ball in his hands like someone that used to play center for us. He is not a great rebounder now, but he might become at least better as the season goes. He will have some big stat nights that will be deceiving, and maybe that will motivate him. He is not feared in the lane, but he has blocked a lot of shots already.

I will start getting mad if one of two things doesn't happen:

1. Carlos Delfino plays more then Flip Murray
2. Flip Murray stops sucking.

One of the two, I don't care.

Good game boys, nice to see you back.

Looks like its gonna be a long season

L 105-97

Somehow we hung around for most of the night. The score was pretty deceiving. Our secret weapon Charlie Villinavuea for the Bucks was the real reason it was as close as it was. 6-21, and most were not close. Thanks for trying Charlie, but not enough. This just in, Michael Redd is very good.

Team looked sloppy all night. 22 turnovers, ouch. Looked old and slow and like a jump shot shooting team. The Bucks owned the boards, the hustle plays, the loose balls, the fast break and about every aspect of the game. For most of the night the Bucks made it look easy. With 2 minutes left the points in the paint were 68-28 for the Bucks.

Game 1 thoughts

Ben Wallace missed - more than I thought

Rasheed did not look interested in this game at all. Threw up a couple of bricks, got a couple of technicals, 0 points 3 boards. He didn't even look like he was interested in his tecs either. Both tecs were pretty weak, but come on Sheed we need you.

Rip Hamilton - 25 points, 8 for 13. Rip looked as out of control as he normally does, but had it going on tonight. He had some pretty bad offensive fouls and a stupid dead ball foul when we were down 5 with 25 seconds left. 5 turnovers for Rip.

Chauncey - 25 points, 8 assists, but was not that good of night for Chauncey. Tough night shooting (1-6 from 3), but money from the line (12-12). Had some nice play in the 4th.

Mohammed and Flip Murray - Not a fan of either. Nazr didn't do much rebounding in the trenches, lost a lot of battles or couldn't gather it in. Bogut owned him most of the night too. Sometimes stats are deceiving. Flip seemed slow and worthless out there, until the last minute where he hit a couple of threes.

Jason Maxiel - Can see a lot of potential, but he played like a youngster tonight.

Carlos Delfino comes in for a few minutes in the second and knocks down 3 jumpers including 2 3's. He is not used enough like usual.

Every time I see Lindsey Hunter dribble/pass/shoot/touch the ball at all, I cringe and age incrementally. I often hope he twists an ankle. Yes he plays great D.

Prince - Tough game for Tay. 5 turnovers. Lot of in and out heartbreaks, still had a decent night. He is the slopiest dribbler I have ever seen and had some horrible turnovers. He did knock down three triples and easily could have had more. He is going to need to be big this year, much bigger then he was tonight.

Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Game 1 - Milwaukee at home

Pretty stoked to watch my boys get the year started with a normal Buck whipping. Unfortunately, we forgot how to play interior defense, rebound, and take care of the ball. It is like someone is missing.

In the first quarter, the Bucks basically lay out a blueprint on how to beat the Pistons early in the first by attacking the paint and scoring at will inside. For some reason they stopped and started shooting jump shots, allowing the Pistons to stay in the game. The "keep games close" option must have been turned on.

Andrew Bougut is a lot better then I thought, and thankfully he got two fouls in the first 5 minutes or he would have had a triple double in the first quarter. Michael Redd is awesome, and seems like he can turn it on at will. Amazing to watch this guy. He is a much smoother version of Rip.

For the Pistons, meh, nothing really worth mentioning, other then Rip spazzed his way to 7 points and Chauncey has 8. Lots of outside shots clanking. No offensive or defensive rebounding. Thank god for free throws.

End of 1 - Bucks up 9, 30-21 (and it looked a lot worse then that)