migya wrote:This trio the Celts have is the best in nba history, better than the thre superstars the Rockets had on two occassions
- Olajuwon, Barkley and Drexler
- Olajuwon, Barkley, Pippen


Unbelievable that their lack of depth hasn't showed out and they have looked real good in most of their wins as well

if olajuwon, barkley, and pippen had been in their prime when they were together then id give them the upper hand. ray allen might be a little past his but KG is still in his and pierce just barely peaked. give me the '93-'94 version of the dream, sir charles, n pip(all on different teams at the time)...id take them over the kg, pierce, and ray right now.

their lack of depth hasnt showed becuz their starters are just so studly that they create such a comfy lead for their bench to look pretty good.

Shaq Kobe and Malone was pretty good until Malone messed up his knee

I remember Malone was doing 14 pts, 10 reb, 4 assists before some scrub fell on his knee.

It's just working smoothly for the Celts and they're in the weak East as well

Celtics may have the big 3, but the Pistons have the big 5 and the bench to back it up. They have on the bench guys that were starters for other teams. They go 14 deep. The bench has played major minutes. They also look motivated. Sheed lost weight, so did Maxiell. The bench resembles what they've had in a year they won a championship with two aggressive defensive-minded guards in Afflalo and Stuckey, they have an energy player in Maxiell. I think they should be able to at least get to the NBA Finals.

Hey, PistonsFan, now that you're here, you may be able to give us a more informed opinion on Flip Saunders, particularly during the playoffs. What do you think of him?. Is he the right guy for the Pistons or just benefitting from Larry Brown's job?

I'm asking because it's an ongoing topic that doesn't seem to have an end between some of us, and maybe a real Pistons fan can shed some light about how he sees his coach.

TMC wrote:Hey, PistonsFan, now that you're here, you may be able to give us a more informed opinion on Flip Saunders, particularly during the playoffs. What do you think of him?. Is he the right guy for the Pistons or just benefitting from Larry Brown's job?

I'm asking because it's an ongoing topic that doesn't seem to have an end between some of us, and maybe a real Pistons fan can shed some light about how he sees his coach.

At this point we're just taking a wait-and-see approach with Flip. Many of the fans wanted him gone after the last season, blaming him for the early playoff exits. A lot of it has to do with him not being able to make in-game adjustments when an opponent does something. He just gets all discombobulated. Also, he overplayed starters during the past couple of seasons and they were just burned out in the conference finals. The shots were flat, there was no movement on the offense, and they got outrebounded on regular basis. I believe that the success that he did have (and most will call reaching conference finals a success) came from the players that he had. Obviously players benefitted from having Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown around. Larry made Chauncey Billups who he is today and he managed to keep Sheed's mind in the games most of the time. Flip managed to clash with Ben Wallace and with Rasheed Wallace. Many think that Ben left because he couldn't get along with Flip even though he really wanted to be in Detroit. At the same time, looks like Flip and Sheed managed to patch up their differences.
A lot of people were calling for bringing in Laimbeer. Heck, people would prefer Porter at the helm in the offseason. Right now it looks like Flip has made certain strides as a coach reducing players minutes (that was mandated by GM Joe Dumars). Also, I'll admit that this is the first time since Flip became Pistons coach, the team has a very reliable bench. Flip is giving time to the youngsters and they have responded very well. We know that he's a good regular season coach and will get good results. The problem is the playoffs. I say if they under achieve in these playoffs (and in Detroit anything less than NBA finals is a failure), he could be gone before the next season. But the cards are falling right for the team to make the run. The conference, while getting better, is still lacking a quality team beyond Boston and Detroit. Detroit has advantages over Boston, especially in a 7-game series. It doesn't mean they will win, but they have a good chance of doing so.
One more thing to remember, it took Larry Brown many years and many teams to finally win a championship. I guess we should give Flip more time to prove that he can do it, especially since there is no clear alternative is available.

PistonsFan73 wrote:

TMC wrote:Hey, PistonsFan, now that you're here, you may be able to give us a more informed opinion on Flip Saunders, particularly during the playoffs. What do you think of him?. Is he the right guy for the Pistons or just benefitting from Larry Brown's job?

I'm asking because it's an ongoing topic that doesn't seem to have an end between some of us, and maybe a real Pistons fan can shed some light about how he sees his coach.

At this point we're just taking a wait-and-see approach with Flip. Many of the fans wanted him gone after the last season, blaming him for the early playoff exits. A lot of it has to do with him not being able to make in-game adjustments when an opponent does something. He just gets all discombobulated. Also, he overplayed starters during the past couple of seasons and they were just burned out in the conference finals. The shots were flat, there was no movement on the offense, and they got outrebounded on regular basis. I believe that the success that he did have (and most will call reaching conference finals a success) came from the players that he had. Obviously players benefitted from having Rick Carlisle and Larry Brown around. Larry made Chauncey Billups who he is today and he managed to keep Sheed's mind in the games most of the time. Flip managed to clash with Ben Wallace and with Rasheed Wallace. Many think that Ben left because he couldn't get along with Flip even though he really wanted to be in Detroit. At the same time, looks like Flip and Sheed managed to patch up their differences.
A lot of people were calling for bringing in Laimbeer. Heck, people would prefer Porter at the helm in the offseason. Right now it looks like Flip has made certain strides as a coach reducing players minutes (that was mandated by GM Joe Dumars). Also, I'll admit that this is the first time since Flip became Pistons coach, the team has a very reliable bench. Flip is giving time to the youngsters and they have responded very well. We know that he's a good regular season coach and will get good results. The problem is the playoffs. I say if they under achieve in these playoffs (and in Detroit anything less than NBA finals is a failure), he could be gone before the next season. But the cards are falling right for the team to make the run. The conference, while getting better, is still lacking a quality team beyond Boston and Detroit. Detroit has advantages over Boston, especially in a 7-game series. It doesn't mean they will win, but they have a good chance of doing so.
One more thing to remember, it took Larry Brown many years and many teams to finally win a championship. I guess we should give Flip more time to prove that he can do it, especially since there is no clear alternative is available.

Flip Saunders is a good coach. He took pathetic TWolves teams to the playoffs over and over again so that is an accomplishment right there, Garnett or not, those teams were rather crap.

The Pistons have less proven players now than in the last five, six years where they have had their success. BWallace went for nothing and so did Webber, they have done a great job to stay near the top of the nba

It seems like Saunders is great during the regular season, but isn't the best playoff coach. Considering the Pistons talent, he should have done more. It looks good on paper (getting to the Eastern finals), but considering how weak the East is, it's not terribly impressive. Still, he's decent but not great.

Pistons just won their tenth straight at 16.8 points margin during streak. A slip up by Boston and they can take #1 spot in East

I don't think so. Detroit is 3 games behind, and Boston doesn't look like they're slowing down any time soon.

Boston: 27-3
Detroit: 25-7

Holy crap! Out of 30 games, only 3 losses!?!?!

Hey, JayPat, I dont want to sound dumb, but how do you get your Buike picture under your post? I want to add a Giants thing that I found.

Go to your profile section, and then find the link of the picture and go to it. Copy the link, and then in your signature section, do this:

[img]LINK[/img]

Alright, I'll try that. Thanks.

JayPat wrote:I don't think so. Detroit is 3 games behind, and Boston doesn't look like they're slowing down any time soon.

Boston: 27-3
Detroit: 25-7

Holy crap! Out of 30 games, only 3 losses!?!?!

Based on the pythagorean win prediction method (which is marginally more accurate than win%), Detroit is now on a pace to win 68 games. The Celtics are on a 74 win pace. Something's gotta give.

If the Pistons win the championship Detroit could be the first city to win 3 major sports' championships in one year, as the Red Wings will probably win the NHL championship and the Tigers have a good chance to win the MLB pennant.

On the other hand, if Boston wins the NBA championship then Boston will likely become the first city to win 3 major sports' championships in one year as the Red Sox are the champions and the Patriots will be.

When was the last time that just one city, let alone 2, dominated sports as much as detroit and boston are right now?

Yeah. The Celtics and Pistons are inflated by a weak conference, but damn. 74 games? If one of their big three get hurt I don't see that happening though.