I'm sure before this is all said and done, there will be a lot to talk about with regards to the media.

Here's the first tidbit:

http://www.nypost.com/sports/65928.htm


SCOTTIE SENT TO BENCH, ABC YANKS PIPPEN FROM PREGAME

By ANDREW MARCHAND

May 12, 2006 -- Scottie Pippen has been cut from ABC's NBA postseason roster, a network spokesman confirmed this week.

The move by ABC Sports executives continues the biggest game of musical chairs currently going on in the sports television business. Since its inception four years ago, ABC's pregame has included Mike Tirico, Bill Walton, Tom Tolbert and Steve Jones.

When this year began, ABC's plan was to have Tirico and Pippen joined by a variety of celebrities for round-table discussions.

After the All-Star break this season, ABC completely reshuffled its pregame show - an unusual move for TV - by adding Dan Patrick, Mark Jackson and Michael Wilbon to join Pippen. Tirico moved to NBA play-by-play.

Last weekend, Pippen was noticeably absent for a second straight week. Grant Hill was sitting in Pippen's regular chair. Hill showed potential, and ABC could very well try to have him return to its set later in the playoffs.

"Grant did a good job as a guest, but, as of now, the plans for the NBA Finals are to feature three core commentators,'' ESPN/ABC Sports VP Josh Krulewitz said.

Krulewitz added that Pippen will remain on ESPN's NBA programs.

pippen wasn't all that great from what i remember, anyways.

Thank god, now the pregame is watchable. Fuck that big nosed asshole

Use this thread to post the inevitable pissing and moaning that is sure to ensue from the whiniest writer in sports.

Be sure to post in here every time he slams the city of Detroit also. Thanks.

Taymelo? Have you stolen TK's account?

Overheard on ESPN Radio this morning...

"Well we'll finally get to see what the Pistons can do against a healthy Heat team. The Heat were decimated by injuries that last time these teams met in the ECF".

Give me a fucking break.

Hater Exhibit A:


At 7-0, Rasheed Wallace was recently entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as earth's largest crybaby. Wallace believes the next foul he commits will be the first he has ever committed. He gets this information from the aliens who talk to him regularly, telling him to make guarantees that are 100 percent right 67 percent of the time. Wallace is one of the many reasons Wade says there is no team in the league he likes less than the Pistons.
The Pistons also have a remarkable number of players with names you might find working in a hair salon.

Chauncey.

Tayshaun.

Antonio.

Lindsey.

Maurice.

And that's not even counting Team Hair Salon's coach -- a grown man named Flip





Ha ha!!! Those negroes sure have funny names! Danny is right on!

Mexicans also have funny names.

FYI- I merged the LeBatard thread with the Playoff Media Thread.

It was a sexy little manuever.

a man whose name rhymes with retard and whose can be easily converted to bastard, shouldn't be making fun of others......

i wanna see him say this to one of their faces. otherwise the worst shit he talks, the more of a pussy he is.

2 things they said.

1) stuart scott was riding tayshauns balls hard last night. dont know if anyone saw it, but he said the whole espn office thinks hes the most underrated player in the nba.

2) they showed a stat (probably everyone saw it) that the pistons have the most elimination game victories of any team over a 4 year span in nba history. (pistons are 11-2 in elimination games since 2003)

Shaq, Heat get stuffed; focus shifts to Friday

By Dan Le Batard

dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com


AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- There are certain natural phenomena that can't be stopped, slowed or detoured by one human body. An ocean tide. A rock slide. Shaq's backside. Shaquille O'Neal getting the ball under the rim is just about the surest thing ever in basketball. One bounce? That's thunder's warning before lightning. So you knew something wasn't right in Wednesday's second half when O'Neal began to uncoil and Ben Wallace suddenly remembered, for the first time this series, that he's supposed to be the world's best defender. With the aid of a trampoline, a ladder and a jet pack during this 91-78 Detroit victory, Wallace climbed up into the atmosphere and came down cleanly with an angry palm upon the basketball.
Miami's path?
Blocked.
Miami's goal?
Postponed.
Miami's access to the championship round?
Temporarily denied.
What does that mean? More joy when Game 6 of this best-of-seven insanity resumes in Miami on Friday with the Heat leading, 3-2, and Miami having a chance to hold up the Eastern Conference trophy before its rowdy home fans.
After Wallace's block? O'Neal suddenly collapsed to the floor, not unlike his team. And while he got up fine, his Heat never quite did. Miami never had a lead after that moment.
Not much at stake Friday. Just the most important game of the season. Just the second-most important game in franchise history. The 99th game of this interminable season is especially critical because Miami doesn't want to play its 100th in Detroit with a loss ending the season.
''One game to win,'' Dwyane Wade said. ``That's all we need to do.''
Said O'Neal: ``We won't play like that on Friday. We'll be ready.''
A bit of perspective to calm the hyperventilating basket cases who make the most noise whenever there's a loss during the playoffs: There are four teams remaining for one throne and not a one of them today is in as good a position as your Miami Heat. Miami's 3-1 lead has shrunk to 3-2, but the last 16 teams to lead 3-1 in the conference finals are 16-0.

UNLUCKY PLAY
Detroit, trying to save its season, strangled Miami in its most important quarter of its season -- holding Miami to a microscopic 13 points in the desperate fourth. Miami went nearly five minutes without making a single basket. But Miami blew a perfect chance when trailing 79-76, after O'Neal's third block, when the rebound landed in the only Detroit hands Miami didn't want them in on this night.
It's not often Detroit wins while Richard Hamilton goes seven for 21, Chauncey Billups goes three for 12, Rasheed Wallace goes three for 11 and the team goes two for 15 from behind the three-point arc. But a Prince protected The Palace. Tayshaun Prince, the only Detroit starter who wasn't an All-Star this season, scored 29 points, including a deflating three after that O'Neal block. Miami never got close again after that.
And Antonio McDyess threw in another crippling 12. Antonio McDyess? Five for five from the field? It was like watching that new Wayans brothers movie win an Oscar. ~Its actually not all that shocking but its a funny line IMO.

Wade, meanwhile, made only 11 of 20 shots and scored only a team-high 23 points, the bum. This one wasn't as easy for him as the previous four, when he blew bubbles while playing and spread his legs upon dunks so all the flashbulbs could catch him in artistic flight. ~WTF? Anyone else think that sounds far too Brokeback?

The pressure is all on Miami now, several Pistons said, conveniently ignoring that only one team can have its season ended Friday and, well, it isn't Miami.

FREE-THROW WOES
It was long overdue for Miami to lose a game because of abysmal free-throw shooting. It hadn't happened once in the last two postseasons. Not once has Shaq's Achilles' heel crippled the entire team. But Miami made just six of 20 free-throw attempts. To understand how terrible that is, consider that Wade averages more than six makes per game all by himself. He made 15 Monday.
Hamilton, one of Detroit's best players, goes by the nickname ''Rip.'' It is supposed to be because he is such a clean shooter that ''rip'' is the sound the net makes when his shot goes through it.
But he and his teammates have shot crooked all series, this night included, and Miami is hoping Rip will have another meaning to Detroit come Friday.
As in R.I.P.

That's great homeriffic stuff.

I've been waiting all day for Charley Rosen to post his analysis too, nothing yet.

im surprised lebatard still has a job. hes a mediocre writer and a blatant racist, who also plays the race card when its convenient for him.

i notice that this year, the freepress and miami herald declined to renew that playfull column where mitch album joked about miami's fairweather fan's and lebatard joked about detroit being the city most resembling hell and being unsuitable for white people to live.

damn, i wish this dude would just get shot already.

http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/img/dan0510.jpg = http://www.bullz-eye.com/mguide/review_images/1948-2004/animal_house/animal_house_steven_furst.jpg

= what?

I was trying to say that LeBatard looks like Flounder from Animal House.

Swing and a miss.

that fat bastard must sweat hard in south beach.:(

From ESPN's Page 2 Daily Quickie:


What are the big differences between the Pistons being down 3-2 to the Heat in the Eastern finals last year and this year?

(1) Dwyane Wade: A year ago, Wade had a DNP in Game 6 -- the Heat's worst playoff loss ever -- and continued to struggle with his injured ribs in Game 7 (7-20 FG).

This season? Despite a slow(er) Game 5, Wade is playing as sharp as anyone in the playoffs. Last year's Game 6 DNP isn't just a bad memory; it might be his greatest motivation.

(2) Track Record: A year ago, the Pistons had already won in Miami (Game 1); winning there in Game 7 wasn't an entirely new experience.

This season? The Pistons have lost both games in Miami so far, and neither was even particularly competitive. It's a tougher obstacle to win their first game there with the playoffs on the line.

(3) Sequencing: Last year, the Pistons played Game 6 in the friendly confines of the Palace to tie the series (remember: with Wade's DNP), then played Game 7 in Miami with all the momentum.

This season? The Pistons are under pressure to win in Miami first (and, this time, against a healthy Wade), and -- only then -- get the chance to pull the comeback at home in Game 7.

(4) Coaching: A year ago, it was Larry Brown (who, for all his faults, was still a championship coach) versus Stan Van Gundy (removed this year, probably because of last year's Games 6 and 7 results).

This season? The roles are reversed: Pat Riley is the experienced playoff manager; Flip Saunders is treading water in the deep end -- barely.

The last time Saunders had a conference finals Game 6 on the road? His perennially underachieving Wolves lost to Shaq's Lakers.

(5) Aura: A year ago, the Pistons were the defending champs, with an aura of inevitability to their run through the East.

This season? Despite renewing their defensive swagger in Game 5, the Pistons have been stripped of that.

As symbolically significant as Ben Wallace's block on Shaq was in Game 5, it feels more like Shaq is about to take his humiliation out on the Pistons than that the Pistons will continue to dominate the Heat.

the all importat aura. the biggest stat of the game.[smilie=zzz.gif]

Re: Charley Rosen


I don't know - I don't read a lot of articles

Post some links of his regular work and I'll let you know.

Most recent article (from earlier today): http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5659252

Archive: http://msn.foxsports.com/writer/archive?authorId=227

I'll read some of them and let you know what I think GD

i generally like Charley Rosen's columns. He tends to get into more detail instead of just sticking with the generalities (a la espn's shitty daily dime bitches)

I always laugh when he throws a $3 word in there (usually once per article).

It's like he gets his kicks out of sending people runing to dictionary.com

http://www.suntimes.com/output/jackson/cst-spt-jax04.html


Classless Pistons send a bad message

June 4, 2006

BY JOHN JACKSON Staff Reporter

As much as I admire what the Detroit Pistons have accomplished the last four years, I've grown tired of their constant whining and complaining. No team spends more time moaning to the officials, and they almost never give credit to the opponent when they lose.

Following a Detroit victory in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade took a shot at the Pistons when he said, ''I'm not going to be like Detroit. I'll give them credit. When we win, it's because they didn't play well.''

Whining to the officials and not giving opponents credit is one thing, but the Pistons took their classless act to a new low last week when a few players openly blamed coach Flip Saunders for their struggles.

Rasheed Wallace questioned Saunders' decision to employ the Hack-a-Shaq strategy in Game 3. Wallace snapped at Saunders twice in that game, once in the first half when he was replaced and headed to the bench and then in the fourth quarter when Shaquille O'Neal was fouled intentionally.

Perhaps more damning of Saunders was the criticism from Ben Wallace, who said part of the Pistons' defensive problems were the result of not working on defense enough in practice.

Detroit advanced to the NBA Finals the previous two seasons under Larry Brown, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Saunders would be criticized if this season's team didn't achieve similar success. Saunders understood that when he took the job, but I doubt if he expected the hits to come from his players.

Outspoken TNT analyst Charles Barkley immediately jumped to Saunders' defense.

''I'm [ticked] off at the Pistons,'' Barkley said. ''All season they've been saying, 'We love this guy,' that he 'turned us loose and we don't have the pressure of Larry Brown.' And when things aren't going well, they turn on Flip Saunders and they throw him under the bus.

''Nobody on that team has played well, and it's total b.s. for them to blame it on Flip Saunders. Actually, it's kind of punkish to blame it on Flip Saunders. All coaches make mistakes, but the game comes down to players. They have played terrible, and they have a scapegoat in Flip Saunders. And that's terrible.''

To his credit, Saunders downplayed the criticism.

''They gripe all year. Everybody just doesn't know about it,'' the coach said. ''That's how players are. You talk to some of them about where they're at, but I think what you do more than anything, we talk about challenging. You challenge them. It's a matter of going out and executing what we want to have done.''

Still, some in the Pistons organization felt the need to apologize for the public criticism from the players.

Sure, there are things Saunders could have done differently early in the series, which the Pistons lost 4-2 on Friday, but as far as I'm concerned, coaching wasn't the deciding factor in any game.

The Pistons fell behind 3-1 in the series mainly because they weren't playing well enough to win. Ironically, it was the play of the Wallaces that was most responsible for their struggles.

Instead of griping about Saunders, Rasheed Wallace should have been focusing on being a consistent scorer against the smaller Miami defenders. Instead of worrying about how much time Saunders spent on defense in practice, Ben Wallace should have been more focused on playing like the defensive player of the year.

Mostly, all of the Pistons players need to look in the mirror. Players decide the outcome of games -- not the officials, not the league office and not the coaches.

McCosky: Things aren't as bad as they seem
The big offseason questions surrounds Ben Wallace

AUBURN HILLS - The suddenness of the collapse will keep the Pistons' organization spinning for a bit. It’s going to take a while to fully comprehend and understand all that went into it.
When the dust settles, though, things aren’t going to look as bad as they do right now. Toward that end, and before the summer reconstruction officially begins, it might be helpful to sort through the rubble of myths, misperceptions and misrepresentations that were bandied about the past three weeks.
Myth: Coach Flip Saunders played the starters too many minutes in the regular season, leaving them gassed for the playoffs.
No starter averaged more than 35 minutes in the regular season. In the last two weeks of the season, Saunders cut the starters’ minutes down below 30 a game. The last three games, it was down under 20.
Arnie Kander, the Pistons' physical therapist who keeps track of these things, said the players, on the whole, got more rest this season than any of the previous four. What can be said, though, in terms of fatigue, was that the accumulated wear and tear of playing 83 playoff games over four years -- essentially an extra season, with each game played at playoff intensity -- caught up to them.
They were mentally exhausted and beaten down physically. Saunders kept imploring them to run, to pick up the pace, get into the sets quicker, move the ball -- and it never happened. The Pistons looked like they were running in sand from the middle of the Cleveland series on. There was no juice left.
Misperception: The players didn’t respect Saunders.
Saunders, right or wrong, empowered the players to make suggestions and have input on how things would run. Saunders knew he inherited a successful, experienced team, one that had accomplished more than he had. It would have been utter folly for him to come in with a “my way or the highway” approach.
Did the players take his kindness for weakness? Maybe a little. But there is and always was a mutual respect. The ESPN and ABC cameras caught Rasheed Wallace storming past Saunders on the sidelines, or sitting along at the scorer’s table and assumed there was a rift. Had they been around all year, they would have known that Saunders always kept his huddles brief and Wallace stood at the scorer’s table goofing with broadcaster Rick Mahorn or whoever happened to be there all season long.
Had they been around all season, they would have known that Wallace often vented his frustration at Saunders. It was part of their working relationship.
Wallace and Saunders have a very workable relationship, as do most of the other players.
Misrepresentation: Ben Wallace had issues with Saunders.
Ben Wallace has had issues with every coach since he’s been a Piston. At some point, it’s not the coach. Wallace’s petulance was more visible this year than ever this season, which was disappointing.
The guess here is that a convergence of several stresses got to him.
He has lost a lot of loved ones in the past three years, and he’s talked often about how at times he still finds himself grieving.
There was his impending contract situation. He’s a free agent July 1. He fired his long-time agent Steve Kaufman, which was painful and embittering for Wallace. He put a lot of trust in Kaufman and in the end, felt his trust and friendship had been betrayed.
After a draining search, Wallace finally hired a new agent -- the powerful Arn Tellem.



Read the rest of it here
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060604/SPORTS08/606040327/1127/SPORTS0102

AG - that's actually a very good article.

Time to change the sig GD.

BTW, read some of Rosen's work - he's not bad. I like how he breaks down the play and actually has a point.

Stuff like this:


From then on, the game seemed to be up for grabs. Jason Terry's shooting was erratic until the game was won and done late in the fourth quarter. His total numbers — 6-13, 14 points — are therefore very deceiving. (For all of you Xs and Os freaks, the Mavs ran the same curls for Terry that were initially so effective in Game 3, and he responded by knocking down 2-of-2 jumpers.)


The Mavs' defensive adjustments led to loose double-teaming of Nash. Close enough to let Nash know that any possible layups would be endangered, but far enough away to also challenge his available passing lanes. This was the most effective defensive adjustment made by either team

He's not just dribbling shit to make a deadline.

Yeah, Rosen seems like he actually understands the game.