The Detroit Pistons continue their push for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference when they visit the struggling New York Knicks on Monday.

Detroit (49-27) moved closer to earning home court throughout the East playoffs for the second straight season with an 87-82 victory over Cleveland on Sunday. The Pistons are trying to hold off the Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls, who are battling for the second-best mark, for the top seed.

The Pistons bounced back from a disheartening 106-88 loss to Chicago four days earlier with a terrific defensive performance against the Cavaliers, limiting LeBron James to 20 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

Six Detroit players scored in double figures, including power forward Antonio McDyess, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds. McDyess started ahead of Rasheed Wallace, whose playing time coach Flip Saunders said he wants to limit because of a hyperextended finger on his non-shooting hand.

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"I tried to be aggressive and it worked to my advantage," McDyess said.

Wallace, who finished with 10 points in 22 minutes, seemed confused as to why he came off the bench for the first time since Jan. 10.

"I didn't miss no practice so I don't know what it was for," he said. "Y'all gotta ask Flip. ... I was out there. I'm cooler than a fan."

The Pistons can record their sixth straight 50-win season by beating New York (32-44). It's the first meeting between the teams since the Knicks won 151-145 in triple overtime Dec. 27 to even the season series at a game apiece.

Richard Hamilton scored a career-high 51 points in that matchup, the first 50-point effort against the Knicks since Michael Jordan had 51 on Jan. 21, 1997.

Jamal Crawford and Stephon Marbury combined for 70 points for New York in that game, but there's a chance neither will play Monday. Crawford is sidelined with a stress fracture, while Marbury sat out the last game with a right turf toe injury.

New York's backcourt situation is further muddled by the uncertain situation of Steve Francis, who has missed five straight games with a sprained right ankle.

The Knicks' chances of reaching the playoffs are looking slim. They have six games left and trail Orlando by three for the final postseason spot in the East.

Marbury was injured after playing only 12 minutes in a 99-94 loss to Minnesota on Friday. He had averaged 27.4 points over his previous five games.

Without him, New York used a starting backcourt of Nate Robinson and Mardy Collins in a 118-113 overtime victory at Milwaukee the next night. Robinson matched a career high with 34 points for the Knicks, who snapped a four-game losing streak.

Center Eddy Curry turned in the best game of his career with 43 points on 17-of-20 shooting, and added 13 rebounds. He also hit his second career 3-pointer, which forced overtime.

"It was one of those nights where the shots were falling," Curry said. "My teammates did a good job looking for me."

Curry has been outstanding against Detroit this season, averaging 28.5 points on 67.0 percent shooting.

Dice with another strong game:
11 pts, 13 rebs, 3 blks, 3 stls in 29 min.

looks like he's playoff-ready.

Nate Robinson's reaction = gold.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/c8/fullj.getty-71797717nd010_pistons_knick_10_51_05_pm.jpg

"and.....and......he just dunked on him......and it only took one try...." - Nate

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/ae/fullj.getty-71797717nd018_pistons_knick_11_03_02_pm.jpg

The Pistons are so uninspiring.

If you want uninspiring, see how they play at home, where they have the same home record as the Clippers.

Latest rumor is that CWebb's inspired to be a Knick, if he doesn't retire. :)

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04102007/sports/knicks/webbers_next_move__retirement_or_knicks_knicks_mar c_berman.htm

According to New York, isn't everyone inspired to be a Knick?

I heard from Knick fans that KG, Kobe, T-Mac, Duncan, Shaq, Bosh, D-Wade and LeBron will all sign there in the off-season, even though they're all under contract. In Isiah they trust.

Look out, rant incoming...

My theory about the Pistons is that the thing we love about them is the exact same thing that causes them to lose games.

Look around the league, and in the history of the game. The dominant players are machines. They don't have much in the way of personality most of the time. There are obvious exceptions, but most of these guys are pretty mechanical. They go out on the court and they play ball.

We love the Pistons because they are more like human beings. When they get a bad call, they raise a ruckus. They talk shit. They say and do things that don't fit Stern's pipedream of a perfect league. They get in trouble. They give the media a hard time. They play with inspiration...when they are inspired to do so. They're maddeningly inconsistent, and it's sometimes hard to be a fan of a team like that.

It's great to be human, and have human thoughts and issues and concerns and desires and passions. But to perform in the playoffs, you need to be ready to set that humanity aside and go on auto-pilot. The personality you want on a playoff team is a Tim "Timbot" Duncan, a guy who turns it all over to the game and leaves nothing for himself. Or a guy like Shaq, whose personality is every bit as much a brick wall as his big ass is. Or a guy like Kobe, whose belief in himself is a force of nature (and is probably pathological).

I'm looking at Rasheed Wallace today - a guy whose legendary "passion" has come and gone with the wind - who sometimes puts up low numbers that can't be accounted for by good defense - who seems like he's thinking about his bills when he's playing defense himself - who's been getting noticeably doughier - and I know this team is not ready. I don't think Detroit is going to the Finals this year, and it's a shame because I'm sure they have the inherent talent to do it.

That's a great point, Mich.
If you play strictly with raw emotion and passion, sometimes it just isn't there, and you can't just turn it on like a water faucet.

Machines:
Jordan
Bird
Magic
Timbot
Nash
Wade
Shaq
Kobe
Bosh
Nowitzki
KG
Ginobili (he's a flopping machine, but he's still a machine)
Ben Gordon

A short list, but what immediately came to mind. These guys are the kinds of guys who play ball like some people play chess - 10 moves ahead. After they score they are already positioning themselves on defense, not staring at the ball and reacting. They are almost always in the right place to receive a pass. They get inside because they are not afraid of a crowd.

Sure, there are some guys just plain born like this, Jordan is probably the best example...but almost all of these turn-it-on-and-go kinds of players got that way through strong coaching.

Who does Detroit have like this? Which Piston has got that ability to just switch it over and make it all about the game? It ain't Sheed, that's for damn sure. It probably isn't Rip, who runs hotter than July and colder than February? Is it C-Webb? I don't know, but from his previous playoff history he's going to have to work really hard to show it. Is it Chauncey? I don't think so. He can really take over a game - when he feels the need, which isn't very often. Is it Tayshaun? I'd like to hope so, considering how willing he is to put himself on the line for a good play, but he can't stand up to being under pressure all the time when nobody else has got anything going in.

So we're done with the starters. You wouldn't want your man-in-the-zone to come off the bench, but what if that's the case? Is it McDyess, who is still tucking in his jersey 60 seconds into his game? Is it Max, who's just a baby himself? Is it Lindsey? Dale Davis? Is it Delfino? Heck...maybe it is Delfino.

Interesting posts Mich&Tele.

Sounds like it's not just me that doesn't think this is as exciting to watch as it used to be.

Hopefully the playoffs change things dramatically.

i think sheed will step up more this year than last. his mild animosity with the coach seems to give him a little more edge this year. Also remember too that the nba has outlawed raw emotion going to full tilt. I think that plays a major factor in things. w/o that outlet fully there i think he uses his minor attitude with flip as a booster. I also think helping his buddy Webber get a title will play a major factor.


one other thing, kudos to dyess for finding his niche in Saunders offense. I think he's gonna catch people out the blue this post season.

30 years ago, there was both the ABA and NBA. The ABA had the younger, flakier hotheaded sorts, and played on a par with the staid stoic NBA sorts (beating them 62-34 during the last three years of head-to-head exhibition games). While the NBA bought the ABA cash-wise, the ABA infected them culturally, and we got little things like the three point line, 18 year olds in the game, flashier play, etc.

I think there's some players who feed off emotion and some people who get cracked by it. Some great ones, like TD and Kareem, need emotional control or they'll crack hard. Sheed's emotions certainly don't get in the way of him making a FT the way TD's do. I suspect there's a certain mix that needs to be had to make things work right. Hakeem Olajuwon is among the greats, even though he was a pretty emotional player.

Mxy - I understand completely that Sheed's emotion doesn't hurt him. But how is he supposed to play if he isn't revved up? How can he get into the game if there's nothing to wind him up?

Listen - I am a married guy. I love my wife, but sometimes I'm just not overcome with emotion about her. It's just a normal day.

On those normal days, when she walks in the door, do I go "oh jeez not you again!" just because I'm not revved up about being married at the moment? I try to bring my A game every day no matter how I feel emotionally. Otherwise I wouldn't be married. I wouldn't deserve it, because I wouldn't want it bad enough. Versteh?

Sheed's emotion can hurt and help us as a team. Rip and TD being emotional rarely helps. Big Ben leaps better when the crowd fills him up and only rarely does him getting wound up actually hurt a team. Piston greats like Laimbeer simply FED off negative energy, and got the likes of normally-unflappable Bird ejected. Some people are just wired differently when it comes to emotion. Some get the edge, some just get edgy, and sometimes it's a little of both. I think the NBA has gone out of its way to encourage "safe" and media-friendly stars, and that's often not terribly exciting.

"and.....and......he just dunked on him......and it only took one try...." - Nate

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/ae/fullj.getty-71797717nd018_pistons_knick_11_03_02_pm.jpg
PRICELESS!

Nate Robinson is a bunch of punks.

Did you guys see him last night when the Knicks were getting blown out?

What did he do this time?