per Terry Foster's messy blog:


Terry Foster
Tue, Apr 24, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Magic Attack Rip (http://info.detnews.com/pistonsblog/index.cfm)

Let me be very blunt about an interesting story line that is being missed by my media brothers and sisters.

The Orlando Magic are trying to punk Pistons guard Rip Hamilton. It is a tactic the league has tried through out his career because they don't think Hamilton is tough enough to take it. Players really turned up the heat when Hamilton was knocked for a loop against the Dallas Mavericks and missed five of seven free throws.

Hamilton has spent a considerable amount of time picking himself up off the floor. It is a tactic the old Bad Boy Pistons used. If they thought somebody was not tough, they used to hit him to soften him up.

Some players don't think Rip can take the punishment and the thought is if the Magic topple Hamilton enough times he might not get up. Or if he gets up and shakes it off he won't be brave enough to bull into the lane.

Here is the flaw Hamilton the rest of the league looked at. Before Hamilton was knocked down by the Mavericks he was shooting .871 from the free throw line. Since then he is shooting .775. That is a big difference for such a good shooter.

"I'm sick and tired of getting hit hard out there, I'll tell you that," Hamilton said. "But it's a part of the game. I know that's what people are trying to do. Like the Energizer Bunny, I'm going to take a licking and keep on ticking. It's going to be a dogfight. It's the playoffs.

They are trying to break him. If teams can take away Hamilton then they've stopped the heart beat that makes the Pistons tick. Hamilton showed some toughness in Game 2 by hitting 12 of 14 free throws and scoring 22 points in the Pistons 98-90 victory at the Palace on Monday night. "Its a waste of energy. It ain't going to work," Hamilton said. "People try to do that my whole career. They look at me and say they've got to play me physical. We got to try to knock him down and stuff like that. But I like it. I like that contact. I will just keep on playing through it."
so, do you think the scouting reports say that in order to limit Rip's effectiveness, you need to knock him around. or, could this be a by product of Rip attacking the basket more this season, evidenced by his career high in FT attempts. i think the latter and dismiss any notion that teams are trying to rough him up. Rip's not a heavy fella and he's fast, so when he gets bumped, he's going to go flying around.

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7997/fulljgetty73901446ae003nn4.jpg

I actually thought he did a bit of a dive last night.

From the angles that I saw, if didn't look like he was hit badly at all, but he went down like he was shot.

You can't really blame other teams for trying to rough him up a bit, especially if the numbers bear that out.

He might even help them out by getting a tech or 14.

isnt this what happens to all sg's? whats the story here. it is the playoffs.

Agreed. This ain't the ...

http://www.sportznutz.com/wnba/wnba_logo_28156.gif

This one's for the girls.

This one's for the girls.

Wade for MVP.

Here is the flaw Hamilton the rest of the league looked at. Before Hamilton was knocked down by the Mavericks he was shooting .871 from the free throw line. Since then he is shooting .775. That is a big difference for such a good shooter.
A similar sort of thing happened in 2005 with Rip's FT shooting, and 2006 was the ankle sprain. For all of his conditioning, he can and does get worn down over the course of a season. (I really don't like seeing him in for ~44 mpg like he has in the playoffs thus far.). I don't think there's a deliberate attempt to lay him on his ass beyond "he's going to the paiint more". For that matter, I don't think he's going to the paint THAT much more. He's had about the same FTs/game he did this year in many years past.

If other teams are smart, I expect them to knock him around. Anyone built like him should be pushed around as much as possible. That's part of the game. I prefer more of the little tricks to be employed. Watching him and Reggie grab and hold jerseys and cut screens and "get their feet tangled up" was about as entertaining as it gets. Two guys who know all the tricks trying to use them on each other. If, in the process, they catch a stiff shoulder from a big man, that's all part of the game.

Wade for MVP.

laffo