[smilie=heatsmiley2:

Jason Maxiell to posterize Shaquille O'Neal?

Find out in 18 weeks, only on WTFDetroit!

Jason Maxiell to posterize Shaquille O'Neal?

Find out in 18 weeks, only on WTFDetroit!

lol

Stuckey is going to rip Wade apart.

Stuckey is going to rip Wade apart.
That would make me so happy.

Anti-:emo kid:

Intriguing.

My prediction:

One team won't have a humiliiating opening loss two seasons in a row.

Of course, if Wade isn't playing at the start of the season, because he isn't even cleared for contact yet...

Sounds like Wade won't be ready for this one.

Maybe they can go with just one or two refs in that case.

Or have a ref sub for Wade.

Don't count out a last minute "miraculous return", though.

(Apologies to Jon Kitna.)

Maybe he can be brought to the scorer's table in a wheelchair?

My question isn't who will win, but how many Kobe will score in his first game as a Piston.

My question isn't who will win, but how many Kobe will score in his first game as a Piston.

101. Final score 105 - 87.

JMax has the other four in the soon-to-be-released double poster set of Snaq falling over in one and Zo flexing at the crowd as JMax flies over his back in the other?

Wade sits, yet still draws 7 fouls.

Courageous.

It only took 3 months for this thread to be relevant.

Opening night's not for another week? Geez

yeeehaw

Opening night's not for another week? Geez

No, its in 6 days. :)

5.

I'm so excited!!!

bflYjF90t7c

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/06/16/PH2006061600105.jpg
"I'm so...scared!"

Shaq expected to be focus in opener

by A. Sherrod Blakely
Tuesday October 30, 2007, 4:31 AM

AUBURN HILLS -- Shaquille O'Neal is going to draw a lot of attention regardless of who's on the floor with him.

But with sharpshooter Jason Kapono gone to Toronto, Dwyane Wade (shoulder) out and newly acquired Ricky Davis still adjusting to his new teammates, the Miami Heat don't have a lot of firepower on the perimeter.

That's going to be more touches for the Big Diesel, which means more work for Detroit's already-thin frontcourt when the two meet in the season opener on Thursday.

At some point early in the game, Rasheed Wallace knows he'll have to defend O'Neal.

"We know Shaq's going to be their main focal point. The offense is going to go through him," Wallace said. "So we just have to try and play it tough. He's going to make some shots, but we can't make it too easy for him. If we make it hard to the point where he's not dunking right under the basket, we stand a chance."

Even when O'Neal has faced good defense, the 7-foot-1, 325-pound O'Neal still finds a way to score. And if he doesn't do that, he'll at least get the opposing team's big men in early foul trouble.

Pistons coach Flip Saunders said the team's rotation to start off will be at least nine players deep. The only true center in that group is Nazr Mohammed, which means Detroit's need to play great defense without fouling becomes even more important.

Not being as deep as they were a year ago in the frontcourt will mean Detroit will have to approach defending O'Neal differently than they have in the past.

Instead of playing primarily man-to-man defense against him, Detroit will mix in more zone and double-teams.

"You have to wait and see, but probably not as much (man-to-man defense)," Saunders said. "You gotta have a little more attention ... just do some other things."

However, the Pistons have to balance that with not leaving Miami shooters like Davis wide open. Despite Davis still trying to catch up to speed with his new team (he came to Miami in the trade that sent Antoine Walker to Minnesota), Saunders knows Davis will get plenty of opportunities to make plays on Thursday.

"It's easy to play off Shaq," Saunders said. "He gets so much attention, that you get the ball a lot in open situations. Ricky, he'll be able to function."

So does Flip start Nazr on Thursday?

The Pistons are back tomorrow, baby!!!

http://www.anthonyburrill.com/media/projects/03_tomorrow/05_tomorrow_web.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/images/programmes/300x300/radio4_today2.jpg

ro3bsyZYX88

Waiting for tonight...ohhhh...

hot off the WDFN presses, Rip Hamilton will not be in Miami tonight due to a personal matter, and Flip has said Afflalo will start in his place.

103-87

IF ONLY WE HAD DRAFTED TIAGO SPLITTER!

Krista Jahnke must feel like she's been punched in the ovaries with all her Flip Murray talk...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! !!!


GLENN! DO SOMETHING! GLENN!!! HIT HIM OR SOMETHING! BAN HIM! SOMETHING!

No Rip, no Stuckey, no Amir.

We're off to a good start.

They don't have Wade, so I don't mind.

No Rip, no Stuckey, no Amir.

We're off to a good start.

... unsatisfactory.

Pistons guard Hamilton out for season-opener against Miami because of family emergency

November 1, 2007

MIAMI (AP) -- Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton missed the team's season-opener at Miami on Thursday because of a family emergency and rookie Arron Afflalo was expected to start in his place.

Hamilton could rejoin the Pistons in Orlando on Friday, coach Flip Saunders said.

Hamilton averaged a team-high 19.8 points last season.

That's a very strange combination of prior use of past tense combined with uncertainty in the future tense.

Sing it with me!

Waiting for tonight...ohhh...when you would be here in my arms...

I think using that little "chat" feature found up at the top of the board home would be nice for tonight.

I think using that little "chat" feature found up at the top of the board home would be nice to use for tonight.

Seconded.

No Rip, no Stuckey, no Amir.

We're off to a good start.

Flip Murray 48 minutes!

Seriously though, I bet he gets heavy minutes and shoots 4 for 13, and 1-5 on threes.

oooh, the "guess Flip Murray's stats tonight" game

I'll play.

12 PTS
5-11 FG
1-3 3FG
6 AST
1 STL
2 TO

8 points (2-7 FG), 4 ast, 2 STL, 4 TO, 4-5 FT

15 points on 5-15 shooting, 1-4 3pt FG, 4-6 FT, 3 TO, 3 ast, 2 stl

Impromptu MOLA1 tribute...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/realgm/Alpacas.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/realgm/ShrekandDonkey.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/realgm/ShaqFat.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v496/realgm/MIAMITROLLS.gif

...So am I going to be talking to myself in the chat tonight or what?

I'll be in the chat.

Pick you up at 7:30?

It will be closer to 8.

I'm going to try to jump into the chat just to hear whats going on. I'll be at work until 9, then an hour drive home. Lame, right?

Hope to catch some of this tonight since it's on TNT. Unfortunately I have to help my father in law move his big TV after work. Fortunately that means you have to hook it up and make sure it works. TNT seems like a good channel to do that on.

I'm going to try to jump into the chat just to hear whats going on. I'll be at work until 9, then an hour drive home. Lame, right?


so 3 people will be chatting it up so far! Excellent, lol.

Rip is out? Found this.



Astronauts Find Rip In Space-Station Solar Panel

What the hell is he doing up there? Doesn't he know theres a game tonight?

Cogent ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rip is out? Found this.



Astronauts Find Rip In Space-Station Solar Panel

What the hell is he doing up there? Doesn't he know theres a game tonight?

Nice job gumshoe

http://www.thespotlightwithseantaylor.com/media/podcastimgs/lemarpic.jpg

Hit it!

http://www.sierralhs.com/rockapella%202.jpg

Get in the chat fellas!

Those new warmups they are wearing are sweet


Even if they are adidas

Ricky Davis has still got game.

Tahoe, get in the chat!

Where's the chat at? Th chat link on WTFDetroit.com's main page gives me a page not found error.

i feel like joe really really really doesnt want me to watch the pistons anymore.

chat, diddy.

this heat team sucks on multiple levels.

AA is a tad quicker than i thought, maybe he does hae a legit pro career ahead of him.

lol, i sure hope stuckey and amir are all they are supposed to be, because a bench that plays nazr, flip murray, hayes, and lindsey hunter makes me want to gauge my eyes out.

....werd.

I loved Tay's agressiveness tonight. That's what every Pistons fan has been begging for... for about 5 years now. He didn't shoot all that well, but he had a lot of layups because of his agressiveness. And he didn't once pass up a shot he was supposed to take.

I'm still not sold on McDyess starting. He looked uncomfortable out there. Let's see how the next couple of games go.

I really with Afflalo would have been a little more involved in the offense. I know he's a rookie, but it seemed like no one really trusted him yet. I think he needs time to gel.

Flip Murray sucks.

Is it any wonder Tay has a career best night - on opening night? He is clearly an assasin, but his frame cannot take the abuse of a full 82-game schedule, plus playoffs for 40 minutes a night. This is all the more reason why we need a legit back-up, and I'm happy to say we might finally have one in Afflalo and Hayes.

Ricky Davis has still got game.

Still got game=the ability to jack up a ton of shots

Again, Udonis Haslem outrebounds and scores Rasheed Wallace.

Again, Udonis Haslem outrebounds and scores Rasheed Wallace.


As if it's a surprise...

I'm still not impressed by Afflalo.

Pretty boring game, actually.

Tay was sweet, for sure, but b-diddy's comment about wanting to gauge his eyes out after watching that bench unit is dead on.

Hurry back Stuckey/Amir!

Tay rules.

I think we're being a bit hard on the bench with three guys out. Afflalo wasn't expected to have to take on the other team's starters in his very first NBA game. He didn't look good, but I'm not worried. I'm confident he'll be a great piece for the future, and a solid contributor this season.

With Rip back tonight, Amir back soon enough, and Stuckey returning by mid- to late-December, we're going to have a lot more weapons than we showed last night. Even still, we soundly beat our opponents. Sure D-Wade was out, which is huge, but they still have some decent pieces without him.

A pretty win? No. A win that gives me comfort for our future? Yes.

Looks like Murray was even worse than we expected. 1-6

I'd expect to see Amir back Sunday. That should be some fun.

Looks like Murray was even worse than we expected. 1-6
Yeah, yet he had the best +/- on the team.

nice to see Nazr actually touch the floor...glad to know that 5 year deal isn't going totally to waste...

If you lose to Aaron Carter you're a little bit overrated... Shaq and Miami both suck.

Still got game=the ability to jack up a ton of shots
It pays off for Kobe bryant. He's among the leaders in chucks every year. Kinda selective to call one chucker a great scorer and the other one a chucker isnt it? :)

Seriously i thought he provided decent help w/o wade. With Wade he'll get alot of open looks. Defensively they seem to be a zone first team now, so he may be safe.

If you lose to Aaron Carter you're a little bit overrated, so Shaq and Miami both suck.


The fact that the Heat have 5 centers on their roster is f-ing hilarious...Pfund did a great job putting that squad together

Heat Depth Chart

C- Shaq, Zo, Alex Johnson, Joel Anthony, Earl Barron
PF- Haslem, Blount
SF- Ricky Davis, Dorell Wright (borderline SF)
SG- Wade, Penny Hardaway, Chris Quinn
PG- White Chocolate, Smush

thats a whole lot of personality...but not a whole lot of anything else

The Pistons just don't seem to have that killer instinct anymore. When we were up ten early in the fourth and kept getting stops we should have piled on and put the game away. Instead they just kept chucking up bad shots, stopped running plays, etc. That might work against a bad Heat team but you can't consistently let teams hang around like that in the NBA.

yea, last night didnt exactly make me think this team is going anywhere. i wasnt joking when i said this heat team sucked on many different levels. i think they looked bad and we looked about as bad as we have since 2002. without tay having a career game, we'd have had a pretty pathetic loss.

i was thinking about +/- during the game, also. i dont think it ment much. the heat sucked pretty much, thoughout, excpet for a stretch where shaq played like he was still an athlete. heat played pretty well for that stretch, but i dont think it had anything to do with who we had on the floor, it was just shaq playing well. which explains how flip could play like crap and lead the team in +/-.

10 of 19 fg% isn't 'jacking up a ton of shots' imo.

Looks like Murray was even worse than we expected. 1-6
Though that one shot he did get was great...

I like Murray. He is a good scorer, and doesn't complain about his job off the bench. Sure, his defence and playmaking might be fucking horrible, but if Chauncey goes down with injury we are screwed anyway, even if Murray was adequate.
He is still the only player (I havnt seen Stuckey yet) I've seen on our team who drives consistently.
Rip was doing better last season, but he will always be a jumpshooter (and rightfully so)

I agree with Pistons playing like shit though. They just gave up with 5min left... as someone said, its just god dam lucky we were playing a horrible team.

The Pistons just don't seem to have that killer instinct anymore. When we were up ten early in the fourth and kept getting stops we should have piled on and put the game away. Instead they just kept chucking up bad shots, stopped running plays, etc. That might work against a bad Heat team but you can't consistently let teams hang around like that in the NBA.

Aside from a few hot streaks throughout the years, isn't this what the Pistons always do? Even when we won 60+ games a couple years ago we didn't have that high of a point differential, because they just like to let teams hang around. Put out just enough effort to get the W.

Then again, they looked pretty good in that regard against Orlando.

And how did we go in the postseason after winning 60 reg season games? The effort was lacklustre then as well, despite the high win total.

Two double-digit road wins to start the year, and people are still bitching...hilarious.

Seriously...if nothing short of the 96 Bulls is going to satisfy you, you're probably better off finding a new hobby. Basketball is obviously lost on you.

your a clown, and get clownier by the day.

your a clown, and get clownier by the day.

Maybe, but at least I can watch a Pistons victory without crying myself to sleep at night.

Yeah, it's 2 games in...it's a little too early. I think they've looked good personally.

omg! Pistons on the road to 79 wins!

Nothing wrong with criticizing, "kstat."

omg! Pistons on the road to 79 wins!

Nothing wrong with criticizing, "kstat."

When they lose? Not at all.

When they win by double-digits on the road, it just makes you look like a miserable person.

e-ray, you're an idiot, you have to add the 16 W's in the playoffs too!

When they lose? Not at all.

When they win by double-digits on the road, it just makes you look like a miserable person.

so, had the pistons lost both games your saying it would be ok to abandon the team?

lol, you have virtually no idea what "big picture" means.

Miserableness is the key to success!

kidding, but... seriously.... There's never anything wrong with criticizing, he has his opinion, etc. He was saying what he thought the Pistons could have done better to close out, and when we play better teams, we'll need to capitalize. I understand where you are coming from, but I still think it's ok to criticize, big win or loss. Isn't that what analyzing is?

Like I said, I know what you mean. From a point, it may look like someone is a complete skeptic after picking apart a big win. But I think it's good to talk about it, not that we're going to change anything.

andsorrymailman

so, had the pistons lost both games your saying it would be ok to abandon the team?

lol, you have virtually no idea what "big picture" means.

No, I said it would have been fine to criticize them. You're the one you said "abandon the team," but that seems to be your catch phrase these days, so whatever.

The 06 Heat proved you can have a completely miserable regular season, get stomped by every good team in the NBA multiple times, and still win a championship.

All that matters in the regular season is attitude and wins, and even then wins are only important if you plan on playing a game 7, meaning it might mean something one night a year.

If you're a Pistons fan, and you didn't enjoy them winning two road games to start the season in easy fashion, you probably need to find another team.

Nobody should pretend to make regular season games mean more than they really do. The only things that people should care about are: did they win, who played well, and did everyone stay healthy. That's it.

Your last little bit there is true, but where did your second last bit come from? Nobody said we didn't enjoy the wins. That's stupid.

Still ok to analyze how we play...

in kstat's mind, anything bad said about the team makes you a bad fan, and anything good said about another team means your gay for them.

i could go further, but kstat's mind is too disturbing to stay in for long.

"The only things that people should care about are: did they win, who played well, and did everyone stay healthy. That's it."

Wrong. Regular season is "playoff pre-season" for a team like ours. The only thing that matters is, aside from health, are we building a style of play that will WIN in the post-season.

In fact, with a team with as good a core as ours, whether we win or lose isn't even that important (as long as we're not falling out of contention for the top few spots) - though obviously winning is more fun.

Then again I wouldn't some people to understand, since they were the jackasses that saw nothing wrong during our 64 win season. So what if our defense is soft, we're winning games by getting hot in jumpers at the end of the game, and we can't seem to rebound well, and our bench contributions are almost non-existent??? We're winning regular season games, that's all that matters! *fart noise* (the fart noise was me)

My verdict so far:

Game 1: Eh. Nice win but not impressed with our style of play - too reminiscent of our 64-win season type wins. Though the double teaming on Shaq in the 1st half was pretty decent. it was interesting to see Tay play with some balls. If he kept that up during the season even with Rip back, maybe i'm going to take a second look at this game.

Game 2: Nice. Much better. Strong bench contributions + OUTREBOUNDED them by more than 1 or 2 + Touch defense on Dwight.

its a long season though (and we're short-handed), so its only natural there will be some garbage games, and garbage wins.

Wrong. Regular season is "playoff pre-season" for a team like ours. The only thing that matters is, aside from health, are we building a style of play that will WIN in the post-season.

Tell that to miami, who got crushed and embarrassed by every quality team in the league during the regular season in 2006.

fart noise* (the fart noise was me)



No "excuse me"?

Tell that to miami, who got crushed and embarrassed by every quality team in the league during the regular season in 2006.

we dont have d-wade or the refs. And frankly you could argue they only won because, WE, the Pistons, didn't take of business.

My post stands as accurate for the Pistons. History has proven it time and time again. Just like it's proven you wrong, season after season, when you try to spin our playoff flaws as no real problems in the season.

Hopefully this season will be different - it's way early in the season. But I do know one thing, the number of regular season wins, whether its 52 or 58 or 62 or 64 won't mean jack shit if we're not... (oh god i cant believe i'm gonna say thsi) ...playing the right way.

metroman is on fire.

"The only things that people should care about are: did they win, who played well, and did everyone stay healthy. That's it."

Wrong. Regular season is "playoff pre-season" for a team like ours. The only thing that matters is, aside from health, are we building a style of play that will WIN in the post-season.

In fact, with a team with as good a core as ours, whether we win or lose isn't even that important (as long as we're not falling out of contention for the top few spots) - though obviously winning is more fun.

Then again I wouldn't some people to understand, since they were the jackasses that saw nothing wrong during our 64 win season. So what if our defense is soft, we're winning games by getting hot in jumpers at the end of the game, and we can't seem to rebound well, and our bench contributions are almost non-existent??? We're winning regular season games, that's all that matters! *fart noise* (the fart noise was me)

My verdict so far:

Game 1: Eh. Nice win but not impressed with our style of play - too reminiscent of our 64-win season type wins. Though the double teaming on Shaq in the 1st half was pretty decent. it was interesting to see Tay play with some balls. If he kept that up during the season even with Rip back, maybe i'm going to take a second look at this game.

Game 2: Nice. Much better. Strong bench contributions + OUTREBOUNDED them by more than 1 or 2 + Touch defense on Dwight.

its a long season though (and we're short-handed), so its only natural there will be some garbage games, and garbage wins.

What I was trying to say, intricately worded. Nice.:cogent:

And how did we go in the postseason after winning 60 reg season games? The effort was lacklustre then as well, despite the high win total.

The effort was there throughout most of the regular season. Despite the fact that they played down to their opponent on most nights, the focus and effort was there on a nightly basis because they usually came away with the W. That is the point. Even when they are focused and hungry, they allow teams to stick around.

The fact that they were worn out and choked in the playoffs is a different story. This was, afterall, a regular season game. The Spurs do the same thing, allowing teams to hang around, and losing to lesser teams ala Atlanta. The only top level teams that seem to avoid this are Dallas and Phoenix, neither of which has a title.

Game 2: Nice. Much better. Strong bench contributions + OUTREBOUNDED them by more than 1 or 2 + Touch defense on Dwight.


I see the rebounding in Miami as just as impressive considering we shot so poorly (38% I think?), and they shot in the mid-40s. We didn't just shoot so well that they didn't have a chance to get a significant amount of boards like Orlando.