OST: Eastern Conference Quarterfinals: (2) Detroit vs (7) Philadelphia, DET WINS 4-2

[Glenn]

The Artist Formerly Known as Mr. Big Shot

Look, I know the Pistons are still giddy about their 93-point explosion against a 40-win team last night, but they have to be gravely concerned about their offense. Even with Tayshaun Prince absolutely killing Andre Iguodala, the Pistons are tied with Philadelphia at 2-2, a shocking state of affairs that's mainly the result of their point guard's struggles.

Chauncey Billups was the best player on the league's second-best team in the regular season. In the playoffs he's 12-for-42 with 16 turnovers, and he's taking the Pistons' offense down with him. Even in the Game 4 win, he was 4-for-16 with six turnovers.

If this sounds familiar, it's because it is. Detroit's offense went into the tank in May 2006 and again in 2007, and Billups led the way both times. It's not just his shooting either; he hasn't been as good at getting the others involved. In 37 playoff games over the past three seasons, Billups has only four double-figure assist games -- whereas in the past three regular seasons he has 64.

So here we are in late April, and the Pistons' offense once again suddenly has gone off the rails. They're shooting 44.5 percent after making 45.8 percent in the regular season; worse yet, they're committing 17.3 turnovers per game after committing the fewest in the league -- just 11.7 a game -- in the regular season.

It's four games, and I don't want to read too much into such a small sample. But given the Pistons' history the past two springs, it's an alarming trend. And if they don't turn it around, they won't survive long enough to extend their string of conference finals appearances.

[Fool]

Ma;dr

[Uncle Mxy]

He's known as an alien everywhere

Not on his home planet he's not. There, he's just alienated:

"That Sam-I-am, that Sam-I-am.
I do not like that Sam-I-am."

[Wilfredo Ledezma]

Didn't Hollinger call the '08 Celtics the greatest team ever??

How does that warrant losing a game to the Hawks?

[Glenn]

He mentions it in the full article, here you go: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...e=NBAHeadlines

[geerussell]

The Billups issue goes all the way back to the 2005 finals. Ever since pops put Bowen on Billups to completely disjoint the pistons offense down the stretch in key games, putting a big defender on Billups has been the standard playbook against the pistons.

LB didn't have a counter to it that year. Flip hasn't solved it in his tenure. Still, I'm putting this on coaching. Billups has a flaw. Ok, most active players not named Kobe or LeBron do. It still has to go on coaching to recognize when a bigger defender is put on Billups and have a fallback plan that has been run through in practice.

[Uncle Mxy]

The Billups issue goes all the way back to the 2005 finals. Ever since pops put Bowen on Billups to completely disjoint the pistons offense down the stretch in key games, putting a big defender on Billups has been the standard playbook against the pistons.

That was done only at the end of a couple games. The key to that wasn't so much Chauncey, but Rip. Rip had a 6-7" height advantage over Little Tony and should've been able to abuse him. Chauncey was be able to get Rip the ball, but Rip was pooped out and couldn't do jack.

LB didn't have a counter to it that year. Flip hasn't solved it in his tenure. Still, I'm putting this on coaching. Billups has a flaw. Ok, most active players not named Kobe or LeBron do. It still has to go on coaching to recognize when a bigger defender is put on Billups and have a fallback plan that has been run through in practice.

In this case, I think we're redefining "big". Andre Miller is roughly Chauncey's size, if not smaller. The key is that Miller can play Chauncey tough without fouling much, and doesn't fall for his juke moves. Miller's always fared pretty well in this matchup. In 21 head-to-head matchups, Billups scored 20+ points exactly once.

[yargs]

Actually it has more to do with Chauncey Billups not being very good. He's always been one of the more overrated players in the league thanks to a 2004 finals appearance where he actually found his stroke and hit a few shots in the first two games of that series. People forget how awful he was before that lakers series and how pitiful he's been in the playoffs ever since. When the defensive pressure rises billups productivity decreases.

Billups can't create shots for himself or his teammates whether there's a big guy on him or when a double-team occurs, he's just not that type of player. It's one of the main reasons why this team struggles to score postseason in and postseason out. The team is starved for a legitimate point guard.

And Rip has always stuggled more with the quicker guards guarding him than the taller ones since his game is so built around freeing himself for shots without the ball rather than posting up smaller players or taking guys 1-on-1.

[Black Dynamite]

Billups can't create shots for himself or his teammates whether there's a big guy on him or when a double-team occurs, he's just not that type of player.

I'm sorry but that's just not even close to true. Billups can make bad decisions, but you went severely over board to the point of sounding psychotic. Not create shots? Not create shots for others? Both lies. He may not be as fast as he once was, but he's still a capable creator of shots and chances for others. Its his decision of when to do so thats been some of the worst he's had these past 2 years.

[MoTown]

Actually it has more to do with Chauncey Billups not being very good. He's always been one of the more overrated players in the league thanks to a 2004 finals appearance where he actually found his stroke and hit a few shots in the first two games of that series. People forget how awful he was before that lakers series and how pitiful he's been in the playoffs ever since. When the defensive pressure rises billups productivity decreases.

Billups can't create shots for himself or his teammates whether there's a big guy on him or when a double-team occurs, he's just not that type of player. It's one of the main reasons why this team struggles to score postseason in and postseason out. The team is starved for a legitimate point guard.

And Rip has always stuggled more with the quicker guards guarding him than the taller ones since his game is so built around freeing himself for shots without the ball rather than posting up smaller players or taking guys 1-on-1.

I'm going to have to disagree with mostly all of this. If you want an explanation, let me know. I'm going to breakfast first.