OST: Eastern Conference Semifinals: (2) Detroit vs (3) Orlando, DET WINS 4-1

[Tahoe]

I skimmed over the last couple of pages.

Stuckey has the skills to be a complete PG. IIRC, Zeke only averaged 6 assts his first year or 3. Stuckey is as much a true PG as CBill is, imo with one huge advantage. Stuckey wins that first step where CBill is more of a power PG. I'd rather have a quick pg like Stuck.

[Tahoe]

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Chauncey Billups said Thursday he was still sore, a night after he was forced to leave the Pistons' loss to Orlando in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals because of a strained right hamstring.
The All-Star guard said he isn't sure if he will be ready to play in Game 4 on Saturday in Orlando. The Magic's 111-86 victory Wednesday cut the Pistons' lead to 2-1.
"Just going to take it one day at a time and see what happens," Billups said. "But it's feeling sore, kind of similar to last night."
Billups was in the trainer's room all night, and expected to be there all day Thursday. He was injured when his feet got caught up with Magic guard Jameer Nelson on a drive to the basket four minutes into the game. "I felt a little something," Billups said. "I'm just hoping it was a strain, what I felt. But I felt something in there. I never really had a hamstring like this before."

[Higherwarrior]

i don't want to be chicken little but knowing billups past, judging from what i saw, and from what i'm hearing now........ i think billups is done for this series. at least.

i just don't see him getting back into playing shape in less than 10 days, at best.

hopefully i'm wrong but as i said before, this is an injury that takes time and even if it's 'just' a strain......i have a hard time seeing him out there and being effective anytime soon. he will just reaggravate it if he tries to push it too much.

i'm not putting any hopes in him coming back and helping us for this series but maybe that's just my ever-pessimistic side coming out.

[BubblesTheLion]

I'll be at game 5
So, if someone storms the court and chokes a ref out, it was me.

[Glenn]

Sounds like Chauncey's game 4 playing status is tenuous, at best.

Also, I moved the "Rip opt out" discussion to a new thread.

[Black Dynamite]

Also, I made a "Rip opt out" discussion out of two posts in a new thread.

fixed.

[Glenn]

Magic vs. Pistons

• Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel: "The rise of Howard -- from an 18-year-old No. 1 draft pick directly from high school into a budding phenom who made the All-NBA first team Thursday -- has led directly to the Magic's rise in prominence both within the league and around Central Florida. 'A player like Dwight creates the opportunity to sell hope,' said Alex Martins, Magic chief operating officer. 'True business success doesn't happen in this league until you win, but Dwight has been our building block, both on and off the court.'"
• Chris McCosky of The Detroit News: "Talking to Rasheed Wallace before practice Thursday, just casually, not an interview situation, but he brought up an interesting point. After Game 2, he made an odd comment to us about how he would be interested to see how the league handled the elbow that Dwight Howard threw in Game 2. We didn't know what he was talking about. None of us had seen it, but apparently, Howard nailed Arron Afflalo in the mouth with a full-on shiver sometime during the game. Wallace said the referees ignored it, but he was hoping the TV networks would jump on it. Didn't happen. I still haven't seen a replay of it. But to Sheed, it only fueled his point about the league taking care of its Golden Boys."
• A. Sherrod Blakely of Booth Newspapers: "Following Wednesday's 24-point effort in Detroit's 111-86 Game 3 loss, Hamilton has 2,219 points in the playoffs as a Piston -- just 42 behind the franchise leader, Isiah Thomas. He also is inching up on Bill Laimbeer's franchise-record for playoff games (113). Hamilton has played in 108 for Detroit, which ties him for fourth all-time on the franchise's leader list, with Vinnie Johnson. 'That's crazy to me,' said Hamilton, who scored a playoff career-high 40 points in Detroit's Game 5 series-clinching win over Milwaukee in 2006. 'When you look at guys like Isiah, and Joe (Dumars, Detroit's president of basketball operations) and all the good players that played, it's a great accomplishment.'"

[Higherwarrior]

just read that flip is even considering using amir on rashard lewis a bit, due to his length, athleticism, and quickness.

that would be interesting for a little bit.

[Glenn]

Hmm, I was thinking that Amir was going to be inactive in favor of Lindsey/Dixon.

Even if Chauncey tries to play, you probably need one of Lindsey/Dixon active just in case CB can't continue.

[Glenn]

"The moustache of disdain" in rare form...

No more Orlando radio
Note to self: Don't ever, ever, ever go on an Orlando sports talk radio show again. Outside of the newspaper guys who cover the Magic on a daily basis -- good, hard-working, competent lads all -- there is a real provincial, homeristic approach to the media down here. I remember back in 2003 after the Magic went up 3-1, a local radio reporter closed the post-game interview with Tracy McGrady by gushing, "Good luck, Tracy."

Even this year, whenever one of the Orlando foofs asks a question to a Piston, it's usually something like, "How good is Dwight Howard now?" Or, "Are you surprised at how well the Magic are playing against you guys?" The tone of the questioning is always, don't you love us? It's gross, really.

So I go on this talk radio show down here Thursday afternoon. I thought they wanted a Chauncey Billups update. But no, this guy -- I don't remember his name -- says, "Now that the Magic have control of the series..." And I stopped him. Control of the series? How does being down 2-1 with two games still to be played in Detroit give the Magic control of the series. But, you know his line, the Magic were robbed in Game 2 by the evil clock guy in Detroit (nevermind the Magic wetting themselves down the stretch, making two buckets in six minutes, or their 19 turnovers) and they killed the Pistons in Game 3 and Billups was questionable, blah, blah, blah. It was his show, so I tried to be diplomatic. I said from the Magic point of view, sure, they probably feel like the tide had turned. But I said the Pistons didn't feel that way at all. Well, the jackass just couldn't accept that. He must asked me three more times, in three different ways, if the Pistons feared the Magic now. I was like, Dude, they have a healthy respect for the Magic, they always have. But they don't fear them. My God, get a grip.

I was thinking about this -- early in the series, the Magic players made a big deal about not being intimidated by the Pistons, not backing down and all that. But where did that come from? The Pistons never talked like they were out to punk the Magic. They never talked like they didn't respect them. The Pistons were actually surprised that the Magic had that mind-set. So where did it come from? It came from the Magic's own inferiority complex. They are the ones who felt punked. Their media buys into it and perpetuates it. Even this half-baked talk show guy was all, "I'm going to stand up to this Detroit writer. I am going to show how tough I am." Whatever.

Here's how tough this guy was. He apparently kept ripping on me AFTER I was off the air. Real braveheart, this guy. He had no retort when I was talking to him, but boy, he tore me up when he knew I couldn't answer back. Piece of work. But that's how they roll down here.

On another topic:

Coaches and players like to say that a playoff series doesn't really start until somebody wins a road game. Does that make any sense? If that was true then the Atlanta-Boston series never started. If that was true, then we're still waiting for both conference semifinals to start -- the home teams have won every game so far. Just a weird axiom that has crept into NBA-speak that boggles the mind when you actually think about it.

That's how they roll? Did just adopt a 14 year old son?