Playoff Musings: Pistons v. Bulls

After taking a two-game (and you could probably argue three-game) break, the Pistons finally decided to end the Bulls' fun little run back to respectability. After shooting the lights out for the past two games, the Bulls reverted back to their usual sub-40% field goal percentage and are now out of the playoffs. Feel free to credit the Pistons D for that. Also feel free to credit Ben Wallace for having no post-up game whatsoever.

The Pistons winning in 6, which we predicted along with the entire world, seemed etched in stone before the series even began. Detroit seems to be incapable of winning ANY series, even one against the guys down at the Y, in under 6 games. This team isn't exactly famous for going for the jugular.

So now the Pistons will face whoever comes out of that dog of a series between the Cavs and the Nets. Either matchup could set a new bar for most playoff games mailed in during a series. Detroit habitually sleeps through 2 games a series and LeBron seems to disappear for at least one game as well. Meanwhile, New Jersey mails in games not because they aren't trying, but because they suck. Should make for a great Eastern Conference Finals.

-WCK

Playoff Musings: Pistons v. Bulls

It's officially time for the Pistons to hit the panic button. Even though the Pistons have a habit of throwing away games in the playoffs, I thoroughly expected them to win this game at home. Instead, they decided to sleepwalk through this game and got hammered by a fired up Bulls team 108-92.

Now, conventional wisdom says that the Pistons won't lose two more games. But let's be honest, nothing has been conventional in this series so far. Had the Bulls not blown an easily winnable Game 3, they could actually be leading this series 3-2.

Furthermore, Ben Gordon has suddenly started to heat up. He was on fire tonight. Plus, let's keep in mind that the Bulls loss at home was a squeaker and not a blow out, so they should feel confident about going back to play in Chicago. And the Bulls now know they can blow the Pistons out when the Pistons are at home. This is setting up to be a very dangerous scenario for Detroit. I'm not ready to sell the Pistons yet, and I think they finally wake up and win Game 6 in Chicago, but I wouldn't say that's a confident prediction.

-WCK

Playoff Musings: Pistons v. Bulls

It appeared to anyone who watched this game (all 5 of us) that the Pistons said to themselves, "Hey, we won Game 3 by taking half the game off, let's try that again." This time it didn't work. The Bulls beat down the Pistons as future superstar Luol Deng had 25 and Hinrich and Gordon both chipped in with 19.

The funniest thing was the AP article on this game, which stated in its lede that, "The Detroit Pistons wanted a sweep." Well of course they wanted a sweep, everyone wants a sweep. The problem is the Pistons sure didn't PLAY like they wanted a sweep. The Pistons played like they always do when they're up by a couple of games in a series, like total crap.

This win means nothing though, except that the teams have to go back to Detroit for one more game. I really thought this was going to be a great series when it started, but it has been atrocious. The Bulls are still at least another year away before they can compete with the Pistons.

-WCK

Playoff Musings: Pistons v. Bulls

The Pistons did their best to lose this game. They fell asleep for the entire first half and just looked totally bored and seemed ready to mail the game in. Which is surprising, because the Pistons never do this. And by "never do this" I mean "they do this constantly when up 2-0 in a series."

But instead it was the Bulls who decided to pack it in for the second half, and finally the Pistons decided, ok, we'll win this game since you guys don't want it. The Bulls couldn't hit the broad side of barn in the second half. Perhaps the best example came in a sequence at the end of the game when the Bulls managed to fire up six shots in a row thanks to offensive rebounds - and missed all of them.

People who say the Pistons finally showed an ability to go for the jugular are totally wrong. The Pistons scored 10 pts TOTAL in the second quarter. They just lucked out that the Bulls played like an intramural team in the second half.

-WCK

Playoff Musings: Heat v. Bulls

Ben Gordon did the heavy lifting tonight as the Bulls made it clear that the Miami Heat don't belong in the same gym as they do. Gordon had 27 pts, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Shaq, meanwhile, was horrible, going 6-14 from the floor. Looks like all that whining after Game 1 didn't help that much.

While the series is heading back to Miami, the Heat don't look real good and Chicago looks like want revenge for last year.

Playoff Musings: Heat v. Bulls

Although the Heat didn't stink nearly as bad as Kazaam, they still lost to the Bulls today. Shaq tried to take a couple of charges for the first time in forever, and was called for blocking fouls both times. This looks like it's going to be a chippy series and the refs are calling it pretty tight. This would normally be good news for the Heat, since even breathing on D-Wade generally results in a foul. But D-Wade just isn't himself right now, which is totally understandable. And how about that Tyrus Thomas sequence in the third quarter? Blocking Gary Payton, followed by blocking Antoine tippy toes Walker and finishing off the alley-oop at the other end. If Thomas can learn how to shoot at all and can increase his basketball IQ, he might be pretty good some day.

-WCK