crazybuckfan40
Head Coach
Now for my very very optimistic look into the second round, after the great first round.
Let me first start off by saying I do not envision us winning and if we were to do that, I would be suprised, but I think we can give them a fight.
First lets look at the matchups:
PG: Snow vs. Billups - Billups obviously has the edge, but Snow has played well down the stretch and into the playoffs and he is not our guy that we really count on to step up on the offensive end. We look to him for leadership and to get us organized. I think when we are on D this should be a fun matchup to watch and I think that Snow will hold Billups down somewhat. Billups will get his points, but he should be frustrated all season. Also if Snow scores some points and knocks down shots like he did against the Wizards that is just a plus.
SG: Hughes vs. Rip - This should be a great matchup. Hughes played real good D this series against Arenas and I would say that Rip would be the easier matchup on D, b/c he can't do as much off the dribble as Arenas, or just pull up and hit the 3 like Arenas, but Rip runs around and of screens like crazy, so he is going to need to be able to fight through those. Hughes only played in two of the games during the regular season and the first game we won and second time he played, it was last 2 weeks of the season and there wasnt much to play for and if I remember right that was the game LBJ hurt his ankle. Also Hughes had it going in game 5 agains the Wizards, and looks to be getting his game back, so hopefully he can help on the Offensive end with about 15 or so a game, but we are really going to need him on the Defensive end.
SF - LBJ vs Prince - I love it in a way when we play the Pistons, b/c they are one of the only teams that don't double LBJ. They let Tayshaun play him straight up, and while he plays good D on him, no one in the league can play straight up on LBJ. I think that LBJ is going to get his points in this series, he only avg. about 25 against the Pistons on the year, but the two games when they played them back to back was in teh midst of a losing streak and no one was playing good and the last time as I mentioned LBJ hurt his ankle. I see LBJ putting up over 40 in at least one if not two or three of the games in this series. As for Tayshaun on O, LBJ just needs to be solid on him and keep him from open looks and off the boards, b/c he is going to be focused on his D all series, not looked on for his O.
PF - Gooden vs. Sheed - This is the matchup that is going to decide the series. Gooden stuggles against Sheed, and Sheed usually shines agianst us, b/c we find a way to piss him off. We are going to need Drew to step up big on the Defensive end, and in a way I see it, b/c Drew knows that it is for his contract and he is really going to need to step up. The better he plays in this series the more money he gets after the year. I don't care if Drew doesnt score a point all series if he can take Sheed out of his game and not let him just bully him around, like he does at times.
C - Z vs. Wallace - This is a big matchup for us on the offensive end. Z should be able to dominate this based on his height. Z had 18, 18, 15, 10(only 20 minutes, late season) that is good output from him and if we can get 15-20 from him that would be great. As for Big Ben he doesnt do much on O so just keep him down and off the Offensive boards.
Bench - This is where the Pistons can kill ya, with Vetrans that are almost as good as some of the starters. But our bench really stepped up in game 6 and basically won that game for us with Flip, Andy, Donyell, and DJ. I don't think either team should have problems being worn out with a long series as both teams are deep, but we are going to need that production from our bench.
Now to the overall outlook on the series. We didnt play the Pistons at full stregth all season. The first times we played them we were healthy and we took it too them, but we didnt have Flip on our team yet. The second two times we played them, we were without Hughes, and with Billups and Rip that is a tough matchup b/c that meant flip on Rip a majority of the time and that is not a battle we were going to win. Then the fourth game LBJ started the game going off, but then James sat him for like 8 minutes or so and the Pistons went on a huge like 30-0 run or something crazy like that.
I honestly think that we match up really well with the Pistons, but the Pistons are just so mentally tough and play so well together that they will be hard to beat. We are goign to need great series from everyone and need to be hot from the field, especially guys like Hughes, Marshall, and DJ from outside. We are also going to need to get out and run a little bit and get some baskets in transistion.
Now for the wildcard thought so to say. In the seond game we played the Pistons, Sheed gave a hard foul to Z right on the head drawing blood and in the last game Andy took out Sheed with a cheap foul and got tossed, so there is bad blood between the teams, so I expect to see some extra curricular stuff going on. We just need to be headstrong and stay away from some of that stuff and see if we can't bait Sheed into doing something stupid and maybe getting tossed or getting some T's and giving us free shots from the line.
I still think the game will go six and the Pistons will beat us on our own court to end our season. If we can take one in Detroit out of the first two, that would be huge.
Let me first start off by saying I do not envision us winning and if we were to do that, I would be suprised, but I think we can give them a fight.
First lets look at the matchups:
PG: Snow vs. Billups - Billups obviously has the edge, but Snow has played well down the stretch and into the playoffs and he is not our guy that we really count on to step up on the offensive end. We look to him for leadership and to get us organized. I think when we are on D this should be a fun matchup to watch and I think that Snow will hold Billups down somewhat. Billups will get his points, but he should be frustrated all season. Also if Snow scores some points and knocks down shots like he did against the Wizards that is just a plus.
SG: Hughes vs. Rip - This should be a great matchup. Hughes played real good D this series against Arenas and I would say that Rip would be the easier matchup on D, b/c he can't do as much off the dribble as Arenas, or just pull up and hit the 3 like Arenas, but Rip runs around and of screens like crazy, so he is going to need to be able to fight through those. Hughes only played in two of the games during the regular season and the first game we won and second time he played, it was last 2 weeks of the season and there wasnt much to play for and if I remember right that was the game LBJ hurt his ankle. Also Hughes had it going in game 5 agains the Wizards, and looks to be getting his game back, so hopefully he can help on the Offensive end with about 15 or so a game, but we are really going to need him on the Defensive end.
SF - LBJ vs Prince - I love it in a way when we play the Pistons, b/c they are one of the only teams that don't double LBJ. They let Tayshaun play him straight up, and while he plays good D on him, no one in the league can play straight up on LBJ. I think that LBJ is going to get his points in this series, he only avg. about 25 against the Pistons on the year, but the two games when they played them back to back was in teh midst of a losing streak and no one was playing good and the last time as I mentioned LBJ hurt his ankle. I see LBJ putting up over 40 in at least one if not two or three of the games in this series. As for Tayshaun on O, LBJ just needs to be solid on him and keep him from open looks and off the boards, b/c he is going to be focused on his D all series, not looked on for his O.
PF - Gooden vs. Sheed - This is the matchup that is going to decide the series. Gooden stuggles against Sheed, and Sheed usually shines agianst us, b/c we find a way to piss him off. We are going to need Drew to step up big on the Defensive end, and in a way I see it, b/c Drew knows that it is for his contract and he is really going to need to step up. The better he plays in this series the more money he gets after the year. I don't care if Drew doesnt score a point all series if he can take Sheed out of his game and not let him just bully him around, like he does at times.
C - Z vs. Wallace - This is a big matchup for us on the offensive end. Z should be able to dominate this based on his height. Z had 18, 18, 15, 10(only 20 minutes, late season) that is good output from him and if we can get 15-20 from him that would be great. As for Big Ben he doesnt do much on O so just keep him down and off the Offensive boards.
Bench - This is where the Pistons can kill ya, with Vetrans that are almost as good as some of the starters. But our bench really stepped up in game 6 and basically won that game for us with Flip, Andy, Donyell, and DJ. I don't think either team should have problems being worn out with a long series as both teams are deep, but we are going to need that production from our bench.
Now to the overall outlook on the series. We didnt play the Pistons at full stregth all season. The first times we played them we were healthy and we took it too them, but we didnt have Flip on our team yet. The second two times we played them, we were without Hughes, and with Billups and Rip that is a tough matchup b/c that meant flip on Rip a majority of the time and that is not a battle we were going to win. Then the fourth game LBJ started the game going off, but then James sat him for like 8 minutes or so and the Pistons went on a huge like 30-0 run or something crazy like that.
I honestly think that we match up really well with the Pistons, but the Pistons are just so mentally tough and play so well together that they will be hard to beat. We are goign to need great series from everyone and need to be hot from the field, especially guys like Hughes, Marshall, and DJ from outside. We are also going to need to get out and run a little bit and get some baskets in transistion.
Now for the wildcard thought so to say. In the seond game we played the Pistons, Sheed gave a hard foul to Z right on the head drawing blood and in the last game Andy took out Sheed with a cheap foul and got tossed, so there is bad blood between the teams, so I expect to see some extra curricular stuff going on. We just need to be headstrong and stay away from some of that stuff and see if we can't bait Sheed into doing something stupid and maybe getting tossed or getting some T's and giving us free shots from the line.
I still think the game will go six and the Pistons will beat us on our own court to end our season. If we can take one in Detroit out of the first two, that would be huge.