Posted by
bigD |
May 25, 2008 .
Last night, Detroit became the first metropolitan area to host both a Stanley Cup finals game and an NBA Conference finals game on the same day. On top of that, the Detroit Tigers faced the Minnesota Twins at the exact same time as a bonus. All 3 games were in the Detroit area, all 3 games were sell-outs and truly, Detroit was rocking. That being said, not every Detroit team was rocking despite Bob Seger and Anita Baker in the crowd attempting to give the Pistons their support however it was clearly all for nothing. They clearly wasted their time as we all did cheering for such a disgrace. This was still a legendary night for Detroit sports and Detroit proved again what a terrific sports town it truly is. You just don’t see anything like this and I am proud to say this was the first time it’s ever happened and what a city to have it happen in. Here is my take on last night’s record setting action from MOTOWN…
A DISGRACE
This 94-80 Piston loss was an absolute terrible, disgusting effort at the time of year where you simply cannot look this pathetic. Again, I think Flip Saunders doesn’t get anything out of his players, they are too la-dee-dah too often and they just don’t seem to be consistent or into it near enough for how important the Eastern Conference Finals are. To get smoked that badly at home is completely unacceptable. At least now Boston doesn’t have to worry about what it takes to win on the road any longer. All you have to do is face the inconsistent and brutal at times Detroit Pistons and it will answer all of your problems.
Here is a thought for you. What is the #1 area that this Pistons team lacks in more then any of the other 3 teams still in these 2008 NBA playoffs? Well, the Lakers have Kobe Bryant, the Spurs have Tim Duncan and the Celtics have Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett. The answer is simple…ALL OF THESE PLAYERS ARE GO-TO SCORERS who consistently have the ability to drop in 20-25 per night and they clearly do it most nights whereas none of the Detroit Pistons can consistently do this. Instead, Rip Hamilton (the closest Piston to being consistent) can drop 20 (26 last night) and then the next night get just 8 or Chauncey Billups will stick 30 and the next game he’ll go quiet again (just 6 like last night). How about Tayshaun Prince’s 4 last night? WHAT A JOKE! Do you think Dumars regrets not drafting Carmello Anthony now? You wanna talk go-to scorers? There’s one. That’s the clear weakness of this series and the entire Pistons season as far as I am concerned – Not enough consistent scoring from the players they need to consistently score the most.
What absolutely pisses me off is the effort the Pistons showed as a team. It was absolutely terrible. Coming out of the blocks at 15-4 on your home court? Were they even ready for this game at all, Flip? A la-dee-dah coach = a la-dee-dah team. Where was the desire and the push of this veteran playoff team? And that’s another problem. Half this Pistons team has been here before. They know or at least think they know what it takes to win and they come out and give this absolutely garbage effort? It was simply INEXCUSABLE. Just looking at the stats I am completely overwhelmed and as a longtime Piston supporter, I will say it…I AM PISSED OFF. The smallest deficit for Detroit in the game was 9 and they trailed throughout, one time even by 24? At home? In the playoffs? Give me a dam break. I kept waiting to wake up thinking I was dreaming and that this was some kind of a nightmare. It’s scary to think an Eastern Conference Finalist can play this terrible and actually worse then what a nightmare could be. Most of the Pistons claimed after the game that they were absolutely terrible and that they didn’t come to play and I agree 100% but how can you not come to play the biggest game of the year in your house against a team of this caliber? Again, it’s unacceptable and to me Flip Saunders should take a lot of this blame. It’s not that he’s a bad coach it’s that he never has this team ready to play 100% and that says something about what a horrible motivator he truly is. Can this team be motivated in the first place though? You can tell they don’t totally listen anyway. Due to how easy success has come for this team in the past playing in such a weak East, it’s obvious they don’t give a top-notch effort and they haven’t needed to give a top-notch effort in past seasons and they know it. The thing is, now, they do and now THEY STILL AREN’T. I am absolutely outraged by this lack of effort, Detroit. Then again, this is the underachieving Pistons so I can’t say I am surprised. NOT ONE BIT. This game was CLEARLY a disgrace!
A BEATING
I refuse to get my hopes up over the Tigers terrific performance last night. I mean, so what? So they scored 19 runs on Minnesota (who they should be consistently beating anyway), so they only gave up 3 runs to Minnesota (which they should be consistently doing anyway). So what, so what, SO WHAT? How many times already this season have we seen all these runs one night and then no runs scored the next? Until the Tigers prove otherwise it was all just a waste of runs. I will however give props to Magglio Ordonez (hitting much better now) who went 3-3 with a couple of walks, a couple of dongs and more then a couple of RBI’s and it’s also nice to see Placido Polanco’s 4 for 5 performance. Finally, Nate Robertson pitched in a game he couldn’t lose! Isn’t it funny how he has his good stuff when he’s up by 10? WOW!
Jim Leyland reportedly had another rant in the Tiger clubhouse involving all the yapping off lately between them and the press. Did I actually see Carlos Guillen attempt to blame the media for their horrendous start? Yeah you’re right Carlos. Those balls that keep rolling under your glove at 3rd and the balls you lob over to 1st that my 10 year old cousin could throw more accurately has everything to do with the media doesn’t it? The media predicted Detroit to go far as a no-brainer with the line-up that they have. It’s that simple. So how does this deserve any of the blame when it’s just an obvious prediction in the first place?
It’s time for the Tigers to just take a deep breath, step back and play the way they can. No one is going to win for them. They are predicted to make the playoffs and possibly win it all. On paper they have the team to do that but on the field who knows what Tiger team is going to show up in the first place? I will just say this. The pennant isn’t won in MAY. Despite Detroit’s brutal play the Tigers are still only 6.5 games out of first place. That’s more then doable for a team that’s shown virtually nothing for their standards thus far. Again, every player in that clubhouse must take a deep breath, hold themselves accountable and pull themselves out of this rut one by one. If it takes Jim Leyland rants to set the clubhouse straight then I encourage it but it’s time to just show up and dominate on the field like they were predicted to do. Just look at the 19-3 score last night. Cross your fingers, Detroit. This may be the start of something special. Then again it might not. You just never know with these 2008 Detroit Tigers but last night, we could clearly celebrate. Anytime you beat the Twins that badly, a smile always erupts on the Big D’s face. Now the question is will that smile last? That question will be answered at 1pm today.
OUTSTANDING
You simply cannot deny the Detroit Red Wings anything at this stage. After their 4-0 Penguin beat-down last night it’s becoming more and more clear that the 2008 season will be the year of the RED WING! Detroit started out slowly. I thought Pittsburgh came out with good intensity and Detroit looked nervous but the tide noticeably turned and Detroit started taking it to Pittsburgh as the 1st period continued. I have no idea why the Lidstrom goal was called off other then the fact that the NHL would love to see Crosby win the Cup. What happened? Did Holmstrom really interfere with poor Andre-Fleury or was their too much glare in his precious crease for him to see the puck? Perhaps a bug flew into his goalie mask before the shot. That warrants no goal and a penalty doesn’t it? This was a terrible call and I was worried at this point that Detroit would eventually pay for all these power play chances they were giving Pittsburgh and for the goal that was disallowed that, let’s face it, the referees BLEW BADLY.
Still though, through it all, Chris Osgood stood his ground and continued his terrific goaltending. I have never seen Ozzie play better. To step up your game at the most critical time of the year (TAKE NOTES, PISTONS) as Ozzie has done is truly mind blowing but to do it knowing he was a back-up goalie for most of the season truly speaks volumes about the kind of goalie Osgood has become and the kind of leader he has evolved into for this Detroit team. Any team that can outshoot their opponents by as much as Detroit usually does (they’ve done so in all but 1 playoff game thus far) will win if it gets goaltending like this. Every time Pittsburgh had a legit scoring chance, there was Osgood stoning this young team that’s used to having their way and earning the “OZZIE” chants of 20 thousand at the JOE.
I also want to congratulate Mikael Samuelsson on a terrific hockey game. His break-the-ice, wrap-around goal at the 13:01 minute mark of the 2nd period started the fire that was never extinguished by Pittsburgh but his 2nd goal at 2:16 of the 3rd broke the Penguins’ back. Again, this was a fine example of stepping up your play when your team needs you to do so the most. Up till then Samuelsson had just 2 goals for the entire playoffs and he matched that total in one big swoop. The Pistons ruined an otherwise successful record breaking night in Detroit and despite their BS play, I must say there’s nothing in the world like the feeling of sitting at a bar, having a few pops and watching three TV’s with three Detroit sports on them. Needless to say they eventually put UFC on and my fun was over but for a couple of hours I was truly in Detroit sports heaven. Three sports…One night? WOW! It will be a long time before we ever get a rush like that again!
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Detroit Pistons,
Detroit Redwings,
Detroit Tigers,
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NHL |
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Still though, through it all, Chris Osgood stood his ground and continued his terrific goaltending. I have never seen Ozzie play better. To step up your game at the most critical time of the year (TAKE NOTES, PISTONS) as Ozzie has done is truly mind blowing but to do it knowing he was a back-up goalie for most of the season truly speaks volumes about the kind of goalie Osgood has become and the kind of leader he has evolved into for this Detroit team. Any team that can outshoot their opponents by as much as 
