What's Next?

There are a lot of things floating around right now about what is next for the Pistons. I've heard ideas from trade the whole starting 5; or some who think nothing needs to be done. I think I am somewhere in the middle of that conversation. I do believe that some change is needed. A new infusion of talent if yo will that spices up the pot. However, I don't know exactly what that needs to be. That's why Joe Dumars gets paid the big bucks. He is the one challenged with making those decisions. It's possible that we could see a big trade from the Pistons on draft night. That would certainly make the draft more exciting. The Pistons pick 29th and 59th in the draft this year. It's virtually a lock that the Pistons will trade that 1st round pick. The one think this team definitely doesn't need is another guaranteed contract sitting on the bench. I guess we'll have to wait and see what Joe D can come up with.

I will say the one very intriguing idea I have heard is the idea of a Rasheed for Amare Stoudemire deal. Apparently this was discussed last year between the 2 teams and talks have resumed again. I have to say that a 24-26 year old Amare Stoudemire would look darn good in Piston red, white, and blue!

Big Changes Ahead

After a third straight disappointing loss in the Conference Finals, Joe Dumars has vowed that big changes are ahead. He started off by already letting Flip Saunders go. He also stated that everyone is in play on the trade market. When Joe says he is going to do something, it gets done. I'm positive that 1, if not 2 of our current starters will be gone by training camp next season. It's a bittersweet thought really. We've all grown to love this current group of players. They have brought many great seasons. However as Joe mentioned in his press conference, if you're good enough to be knocking on the door of the finals, you're good enough to get in. And frankly, the Pistons haven't gotten it done. Here's to the future.

It's a 3 Game Series

Thanks to a huge Pistons win last night, it is now a 3 game series. Antonio McDyess was nothing short of spectacular in this one. He was hitting every shot, grabbing every rebound, and playing stellar defense all night on Garnett. Speaking of defense on Garnett, the block that Jason Maxiell put on Garnett was awesome! Max was great all night as well. We will need him to continue that type of performance the rest of the series.

It was also great to see Chauncey hit a huge 3 in the 4th quarter. Hopefully that goes a long way towards bringing his confidence back. At this point, he doesn't look hurt to me. He just looks like his timing is a half second off. I'm hoping the end of yesterdays game is a sign of things to come. The Pistons must do everything in their power to win Game 5 on Wednesday. I firmly believe they don't want to play a Game 7 on the road. Winning Game 5 will be extremely difficult; however if they can pull it out, it should shatter the Celtics confidence and allow us to put them away at home in Game 6.

Must Win Game 4!

The Pistons are in a must win situation tonight in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Finals match up with the Boston Celtics. They simply can't afford to go down 3-1 and expect to win the series. By winning tonight, you at least guarantee a Game 6 back at the Palace. I was blown away by the lackluster effort on Saturday. I fully expected a great game out of the Pistons, but was totally wrong. The bright spot in the series so far has been the stellar play of Rodney Stuckey. He has shown he is ready for anything and has really stepped up to the plate. However, for everything good he has done, I still believe that we must have Chauncey Billups to defeat the Celtics. I'm coming to the sad realization that Chauncey probably won't be 100% the rest of this season. That makes winning a championship extremely difficult.

Well, here's hoping things turn out better this evening. We've had a couple days to make some adjustments and hopefully we'll play with a sense of urgency and work to regain the momentum in this series. The game starts at 8:30 pm on ESPN. Let's go Pistons, win this Game 4!

All Square in the D

The Pistons continue their Eastern Conference Finals matchup with Boston tonight in the friendly confines of the Palace. The series is all tied up at 1 a piece. Detroit sent Boston to their first loss at home this postseason with a win on Thursday night. Thanks in no small part to the contribution of Rodney Stuckey. Stuck played great in his 15 minutes or so off the bench. He was hitting his open jumpers and driving the lane with no fear. He was referred to on many occasions as the next D-Wade by the TNT crew. I for one think he will be better than D-Wade for the simple fact that he is much stronger and won't bruise as easy as his counterpart in Miami.

Back to the series at hand though. Game 3 will be this evening and you can bet the Palace will be fired up for this one. Boston remember still hasn't won a road game this post season. It will be a tough task for them to achieve at the Palace at this late stage of the playoffs. I expect a fired up team this evening that is hitting on all cylinders. I llok for ths boys to take a 2-1 series lead tonight heading into game 4 on Memorial day. Enjoy the game this evening on ABC at 8:30pm and as always, GO PISTONS!

The Pistons are coming, the Pistons are coming!

Paul Revere went on a famous ride to announce the arrival of the British in Boston. Some one should probably let Boston know that the Pistons are coming. Weren't they already there for Game 1 you say? Not really. It might have been some guys in Detroit Blue, but it wasn't our Pistons. I'm hoping the real Pistons show up tonight. We'll see the tenacious D we've come accustomed too and better continuity on the offensive end as well. Hopefully Chauncey will be in a better flow that he was in Game 1 and realize he doesn't need to shoot all those jumpers early. He can take advantage down low on the box and get him in foul trouble. The Celtics don't have a very competent back up for him and when he was out i Game 1 is when we went on our runs. I'm still confident we can win this series by taking 1 in Boston. Here's hoping that will be tonight. Game 2 will be broadcast on ESPN at 8:30pm. Enjoy the game and GO PISTONS!

A Visit to Boston

The Pistons will face the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. All I'm looking for is the Pistons to steal one of the 1st 2 games in Boston. If we can do that, we will pretty much have the series. The Celtics have shown they absolutely can't win on the road. If you can't win in Atlanta in the postseason, you most definitely are not going to come into the Palace and take one. Detroit is possibly the most hostile road environment to play in; and you can bet the Detroit faithful will be out in force to back up the Pistons against the Celtics.

We definitely will be looking for big games from Chauncey and Rip. The Boston back court has looked terrible these last few games. The Pistons need to take it too them early and often and keep breaking their will. Tayshaun will have his hands full against Paul Pierce who is playing out of his mind this postseason. He single handily has kept Boston alive in a lot of games. Garnett will get his, and it's up to Sheed to keep pace. We should have the advantage at Center as well with McDyess vs Perkins. Antonio has really stepped up his play since the broken nose and is playing like a man possessed with winning a championship. Tuesday night is game 1 and it will be broadcast on ESPN at 8:30pm. enjoy the game, and as always GO PISTONS!