Official Game ThreadThe game is at 7:00 Eastern. This will definitely be a clash of the top teams in the East (minus the Cavs). I see the Pistons taking game one at home. The most important matchup in this series:Luol Deng vs. Tayshaun Prince My final prediction is Pistons over Bulls in six games.
Chicago is just throwing to many turnovers and if they wanna get back in the game they are gonna need to settle down and take care of the basketball. Detroit is playing their game though, making the other team do turnovers, bad shots, etc.
Great 1st quarter for us. Ben Gordon's two quick fouls really helped, but we're playing well, too. Forcing turnovers left and right with quick hands, making shots, especially Chaucney who had a big 1st with 12 points. Good to see he's looking for his offense, something I thought he needed to do more after the first round. We're doing a good job of rebounding, getting 2nd shot chances as well as preventing Chicago from doing the same. Hopefully we can keep this up in the 2nd.
Detroit is playing so well, they are all playing in sync as a unit and the perimeter play has been outstanding. Chauncey had a big 1st quarter, Gordon is in foul trouble, and things are looking great for Detroit.
OH WOW. This is just sick. Detroit is blwing out Chicago in all aspects of the game, and just went on a huge run where everything went there way, and the crowd was loud. This is Detroit basketball!45-29 is the score.
Woooo, Deng. Wow, that was nice. He didn't drive to the basket at a very fast pace, then it seemed like he actually sped up in the air.
It's halftime right now and the score is Pistons-41Bulls-54Bulls need to come out in the 2nd quartor a bit stronger. They need a big run to start the 3rd quartor and stop them.
We finish the 1st half with the most points in the 1st half in the playoffs so far, and the most the Bulls have given up in any half. The bench played very well for us in the 2nd, which IMO, is the biggest quarter for us because that's when the starters get their rest, and Flip leaves the bench in no matter what. McDyess, Maxiell, and Webber are all hitting that mid-range shot. We continued to rebound well in the 2nd and are outrebounding the Bulls 14-20 at half. They only have 2 offensive rebounds, which is great, especially when playing the Bulls. On the other hand, we have 7 offensive rebounds. Delfino also played well off the bench and Rip really picked it up in the 2nd with 13 points at the half. Hunter played well off the bench too with 4 assists and 3 or 4 steals. We need to keep up our energy in the second half.BTW, Chicago really got the calls in the 2nd, I have no idea how that one was a charge on Hunter, and then a few plays later , a blocking foul on Delfino.
Not a pretty 3rd. Neither team could shoot well, including a drought in which Chicago missed 6 straight shots and Detroit 9. Both teams scored just 16 in the quarter. We had two missed lay-ups, both followed by 2 missed tip-ins by McDyess. Those would have been big, a 17 point lead and 13 point is a huge difference. We continue to play well defensively, forcing turnovers and rebounding. Rasheed is playing very well tonight, the 10 points and 6 rebounds don't tell the story. Should be a good 4th.
Your teams up 62-88... But keep half your starters? I don't know why, he Bulls got their back ups in and I believe the only two starts that are out for Detroit are Billups and Sheed.... Why? Dunno. I would rest em for Game 2.
Well, the game's over, with a final of 95-69. We pretty much closed out the game with three straight threes by Sheed, Rip, and Tayshaun. That put the game out of reach.It's pretty easy to say what the key was in the game today IMO: The BenchAll throughout the season, Flip played the bench, through good times and bad. After last year, we knew we needed to use it more. Great to see it's paying off. McDyess had a good game with 6 and 10 in 21 minutes, and good defense, too. Lindsey played every well after only playing 10 minutes total in the Orlando series, same with Maxiell. Delfino had a solid game with things that won't show up in the stat sheet: diving for loose balls, tipping the ball to someone, etc. I'm not as high on him as other Piston fans are, but he impressed me tonight.As for the starters, Rip and Chuancey led the scoring for us with 20 points each. As I said in a previous post, Rasheed played very well, finishing the game with 13 and 6, but did a lot of things that won't show up in the stats and played excellent defense. Tayshaun was solid, as always, and did a solid job on Deng. Webber wasn't great, but wasn't bad either.As for Chicago, they're bench didn't produce at all, only 17 points, and most of them coming in garbage time. The Bulls also turned the ball over way too much, leading to easy baskets for Detroit. Ben Gordon didn't play well at all, only 7 points. The lone bright spot was Kirk Hinrich, who made all of his 6 shots for 15 points to go along with 4 rebounds and 6 assists.It will be an interesting game two. Will we come out with the energy we showed tonight? Will Chicago use this loss as motivation or dwell on the blowout and not focus on game two? Can't wait for game two.
A 36 point blowout. You dont see that much in the playoffs, and Detroit just sent a wakeup call to Chicago. Their not going to give up there spot as the top team in the East, to Chicago anytime soon.
Yikes, I apologize everyone. I totally forgot about these game threads. A week of no Pistons can do that.Thanks for getting this up Sunny.
