May 18, 2007 9:08 am  |  48 Comments

Detroit and Utah are waiting

Wrap it up.

By Sam Rubenstein

The Detroit Pistons are back in the Conference Finals for the fifth straight year. Russ wrote all about their elimination of the Bulls last night. There was cause for concern, as Detroit came close to joining a short list of teams that allowed a 3-0 lead to become a 3-3 tie. But never mind that. The Pistons should be back in The Finals soon enough. Very good season for the Bulls, and I think Russ will get into more on that later.

Cleveland and New Jersey have to come up with a winner. If you look at the big picture, study history, and apply it to the present, you would think that it’s LeBron’s rite of passage to have to go through Detroit. He even makes that joke in one of The LeBrons commercials. Jersey won’t get out of the way though. It’s really hard to see either one of those teams beating Detroit, especially now that the Pistons can rest up. I don’t know if it’s better to cheer for Jersey to bring on the decisive seventh game or to cheer for Cleveland to just put an end to an ugly series. The fourth quarters and crunch time have been particularly tough to watch. They owe us a game with intensity and a buzzer beater or something.

Seriously, does anyone think Detroit isn’t getting to The Finals? Last year their wake-up call from the Cavs seemed to have a lingering effect in the next round. Now they will be the fresher team no matter what. The most exciting draft lottery in a long time is on Tuesday. If it happens at halftime of an Eastern Conference Finals game, it will be the best reason to watch that series.

I mentioned yesterday that I was going to a MASTODON concert. It was, in a word, awesome. I can not hear out of my left ear at the moment. Very happy that today is Friday. Tonight it’s Suns at Spurs after the Nets-Cavs game. The weather is threating to cancel our company softball game. This could be a great night for relaxing with the NBA Playoffs.

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This story is filed under: Blogs, NBA, The Peoples Champ

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  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 9:08 am
    1st

  • Andrew Posted: May.18 at 9:21 am
    am i missing sumthing? how is that i should cheer jersey to bring on the decisive game 7 when they’re leading 3-2? if i’m wrong, then i blame the dull series..

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 9:22 am
    3 Things
    -@RyanJones- I won again.
    -@Sam- At least you didn’t hate on the spurs in this short article. If spurs win tonight it proves it didn’t matter if stat and diaw were suspended or not. As pat burke said the meet at the beginning of the season and that is one of the hardest rules “Stepping on the court due to a dispute”. It doesn’t say “Stepping on the court due to cheering for a teamate”. (a la TD).
    -@Everyone- My picks for tonight are Spurs (for their physical play and deep bench), and Nets (Kidd isn’t ready to go home. Expect him to pace the game (22-11-7) and Cavs in 7).

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 9:24 am
    -@Andrew- Cavs are up 3-2 not Nets.

  • Billy Blanks Posted: May.18 at 9:47 am
    Cavs need to close tonight and Lebron needs to stop bull crapping around. With all the star power in this series, it really is disapointing when a team with two all-stars and another very good player can only muster 6 points in a quarter. And it’s even more disappointing and embarassing when that team can win on the road in an elimination game!!!

  • carneytime25 Posted: May.18 at 9:50 am
    Pistons gonna win it all for sure, defense wins championships

  • Sesa Posted: May.18 at 9:56 am
    Hi Sam

  • Sesa Posted: May.18 at 9:58 am
    @K22C if Spurs-Pistons Finals do happen again, The Pistons needed find some answers for Ginobili.

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:02 am
    When does the MVP get unvailed? What’s that? It has? Oh….

  • Sesa Posted: May.18 at 10:06 am
    Dont be hatin’ at Dirk.

  • Sam Rubenstein Posted: May.18 at 10:06 am
    hating on the Spurs was soooooooo 2 days ago. The decision was made, the game was played, they earned the win. Whaddyagonna do?
    Mastadon’s drummer Brann Dailor is like the Tim Duncan of drummers. He isn’t flashy but he’s mechanically perfect.

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 10:08 am
    -@Sesa- I definately agree, Ginobili has been the X-Factor for the Spurs through the playoffs, coming up big when he is needed. I want to see the Jazz in the finals (DeronNEEDStogethis), but that is unlikely so Spurs/Pistons should be pretty exciting. I think that Rasheed will get T’d up a could times because he won’t like the physical Spurs D. So that should be exciting… I hope it isn’t the most exciting part of the finals. Also I hope for a game Seven and for it to be CLOSE. If that happened i wouldnt care about the rest of the finals games.

  • Mike C. Posted: May.18 at 10:09 am
    Keith says:
    When does the MVP get unvailed? What’s that? It has? Oh…. Dirk Nowitzki ‘garnished’ the MVP award in what has to be the quietest presentation in the history of the world. I’m pretty sure my 3rd place finish in my 6th grade science fair got more media coverage than the MVP presentation.

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:10 am
    Craneytime25 - you’ve said that defense wins championships and that because of this, the Pistons will triumph. But hang on, haven’t the dirty Spurs held Phoenix below 100 on more than one occasion this series?

  • Ryan Jones Posted: May.18 at 10:11 am
    I wasn’t playing today, K22C. But I offer props regardless.

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:11 am
    Sorry man, your name is Carneytime not Carneytime. But your point is weak, so my apology is retracted.

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 10:11 am
    -@Sam- Great analogy. I was watching David Spades Showbiz show last night and it showed EVA and Parker’s game…. She was on her blackberry looking extremely bored… probably surfing the net.

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:13 am
    I actually heard about your success Mike C. I celebrated by wondering what Dirk is doing this summer…Fellas, can you do a feature on that?
    I suspect most of the pictures will be of Dirk getting drunk.

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 10:15 am
    -@Ryan- Thanks…. I feel for you over on FarmerJones but unfortunatley you need to stay out of Kentucky, Unless you can disquise yourself as good as Count Olaf. Too bad those people are to ignorant to understand the humor.
    -@Keith- You need to change the word “dirty” to “physical” when you are talking about the Spurs Team.

  • Mike C. Posted: May.18 at 10:15 am
    My 3rd place finish lead to an extremely grainy picture, and a paragraph of coverage in my elementary school yearbook. I’m pretty sure that’s more coverage than Dirk got for winning the MVP. At least when I got my plastic bronze-coloured medal, there was a public presentation. Did Dirk pick up the MVP trophy in an underground bunker with nobody around to see it?

  • Mike C. Posted: May.18 at 10:17 am
    If an MVP award is presented and nobody is around to see it, did the presentation actually take place?

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:19 am
    Come on K22C… The Spurs are dirty. Kicking ankles in mid-air (flagrant foul anyone?), levelling smaller guys? This Spurs team, if they reach the finals, will create a final of Old school Pistons against the new school Pistons. That would be a treat.

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:21 am
    We’re bashing Dirk and deservedly so but you know next year he’ll come back, start the season blasting everyone in sight, carry on throughout the season…and then go out first round again.

  • Mike C. Posted: May.18 at 10:24 am
    I’m not bashing Dirk for any malevolent reason. I’m actually a fairly big Dirk fan. He has an oddly beautiful game and is one of the L’s most unique personalities. I’d talk the same crap about any MVP that got smoked in the first round and had to pick up his award in a secret underground presentation that nobody saw.

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 10:25 am
    Come on Keith… They are not a dirty team, the least i will give is bowen is a dirty player, he plays like raja bell though. so does that make the suns a dirty team, horry never did anything like that in the past. if there is a game 7 i see him hitting a game winner/sealer

  • Keith Posted: May.18 at 10:29 am
    I’m still holding out on Marion having a big game all of his own accord, rather than playing one decent half of basketball in an entire series. If he can pull that off, the Suns are going to the WCF.

  • Mike C. Posted: May.18 at 10:35 am
    K22C: I agree with you. Horry has never done anything like that in his career before. I don’t even define that shoulder hit as a dirty play. People seem to forget the late 80’s to mid 90’s style of play. The Knicks-Heat series were tough, intense, defensive series. Horry’s hit would probably have been defined as a flagrant back then, but would never have led to a suspension. If we were able to take those Knicks-Heat series and officiate them by today’s rule book, every player would be ejected or fouled out before half time. The NBA has gotten very soft in the last couple of years. All that being said, Bruce Bowen is a dirty asshole who needs to be clotheslined by Raja Bell.

  • Sesa Posted: May.18 at 10:41 am
    @K22C
    Once again I reiterated that Spurs are not dirty team, they just have that Bruce Bowen. Speaking as a basketball player myself I’d rather get clotheslined rather than someone trying to injure my ankle when I land. That’s just me though…

  • Marquis Posted: May.18 at 10:47 am
    hey K22C get off the spurs dick white boy

  • Mike Posted: May.18 at 10:47 am
    Sounds like Spurs-Pistons are a lock for the Fianls. Why did they even bother having an eastern conference playoffs? Horry is a smarter player than everyone gives him credit for. He won that series without a game-winner this time.

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 10:52 am
    -@Mike- At the time that is not what he was thinking. He had no clue that Diaw AND stat or either of them would rush off the bench.

  • K22C Posted: May.18 at 10:55 am
    or did he?

  • Steve O Posted: May.18 at 11:00 am
    I think that might be giving Horry too much credit. He looked pissed and frustrated and took it out on Nash. Could he have hatched an elaborate scheme to destroy the Suns? Absolutely. Did he? i doubt it

  • Shotcaller Posted: May.18 at 11:23 am
    While I would love to see my Pistons exact their revenge on the Spurs, I don’t know if I can tolerate another Finals watching Manu Gi-Floppy.
    I almost broke my TV several times during their last Finals matchup, not to mention that I taught my children some new words that they shouldn’t know.

  • neaorin Posted: May.18 at 11:29 am
    After the brickfest the Cavs put on display two nights ago, suddenly last year’s “give LeBron the ball and get outta the way” offense doesn’t sound so bad anymore. If only he decided to bring it tonight.

  • Joel O's Posted: May.18 at 11:46 am
    Last night’s game was entertaining just to watch Rasheed’s crazy-eyed, flailing-limbed zombie walk reactions. Classic stuff heh.

  • Sesa Posted: May.18 at 11:50 am
    I’ve simulated Spurs-Suns matchup on my NBA 2k7. The score was a Spurs win 103-99 over Suns. Tim Duncan getting 14 points and 18 rebounds. Ginobili had 18 points.
    Steve Nash had 23 points and 11 assist while STAT had 31 points and 8 rebounds.
    Let’s just hope I’m wrong, I’m very happy if I am wrong.

  • Russ Bengtson Posted: May.18 at 12:52 pm
    I thought Rasheed was actually going to kill someone last night. And I hadn’t really considered it until now, but the ultimate Finals matchup would have been Pistons/Warriors. Stephen Jackson and Rasheed in the same building for seven games? ARMAGEDDON.

  • Sesa Posted: May.18 at 12:57 pm
    Yeah, while them Warriors made Jackson defend Rasheed. Another recipe for brawl.

  • Bigi Posted: May.18 at 2:32 pm
    …A superstar has to go trough Detroit…A number 23 has to go trough Detroit…Wait a minute!Didn’t this happen already…If this thing repeats itself,LeBron you are gonna be 0-2 against Deeeeeeetrooooooooit after your season ends…Then you lose again next season,but after that you guys will have a sweep over MotorTown and you can cry with Larry O’Brian Trophy…Nah,that can’t happen…Right?

  • Mike Posted: May.18 at 3:00 pm
    In defense of Horry. He is a six time champion. He has been their and done that. I mean, he did it right in front of the suns bench. He has to think of these things while he’s on his bench.
    You see a lot of veterans manipulte other players into doing something wrong. I see sam cassell psuh the ball up the floor and seeing a big man behind him running, pull up his dribble so the big guy would run him over for the foul. I saw steve smith guarding a player waiting for a screne. Steve leaves early and runs into the screner and the guy setting the screne got called for a moving screne. These older guys are crafty and should never be underestimated. But, enough about horry. It should be a hell of a game tonight. If the suns win the series, it will just be that much sweeter given what they had to go through.

  • Ikemob22 Posted: May.18 at 4:45 pm
    Lets go NETS

  • AB_40 Posted: May.18 at 5:12 pm
    Ikemob22 haha lonely warrior:P
    If that 4th quarte of that game aaaaaahhhhh I ain’t even gonna think about it. there you saw all that was wrong with the players in the nba today. no fundamentals. check pistol pete he had handles they don’t play like him no mo

  • Drolfe Posted: May.18 at 7:00 pm
    Wrap it up!

  • Mavs-Cavs Fan Posted: May.18 at 7:22 pm
    andrew is the most retarded person in the world for think the nets were up 3-2

  • andrew Posted: May.18 at 8:24 pm
    I saw Mastodon with Slayer in March in Melbourne… Sadly they only opened for Slayer, so the whole thing was a little short, and too much from the Tool-like new album… I think pre-Blood Mountain mastodon is like the Suns, all flash, finesse and power at the right moments, and Blood Mountain is like the spurs - all fundamentals, no soul… plus some truly awful vocals… I don’t know how the vocals equate to the spurs, someone help here? I’m flailing…

  • Holiday Posted: May.18 at 8:30 pm
    What are they waiting for? Utah and Detroit should just go at it and get the real finals over with already! and the Pistons can get there second Finals loss in two years outta the way!!!!!!!! GO JAZZ!!!!!!!

  • Russ Bengtson Posted: May.19 at 12:00 am
    It certainly looks like things are going to get wrapped up. And opening for Slayer is an impossible job.

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