>That was the closest, nail-biting-est 19 point victory ever. The
>margin should have been about that the whole game but for some — yes
>I’ll agree — bad reffing. I didn’t complain about the refs in any of
>the Pistons losses in the playoffs (or the regular season, as far as I
>can remember) and it seems odd to complain about that after a win, but
>jeez. As Flip said after the game, they called a bunch of ticky-tack
>fouls on Detroit of the sort they havenÂ’t been calling the rest of the
>series, AND they werenÂ’t calling them both ways (including potential
>techs on Boston), AND they missed a couple of basic “whose ball is
>it?” calls. The discrepancy in FT attempts, especially after 3
>quarters, was, well, felonious.
>
>But Detroit survived and didnÂ’t melt down. I actually liked the tech
>on Flip, sticking up for his guys. Massive props, of course, to
>McDyess and Maxiell (what a block and great shooting) and also to Rip
>(8-10 from the field). In fact, all the Pistons that got significant
>minutes not named Tayshaun had very good shooting nights. And Tay can
>say he helped limit Pierce to 16 points on a ridiculously low FG%%.
>
>For game 5: keep the defensive intensity and hope the FTs are more
>even; donÂ’t be afraid to use the bench, Stuckey and Maxiell obviously,
>but I donÂ’t mind putting Theo and Jarvis in for a few minutes just to
>see what they can do (HayesÂ’s airball three and foul didnÂ’t inspire
>confidence, but hey, he hit a meaningless 3 at the end); Chauncey has
>to make even more progress on figuring out what he can and canÂ’t do;
>and Detroit must contain the Celtic “role” players (oddly, 5 Celtics
>were in double figures, and the two that werenÂ’t the Big Three had
>better shooting nights, percentage wise).
>
>Boston, of course, has to feel like they accomplished their objective
>of getting a split and regaining home court advantage, and also that
>they were in this game with under 4 minutes left despite shooting
>really, really badly. So now itÂ’s a 3 game series with Boston having
>home court advantage, but then again, home teams are 2-2 in this
>series so far. --Joe
It was a nail biter but I always thought the Pistons were in control
even when the Celtics go the margin to 5 in the second half. The only
time I was a little worried was when they brought Jarvis Hayes in for
Tayshaun and he was on Pierce. However, Hays did a pretty good job
against Pierce and even managed to hit a 3 pointer in garbage time.
Maybe that'll turn his confidence around and Flip will play him a
little more.
Maxiell was amazing in this game. The block on KG's dunk was almost
as fantastic as Prince's on Reggie Miller's a few years ago. And he
was 6-6 from the field.
Chauncey didn't score much but he did a great job with his assists and
running the team. I'll take that any day.
I only hope the Pistons come out in game 5 with the same
aggressiveness they showed in this game and game 2. It is their only
chance to win this series.
Regards,
////
(o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-
"I never said most of the things I said."
-- Yogi Berra
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Steve
