I’ve watched the game again (replayed the 4th quarter three times), and I’m still smiling. It’s like watching a great movie again and again and discovering new things that you didn’t see the first time. There’s so much to discuss that we could blog for weeks about last night alone.
More thoughts;
– LeBron James provided the best celebration moment during the game in my opinion. With 10 and a half minutes left, he leapt around Wallace and stole the ball, with nobody between him and the basket. For some stupid reason, Lindsey Hunter decided to foul him during the layup. LeBron hit the ground, did a backroll to his feet and immediately pointed towards the crowd with both hands. The crowd, already surging with adrenalin from the made basket, went insane. It was exactly the type of feeling we hoped to have when we drafted the kid four years ago, and he gave it to us in style.
– The “blow up the Pistons” talk is in full swing already. Chauncey Billups is a free agent and will draw top dollar offers from at least five teams. Chris Webber is being discussed and the word “retirement” is being spoken frequently. Flip Saunders is (unofficially) being given directions to the unemployment office. And some are suggesting that Piston front office management is tired of Rasheed Wallace’s antics and may be looking to trade him.
– Saunders should go for many reasons, but one of the biggest mistakes of the night last night was his failure to take Wallace out of the game after his fifth foul. Sit him down, get in his ear and try to calm him down for a couple of minutes. Instead, Saunders left him in, and 15 seconds after his 5th foul, he was tackling LeBron for his 6th foul, freaking out on the referees, getting ejected, and effectively ending any hope Detroit had this season. I blame Wallace for the freak-out, but Saunders KNOWS Wallace. He should have seen that outburst coming and made moves to prevent it from happening.
– Remember when you were a kid and you’d pretend that the floor was made of hot lava and if you fell off the couch you fall into a volcano? I always thought that Damon Jones played that same game, except he would fall into the volcano if he shot the ball from inside the 3-point line. Imagine my surprise when he drove for a open layup midway through the 4th quarter.
– 4th quarter scoring – Daniel Gibson 19, Detroit Pistons 16.
– Former Cavalier Ronald Murray signed with Detroit over the summer to win a championship, right? Sucks for you, Flip. The Pistons claimed they signed him to help with the depth of their bench.
– Bench points – Cleveland 43, Detroit 15
– Anybody else wonder how Carlos Boozer feels this morning?
– They say that 10% of the population is non-heterosexual. So when a basketball game is taking place, the law of averages says that one player on the court falls into that category. If you’re watching the game and you start to look for that one player, you probably don’t need to look very far if Carlos Delfino is getting game time.
– In Game 4, Drew Gooden fouled Wallace in what looked a little like….let’s call it “having relations in prison”. I thought that was the best foul of the series. At least I did until Sasha Pavlovic took a flying leap towards the basket and he introduced his knee to Webber’s sack.
– Watch this video. It’ll make you smile. It was filmed last night outside of The Q.
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