Boston Bludgeons Detroit in the Paint: The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same
What does Boston's 88-76 victory over Detroit on Sunday tell us? This rematch of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals was just Allen Iverson's second game as a Piston, so the pundits had a field day focusing on Iverson's performance to the exclusion of everything else. Meanwhile, Antonio McDyess, who played a key role in both of Detroit's wins versus Boston in that series, is not currently on Detroit's roster but will presumably be a Piston again after clearing waivers and waiting the required 30 days to rejoin his old team. McDyess' absence exacerbated Detroit's primary problem versus Boston: the Celtics relentlessly and methodically pound the Pistons to death in the paint.
The Celtics exploited the same advantages on Sunday that they did last year versus the Pistons in both the regular season and the playoffs: rebounding and points in the paint. Those two categories are why I was able to
correctly predict Boston's six game victory over Detroit in last year's playoffs; after that series concluded, I did a
post summarizing why Boston won and the Celtics' inside dominance was the main factor.
Nothing has changed since that time; on Sunday, Boston enjoyed a 45-38 rebounding edge and a decisive 44-24 lead in points in the paint. Although Rasheed Wallace had 11 rebounds, he all but nullified that production by shooting 4-17 from the field, including 2-8 from three point range. The Pistons spent most of the game firing bricks from outside (.347 field goal percentage), while the Celtics rebounded those misses and shot a significantly higher percentage than Detroit (.446) because of their ability to get into the paint either on the break or in the half court set.
Iverson scored 10 points on 4-11 shooting and added a team-high four assists, though he also had a team-high four turnovers. He showed that he could penetrate Boston's defense off of the dribble and then dish to teammates for open shots but his teammates did not make many of those shots. Before any Pistons' fans wax nostalgic for Chauncey Billups, keep in mind that Billups shot .394 from the field against Boston in last year's playoffs. The Pistons are hoping that Iverson will be able to use his speed and scoring ability to prevent the offensive lulls that have plagued them in their recent playoff runs.
It could be argued that--their great regular season record notwithstanding--the Celtics did not really completely jell last season until they survived tough playoff series versus Atlanta and Cleveland. That is why no one should read too much into Iverson's statistics or Detroit's record for the next few games or even for the next month; it takes time to build chemistry and trust. It is certainly reasonable to expect that Iverson's shot attempts and shooting percentage--and Detroit's winning percentage--will increase once he becomes fully acclimated to his new team.
However, it will be a tall task (no pun intended) for Iverson to have enough impact on offense to compensate for how much Boston's bigs outplay Detroit's bigs on a consistent basis. If Iverson can score 25 ppg versus Boston on .450 field goal shooting and contribute 7 apg with a reasonably low amount of turnovers then Detroit will have a fighting chance in a seven game series--but that level of production (particularly the field goal percentage) will be very difficult for Iverson to maintain against Boston's physical, relentless defense.
That said, there is no reason to think that Detroit would have had a better chance to beat Boston this year with Billups at the helm; once Iverson and his teammates get used to each other, Iverson will give the Pistons a different, more explosive offensive look than they had last year--and in a close playoff game, Iverson's ability to score 15-20 points in the fourth quarter could prove to be the difference that swings a series. The ace in the hole for Joe Dumars is that his team still has an opportunity to contend for the championship but if things don't work out then he can get rid of Iverson and Wallace and use the resulting salary cap room to try to obtain a young superstar. What more can Pistons' fans want than the ability to be a contender this year while retaining the financial flexibility to construct a team that can be a contender for many more years?
Labels: Allen Iverson, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Rasheed Wallace
posted by David Friedman @ 9:04 AM
80s Flashback: Celtics Beat Pistons, Will Meet Lakers in Finals
Paul Pierce scored a very efficient 27 points (shooting 8-12 from the field and 10-13 from the free throw line) as the Boston Celtics rallied from a 70-60 fourth quarter deficit to beat the Detroit Pistons 89-81 in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics will now advance to the NBA Finals, where they will face the L.A. Lakers in a matchup of the two most storied franchises in league history. Ray Allen added 17 points and six rebounds; he did most of his damage in the first quarter but in these tight, defensive struggles every point counts. Kevin Garnett got off to a woeful start, making just 2 of his first 10 field goal attempts, but he anchored Boston's defense throughout the game and made some key second half shots, finishing with 16 points on 7-16 field goal shooting. He also had six rebounds and four assists. Rajon Rondo added 11 points, four rebounds (all of them on the offensive glass) and three assists. He shot just 5-13 from the field. ESPN's Jeff Van Gundy said that Rondo's best skill is rebounding, which is a strange thing to say about a 6-1 point guard; the funny thing is that this is probably true: Rondo is not a great shooter, he is only beginning to understand when he should pass versus when he should shoot and despite his athletic gifts (long arms, quick feet, jumping ability) he was burned repeatedly on defense by the stronger, wilier and more experienced Chauncey Billups. The one thing that Rondo did really well in this game was chase down offensive rebounds.
Billups did his best to try to carry the Pistons to a seventh game in Boston, scoring 29 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing off six assists while not committing a single turnover. The big question before the game was about the status of Richard Hamilton's right (shooting) elbow but his injury was not an issue as he scored 21 points on 9-14 field goal shooting. Tayshaun Prince scored 10 points but shot just 3-10 from the field. For the most part, the other Pistons were--as Keith Olbermann used to say on SportsCenter--just watching. Jason Maxiell provided some energy (seven points on 3-4 shooting in 16 minutes) but that was not enough to offset the lack of production from starters Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. Wallace shot 2-12 from the field and had fewer points (four) than fouls (five), though he did grab a game-high 10 rebounds. McDyess had six points and six rebounds.
Garnett and Wallace are each marvelously skilled players but for substantial portions of this series they seemed to be engaged in a contest to see who could spend less time in the paint on offense. Midway through the fourth quarter, Van Gundy exclaimed, "I want Kevin Garnett on the post right now!" Right as he said that, Garnett made a long jumper but Mark Jackson said that--even though Garnett hit that shot--"I couldn't agree more. You've got to go with the high percentage play." The reality is that Garnett and Wallace are never going to simply plant themselves in the post and go to work; it just is not in their nature to do that. The difference between them--and the reason that Garnett is an MVP candidate while Wallace is an enigma--is that Garnett is always fully engaged in the game defensively and as a rebounder and passer, while Wallace not only drifts to the perimeter offensively but frequently seems to drift out of the game altogether. If either of their teams depended primarily on those guys providing scoring in the paint then they would be in trouble but Pierce and Allen are the usual closers for Boston while Billups and Hamilton fill that role for Detroit.
In game six, Allen and Hamilton both went to work early, with each of them scoring 10 first quarter points. The Celtics led 24-21 after the first quarter. The Celtics maintained a small lead throughout the second quarter and were up 40-37 at halftime. Boston led 52-47 at the 7:16 mark of the third quarter when Garnett got his fourth foul. Boston Coach Doc Rivers left him in the game but the Pistons went on a 6-2 run anyway and after Rivers sat him down a couple minutes later Detroit closed the quarter with a 15-6 spurt to go up 68-60. Remember the Brent Barry/Derek Fisher play at the end of game four of the Western Conference Finals, the non-call that got all the conspiracy theorists working overtime?
I said that I have seen similar plays be no-calls, offensive fouls or defensive fouls and near the end of the third quarter of this game we saw a great example of what I meant: Pierce faked a shot, Hamilton made contact with him outside the three point line and both players fell to the ground after Pierce fired a shot that went through the hoop. It looked like it would be a four point play opportunity for Pierce but Bennett Salvatore called an offensive foul on Pierce. How can the Fisher play be a defensive foul--the NBA issued a statement saying that a non-shooting foul should have been called on Fisher--but this play is an offensive foul on Pierce? The simple answer is exactly what I said in my post: depending on which referee is involved, sometimes this is a no-call, sometimes it is an offensive foul and sometimes it is a defensive foul. I'm not saying that this is right or wrong, I'm just making an observation.
If the Phoenix Suns had been on the wrong end of such a call I'm not sure that their delicate psyches could have handled the extreme trauma. How can a team possibly be expected to overcome such an obstacle with more than a full quarter left to play in a close game? Forgive my sarcasm, but my point is that there are good reasons that some teams that are very talented get over the hump and other teams do not; some teams make no excuses and find ways to get things done, while other teams seem to spend more time searching for explanations for why they lost than for ways to actually win. Hamilton's jumper at the 10:29 mark of the fourth quarter made the score 70-60 Detroit and it would have been very easy for the Celtics to give in to the moment, say to themselves that this was not their night and simply rely on winning game seven at home. Instead, they scored 10 straight points in less than three minutes. The teams then traded baskets before a three point play by Pierce put Boston up 75-74. That was the start of an 11-2 run that put the Celtics in the driver's seat. A three point play by Billups cut the margin to 83-79 and a pair of missed free throws by Garnett left the door open but Pierce and Allen made two free throws each in the last :30 to preserve the victory.
For most of the game, the teams were separated by five points or less. According to the conventional wisdom, this is the type of game that Detroit should be expected to win: a close playoff game at home against a team that has struggled on the road throughout these playoffs. Yet it does not surprise me at all not only that the Pistons lost but that they lost in precisely the manner that they did; after all, I predicted virtually this entire scenario in
my series preview: I mentioned Boston's superiority in rebounding, I pointed out that Detroit never shot better than .410 from the field versus Boston during the regular season, I declared "the Celtics are an outstanding defensive team that will outexecute the Pistons down the stretch" and I concluded, "Coach Flip Saunders' much vaunted 'liberation offense' works a lot better in the regular season against overmatched teams than it does in the latter stages of the playoffs against elite teams. Look for the Pistons to have some brutal fourth quarter stretches offensively, look for the Celtics to finally win a road playoff game and look for Boston to win this series in six games." In the comment section to that post I made the additional point that since the departure of Coach Larry Brown and four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace the Pistons have had trouble defending the paint in the playoffs.
Let's look at how each one of those factors played out in this game and in the series:
1) Rebounding
The Celtics outrebounded the Pistons 38-36 in game six and in the fourth quarter with the game up for grabs (no pun intended) the Celtics enjoyed a 12-6 rebounding advantage. During the series, the Celtics outrebounded the Pistons 238-191, a differential of 7.8 rpg, and they enjoyed an edge in this category in every game except game one, when each team had 37 rebounds.
2) Boston's Defensive Field Goal Percentage
The Pistons shot .420 from the field in game six, including 6-18 in the fourth quarter--and the final basket was an uncontested shot with the outcome of the game no longer in doubt. In three of Boston's four wins the Pistons shot worse than .425 from the field. The Pistons shot .493 in their game two win and .514 in their game four win to boost their series percentage to .450 but the Celtics' ability to hold down the Pistons' field goal percentage proved to be a decisive factor in this series.
3) Brutal Fourth Quarter Stretch Dooms Pistons
In addition to shooting 6-18 from the field in the fourth quarter of game six, the Pistons committed six turnovers, a staggering number for a team that is renowned for its ability to protect the ball--but, as I stated in my series preview, Saunders' "liberation offense" works a lot better in the regular season than it does in the playoffs against elite teams. The Celtics outscored the Pistons 29-13 in the fourth quarter of game six. The Pistons actually had some decent fourth quarters earlier in the series but at various times in each of their losses their offense went through some stagnant periods.
4) Celtics Beat Pistons on the Road Twice
Despite the Celtics' road woes in earlier playoff rounds, they beat the Pistons twice in Detroit, winning the series in six games exactly as I expected.
5) Points in the Paint
The Celtics outscored the Pistons in the paint 32-18 in game six and enjoyed a 206-130 advantage in this category during the series, an average of 12.7 more points in the paint per game. The Celtics won this department by at least 10 points in every game except their game four loss, when each team scored 24 points in the paint.
My final comment in that series preview post was that--although there is no way to prove it--if the Cavaliers had gotten past the Celtics then they would have beaten the Pistons. Considering that the Cavs forced the Celtics to a seventh game and had a chance to win that contest right until the end while the Pistons bowed out on their home court in game six, I remain confident that the Cavs would indeed have defeated the Pistons just like they did last year.
Perhaps readers who think that I "hate" the Pistons will now understand clearly that all I am doing is analyzing matchups; I identified specific reasons why the Celtics would beat the Pistons and the series went exactly as I predicted it would.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rasheed Wallace, Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton
posted by David Friedman @ 8:59 AM
The Joy of Six: Detroit Advances to the Eastern Conference Finals Again
The Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 91-86 on Tuesday to win that series four games to one and thus advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the sixth straight season. The Showtime Lakers from the 1980s are the most recent team to make it to the Conference Finals at least six years in a row (they did it from 1982-89), so this is quite an accomplishment for the Pistons. On the other hand, the Lakers did a much better job of taking advantage of those opportunities than the Pistons have: the Lakers made it to the Finals seven times and won four championships during their run while the Pistons have only made two Finals appearances and won just one title during their streak. Basically, the Pistons of the 2000s are like the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s: perennial playoff contenders who won one championship. That is nothing to sneeze at but--at least in the Pistons' case--it seems like a talented team that has good roster stability among its core players should probably have won more than a single title and I'm sure that the Pistons' management, coaches and players feel the same way.
Orlando was competitive with Detroit in every game except the first one and could very possibly have won game two on the road if not for a bizarre clock malfunction at the end of the third quarter that ended up costing the Magic three points in a contest that was a one possession game for most of the fourth quarter. That said, this could possibly have been a Detroit sweep if Pistons' All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups had not strained his right hamstring early in game three, Orlando's only victory. The Pistons won the final two games of the series despite being without the services of Billups, who will now get a few days to rest before Detroit plays the winner of the Boston-Cleveland series.
The two key factors in this series turned out to be Detroit's frontcourt depth and Orlando's poor offensive execution, particularly down the stretch in close games. Detroit used four bigs--Rasheed Wallace (34.0 mpg), Antonio McDyess (27.2 mpg), Jason Maxiell (21.0 mpg) and Theo Ratliff (11.8 mpg)--to match up with Dwight Howard, who is the only legitimate big on the Orlando roster and thus had to play a series-high 42.6 mpg. Despite playing five mpg more than he did in the regular season, Howard's numbers were down across the board as he averaged fewer points and rebounds than he did in the regular season and shot much worse from the field and the free throw line: he averaged 20.7 ppg and a league-best 14.2 rpg while shooting .599 from the field and .590 from the free throw line in the regular season but those numbers dipped to 15.2 ppg, 13.4 rpg, .509 field goal percentage and .513 free throw percentage versus Detroit. Orlando must acquire another power player who can give Howard some support in the paint offensively and defensively.
Orlando averaged 15.2 turnovers per game versus Detroit while only forcing 8.0 turnovers per game; in tennis it is called an unforced error if you just hit the ball into the net and the Magic had a lot of turnovers that could rightly be called "unforced errors." Other than the game one blowout, their losses were by seven, one and five, which means that those turnovers and the squandered possessions that they represent were fatal for Orlando. In general I don't rely much on the assist/turnover ratio statistic because not every good pass is logged as an assist and not every turnover stems from making a bad pass but Orlando had 76 assists and 76 turnovers in this series and it is hard to beat a good team with those kinds of numbers (Detroit had 90 assists and 40 turnovers). Jameer Nelson had an acceptable ratio of 23 assists and eight turnovers but 23 assists in five games is a low number for a starting point guard. Orlando's primary playmaker is Hedo Turkoglu and his assist/turnover ratio of 28/21 was very poor. Orlando's other starting forward, Rashard Lewis, had 12 assists and 17 turnovers, which obviously is a terrible ratio. Howard had one assist and 14 turnovers, while starting shooting guard Maurice Evans had four assists and six turnovers, so none of Orlando's starters distinguished themselves in this area. Orlando really needs to get a reliable ballhandler/playmaker who can dribble penetrate and create scoring opportunities for Howard in the paint and for Turkoglu, Lewis and Nelson on the perimeter. Perhaps Nelson will grow into this role but he really seems to be more of a scorer by nature.
The Pistons only shot .424 from the field versus the Magic and were outrebounded slightly but they shot a much higher percentage from the free throw line than the Magic did and they took advantage of the extra possessions that they had because of the favorable turnover differential. Young Rodney Stuckey filled in capably for Billups, while Richard Hamilton had a very strong series (23.6 ppg). The nagging question about the Pistons is the same one that has existed ever since the departure of Coach Larry Brown and defensive stalwart Ben Wallace: will Detroit be focused night in and night out? They dropped two games in the first round to a sub-.500 Philadelphia team and they could have easily lost some more games versus Orlando if the Magic had not been so careless with the basketball; neither Boston nor Cleveland turns the ball over the way that Orlando does, so if the Pistons sleepwalk when they face one of those teams and end up in close games down the stretch they will not be able to rely on their opponent simply self destructing.
Labels: Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Orlando Magic, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton
posted by David Friedman @ 4:31 AM
Cavs Use Old Formula to Beat Pistons With New Players
Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers eliminated the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals by relying on excellent team defense, strong rebounding and the brilliant all-around play of LeBron James. Several of the faces have changed in Cleveland--and
things have not always gone smoothly since the big trade--but that tried and tested formula resulted in an 89-73 home victory over Detroit on Wednesday night. James did his part with 30 points, seven rebounds and six assists, shooting 11-19 from the field and producing a +15 plus/minus rating while playing a team-high 41 minutes. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Pistons 46-39. Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Ilgauskas each had eight rebounds and Anderson Varejao added six rebounds off of the bench. Ilgauskas also scored 20 points on 9-14 field goal shooting. Wally Szczerbiak (10 points on 4-7 shooting) was the only other Cav who scored in double figures but that did not matter because the Cavs held the Pistons to .397 field goal shooting.
Rasheed Wallace led Detroit with 16 points but he shot just 6-17 from the field. ESPN's Mike Breen and Jon Barry repeatedly talked about how Wallace gets up for road games and big games but does not play with that intensity on a nightly basis. Well, this was a big road game against the team that eliminated the Pistons in the playoffs and Rasheed really did not deliver all that much, amassing the worst plus/minus total (-20) of any player in the game. Frankly, considering his bountiful talents, the amount of money that he makes and how vital he is to his team's success, it is not an endearing trait that he does not summon up a high degree of effort and production on a consistent basis. Barry compared him to Derrick Coleman but even Coleman had three straight 20/10 seasons and he made the All-NBA Third Team a couple times; Wallace has never done either of those things even once. There is no doubt that Wallace played a critically important role for Detroit's championship team in 2004 but does concentrating for half a season and one playoff run justify essentially sleepwalking through the better part of his career? Yes, Wallace has made the All-Star team four times but, as Charles Barkley and others have pointed out, he has the talent to be one of the very best players in the NBA but he is satisfied to just coast most of the time. That is not an admirable trait and no one is good enough to turn his game on and off at will--Wallace's shameful attitude filters through the team and is part of the reason that the Pistons have come up short in the playoffs the past several years. You may recall that it was his blown assignment that enabled Robert Horry to nail a crucial three point shot in the 2005 Finals; that is what happens when you are not in the habit of being mentally engaged in the game to the highest degree at all times.
That said, credit also has to be given to the players who checked Rasheed Wallace. Ben Wallace did a great job guarding him in the post for most of the game and Varejao also defended him well on several occasions. One time, Rasheed got so frustrated from jostling with Varejao on the block that he abandoned the low post altogether, drifted outside, received a pass and bricked a three pointer. That just shows up in the boxscore as one missed field goal but Varejao is a physical player who plays with an edge and that quality is very valuable, particularly in the playoffs. Another thing that Varejao does that does not show up in the boxscore is guard multiple players on one possession. For instance, he will defend someone in the post, "show" on a pick and roll to stop a guard from penetrating and then rotate to an open shooter as the ball is swung around. His mobility and aggressiveness played a significant role in Cleveland's playoff success last year.
Chauncey "Mr. Big Shot" Billups was largely invisible (10 points on 4-12 shooting, five rebounds, four assists) and Richard Hamilton had a good first quarter but finished with only 14 points, though he did have a team-high seven assists. Barry and Breen spent most of the game talking about how bad Cleveland's offense is but apparently they did not notice all of the shots that the Pistons were bricking. When the injured Daniel Gibson returns to the lineup the Cavaliers will have another shooter to pair with Szczerbiak to space the court and the offense will function more effectively. Meanwhile, James shoulders most of the load, leading the league in scoring while regularly attracting multiple defenders and thus providing open shots for his teammates. Tayshaun Prince told ESPN's broadcast team that James is the toughest player in the league to guard now, adding, "It's not even close." Prince said that when James gets up a head of steam his drives are impossible to stop. There is a lot of truth to that but the Spurs showed in last year's Finals that if you station two seven footers in the lane and force James to shoot perimeter shots that it is possible to slow him down. When the Pistons paired a younger Ben Wallace with Rasheed Wallace they could play that kind of defense but now that Rasheed is pretty much by himself back there (and is only sporadically paying attention) James can indeed seemingly get to the hoop at will versus this team, just like he did in last year's playoffs.
This was definitely the best all-around defensive performance by the "new" Cavs and it came at a very good time; Cleveland will not likely catch Detroit in the standings but it was important to show that the current version of the team matches up just as well with the Pistons as the previous version did. If the Cavaliers will continue to play this kind of defense and if they are able to finally get everyone in their rotation healthy then they can absolutely repeat as Eastern Conference champions. It won't be easy but they know the formula and have proven that they can do it.
Labels: Anderson Varejao, Ben Wallace, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, LeBron James, Rasheed Wallace, Zydrunas Ilgauskas
posted by David Friedman @ 5:57 AM
The Enigmatic Rasheed Wallace
Rasheed Wallace had 23 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots to lead the Detroit Pistons to an impressive 90-80 road win over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. Amazingly, this is the first time that Wallace has put up at least 23 points and 15 rebounds in a game since February 10, 2005. Wallace is a marvelously skilled player and it was his arrival in Detroit that put the Pistons over the top and enabled them to win the 2004 championship. Yet he is averaging just 13.1 ppg and 7.4 rpg this season, numbers that are roughly in line with his career marks (15.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg). Those are decent stats for a small forward, not a multifaceted power forward/center. Wallace, who clearly has the rare ability to be a 20-10 guy consistently, has never averaged 20 ppg or nine rpg in a season.
At halftime of the Pistons-Spurs game--and again on the postgame show--TNT's Charles Barkley said that if you put Michael Jordan's mind in Wallace's body that he'd be the best player in the NBA, adding, "I've never seen a player who is seven feet tall who can post you up and shoot threes...but for him to only have 23 and 15 once every two or three years is a travesty." Kenny Smith echoed those sentiments: "Over 82 games, something doesn't trigger in him to say that he could dominate." Smith noted that Wallace can be dominant in short stretches, something that he will do during the postseason, and Smith believes that this is part of the reason that the Pistons consistently have made deep playoff runs since Detroit acquired Wallace.
Wallace is truly perplexing, someone who is prone to bizarre fits of rage that earn him numerous technical fouls, and yet someone who is also praised by his teammates and coaches as a player who is a wonderful teammate who has a high basketball IQ. It's almost like the game is so easy for him that he has never had to play hard consistently to do well. Wallace has an array of unblockable shots that he can deliver in the paint but he tends to drift outside, where he is also a deadly shooter--but that takes him out of rebounding position and prevents him from drawing fouls as often as true star players do.
It is so frustrating to watch Wallace play, because even though he has won a championship and earned some individual honors along the way it is obvious that he could do so much more. Smith asserts that Wallace's postseason performances are why the Pistons advance but it could just as accurately be said that some of his performances are why the Pistons have not won another title. Barkley noted that the only time that Wallace really seemed to try to dominate was right after he came to Detroit; not coincidentally, that is the only year that he and the Pistons won the title. Wallace's bonehead play left Robert Horry open in the next year's Finals and probably cost the Pistons another ring and Wallace has sprinkled in a few meltdowns/disappearing acts in recent postseasons.
Tim Duncan had 24 points and 15 rebounds in Thursday's game. The difference between Duncan and Wallace is that two-time MVP, four-time champion Duncan puts up those numbers on a regular basis, not once every three years. When some guys have a night like Wallace's, it is obviously a fluke, but there is nothing that Wallace did against the Spurs that he could not do on a fairly regular basis. The unsolved mystery is why he is not wired that way, whereas a Duncan, a Jordan or a Kobe Bryant tries to--as Barkley put it--"kill" people on a nightly basis, much like Bill Belichick's New England Patriots do.
Labels: Detroit Pistons, Rasheed Wallace, San Antonio Spurs, Tim Duncan
posted by David Friedman @ 5:03 AM
Bulls Idle Pistons to Capture Their First Win of the Season
Tyrus Thomas had a team-high 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons 97-93 to claim their first win of the season. Luol Deng added 17 points, while Kirk Hinrich shot poorly from the field (eight points on 3-11 shooting) but had a game-high 14 assists. Rasheed Wallace had a game-high 36 points, his most as a Piston and just six off of his career-high; he also tied Antonio McDyess with a team-high nine rebounds. The plus/minus stats told an interesting story, as journeyman Bulls forward had a game-high +10 mark. Coach Scott Skiles has said that Smith has been the team's most valuable player so far--admittedly not much of a distinction on a team that was 0-4 prior to this game--and Smith contributed 13 points and four rebounds, shooting 6-11 from the field. On the other hand, Bulls starting center Ben Wallace had a team-worst -8 plus/minus number; he finished with six points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes and did not play at all in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls outscored the Pistons 42-26 in the paint and outrebounded them 47-36. Those numbers tell part of the story of perhaps the most interesting subplot from this game, the battle between Chicago's young frontcourt players (Thomas, Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Joakim Noah)--with the aforementioned help from the veteran Smith and some early contributions from Ben Wallace--versus Detroit's veteran frontcourt of Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Tayshaun Prince. Detroit did not re-sign Chris Webber, so Rasheed Wallace has shifted from forward to center this year, while McDyess has moved from being a reserve to taking Wallace's starting forward spot; both players rely more now on their wiles than their athleticism, which provided an intriguing contrast with Thomas and Noah, who are long on energy and hustle but short on experience. Detroit will have a good regular season record this year just based on muscle memory alone because the team has several current or former All-Stars but it is hard to understand why people seem to think that this team is better equipped to advance to the Finals than the last couple Detroit squads that fell short of that goal. Chicago matches up very well with this team, Cleveland beat Detroit four straight times in last year's playoffs and Boston has obviously looked very strong in the early going.
TNT's Charles Barkley and other analysts keep harping on the theme that the problem with the Bulls is that they rely too much on the jump shot but I don't think that is entirely correct. It is true that the Bulls do not have a stud postup player but when they are running their offense crisply they get a lot of dribble penetration to the hoop, leading either to layups or to open jumpers when the defense reacts to the dribbler. All good offenses attack the paint; having a great postup player is certainly a good way to do so, but relentless drive and kick dribble penetration can also be effective. As noted above, the Bulls owned a decisive advantage in points in the paint in this game even though they very seldom ran their offense through a post player.
The Bulls' slow start has attracted a lot of attention, partially because there were some high expectations for this team and partially because the Bulls have been mentioned prominently in trade rumors about Kobe Bryant. Chicago has been a slow starting team for the past several years and there is no reason to think that the Bulls will not have 50 or so wins by the end of the season. That is not to say that the early losses were not important--Chicago finished one game behind Cleveland last year and got a much tougher playoff seeding, so every game obviously can turn out to be vital by season's end--but every NBA team goes through a lull at some point; the Bulls just tend to go through theirs early.
There is always a lot of overreaction at the start of each NBA season but the only way to gauge if a team is really going to be as good or as bad as its early record suggests is to actually watch the team play and try to figure out why it is winning or losing more than people expected. Some teams start out with more difficult schedules or with a key player or two missing and those kinds of things even out over the course of the season. Other teams are, in Dennis Green's already immortal words, who we thought they were--San Antonio, Dallas, Houston are going to be good, while Portland, Minnesota, Seattle are going to struggle. Chicago and Detroit, as this game suggested, are very evenly matched and will both easily be Eastern Conference playoff teams, despite the sky is falling rhetoric that has been coming out of the Windy City in recent days.
Labels: Ben Wallace, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Rasheed Wallace, Tyrus Thomas
posted by David Friedman @ 3:24 AM
