[Austin Kent]

Rip missed too much free throws for my liking. I bet he was a bit rattled as well.

[jvanbusk]

And that folks is why the Pistons went out and got Larry Brown to coach this basketball team. This had to be one of the finest coached games I have watched in some time. As the Lakers are taking the lead in the second quarter who leaves Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince on the bench? Not many coaches would do that, but Larry showed alot of restraint by keeping them on the bench with their two fouls, and not putting them in danger of a third. He's done that all year, but it seems so much more difficult to do in such an urgent and important game and series.

And what a great defensive gameplan. The Pistons were content with single coverage on Shaq and letting him dominate, while taking the others out of the game. Outside of Shaq and Kobe, the rest of the Lakers were pretty bad. And Kobe wasn't all that great either. I believe he shot something like 10-27. You would have thought that Shaq would have got 27 shots instead of just 16, with the way he was going. But who thinks Shaq is going to shoot 13-16 from the field and be solid at the free throw line? I don't know if that can happen, so somebody else for the Lakers has to step it up, which makes me happy as a Pistons fan. Because as we saw last night, Shaq and Kobe can't just dominate to get the wins against the Pistons.

I'd also like to comment on how well the bench played. They constantly get dogged it seems like, but they all played real well. I was especially pleased with the effort Campbell and Hunter put in. Hunter had a couple ill-advised shots in my opinion, but his play at the point was solid, and that's all we ask. And I thought Campbell did a nice job offensively and was a good body on Shaq. And in this series we need to get Corliss in at the three and let him dominate. Rick Fox isn't going to stop him and Devean George certainly isn't going to stop him. There is a definate mismatch there, and I hope the Pistons can exploit it in the upcoming games and Corliss can actually make them pay.

But who would have thought looking at the boxscore for the Pistons that they would have won this game?

[Ballscientist]

sweep? yes. if piston billups.
no, if piston billdowns.

[DocBakk]

when was Detroit last in the NBA finals?? thanks in advance

[thrillhouse]

Originally posted by <b>DocBakk</b>!
when was Detroit last in the NBA finals?? thanks in advance

the 90-91 season, they beat portland in the finals in i believe 6 ggames on vinnie johnson's .007 shot.

[KingSpeed]

no, it was the 1990 NBA Finals, meaning the 1989-90 season and the Pistons won in 5 games

[the wall]

Are we just gonna keep all the finals games in one thread?

Well anyways...GREAT 1st game, as we all know. With the exception of Rip everyone played a solid game, Tay really stepped it up. We missed tons of FT's and easy layups in the early stages of the game, it could've easily been a blowout. LA severly underrated our abilities on both sides of the ball and I gotta think that we proves somethign to them last night.

I'm expecting a much tougher effort tomorrow from the Lakers, but there were so many positives that came from Game 1. Shaq played just about as good as he can play efficiency - wise (13-16 FG, 8-12 FT). We proved that their bench has nothing when they're actually guarded -- infinite props to Larry Brown. He made a brilliant strategy to slow down the Lakers.

KEYS TO GAME 2

1. Keep working it in to Rasheed. He played limited minutes due to foul trouble but still came up with 14 points and a very efficient showing. I was elated that he finally hit the threes, and he often was in the blocks against Medvedenko and Kobe...two men who we know can not guard SHEED.

2. Let Billups continue to iso on Payton. Let's face it, Gary Payton is no longer the Glove. He's not the player he once was defensively, and it seems that Chauncey has too great of an offensive arsenal for Payton to contain. Payton picked up a great number of fouls, and Chauncey is way too strong for Fisher once Payton comes out of the game.

3. Attack the defensive boards. In Game 1 LA got a nice number of offensive rebounds, mostly balls that Shaq devoured and then put back down for an easy 2. If we can limit the amount of 2nd chance opportunities for the Lakers, I gotta think we're in a great position.

4. KEEP UP TAYSHAUN'S CONFIDENCE! We're a much better team when Tay is confident in his abilities to shoot the ball. His game is extremely mental, and if he starts doing good on the offensive end, his defense will pick up as well. If we can continue to get him the open looks and he can stay assertive, our chances increase exponentially.


While I believe the Lakers will make Game 2 much tougher, I believe that we can take it. The Lakers home crowd doesn't seem to be very loud, I think we can take this 2nd game. My confidence with a 2-0 lead coming home for 3 games in Auburn Hills would be indescribable! GO PISTONS

[fear the fro]

That was a great game yesterday, and considering the fact that there were a ton of things the Pistons could have done a lot better and we still won by 12 I think the Pistons have a much better shot at winning this thing than most people think. If the Pistons had cut down on their turnovers and grabbed more defensive rebounds this game could easily have been a blowout. LA was only able to keep it close thanks to dumb turnovers on our part and numerous second chance opportunities. We have got to do something about that going into Game 2.

One thing I could not believe was Corliss guarding Shaq one on one for a stretch. Shaq either dunked or got fouled on like 3 straight possessions before Elden finally came in. How could Larry Brown seriously think that Corliss is even close to capable of containing Shaq? Shaq is like twice his size...Corliss is an average defender at best, there is no way he could hope to compete against Shaq on D. That was insane.

I thought Corliss did do a good job on the other end though, which we haven't seen a lot of this postseason, and Elden looked a lot better than he has as well (although I would have liked to have seen him make more than 2 of 6 free throws.) As much as I would like it, I'm not sure they can continue to be productive because in the playoffs before last night they had both been somwhere between bad and horrible. Elden did do a very good job against Shaq, or at least as good a job as anyone could expect. I'm also not sure if we will be able to continue our hot 3 point shooting (6-12) but it would certainly be nice.

Rasheed and especially Chauncey played very good on offense and Tayshaun stepped it up as well. If all these guys can continue to produce on the offensive end we will win this series.

Our defense should keep us in Game 2, and if we can decrease our turnovers and their offensive rebounds and get Rip going, there is no reason why we shouldn't take 2 in LA.

[N4Cheesehead]

I feel the Pistons were not totally there on offense, but on de they were great shutting down everybody other than Shaq. Great stradegy on larry Browns part by shutting down everybody around shaq. cudos to him

[thrillhouse]

Originally posted by <b>NathanLane</b>!
no, it was the 1990 NBA Finals, meaning the 1989-90 season and the Pistons won in 5 games

yeah your right, i knew it was the 90 finals, so for some reason i thought it was the 91 season.

[thrillhouse]

i agree with the thing about corliss, he got busted up by shaq but that was not his fault. he can not be expected to guard shaq as a primary defender for any series of time.

[PistonFAN81]

I really don't think that rip was rattled I just think that he is gonna need a game or 2 to see the way that kobe plays D. I think that he might have to change some of his game and run off of screens a lil more. In the east the teams saw each other a lil more. So it will be nice to see what happens with his game....

[DetBNyce]

The Pistons are considering throwing another big body at Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal tonight in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Darko Milicic, a 7-foot-1 rookie from Serbia, has been told to be ready to face O’Neal. The Pistons want to throw as many fresh legs as possible at him. They have worked with Milicic on his low-post defense and working against the pick-and-roll.

During their opening 87-75 victory Sunday, the Pistons used Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Corliss Williamson and Mehmet Okur against O’Neal. He shot 13-for-16 and scored 34 points, but Lakers Coach Phil Jackson felt the onslaught tired O’Neal late in the game.

“If they need me, I am there,” Milicic said. “I don’t know if I will be nervous or not. I have not played. But I am ready if they need me.”

Pistons assistant coach Herb Brown and President Joe Dumars confirmed that Milicic might play.

Full Article

I guess he can't do worse than Corliss defending Shaq, his offense is another story though.

[ufm19]

rip didn't do awful because he didn't have to same with the Bad Boys they were so deep that one player could let another one star.

rip will come back with a vengeance in Game 2 I think the Pistons could easily dominate the series. Yes it was 1990 I WAS AT THE GAME! GO ME!

The Microwave made my life. BACK-TO-BACK!

i agree that might've been the best coached game i've seen all year Detroit has so many fouls to give to shaq at least 24 that's why they are better suited to beat L.A. than the spurs or pacers. I think they can easily win the series if they play like they did in game 1. Their top scorers have to produce though; if Chauncey and Rip don't show up they still have a chance, contrary to what i used to think, because of their outstanding D which is something none of the three teams LA beat in 2000-2002 had but it will definitely hurt their chances. If the Pistons' backcourt score more than 40 points per game I think Detroit will win the series

[Drewbs]

Originally posted by <b>ufm19</b>!
if Chauncey and Rip don't show up they still have a chance, contrary to what i used to think, because of their outstanding D which is something none of the three teams LA beat in 2000-2002 had but it will definitely hurt their chances.

The Rockets are a good defensive team, and the Spurs play D just as good as the Pistons, the Spurs are just offensively inept compared to the Pistons because nobody on that team other than Duncan can consistently score points while the Pistons have Chauncey, Rip and Prince.