Friday, April 25, 2008

I'm up to HERE with the Detroit Pistons

I'm infuriated! I'm ticked! I'm fed up! I'm pissed off beyond belief! Thanks a lot for ruining my Friday night!

What a farce of a Pistons playoff game tonight. Detroit literally got their asses kicked from end of the court, to the other, in a 95-75 shellacking. It's games like this, where the Pistons don't bother showing up, act as if showing up to the arena is enough to win a game, and give a lazy, lackadaisical, embarrassing, it's only the first round, we've been here before kind of performance, that have me wanting Joe Dumars to blow the team up.

Worse than anything I've mentioned was Philly making the Pistons look old and slow. The Sixers played like a team the Pistons once were, HUNGRY. They hustled, fought for all the rebounds and loose balls and got them, were all over the place on defense, and played like a team that wanted it.

Unlike the Pistons, who...Hell, I have no idea what they want at this point. They obviously didn't want to play basketball. The starting 5 must have had better things to do.

Just how bad were the Pistons' vaunted starters tonight? Look at the +/- totals.

Billups: -15
Hamilton: -14
Wallace: -17
Prince: -20
McDyess: -6

Those numbers would be hysterically funny, if they weren't so shameful. That's supposed to be one of the best teams in the NBA? A starting 5 full of All-Stars? Yet get run off the court from the opening tip? By the Eastern Conference's 7th seed?

It's one thing to have an off night shooting, they happen. But to continue to jack up 3 ball after 3 ball, when you're lucky to hit the damn rim? If I'm Flip Saunders, I yank the worst offenders, namely Billups and Wallace, and run someone out there who wants to actually drive to the hoop on occasion.

You see Saunders, standing on the sidelines, at a loss for words, totally ineffectual. Not that it would make a difference, as the team doesn't seem to listen to him all that much, if at all. I doubt Flip called for all those bad 3 point shots from Billups, but he did nothing to stop it, either. If Flip had a handle on this group, God forbid show a backbone and a modicum of balls, he would have yanked out the starters, and gone with the youngsters on the bench. The Zoo Crew. They sure as Hell couldn't have done any worse.

The Pistons lose 2 more games, and the way they are playing, it's entirely possible, you can officially stamp the label "UNDERACHIEVERS" on them.

I'm aware this is a knee-jerk reaction from one of the worst Pistons playoff games ever. Thing is, I've seen this same sort of game many times over he years. As a fan, I'm sick and tired of it. Really, I am.

The regular season is one thing, I understand you can't be 100% motivated for 82 games. But it shouldn't be an issue now. Not in the playoffs. I hate going into EVERY playoff game, EVERY playoff series, hoping the Pistons have decided to flip the "ON" switch.

There's no way in Hell this series should go 6 games. Now? I'd be surprised if it didn't go 7. Here we are, AGAIN, with the Pistons having to come back from a series deficit, against an inferior opponent. When it comes to this core group of Pistons, they never learn from their past history, and are always doomed to repeat it.

This is not the sort of team I want to root for, who show up when they feel like it, play hard when they want, and have such hubris to act as if they are ENTITLED to a victory.

To be honest, I'm not sure what's worse. Another ugly loss, or the Pistons' feeling of entitlement.

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