grey matters

Indy seemed gunshy through long stretches of the game -- there were
times when they had an open path to the basket that they passed up for
jump shots because they just weren't willing to challenge the Wallaces.
Obviously, in some of their runs, they get over it, but they can't win
if they cede so much to the Pistons for so long.

Billups was a lot more comfortable in the offense, and it showed. He can
be effective when he's not taking 20 shots,

The Pistons and Brown weren't so hot in reacting to Carlisle's subbing
and bench combinations, and you wonder if Indy will be doing more
unorthodox lineups. It was Carlisle's (reluctant) move to Prince and
Okur last year that gave the Pistons new life, and he may have to go
outside of his usual patterns to get ahead.

I wish the me-me-media would shut up already about the scoring and
"ugly" games. The two teams, and particularly the Pistons, are doing a
great job of playing basketball, and I wish the press would get it. I
think the ESPN guys are, if not loving it, at least playing along with
the idea that there are good things to watch in a game like this. I
wish the rest of the newzbiz would catch on.

Part of the problem, I think, is that the Pacers have so little respect
even though they were a machine throughout the season. They're being
viewed as just another dull, limited Eastern club, and if the Pistons
beat them, they're not going to get much credit.

Regardless of who wins the East, I think you're going to see a very,
very interesting finals -- if you understand basketball.

yep

They looked alot like the Pistons did against NJ last year...defeated before the game begins.


He played way better than he has before. He performs better when he isn't
trying to do it all himself. His unselfish play last night is a huge reason
Detroit won the game, IMO. I didn't see him take his patented shot...jump
shot and then flail around on the ground trying to draw a foul. I'm glad he didn't.

Tinsley, Johnson and Harrington were playing well. You would certainly
think that Carlisle would bring them into the game more the way they played.


I don't get it either. I think all they want is a 120-116 offensive
juggernaut type of game, and they aren't going to get it out of either team in this series.


I don't know about that. They are an extremely young team, not considering
Reggie. I think they'll be around for a long time.


It will be very interesting. Will the EC be able to stifle the WC offense?
Time will tell.

grey matters

I think Billups is capable of being a very good 20+ points per game guard, but when
he does this, the Pistons become a less stable club. The key is that he doesn't give
up so much that he ends up being a 7 point per game player, because then they're
worse off than if he were trying 8-10 three pointers a game.

My guess is that won't happen unless the Pacers lose the next game.


I don't disagree, but I don't think that gets them much respect from the media. Or
the Pistons. Sort of like the Rockets never got the credit they deserved in the 90s.


I think people will find that the script of plodding east against lightning west will
be thrown out pretty fast. They're going to find that the Eastern champ is capable
of scoring a lot, and the Western champ is capable of playing defense.

r d winthrop

Pacers haven't had an O-Board monster (real or imagined) since Dale
Davis left ... There was some of this going on in NJ series too ...
was going to say something about it but inundation of Nets Nuts was on
my nerves to begin with and the injection of uncomfortable little fax
like Fred Hoiberg being a better offensive rebounder than Kenyon
Martin ("you can look it up," says the voice of Casey Stengel) did not
appeal at the time.

Actually I'd like to dress them in ugly short pants and let them run
around out there with the Toons for a quarter or two -- don't <have>
to broadcast it, but sure would be nice ... maybe they could hang
whistles Mark Cuban and Phil Jackson ...

.... I'm asking way too much, ain't i ...

It was Beat on the East all year long -- the Kings are a lock, Nelson
is a genius, the Spurs play the best team ball, and the gods of LA
are unbeatable (actually Minnesota didn't get much respect, either,
until pretty late, and they're arguably the best western defensive
team, when healthy). More like a Greek chorus than an ****ytical
press, but I guess if you want good basketball writing you have to dig
deeper than the local fishwrap.

Wife -- who has seen more basketball than some members of the working
press, I'm sure, in her forty years of hoop fanniedom -- has another
theory. [She also has aa banned list of broadcasters -- they're on her
tube and the sound is off --- TNT and ESPN both have cleared the
boards, which is good news for George 'Bless 'em' Blaha and Dr. Jack
on ESPNradio) ... She says when people can't understand what they see
or can't make sense of something they will substitute either a fuzzy
metaphor (fill in your own blanks) or just make up some dumbass spiel
(( latter is favorite of electronic press because no one remembers
what they say, anyway, and you know what they say about dead airtime
being worse than death .... )).

[ Goes further to say that when games get interesting, broadcasters
generally start playing with telestrator or complaining about missing
their flight because of the second OT, or they go off on some warm &
fuzzy up close & personal fairy story about the guy who just hit the
lay-up and in five years will be in jail for stiffing his kids or
forgetting about the cocaine in his flight bag ... I don't wanna know
NUTHIN about what these guys do off-court ! ]

Discussion of matchups is obviously out of the question-- way too
confusing, even for guys with instant electronic access to every
second, every play, every substitution -- if they can't figure out
what is happening on the court, all they gotta do is try to find the
pattern in the information on their courtside screens ... ain't gonna
happen ... these guys, after all, went to college and studied
<journalism> and if anyone can tell me what the subject content of
that field is, please do ....

There is never <any> evidence offered that the normal Norts Spewer
knows the very first thing about defense -- ask one how much zone they
saw in a game, and when they saw it, and you'll get either a blank
stare or a steaming pile of BS ( hey, if I'm wrong, point me to the
exception -- when has anyone read a real timeline ****ysis of what
went on in any game ... )

They can't see what is happening, and they gotta say something ... so
they do what any child will do when frustrated. They whine and
snivel, maybe even cry out .... the 'me-me-media' does know one
thing, and that is criticism -- if they were watching a duck lay
golden eggs they'd complain about size, carat, time of day the egg was
laid ... what else are they gonna do, explain the biology of a golden
egg ??

I gave up on the Detroit rags when they tried to bust their unions,
but have learned I don't miss them at all ... but one would think that
with such long-term Piston watchers as the Freep and Snews have at
hand, they could come up with something better than yet-=another
snivel about throwback basketball ... it is as if they've forgotten
the Bad Boys (oh the joy of watching Ron Lee or Dennis Rodman launch
after a loose ball ... ).

grrr - rdw

r d winthrop

Worth noting, methinks, that last year Pistons were depleted and just
didn't have enough healthy players to put on floor by time they got to
NJ. Even so they were in all four of those games -- should have won
both at Detroit -- but couldn't go the whole 48 with what they had.

No it ain't an excuse -- y90u play with who you got ...


Billups is grinding both Tinsley (who has a bad hammie = can't shoot)
and Johnson to dust over the course of the game -- he's a lot bigger /
stronger then these guys and it is clearly a mismatch point. Carlisle
doesn't have a lot of options (Kenny Anderson ??) at the point.

.... they can watch King replays, or an all-star game. ( I guess they
Norts Spews must think all-star games are the ultimate in great hoop,
eh? ) ....

- rdw

grey matters

You can justify this to some extent with Radio, because they have to fill the airwaves.
But on TV, there's no meaningful reason they can't just say "watch this" and then let
the images speak for themselves.

Sports TV has gone crazy with theories of branding, user identification, etc. and lost
the ability to just show the game. Networks have it backwards. They think people will
use NBA games to get caught up in the "experience" or "brand" of TNT or ESPN. Of
course, the NBA is also screwed up, because they think people watch a Pistons-Celtics
game because they're looking for a way to get a piece of the NBA brand.

I think there are a few announcers who are fine. Often I think it's because they have a
radio background and are trained to cover the basics like is the defense zone, and if
so, what kind; who got the foul call and what was the penalty; who are the
substitutions; etc. I think Marv Alpert does a decent job -- he has his tics, but you
also get the sense that he understands broadcasting in a way that most people behind the
microphone do not. He also does a lot of radio, and it comes through.

skippypb

On Thu, 27 May 2004 12:55:11 -0400, Grey Matters
<greymatters22@ya-who.com> enlightened us:

Both teams play a great brand of basketball that I enjoy watching. I
watched some of the T'Wolves Lakers game last night and just wasn't as
much fun to watch. I really believe either the Pacers or the Pistons
will be able to beat which ever team comes out of the West in a 7 game
series. Both the Pistons and Pacers have their defenses fine tuned
and both coaches know how to make the right adjustments.

I said in the beginning of this series that it would go 7 games and
that no winning margin would be over 10 points. Therefore, I expect
the Pacers to win game 4 in another close, hard fought contest.

Regards,

////
(o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-

"Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men.
The other 999 follow women."
-- Groucho Marx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove nospam to email me.

Steve

grey matters

What's funny is that even though those two teams were scoring more, it
seemed like their game was slower.

I think where the Pistons have a bit of an advantage is that Brown has
been working the Pistons to be able to do more unscripted, and you see
Carlisle teams having a bit more trouble handling uncertainty.


My scenario for a gut wrenching series is for the Pistons to win the
next game, but have trouble closing out Indy over the next two. We'll
see. I'm also thinking that Indy's bench is going to bail them out
again tonight (but I'm hoping they fall short again).

r d winthrop

I like radio announcers, by and large, a lot more than print
journalists, especially of the daily fishrag genre. They're in
position to really detail out a team over the course of a season and
never do it -- it's all the not&now of the moment mixed with whateever
they think will sell ... a bad argument, tawdry rumor, cheap
criticism, false comparison, empty metaphor (take your pick).

Netwrok TV guys all ****, Albert being among thee most annoying (yes
he knows announcing, but what does he know about basketball? When &
what has he said anything beyond the obvious -- listen to him tonight
and tell me when he says anything that brings value to your viewing.

Have heard him call essentially the same game 1000 and 1 times and
have been tired of it for years. You can tape him tonight and play him
back generically, just have to dub names .... he's on No Audio list,
too.

regards - rdw

yep

Agreed. Chauncy is a more effective player if he is passing the ball and
opening up the court for him to take shots of his own without having to
force the 3pt shot.


I don't know. I smell fear from Indy. If they don't take tonight's game,
It'll all be *almost* over.

in the 90s.

Ok, I agree to that. But then again, in the past decade, when has an EC
team gotten any respect?

offense?

lightning west will

is capable


I'm hoping it turns out that way.

It's beer-thirty and time to put on my game face. Cheers. : P