Official Detroit Pistons thread

[Kstat]

Back in the mid 90's the Nuggets knocked out the Sonics, who had the best record in the NBA, in the 1st round. I lived in Seattle at the time and it was hard to fathom how that happened.

They got eliminated again in the first round the very next year against an LA Lakers team led by Vlade Divac and Nick Van Exel.

In 1996, they managed to beak the jinx despite dropping an early home game to Mitch Richmond and 4 guys from the local rec league in another 1/8 matchup.

1997, they were at it again and came within an OT period from being knocked out by #7 seed Phoenix.

1998, same exact position against #7 seed Minnesota and had to squeak out 4 on the road just to stay alive.

It was mind-boggling just how bad the Gary Payton Sonics were in the first round, relative to their competition.

[Deuce]

The NBA has a first round problem. Upsets happen so infrequently that people can easily remember the ones that do happen. That contributes a lot to the atmosphere problem that Deuce talks about. The skill of the players has a lot to do with it, a lot of what contributes to the college atmosphere is the relative lack of skills on things like shooting and ball handling. You can trap teams, press teams, be physical with them. That gets the crowd into the game. You really can't do that all that much in the pro game(and they call it), everyone is too good.

Generally the Semi-Finals and Finals are great.

The NBA regular season has a "rest" problem, and you can feel fatigue is killing the playoff product right now. Every reg. season game some good player is getting some rest. I can't wait til Popovich gives Duncan a DNP-CD (rest) in a playoff game. Kyle Lowry literally pooped out on the year, too tired. He ain't injured, he just pooped out. He has nothing left. Mike Conley is pooping out. Guy can't play a quarter without getting knicked up. The Blazers gave up, they are too tired to battle. They'll give it 3 solid quarters tonite before pooping out. Then give up on the series. Lebron needed a two week vacation in the middle of the year on top of the longer than normal AS break to rest and maybe take steroids. Who knows.

I think what I am saying is the NBA has a HGH testing problem. Guys got clean this year, now everyone is tired. Except for Russ. Russ isn't human. Too bad he isn't in the playoffs.

Stop testing for HGH guys, we honestly don't care.

[froot loops]

Psst, HGH testing gets started next year.

[Deuce]

Psst, HGH testing gets started next year.

They got clean this year in anticipation of future testing though. They all lostweight at the same time. Carmelo, Bron all of them. They didn't do that for any other reason then they knew they had to get clean. The weight they lost was mass. It didn't work out like they hoped. Melo was weak, Lebron too.

[Deuce]

I mean:

[froot loops]

HGH doesn't stay in your system that long. It makes for a great theory but it really doesn't jibe with how HGH works. If you read on how guys like Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez beat the system, you'd be foolish to spend a year getting clean for that.

[Deuce]

HGH doesn't stay in your system that long. It makes for a great theory but it really doesn't jibe with how HGH works.

I don't think they knew when the testing was going to be put into place. Probably better to do it the year before to not arouse suspicion and create more of a media circus. Let's not forget Kevin Love's dramatic makeover:

[fontes91]

lol, one can't diss on K-Love enough, imho.

[The King]

They need to go back to a 5 game series in the first round, but that will never happen because it will cost the owners money. The NBA season is way too long and so are the playoffs. The playoffs start in early April and end in early June. Two months is just crazy. I'm a huge NBA fan, but it's really a grind. They need to figure something out.

I'm persoanlly a fan of a 72 game regular season. Less back to backs, and punish teams via fines for sitting healthy players. It's an awful message to send when people pay money to watch their favorite players healthy on the bench in street clothes.

[Cody_Russell]

They need to go back to a 5 game series in the first round, but that will never happen because it will cost the owners money. The NBA season is way too long and so are the playoffs. The playoffs start in early April and end in early June. Two months is just crazy. I'm a huge NBA fan, but it's really a grind. They need to figure something out.

I'm persoanlly a fan of a 72 game regular season. Less back to backs, and punish teams via fines for sitting healthy players. It's an awful message to send when people pay money to watch their favorite players healthy on the bench in street clothes.

I was talking to someone at work about this.

I completely agree, but I'd change a lot more in the NBA.
Like you said, 1st Round should be 5 games. Shorten the regular season.
Too many teams make the playoffs. 12-14 teams seem right. OR at least eliminate conference seeding.
The shot clock is too short IMO. There are too many possessions in a game that makes it the one sport that isn't worth watching until the 4th.

Ultimately, I think college basketball is superior, but people have their own preferences... Like Mark Cuban.

[nhwbrooklyn]

5 games makes no sense because it gives the lower seed a weirdly better chance of upsetting, but only in the first round. What they should really do, but will never do, is get rid of half the playoff teams entirely. No 8 seeds, no 7 seeds, no 6 seeds, no 5 seeds. Just 1 vs 4 and 2 v 3, then the conference finals, and then the NBA championship series.

[chemiclord]

5 games makes no sense because it gives the lower seed a weirdly better chance of upsetting, but only in the first round. What they should really do, but will never do, is get rid of half the playoff teams entirely. No 8 seeds, no 7 seeds, no 6 seeds, no 5 seeds. Just 1 vs 4 and 2 v 3, then the conference finals, and then the NBA championship series.

I'm not sure I agree with this, mostly because I think we're looking at it through the prism of the Eastern Conference, which outside of 2 or 3 teams, is unmitigated garbage. Yeah, the first round is largely non-competitive because the lower seeds are generally .500 teams (if not lower).

In the Western Conference, I think it's a much different tale. Sure, some of the series look lopsided, but Golden State had been pushed to the limit in their last game by the 8-seed Pelicans, and Houston and Dallas are currently finishing a tightly contested Game 3. The 3 seed Clippers are in a fight with the 6-seed Spurs, and oddly enough, the only series that hasn't had a really tight moment has been the 4-5 matchup.

[Fraquar]

No team 5th seed or higher has made it to an NBA Conference Championship game under the 7 game 1st round format - which started in '03. Your chances of stealing just ONE 7 game series are pretty slim, let alone having to steal TWO of them.

By contrast, every year but 1 in that same timeframe at least one 5 seed or higher has made the Conference finals in the NHL playoffs. They have the great equalizer, a goaltender who can stand on his head and carry a team through a 7 game series.

Added: They also have the other great equalizer, no timeouts to keep the best players in the league on the ice for 50 of the 60 minutes......

[Newbomb Turk]

there you have it.... fix the NBA in 3 seconds by allowing goaltending........

[ghandi]

that would certainly put an emphasis back on bigs again if they did that...personally I think that would be a fun game to watch if both offensive and defensive goaltending were allowed.