NBA Playoffs: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons

April 16, 2009 by AlexV · Leave a Comment

In 2009 the one seeded Cavaliers will do battle against the 8 seeded Pistons on Saturday April 18th at 3:00pm on ABC.

In 2009 the one seeded Cavaliers will do battle against the eight seeded Pistons on Saturday April 18th at 3:00pm on ABC.

Everyone should know by now that the road to the NBA Finals in the eastern conference is going through Cleveland, as long as they win in the first two rounds. With that being said, the first team that gets the chance to test Cleveland’s 39-2 home record mettle are the veteran Detroit Pistons.

If there was ever a first round matchup featuring two teams you could believe would be playing in a conference final rather than as soon as the first round, this is it. The Detroit Pistons have been reeling all season and have a losing record and no Allen Iverson. That’s not so bad though since they play better without him.

They still have their veteran core in Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, and even Antonio McDyess. They also still have the same man-play approach to defense that allows for little scoring and emphasis on forcing opponents to play inside and make free throws.

On top of all this favorable detail, they also have a lot of experience matching up against Cleveland… too bad they don’t have enough beating them though.

In the last few years, the Lebron James versus “Bad Boys 2” saga has gotten progressively more favorable for Cleveland. The first time they ever met, the Cavaliers had lost the first two games in Detroit. When Cleveland won game three, then prompting Rasheed Wallace to say “We ‘gon bust dey ass in game four,” the Cavs turned things around and won the next two forcing a decisive game seven which the Piston manned up and won.

In all honesty, the Detroit Pistons, ever since losing to San Antonio in the NBA Finals, have been the kings of disappointments. The next season when they Pistons faced off, they ended up losing a back-breaking game 5 to Cleveland when Lebron scored his teams’ final 27 points, again, in Detroit. That time, the Cavs took advantage and won game six to get into the finals.

What is the difference between this Pistons team and those two? No Chauncey Billups and no in his prime Ben Wallace. So, in all honestly what’s to say that the Pistons, all though very savvy, are ready to beat the Cavaliers four times? Nothing.

The Cavs should win this series, even if it goes to seven games.

Filed Under: Basketball
Tagged: antonio mcdyess, ben wallace, chauncey billups, detroit pistons, Eastern Conference, eastern conference finals, lebron james, NBA, NBA finals, nba playoffs, rasheed wallace, richard hamilton, san antonio spurs, tayshaun prince

Allen Iverson heads to the Motor City – Will Success Ensue?

November 5, 2008 by AlexV · Leave a Comment

Check out the new threads! Now check out the potential. Read on...

To think that Allen Iverson has not been thrown into a better situation by being traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons is a preposterous line of thought. He’ll be leaving a team that has been knocked out of the 1st round of the playoffs the last three seasons in only five games in each one of those series.

Although the Nuggets have a proven leader in Chauncey Billups, success may not come as easy playing the west as opposed to the east for this former Finals MVP.

Iverson now joins the cream of the crop in the East. And even if the Pistons would be hard-pressed to make it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals for four straight years in the West as they have in the East, the fact remains that they are part of the elite in their own conference. Two of the key factors in this trade are the timing and the cap space that has been cleared up.Iverson and the rest of the Pistons will now have over 70 games to gel before the playoffs, and with the 20 million plus dollars in spending room that General Manager Joe Dumars has created, the Pistons can afford to make some more moves before this year’s trade deadline and/or especially before the start of next season to make Iverson’s new team even stronger.As for the concerns that the loss in the trade for the Pistons of Chauncey Billups as a true point guard and floor general, don’t count out Allen Iverson’s potential in that same role.

GM Joe Dumars looks to have made good on this deal in his goal to get the Pistons their second NBA Championship under his direction.

Over the last five seasons he has averaged 7.3 assists per game, while Billups has averaged 6.8.

If Iverson can cut down on his 3.9 turnovers per game as opposed to Billups 2.2 through that same five year span, then his 29 points per game against Billups’ hardly comparable 17 per game, also in the past five years can do wonders. Add that to his assists per game and much more playoff savvy crew than the one in Denver, and the Pistons are a clear cut prime contender to overtake the Boston Celtics as Eastern Conference Champions, and perhaps even attain home court advantage throughout the East if not the entire playoffs.