2003-2004 NBA Season (1 Viewer)

[Haggai]

Carlo, I agree with you on Phil and his underappreciated ability to make adjustments. This series should be great to watch for the development of the chess match between him and Brown alone.

 

[Patrick Sun]

For those who missed what was sitting behind Phil Jackson in Game 1, Click me.

 

[Brandon_T]

I think if there was anything that we can agree apon after 47 pages is THAT IS NICE!!!

I heard they asked her to change seats at halftime... very disappointing

 

[Jan H]

Oh, so that's what that was! I thought Phil was wearing Mickey Mouse ears during the game! Come to think of it, the way he coached, he should've been wearing 'em.

 

[Haggai]

Pretty good game so far, after one quarter.

Detroit needs to get Corliss Williamson to the bench, stat. He touched the ball on their last 3-4 possessions in that quarter, with disastrous results each time.

 

[Prentice Cotham]

Man, the Pistons should have fouled Shaq when he had the ball with < 10 seconds instead they let Kobe friggin' tie the game. And then they lose in OT! Damn!

 

[Brandon_T]

Good game tonight. Lakers made adjustments, now it is LB's turn. I don't understand why in OT the pistons don't attack Shaq, or Kobe.

Look, the Pistons did what they had to do, get a split. Now they get three in a row at home(which I am not fond of 2-3-2system).

As a Piston fan, I take relief in the fact that the Pistons were almost up 2-0 and Rip still hasn't found his shot. I think they would have been better off to keep pounding it into Sheed, but decided to go away from that.

As a Laker fan, it seems like you guys are going to have to just rely on your big two the rest of the series. Yes Walton stepped up (shudder) but can he deliver like that night after night?

Yeah it sucks that the Lakers won, but I think people already see that this is no cakewalk, and as a Piston fan I am happy with my chances to win this series.

Anyone feel that Al Michaels is struggling? Some of the worst announcing I have ever heard, and I love the guy on MNF. I will post more tomm, but am ready for bed now.

 

[Jan H]

Condolences, Pistons fans, you had that game won. You are are a great team. But so are the Lakers. Wow. What a game. I'm speechless. This series is going to give me a heart attack. And I'm only 36! See you in Detroit!

 

[Haggai]

Damn, disappointing result, but what an exciting game! Pistons had a great chance to win, but Kobe was too much in the clutch. The difference for the Lakers from Game 1? Probably just two words: Luke Walton. What a great performance from him, as the rest of the Lakers outside of Kobe and Shaq repeated their non-contributions from Game 1.

Still, I have to like Detroit's chances in the series. Payton did nothing again, and the aggravation of the knee injury for Malone left him as a sad and tired old man for almost all of the second half. Kobe and Shaq alone are worth enough to win almost any playoff series, but Detroit's really bringing it. Can they win it in 5? Nobody's ever won all of those middle 3 games of the finals at home (although, strangely enough, three teams have done it on the road). Or can they win Game 6 if they come back to LA up 3-2? It'll certainly be interesting.

 

[Jan H]

Actually, Al Michaels shuts up (unlike most commentators) and lets the action speak for itself. And tonight, it did.

 

[Haggai]

Man, the Pistons should have fouled Shaq when he had the ball with < 10 seconds instead they let Kobe friggin' tie the game. And then they lose in OT! Damn!

I don't know, it's really easy to second guess this stuff. My rule of thumb is that if you've got the 3-point lead and there are more than 5 seconds left--and there were when Shaq got it, as well as when we gave it up--the intentional foul is ill-advised. It leaves too much time on the clock for all sorts of insane things to happen. Should they have doubled on Kobe? Well, maybe, but he was far away from the basket, and that could certainly have left someone else open. And then it might be, "What the hell were they thinking leaving Fisher wide open, the man who beat the Spurs? Are they stupid?"

Well, I see that Legler and Anthony are disagreeing with me on ESPN, they're saying they should have fouled Shaq.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

As a Laker fan, it seems like you guys are going to have to just rely on your big two the rest of the series. Yes Walton stepped up (shudder) but can he
deliver like that night after night?

Yeah, I hate the fact that we have to leave the series up to 2 of the 4 or 5 best players in the whole league. But seriously though, Luke Walton doesn't have to play like that every night, as long as someone does. It could be Fisher, or Rush or Walton or whatever...just as long as someone steps up. If nobody steps up then its a replay of game 1 really.

I've quite frankly seen enough, I wish I could declare the Pistons an honorary Western Conference team, because they're in that class. They could've and should've had that game, but as the announcers said they seemed to go in to shock after the Kobe 3.

I actually like Al Michaels on the basketball coverage, and that's odd since I really didn't think I would. Keep in mind though that going in to this season it had been along time since Al Michaels had called basketball games regularly.

It was the Shaq and Kobe show tonight in OT, and that's where they seem to thrive. I thought that L.A. had to have this game, but I wouldn't have hammered the cascet shut had they lost, as I didn't after San Antonio went up 2-0 but it would've been tougher with the next few games in Detroit.

After last year's finals, which I don't care what anyone says, San Antonio shares in the suckatude as much as Jersey did, I'm just glad to have a series again...its been awhile since we've had one.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Well, I see that Legler and Anthony are disagreeing with me on ESPN, they're saying they should have fouled Shaq.

They would be right this time, of course you foul Shaq, its Shaq afterall. You foul him and you know that there is a reasonable chance that he misses 1 or both free throws, and a slimmer chance he makes both of them.

Of course, lets not forget Detroit's inbounding trouble after the 3 pointer.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

LB is going to take some flack for not fouling Shaq, and he should.

I'm with you Jan, this series is going to give me a heart attack!

Just how many bullets can the Lakers dodge this post season?

I am very concerned about Karl Malone. I give him a lot of credit for playing through the pain tonight, but having him on the court seemed like a liability for a good portion of the game. I don't know if they can win without him. It will be interesting to see how he plays on Thursday.

 

[Haggai]

Yeah, and remember they had a 5-second call on an inbounds pass earlier in the game. I guess Larry does regret not having committed the foul--he just said in the press conference that they didn't expect Shaq to get the ball that far out, and had only planned to foul him if he got it down low (kind of a weak excuse). Still, let's consider, Shaq gets fouled with 7 or 8 seconds left. He'd actually been shooting free throws pretty well, so the chances of him making at least one are fairly high. And then what? If he misses the second and Detroit's best rebounder gets it, he gets fouled immediately, and then it's trouble for the Pistons, because it's Ben Wallace. If Detroit has to inbound, maybe they fuck up and turn it over like they did earlier. Maybe the Lakers do a good job denying the two best free-throw shooters--Chauncey and Rip--and they miss one or two of those foul shots.

Are those things better for Detroit than Kobe having to hit a crazy-ass three from 24 feet? Well, maybe, but all that much better? On the balance of things, I'd say the chance they took wasn't all that bad. As Larry said, justifiably, the bigger mistake they made was fouling Shaq on that put-back a possession or two earlier, with LA down six.

 

[Haggai]

I am very concerned about Karl Malone. I give him a lot of credit for playing through the pain tonight, but having him on the court seemed like a liability for a good portion of the game.

I blame Phil Jackson for letting him play. His hobbling ass should not have been on the floor. I guess Phil hasn't won 9 titles without knowing what he's doing, so maybe he figured that Malone wouldn't forgive him for not letting him try to play through it, or something like that. But I thought it was clearly a mistake. Gary Vitti did NOT want Karl to go back out there.

 

[Jan H]

Yeah, Larry f***** up. If the Lakers win this series, that'll be talked about for a while. There may be a reason Phil's got 9 rings and Larry's got zilch. Damn, Luke was huge tonight. Nobody saw that coming. But the way Devean George and 'The Glove' played tonight, maybe Laker fans better see more of it.

 

[Haggai]

Come on, Jan, that's going too far on Brown. He's coached brilliantly in the first two games to help them get where they are, and one controversial play doesn't change that.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Regardless of all the what might have happened if you fouled Shaq scenarios mentioned, the fact is you still foul him. Realistically, you have to do it, because the chances of him hitting both free throws are not all that high even if he has been shooting them better lately. If he does then fine, it wasn't the right move, but you can't not do it because your scared he might make his free throws.

Besides that, when Kobe got the ball I knew he was going to bury the Pistons and that's exactly what he did. Just ask Portland, and all the other teams he's done it to over the years, he loves that kind of situation and you might as well have preped for over time right then and there.

I'm not saying that not fouling Shaq will cost them the series, but it probably cost them this loss. Bad move on the Pistons part, because when you have to choose between Shaq trying for 2 from the line or Kobe getting off a long 3, given that its Kobe we're talking about you always take the former.

 

[Haggai]

You're probably right, Casey, and Brown appeared to confirm that with his strange response in the press conference to the question about why they didn't foul Shaq. But my earlier point is that it's not fear of Shaq hitting free throws, it's the fear of all sorts of other crazy shit that might happen in the 7 or 8 seconds that would still have been left on the clock. Apparently that's not what Brown was thinking, but I can see the justification. I really do think that the 5-second mark is usually a good cut-off point in this situation. More than 5 seconds is enough time for many bizarre things to happen, arguably to the point where your odds are better in forcing the other team to hit that one clutch 3. Even Kobe sometimes misses--yeah, not often, but what about that free throw he missed with just over a minute left? If the Pistons had won it by 1, that would have been the difference.