NBA FINALS "LAKERS vs. PISTONS"

[Calvenn]

This is one game! Great start nonetheless! As has been said, Detroit's D is not something to sniff at. Excellent philosophy by Brown to allow the Big's to get theirs and contain the rest of the Laker squad. As also expected, Detroit was able to put reasonable points up on the board in this game, thanks mainly to billups and prince rising to the occassion. The thing here is that both teams could play better, so the best is yet to come!

To those who have prematurely crowned the Lakers, including the media, better adjust your bifocals, grab a couch and bag of nachos and sit back for a bumpy ride, this one is going the distance!!. Put the brooms away we're going down to the wire, mark this!!!!!!

[Matt]

Prince will be handy in this series...maybe he can put that Melo talk to sleep for a while. All Melo would do is help the Pistons make it to the Finals easier

btw Pistons shot 46%, hows that for crappy offense

[kevC]

hmm come on you lakers fans retaliate

[HowAreYao?]

hmm come on you lakers fans retaliate

Yeah..I want to hear this.

[Steve04]

It's game one people. Good defense by the Pistons but it's obvious the Lakers were coasting and trying to feel out the Pistons. Game 2 should be a much better indicator of how this series will go. As much points as Kobe scored, it was still a quiet scoring night for him. He didn't seem to be "into" it, Prince's D or not.

Malone and Payton are going to have to play better offensively, and Kareem Rush can't dissapear like that, especially since Fisher is injured.

[Calvenn]

Yes, you better hope the "ringless" ones can bring their A game. I'm sure Phil will device a plan to make that happen. That being said, I also don't expect Larry to relax and walk into the game expecting the same type of performance by the Lakers. Expect slight adjustments from Larry.

The matchups man, the matchups!

One thing is certain, forget all this talk about Lakers in 5..yadda..yadda..yadda.

[Charlie Martel]

IMO the Lakers were lucky to lose by just a dozen. It looked like Hamilton didn't feel like playing tonight and was very much out of it hitting just 5-16 (one being a "gimme" shot that the Lakers allowed with less than 30 seconds left) with 6 turnovers. The Lakers shot an unusually high 78% from the free-throw line including 8-12 from Shaq.

I agree with gamewiz that Game 2 will be a bigger game than Game 1. The Pistons need to keep the pressure on the Lakers' on the defensive end and get Rip going if they want to keep winning games in this series.

And finally, I was very sad to not see Darko out there hacking Shaq a few times. We want Darko!

[HowAreYao?]

It's game one people. Good defense by the Pistons but it's obvious the Lakers were coasting and trying to feel out the Pistons. Game 2 should be a much better indicator of how this series will go. As much points as Kobe scored, it was still a quiet scoring night for him. He didn't seem to be "into" it, Prince's D or not.

Malone and Payton are going to have to play better offensively, and Kareem Rush can't dissapear like that, especially since Fisher is injured.

Would it JUST be Game 1 if the Lakers had won? On the road? I doubt it.

Don't use that bullshit excuse that the Lakers were coasting and all that crybaby stuff. It's not like the Lakers were up all game and lost it at the end, the kind of game where a team might "coast". They were in a tough game all night, and were down 9+ points most of the 4th quarter. The "coasting" excuse is ridiculous in this case, or if they really were then they are a bunch of retards that don't know that 87 is more than 75.

And as for Kobe, he got 27 shots and shot only 37%. This is exactly what I predicted. With Prince being so long and the Piston's interior defense, the majority of Kobe's shots are going to be long jumpers, with quite a few coming late in the shot clock.

L.A. will have trouble getting other players involved because Kobe and Shaq get other players involved by passing out of double teams, and the Pistons are going to play straight up.

Bottom line, if Detroit continues to execute like they did tonight, it won't matter what L.A. does. But, if Detroit's defense breaks down, they're in trouble.

[Jeffx]

I was very impressed with Detroit's performance. Their defense took LA out of their offense, forcing them to use up the entire clock.

I agree with Charlie, Phil will make adjustments for Game 2, and Larry will respond. Should be sweet!

BTW, are you the same Charlie Martel from Maddenmania?

[Charlie Martel]

BTW, are you the same Charlie Martel from Maddenmania?

That I am (the avatar and signature give it away). I'm asuming you're the jeffx from Maddenmania as well.

[HowAreYao?]

I realize the voting just went from about:

72% Lakers
28% Pistons

to

66% Lakers
33% Pistons

opinions are being swayed...

[Amphatoast]

hmm come on you lakers fans retaliate

lol, yeah...
Psycho Jackal
k08e4mvp
Sit
Martin
Laddas_KB8_CA15
Micchy_boy ( Mr. Na Na Na Na lol)

come on

I realize the voting just went from about:

72% Lakers
28% Pistons

to

66% Lakers
33% Pistons

opinions are being swayed...

i guess some were waiting to see who wins game 1

[Charlie Martel]

I hope this doesn't stoop to a "in your face!" deal. I've always hated when sports fans do that. I know it's a sort of an "unexpected" win by the Pistons, but just enjoy it without gloating and get ready to cheer for the Pistons to take the next one as welll.

[Matt]

Game 2 should be a good indicator....Kobe will probably shoot better than that

Hopefully Pistons win again....that would make Lakers task pretty hard but not impossible....player to watch is Billups

[Amphatoast]

lol, its just fun to do stuff like this after they got their fun against the spurs/wolves...the ultimate fun for them would be lakers winning 4 in a row like they did verses the 76ers in 2000 lol

[Andrew]

It's only the first game, but an impressive victory nevertheless. At the very least, Detroit has avoided a sweep. I believe Detroit will continue to put up a fight and could very well win the series if they their defense allows Kobe and Shaq combine for around 50-60 points while keeping the rest of the team to around 10-15 points combined. It's hard for to pick against the Lakers though; right now, I still think they will prevail.

[MVP]

Go Pistons!!

[matmat8]

I still think lakers will win but the series might be tighter...Larry Brown probably remembers his first win with philly at LA then the 4 losses.
Nothing makes LA better than the pressure...

[Micchy_boy]

Nice one Amphatoast, i have a new name hehehe. But im sure i will sing my song after game 5 or 6 that's for sure.

Well let's see. Oh congrats and good game for Detroit. They did an excellent job in making lakers play out of their comfort zone. Lakers was post most of the time to hurry shot and every time they shoot they always a man in front of them. No excuses for lakers it just detroit want it more.

Shaq did have a great game but maybe and it just a maybe it was a gameplan of detroit to let shaq have his number or even much but stopping other guy like kobe, Gp mailman and even the bench player.

Malone struggling on offensive shooting 2 of 9. and there were time that he was open for a j but elected to pass.

Payton scored only a 3 pt shot and have foul trouble through the game by guarding the bigger billups.

Kobe forced a lot of shot but i guess he think he must help Shaq in scoring coz other didn't step up but in a way, forced some shot. and maybe he was affected by guarding Rip. And he did a great job on Rip.

Players like George, Rush Slava, Fisher and Fox didn't came in Staples. Have you see these guy? Did they Play?

Billups kill the lakers again.
Prince did a great job on Kobe.
Rip just cruise along with Billups stepping up.
Sheed a good game.
Big Ben great 15 ft shot.
Campbell, Okur hunter and Williamson great bench support.

Game 2 will be different. Phil will make adjustments. i hope the fab four click esp. the Ringless two. Bench will play next game.

Detroit winning Game 1 will assured them they will not be swept in Finals.

[The Big Racist]

I can't stand if people call me Lakers fan ,Im a pure fan of Sixers,Im a fan of Kobe. Clear enough? I belived that Pistons will win game 1,LA will win game 2 and 3,Pistons win game 4 and LA wins game 5 and 6.

[hmm]

.

[Donyell]

yesterday all day long i looked at my Ben poster and said "you can do it Ben you can do it" and they did it.

Well you have an interesting life

[.]

All Im saying is 2001: 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1 and 4-1.

Im not worried about this loss at all, this loss should wake the Lakers up, because the only player that really wanted the win was Shaquille O´Neal, he was fighting for position and got the ball on the right time and only mist 3 shots, now I agree with him that he should get more touches, atleast he is doing something to get the ball. Kobe shouldnt shoot that much, Prince is taller then him, has longer arms and legs and is a very good shotblocker, dont try to shoot in his face, use your drive to the basket. He did that like maybe 4 or 5 times in the whole game. I really expected alot more for him, same with Payton and Malone. Sometimes I hardly noticed that they were playing.

On Defense Kobe did a pretty good job on Richard Hamilton, he was able to fight over the picks and keep up with him, I remember one play in the first half where Hamilton wanted to drive to the basket, Kobe made that impossible for him, so he took a shot and Kobe blocked him and got the steal, he can play defense if he wants, so I hope he will play like that in the final 4 games.

Some funny stuff I noticed in the first quarter: Ben Wallace is a terrible offensive player lol, the first play was after a Pistons miss, he got the rebound and it seemed like he would throw it down, but instead he layed it in and it rolled out, second play it was a 3-1 break I believe, he was all open for the dunk, yet he chooses a hard reverse layup....not close, then about 1 minute later, he was fouled on a attempt, grabs the ball from the air and tries to dunk it....on the rim. He is a good defensive player and he gets my respect for that, but offense is nothing for him

[Fresh8]

Man...respect toi da Pistons but you guys were just lucky that Karl and Gary didn't show up.

Where are you two? We need more of you guys! Shaq shot 13 of 16...20 points by halftime but the Lakers didn't get him the ball! C'mon y'all...play ball- it's Finals times!

But as k08e4mvp said, this game doesn't really concern me- remember, Philly beat us in the first game back in 01!

Big Ben great 15 ft shot

- I wanna see him do that again!

It's only the first game

- exactly!

Nice one Amphatoast, i have a new name hehehe. But im sure i will sing my song after game 5 or 6 that's for sure

- hey man! Wat do u mean! You will be singing after game 5!

And by the way- why is there a sudden flood of freakin Detroit band-wagoners...or at least why are there so many ppl posting about how they will win after they win game oe?! This is rigged!


And Rip and Kobe now have a reason to bash Prince...no not Tayshaun but Prince Prince...you know the weid one! I read he had held a concert onm Saturday night and they had to rush to get the court ready. I read that the court was suspiciously slippery today...apparently Rip lost his grip once or twice.... can someone confirm this for me so that I can know if Kobe and Rip's long awaited matchup is going down the drain.

[Matt]

Yeah I know it's just 1 game but realistically if Detroit are to have a chance in this series this game was a must win.

I think this detroit team is better than the Philly team, only Iverson could score for Philly and even then Lue did a good job covering him. This Pistons has more options offensively (Billups, Wallace, Hamilton) and plays better D. It also has a better defender to match Kobe than 76ers did (was it G Lynch?) in Prince who is hard to shoot over and can block shots, + he can score some. This Detroit team contests every shot, if the Lakers shoot a high % it'll most likely be because of Shaq

A Game 2 Pistons win would make the series even.....it would leave games left with the Lakers just as capable 5 games left with Lakers just as capable of winning 4 as Detroit is of 2 of those