Put out the fire

Note, I'll save the Piston game for the end because of the special nature of the review.

Comic ready to go, Keenspace not
A quote from the verification email I got earlier:

You will NOT recieve your password untill at least 7 days have passed. DNS takes 24-72 hours to propagate, this is beyond keenspace.com 's control.

Gah! Well, know that it's ready as soon as they are. I've got the first one in completed form and will work on the following ones in the coming days. It will probably be daily, presuming I can keep up such a pace. Like this blog, it'll probably update around midnight. Final note on the matter until it goes up, the comic's name will be "Courtside", thought up by my friend Axl in reference to the old N64 NBA game.

Phoenix up 3-0
Memphis is good, but not enough to handle Phoenix, unfortunately. Jerry West once said that he was going to start moving pieces of their army of good rotation guys for more talented guys, 2 for 1's and such. I know he made a run at Shaq last summer but he's got to start executing some big deals if he wants to succeed. Sometime in the near future, I'm going to put up a giant post (a la the playoff preview) about what all of the lottery teams need to do in the offseason. After the year's done, I'll do similarly for the playoff teams.

Traffic
As the Adsense page tells me, likely thanks to the link from Forum Blue and Gold, there was a bunch of traffic on Friday. Good to see. For those new, welcome to the site, check through the archives. This place might not be very old, but it seems to be well received.

The Zenmaster's destination
If he comes back, I guarantee it will be to Cleveland. I'm not sure if I mentioned this already, but if I didn't... you read it here. It's pretty much the best situation he could ask for. One of the best players in the league at an age of 20, very good young complementary piece at PF, no GM so he'll have all the player control he wants and a lot of cap room. If he goes elsewhere (other than not coaching)... either something great opened up or he's nuts.

HOUR LATER UPDATE: Completely slipped my mind about Walker getting a game off. Let's just throw out his Atlanta stuff, as it matters not right now. So, just Boston stats are listed. Even though his arrival coincided with the big Boston winning tear (recall, it was 11-1), his Roland Rating is -0.4. Add to that that his PER is 16.3, yet his defensive PER is 19.0... Boston's chances for game four just improved by a bunch. Seriously, the team is a lot better with that chucker firing them up on the bench rather than on the court. Side note, why are people saying Boston is so much more talented than Indiana, but Indy has "heart"? Bill Simmons even said Boston has 10 of the 13 most talented players in this series. This obviously doesn't count Artest and Tinsley, who are sans playing. I think I'll list off the most talented players in this series in my own view. From the top...

Jermaine O'Neal - This one is pretty obvious.
Paul Pierce - Same idea.
Reggie Miller - Normally I'd go with someone else here, but he's been crazy this series.
Raef LaFrentz - This is personal opinion, very few agree with me.
Ricky Davis - Has been brutal this series, but still this high.
Stephen Jackson - Not much to say here.

So that's three in the top six. Hm...

Gary Payton - Much better than he was in the playoffs last year.
Dale Davis - 9.5 defensive PER so far this series.
Jeff Foster - Just look at his stats this series, I have no idea why Carlisle isn't playing him more.

So that's five in the top nine. I'd go further, but you get the idea. If people tell you Boston is way more talented than Indiana, even without Artest and Tinsley... prove them wrong.

The one I was watching intently
I'm going to start with the time thing and add more review afterwards. Here you go...

7:39 - Watching the game preview on NBA TV. I've seen Scott Williams talk for about half an hour in total over the last three days on here and he's screwed up when talking about thirty times. So about one a minute. I realize he's just starting out but this is getting ridiculous. He does three from 7:39-7:40 alone.
7:45 - I find out that the Suns/Grizzlies game tonight will be the first playoff game at the new building in Memphis... not that they're going to wind up with more than two games there this season.
8:05 - My dad and I realize that the game isn't on NBA TV, it's on TSN (it's like the Canadian ESPN for those who don't know). Almost had a scare there.
8:07 - Breen and Walton are calling the game... you know what that means. Nothing of interest, big men throwing it down and five references to how Lebron's supporting cast is crap. The tip happens about thirty seconds after.
8:15 - Dalembert gets a shooter's bounce on a fifteen foot fade away jumper... Walton says he's a "real talent". I'd have to agree.
8:16 - Tayshaun has 10 points on 3-3 shooting with about 7:30 to go. Good job, Korver.
8:18 - Tayshaun goes for his super layup block, but gives AI an "And 1" instead. I think that's the first time I've seen him mess that up.
8:19 - Philly has 12 points in the paint, Detroit has 0. Something seems off about this.
8:20 - At the first timeout, with 4:58 left in Q1, Philly's up 20-19. At this pace, the final score will be 137-130. Good thing scoring paces in single games rarely keep up, huh? Side note, I don't think there are any commercials played during NBA games outside of the kid saying KG led the league in rebounding last year, the Gillette commercial with the woman with the dubbed voice, AI on how he isn't a gangster, Lebron and Thirst battling for the Sprite and the xXx: State of the Union trailer.
8:25 - Next timeout, at 3:38, Detroit's up 26-20... that changed in a hurry.
8:32 - Q1 ends with a score of 32-24. Pistons shot 65% from the field and 75% (6-8) from behind the arc. Pace is 128-96 now
8:38 - Walton refers to the Pistons' big six as a "Tetra-Hydra"
8:41 - Third timeout of the night, at 8:59 remaining in Q2, Pistons are up 37-26. So they're on a 18-6 run... starting to look like definite broom time on Sunday.
8:48 - Lindsey swats AI, but they call it a foul. I love seeing 6'1 guys who can't jump get blocks.
8:50 - Fourth timeout, 5:54 left, 41-34 Pistons. They hit a bit of a snag with chunks of the second unit out there, but it's alright.
8:54 - Rasheed gets a T while on the bench... as usual, when the crowd got on him, he pointed up at the scoreboard.
8:57 - Fifth timeout, Pistons are up 46-42 with 4:09 left... don't know what to say. Haven't seen Philly do anything useful past Q1 in this series so far.
9:05 - Dalembert, McDyess, Chauncey and Ben have a duel on the floor for a fumbled ball, which ends with Dalembert grabbing it and taking a spill
9:09 - Rodney Rogers hits his second triple of the game... which shocks me. I haven't seen him do anything worth mention since last year in NJ.
9:10 - At the half, Detroit's up 54-51. Ah, intermission... listen to track nine on "Ixnay on the hombre".
9:25 - During the half, we watched the Suns/Grizzlies game.
9:27 - The Piston starters sans Chauncey all had 10+ points in the first half, which ESPN called balanced scoring. Despite this, the Piston bench had 2 points. So it was balanced like the Laker return for Shaq was garbage. About thirty seconds later, the second half starts.
9:32 - Ben draws a charge from Iverson just outside the key... outside the opposite key. We had a good laugh about that one. This is followed by Iverson getting a T.
9:36 - Rasheed's been pretty much unstoppable so far this game.
9:37 - Timeout count++, Pistons are up 69-65 with 5:58 left in Q3. I feel like we're going to get a finish similar to game three of Miami/NJ
9:41 - Iguodala hits a jumper. I think that's the first one he's hit all series
9:44 - Philly ties it at 72 with 3:34 to go. Hey, Miami pulled the other one out.
9:49 - Ben fires another ball off of the rim with a vengeance, except there's a foul called on this one. After his throws, I think he's like 6-7 on the night.
9:53 - I think Rodney Rogers travelled back in time five years, I think he just went up to 4-5 from behind the arc.
9:54 - Q3 ends with a score of Philly 77, Detroit 76. See "9:37" for my thoughts.
10:02 - Ben's at a career high in points at 23! Seems to me his 22 was in game five against the Lakers last year.
10:04 - Another timeout, Philly's up 89-86, 7:51 left in regulation.
10:07 - Breen references the quarter toss... yet there's been no big deal about it yet! I'm shocked.
10:10 - Scratch the previous remark, Ben just reached 6-7 from the stripe now
10:11 - Timeout count = Timeout count +1; Philly's up 96-89 with 5:47 to go. This is their biggest lead of the game, but I'm confident in the Pistons.
10:15 - Breen refers to a miniature Larry O'Brien trophy as a "Larry Brown" trophy.
10:18 - Another "T" signal made. 101-95, 3:43. Similar comments to before.
10:21 - Walton says Dalembert should start his own religion. I suggest Pronounciationism.
10:25 - 109-100, 1:33, timeout Detroit. It was going alright until Iverson hit a triple. Can't say I think it's going to happen now. Call it realistic.
10:32 - 111-104, 0:42.3
10:34 - Rip gives it away after the inbound pass. That's pretty much all she wrote.
10:36 - Final score, 115-104. Meh, I did call it. Not quite 100-85, though.

Moral of the story is that letting teams shoot 43-78 (55.1%) from the field in their own building is a pretty good way to lose the game. Granted, a large chunk of those 78 shots were jumpers, so the Pistons weren't completely at fault. Detroit's O was great, aside from the bench, but that's no big hurting when they shoot 37-73 (50.7%). The D wasn't as terrible as Philly's stats lead it to be, but it was still questionable at many points. I'm sure Brown will ride them hard here on Saturday... I highly doubt Philly keeps up such a hot streak on Sunday. More on that later.