Turn it on again
Ah, savior of the universe!
I figured they'd bust that wonderful song out once or twice during this series. Good reason for it too, as the guy who happens to share a nickname with the song's focus was great tonight... well, when inside the key he was great. On the dunks, layups and Kobe-esque (more on this later) moves, he was fantastic. On the jumpers... not so hot. I don't have the numbers separating the two on me, but I'm positive he was a lot less effective when he wasn't in the painted area. The Pistons will definitely have to work on keeping him out of there, a la game one. If they can consistently do that, their time winning the series will be much easier. There's still no doubt in my mind that the Pistons will win this series and, unlike popular opinion, why should there be? They did just get a split on the road and if they'd played a little better down the stretch, they could've been coming home up 2-0. Shazbot, huh? But no big deal. As I said the other day, but now with full backing, I believe home teams will go undefeated in this series the rest of the way.
Now, for some number cracking. I don't know what to think about Wade now. Thus, my hypothesis is that he'll repeatedly be inconsistent, except they won't win one of the next two games where he breaks out for 30+, 6+ and 6+. Hell, might be 40+ instead of 30+ again. It's too bad the Pistons couldn't have had as nice of trips to the line as he did. Rip 4-7? Chauncey 0-2? I would've believed Wade would go for 60 before I'd believe FT numbers like those for those two. As bad as those were, obviously the Pistons' shooting wasn't very good. 38.3% is bad times, especially when not facing their round two opponent. Why was this number so low? Aside from that they were missing numerous open shots, they just weren't playing that usual team game. Too often, the guys were going one on one and running into trouble (like Mourning's four blocks, specifically the one near the end on Tayshaun). They need to work on this for next game too, but not as much as their other task. Also, Haslem! I know he's running on about seven fingers right now, but he's been completely useless on offense. His defense hasn't been particularly good either, but it's not like Rasheed was working him over very much this game. Game One Rasheed was and it was more obvious then, but not on Wednesday night. Yes, he did get 8 FTA's, but Rasheed was still doing too much 20+ feet from the basket.
What Brown can do for them
I guess I forgot, there's another guy in the league with a position of power who adores Ex-Pistons now too, Dan Gilbert. Being that he's a businessman from the town, it's understandable. First the rumours that he wanted Laimbeer, then talking to Daly, now the rumours that he's talking to Brown. As the article says, Brown denied of course, but I wouldn't be shocked if there were talks. I don't know how well he'll do as a GM, he could be a huge success or a big flop. He might do as Phil did, taking a year off and then driving up the price when he returns. We'll see. Something irks me about this, though:
Gilbert, speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, said the Cavaliers "are undergoing a massive transformation" and that he will announce the hiring of a new coach, new general manager and president in the next one to two weeks.
It's going to be pretty tough for that to happen when the Pistons are trying to repeat in the Finals... or so I thought before I remember what happened with the Patriots. Crennel and Weis took other jobs as they were storming back to the big game, but stuck around enough to help the Pats get a third title. Perhaps a similar thing will happen in Auburn Hills.
DW and KB
All the time I keep seeing things like, "Wade isn't like Kobe at all!" because Wade's "not selfish" or something like that. First, I'd respond with that while Kobe is second in the league in usage rate, Wade is fourth and Kobe's assist rate is is only 3.2 lower than Wade's. Thus, if Kobe is selfish, Wade must be nearly as selfish. I don't really see either as such, so let's move on to their games, rather than the perceptions about them. Against weak defenses, Wade and Kobe both dominate. Both average over 20 points a game and are the high scorers on their respective teams. Both are the second best players on their team (that's personal preference, obviously), but tend to take it in crunch time. Also obviously, both have played with Shaq. Both have been very inconsistent against good defensive teams like the Spurs and Pistons. Both do their best work around the basket, as referenced near the start of the post. They draw fouls, make circus shots and pretty much slice people up down there. The major difference between them is that Wade isn't a great outside shooter yet and realizes it. Kobe's not a great outside shooter (yet?) and doesn't realize it, taking only 29% of his shots from "inside" while Wade takes 47% from the same area. Kobe's clutch, but he's not great. Similarly, Wade takes 36% of his shots from "close" and Kobe only does 25% from this area. Granted, Kobe's field goal percentages are better from inside but Kobe doesn't take as many shots inside, thus decreasing his overall field goal percentages. As you can see on the pages, Wade's FG% is better while their eFG% is equal. Wade still wins slightly because of his ability to draw more fouls. I guess I shouldn't say he wins, as I wasn't really planning to pick which one was better. The point is that they're similar in play and stats, thus disproving these untruths I hear so often. It's also great filler! Feel free to leave some comments about this one, I'm sure somebody will want to praise/hate on me.
I guess we're sans NBA games until Saturday now, that's a bummer.
I figured they'd bust that wonderful song out once or twice during this series. Good reason for it too, as the guy who happens to share a nickname with the song's focus was great tonight... well, when inside the key he was great. On the dunks, layups and Kobe-esque (more on this later) moves, he was fantastic. On the jumpers... not so hot. I don't have the numbers separating the two on me, but I'm positive he was a lot less effective when he wasn't in the painted area. The Pistons will definitely have to work on keeping him out of there, a la game one. If they can consistently do that, their time winning the series will be much easier. There's still no doubt in my mind that the Pistons will win this series and, unlike popular opinion, why should there be? They did just get a split on the road and if they'd played a little better down the stretch, they could've been coming home up 2-0. Shazbot, huh? But no big deal. As I said the other day, but now with full backing, I believe home teams will go undefeated in this series the rest of the way.
Now, for some number cracking. I don't know what to think about Wade now. Thus, my hypothesis is that he'll repeatedly be inconsistent, except they won't win one of the next two games where he breaks out for 30+, 6+ and 6+. Hell, might be 40+ instead of 30+ again. It's too bad the Pistons couldn't have had as nice of trips to the line as he did. Rip 4-7? Chauncey 0-2? I would've believed Wade would go for 60 before I'd believe FT numbers like those for those two. As bad as those were, obviously the Pistons' shooting wasn't very good. 38.3% is bad times, especially when not facing their round two opponent. Why was this number so low? Aside from that they were missing numerous open shots, they just weren't playing that usual team game. Too often, the guys were going one on one and running into trouble (like Mourning's four blocks, specifically the one near the end on Tayshaun). They need to work on this for next game too, but not as much as their other task. Also, Haslem! I know he's running on about seven fingers right now, but he's been completely useless on offense. His defense hasn't been particularly good either, but it's not like Rasheed was working him over very much this game. Game One Rasheed was and it was more obvious then, but not on Wednesday night. Yes, he did get 8 FTA's, but Rasheed was still doing too much 20+ feet from the basket.
What Brown can do for them
I guess I forgot, there's another guy in the league with a position of power who adores Ex-Pistons now too, Dan Gilbert. Being that he's a businessman from the town, it's understandable. First the rumours that he wanted Laimbeer, then talking to Daly, now the rumours that he's talking to Brown. As the article says, Brown denied of course, but I wouldn't be shocked if there were talks. I don't know how well he'll do as a GM, he could be a huge success or a big flop. He might do as Phil did, taking a year off and then driving up the price when he returns. We'll see. Something irks me about this, though:
Gilbert, speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, said the Cavaliers "are undergoing a massive transformation" and that he will announce the hiring of a new coach, new general manager and president in the next one to two weeks.
It's going to be pretty tough for that to happen when the Pistons are trying to repeat in the Finals... or so I thought before I remember what happened with the Patriots. Crennel and Weis took other jobs as they were storming back to the big game, but stuck around enough to help the Pats get a third title. Perhaps a similar thing will happen in Auburn Hills.
DW and KB
All the time I keep seeing things like, "Wade isn't like Kobe at all!" because Wade's "not selfish" or something like that. First, I'd respond with that while Kobe is second in the league in usage rate, Wade is fourth and Kobe's assist rate is is only 3.2 lower than Wade's. Thus, if Kobe is selfish, Wade must be nearly as selfish. I don't really see either as such, so let's move on to their games, rather than the perceptions about them. Against weak defenses, Wade and Kobe both dominate. Both average over 20 points a game and are the high scorers on their respective teams. Both are the second best players on their team (that's personal preference, obviously), but tend to take it in crunch time. Also obviously, both have played with Shaq. Both have been very inconsistent against good defensive teams like the Spurs and Pistons. Both do their best work around the basket, as referenced near the start of the post. They draw fouls, make circus shots and pretty much slice people up down there. The major difference between them is that Wade isn't a great outside shooter yet and realizes it. Kobe's not a great outside shooter (yet?) and doesn't realize it, taking only 29% of his shots from "inside" while Wade takes 47% from the same area. Kobe's clutch, but he's not great. Similarly, Wade takes 36% of his shots from "close" and Kobe only does 25% from this area. Granted, Kobe's field goal percentages are better from inside but Kobe doesn't take as many shots inside, thus decreasing his overall field goal percentages. As you can see on the pages, Wade's FG% is better while their eFG% is equal. Wade still wins slightly because of his ability to draw more fouls. I guess I shouldn't say he wins, as I wasn't really planning to pick which one was better. The point is that they're similar in play and stats, thus disproving these untruths I hear so often. It's also great filler! Feel free to leave some comments about this one, I'm sure somebody will want to praise/hate on me.
I guess we're sans NBA games until Saturday now, that's a bummer.
posted by Corey at 2:11 a.m.
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