Category: Pistons
Posted by Chris McCosky on Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:25 PMSuns interview Porter
Guess who was the first person Steve Kerr formally interviewed for Suns head coaching job? None other than Pistons lead assistant Terry Porter. Kerr was in town, Birmingham techinically, today and met with Porter.
Porter and Kerr were teammates in San Antonio for the 1999-2000 season and have remained close over the years.
Porter would be a great fit for the veteran Suns. With his resume as a player and coach, certainly he would have instant credibility with the likes of Steve Nash (Porter was one of the best point guards ever to play the game) and Shaquille O'Neal. Porter got a very young Bucks team to the playoffs in 2004 and then lost T.J. Ford to injury the next season -- his last in Milwaukee. The guy can flat-out coach. He understands the game and he understands the egos and dynamic personalities that play it. If anybody deserves a second shot at a head coaching job, it's him.
I am hearing Mark Jackson and Kurt Rambis mentioned as other candidates. I am sure there are or will be more. Avery Johnson, recently axed by the Mavericks, is not one of them, however. Doug Collins was approached, as well, but he told the Suns he was done coaching unless he had complete power over personnel, ala Gregg Popovich. That wasn't happening in Phoenix.
Category: Pistons
Posted by Chris McCosky on Thu, May 15, 2008 at 8:25 PMSuns interview Porter
Guess who was the first person Steve Kerr formally interviewed for Suns head coaching job? None other than Pistons lead assistant Terry Porter. Kerr was in town, Birmingham techinically, today and met with Porter.
Porter and Kerr were teammates in San Antonio for the 1999-2000 season and have remained close over the years.
Porter would be a great fit for the veteran Suns. With his resume as a player and coach, certainly he would have instant credibility with the likes of Steve Nash (Porter was one of the best point guards ever to play the game) and Shaquille O'Neal. Porter got a very young Bucks team to the playoffs in 2004 and then lost T.J. Ford to injury the next season -- his last in Milwaukee. The guy can flat-out coach. He understands the game and he understands the egos and dynamic personalities that play it. If anybody deserves a second shot at a head coaching job, it's him.
I am hearing Mark Jackson and Kurt Rambis mentioned as other candidates. I am sure there are or will be more. Avery Johnson, recently axed by the Mavericks, is not one of them, however. Doug Collins was approached, as well, but he told the Suns he was done coaching unless he had complete power over personnel, ala Gregg Popovich. That wasn't happening in Phoenix.
Ah, the leisure of waiting....
All is right in Pistonsland right now, they have earned the benefit of a little rest. Flip Saunders said the key is to keep them sharp, but also not wearing them out in practices between now and when the Eastern Conference finals begin.
Chauncey Billups, by all accounts, was good in practice today. The Pistons are going to do a lot of live scrimmaging over the next few days, keeping their conditioning up. That's perfect for Billups, who said he wants to get his wind back to where it was - without hurting himself. By all indications, Billups was able to do that.
Meanwhile, the Celtics look more vulnerable by the game, and the Cavaliers may have lost Boobie Gibson to a shoulder injury.
Category: Pistons
Posted by Chris McCosky on Wed, May 14, 2008 at 12:02 PMWrapping up the Magic
Where are all those people who were saying, just a few months ago, that Tayshaun Prince had topped out, reached his peak, never be any better than a fourth or fifth option? You would have to agree that he's taken his game up several notches. He does so many things, little things, that lead to wins. The Pistons made an NBA record three turnovers in Game 5, that with a rookie point guard (Rodney Stuckey) playing 33 minutes. Not taking anything away from Stuckey, but Prince was the main reason for that efficiency. He had the ball in his hands more often than Stuckey. He was, for the most part, running the offense and making most of the decisions, from a point-forward spot. His presence also makes it impossible for other teams to trap and pressure a guy like Stuckey. Flip Saunders joked that Prince was able to make that game-saving block because he had been able to get him a lot of rest -- yeah, like exactly three minutes and two seconds. But how can you take him off the floor? Jarvis Hayes replaced Prince for two minutes in the first half and the Pistons were a minus-seven -- In TWO MINUTES?
But here's the freaky thing. What in the world made Prince believe that Hedo Turkoglu was going to go right for that last lay-up attempt? Turk had just beaten Prince twice going to his left, scoring back-to-back layups. But Prince said he was certain he would go to his right the third time, and sure enough, he anticipated the play perfectly and got himself another timeless block. Amazing.
The Magic may go to their grave thinking they were the better team and they "just made mistakes" and the Pistons got all the breaks. But the reality is, they weren't ready. You aren't going to win a conference semifinal series when you have as many turnovers (76) as assists. You aren't going to win any series when you miss 40 free throws in five games. You aren't going to win when your alleged superman treats bounce passes like they are kryptonite. Dwight Howard, for all his improvements, still can't score consistently unless he's dunking the ball. I don't think the Magic will ever be a serious contender with a 5-10 point guard. Listen, Jameer Nelson had a good series. He's as tough and big-hearted as they come. I really respect a lot of things about him. But at the end of the day, he's still too vulnerable at the defensive end. On a championship team, he has to be a sixth man, Ben Gordon type guy. They had two chances to beat the Pistons without Chauncey Billups and couldn't get it done. That's probably going to leave a scar long into the summer for those guys.
I am sure we all will be talking about rust v. rest in the next couple of days. But, with Billups ailing, with Antonio McDyess limping all through Game 5 and with him having to tend to his grandmother's funeral, with Wallace expending so much energy against Howard, with Rip Hamilton and Prince having to shoulder such a heavy load the last two games -- trust me, the team needs the rest. They are playing at a high level right now, and they are a team that can lose their rhtyhm in a blink, but still, rest is best right now.
Category: Pistons-Magic, Round 2
Posted by Dana Wakiji on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 9:42 PMPistons win, 91-86, win series, 4-1
The Pistons had three turnovers in the first quarter and none the rest of the way. Meanwhile, the Magic turned it over 21 times, which led to more than 30 Pistons points. That's how you can be beaten in most statistical categories and won the game. They had to have this one, just to give Chauncey Billups time to recover from the hamstring injury. And it gives Tayshaun Prince time to rest from playing so much, not to mention time to watch that block on Hedo Turkoglu over and over and over.
Category: Pistons-Magic, Round 2
Posted by Dana Wakiji on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 9:25 PMPistons lead 82-77 with 3:07 to play
The Pistons just gave the Magic a little hope there, just when it seemed everything was going the Pistons' way. Now they have to regroup during this timeout and play like the team that has reached the Eastern Conference Finals five straight years.
Category: Pistons-Magic, Round 2
Posted by Dana Wakiji on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 9:23 PMMcDyess is fired up
He is all over the place, grabbing rebounds, hitting jump shots. You can tell how badly he wants this as he's one of the guys on the Pistons without a ring.
Category: Pistons-Magic, Round 2
Posted by Dana Wakiji on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 9:14 PMTime to get real serious
The Pistons have had a nice defensive effort so far in this fourth quarter and they're going to have to sustain that for the next 5:50 if they want to win this game and end the series. They are certainly capable but they know that the Magic aren't going away, at least they haven't all night. So if the Pistons could just go on a run here and take hope away from Orlando, that would help the cause. The Magic have no field goals the last seven and a half minutes. Keep that up.
Category: Pistons-Magic, Round 2
Posted by Dana Wakiji on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 8:56 PMMagic 68, Pistons 65 after 3rd
Well, that was a very bad ending to the quarter for the Pistons. Apparently, they could not smell it and they just had some horrible execution on offense. Aside from Rasheed Wallace, no one could do anything. Meanwhile, the Magic were not only hitting threes, they were driving to the basket and getting fouled. Sound familiar? That's what the Pistons did to get the lead. Now they have to fire up the defense and drive to the basket themselves.
Category: Pistons-Magic, Round 2
Posted by Dana Wakiji on Tue, May 13, 2008 at 8:46 PMCan they smell it?
The Pistons have a small lead, 63-57, with 4:15 left in the third quarter. Now if they can keep it or build on it, they have a chance to end this series and get Chauncey Billups some more rest and treatment for that strained right hamstring.
You can't ever count Orlando out, though, not with the way they shoot threes. They can be very dangerous. So the Pistons had better have their perimeter defense on lock-down mode.
