'They gripe all year'

[BAMAPHIN 22]

Flip Saunders led the Detroit Pistons to 64 regular-season wins, the most in franchise history, and the best record in the NBA this season.

And he almost certainly has come to the realization that those accomplishments won't matter much if the Pistons don't end this season with their second championship in three years.

Saunders was in the cross hairs of some player gripes before Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals in Miami, with Rasheed Wallace -- who snapped at him at least once in Game 3 -- upset that he resorted to the Hack-a-Shaq strategy in that game and Ben Wallace saying the team has forgotten its defense-first roots.

For his part, Saunders says he's fine with the criticism from players.
"They gripe all year. Everybody just doesn't know about it," Saunders said. "That's how players are. You talk to some of them about where they're at, but I think what you do more than anything, we talk more about challenging. You challenge them. It's a matter of going out and executing what we want to have done."

Detroit starts the same five players as it did during its title run in 2004 and march back to the NBA Finals a year ago. The only major lineup difference is the coach; Saunders replaced Larry Brown before this season.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/nba/specials/playoffs/2006/05/29/bc.bkn.pistons.heatnote.ap/index.html

 

[icephinfan]

Just so the keep griping for game 5, And lose focus.

 

[greatwade]

They just simply ARE NOT as talented as the Heat, and NOW it shows.

The Pistons (or former title winning pistons) were like the tennis opponent that ALWAYS gets the ball back. Nothing spectacular, but their expertise is
in forcing you to beat yourself.

Not this time, Deeeeetroit Basektball. You are being outmatched and classed for the world to see.

 

[Roman529]

The Heat have scorers, especially Wade....the Pistons have not gotten much scoring from Chauncey, Rip, Prince, or anyone else...that is why the Heat are up 3-1 and going to win this series.

 

[DPlus47]

Detroit starts the same five players as it did during its title run in 2004 and march back to the NBA Finals a year ago. The only major lineup difference is the coach; Saunders replaced Larry Brown before this season.

there are other major differences between this year and other years. in '04, kobe bryant decided he wanted to be the finals MVP, and the lakers fell apart. phil jackson later remarked that kobe was "uncoachable." the pistons had the benefit of playing a team that was self-destructing. they won, and they deserve props for that, but the way the team was playing--phil had to play luke walton in order to get the ball to shaq, in spite of 1-on-1 coverage--the lakers weren't going to beat any eastern conference team that year.

in '05, o'neal and wade were not healthy. i'm not making excuses for the heat, but the series would have been tougher for detroit without the injuries to these two players. beating a team with two hobbled stars is what a solid playoff team is supposed to do. calling the team that does this in seven games one of the best teams ever is a serious mistake, IMO.

i don't think the pistons are anywhere near as good as they (or the pundits) think they are. they did what they had to do, and they deserved their championship, but they need to do a LOT more to be in the "best ever" conversations. they have never been close to that level.