the last time pistons went 5-0 at the beginning of the season, they went on to become the nba champions...

the last time pistons won the nba championships, their bench was DEEP, and produced a lotta help.

an omen for things to come?

i watched last night's game, and ben wallace's 1-handed putback got me all riled up. completely sucked the life outta the crowd.

charles barkeley's totally right; all championship teams defend well and rebound well; teams like the suns may be able to beat 90% of the teams during the regular season, but what are you going to do when you come up against the elite teams in the playoffs? in close games, near the 4th quarter, you see just how important defense and rebounding can be, and the pistons slowly climbed towards the suns and then passed them.

watching the way rip dismantles defenses on the offensive end makes me wish we played more 5-on-5 or even 4-on-4 rather than 3-on-3; you can do more team plays than 3-on-3; i still feel 3-on-3 is too much 1-on-1ish. the way rasheed is on one side of the court, and ben and tay are on the other end, and chauncy's out on the perimeter; rip did this so many times during the 4th; he'd run towards sheed looking for a good screen, but couldn't get one(ie bell or barbosa? would still be on his tail), so, he'd cut towards the other side, where a double screen by ben and tay were set perfectly, then curl right into the key after passing tay. tay would step out at the last minute when rip passed him, trapping rip's defender, setting him free. billups would read him perfectly, dribble over and pass him the ball; you know what rip would do there. he was just on fire. if billups couldn't get a good pass at rip, he would back up, take nash 1-on-1, and nail the 3.

also watching how the pistons defended the pick and roll and adjusted in the 4th always impresses me; at first they had problems defending against nash's pick-n-roll because chauncy always went over the screen and then nash would either drain it for a 3 or drive in. or the same against barbosa when rip was guarding him. but they adjusted in the 4th and then rasheed or ben instead switched and that made all the difference, so that's given me a realization that defending against pick and rolls is not all about switching or going over the screen(or under it), it's all about what what the small guy and the big guy are capable of offensively; i know how to do all 3(done them all playing w/the other guys), but you need to read the opponent and know what they're capable of.

going over screen - beats those who can't drive, but can put up a shot if they have time to gather themselves
-works better if your big man defender isn't very fast
going under screen - beats those who can drive, but can't put up a shot
switching - works if your big man is fast enough or the opponent can put up a shot or drive very quickly.

this is an example of good team defense over individual defense. that can only come if you know your teammates and have good insight and communication with each other.

also, this puzzled me; i heard a LOT of cheers during the pistons vs suns games for the pistons. at first, i thought it was only for antonio mcdyess when he was hitting his foul shot, b/c i knew he had played at suns for a while. but then i also heard it for ben. and then saw a LOT of pistons fans in the stands after the game. are suns fans just really bandwagonish? did detroit hook up some of their fans to travel to phoenix? is there some connection i don't know about?