Clippers vs. Pistons: Courtside Report

by Brett Edwards

Tonight I was fortunate enough to sit courtside for the Pistons' visit to Staples Center to face the Clippers. Keep in mind that this is not the eBay version of courtside, where people will put that in the listing just to get you to look at their tickets, but actually first row on the floor. Not as many random things happened as the last time I was this close, but it was a good chance to see the Pistons up close.

Overall, this was not that great of a game. The Pistons pretty much dominated from start to finish, and the Clippers in fact never had the lead. I pretty much knew going in that there was no way the Clips could beat DET without Corey Maggette, (still out with that sprained foot), because DET is taking the early months of this season seriously, which is rare for a veteran team. (see: Miami Heat and Shaq)

The game got interesting in the 4th quarter, with LAC down 12 with like 5 minutes left. Mike Dunleavy decided to employ the genius "hack-a-Ben" strategy, which means that the Clips would foul Ben Wallace away from the ball on every possession, just to get him and his 50% free-throw shooting to the line. As a former Laker season ticket holder and bandwagon jumper, I saw this used on Shaq a few times, and it never worked. Because of this I had to explain the rules and what was going on to the people around me, which was very funny. Tonight, this ploy actually worked! Ben Wallace was parading to the line with the clock stopped and missing free throws! Well, that is to say, it would have worked, except the Clippers couldn't get the rebounds of the missed free throws to save their lives. One of the offensive rebounds resulted in a "game over" 3-pointer from Chauncey Billups.

The "game within the game" while this was going on was extremely entertaining. After like the third time Wallace was fouled, he was shaking his head, and Sam Cassell went up and started some good-natured trash talking with him, basically saying "hey, if you don't like it, make your free throws!" Then Ben would miss the first, and Sam would try to go and say a few more words to him before he shot the second. Very funny stuff, especially when Chauncey Billups saw this and then wouldn't let Sam get over to Ben between shots, telling him "get the fuck out of here" with a big smile. Absolutely hilarious to see the veteran gamesmanship going on.

As for Detroit, they are now 10-1 on the road this season, which is freaking ridiculous. They are basically playing to say F-U to Larry Brown, trying to show everyone that the players are the reason for their success, not the coaching. Watching Flip "coach" the team is amusing. These guys have played together for several years now, and basically Flip is there to make substitutions and call the occasional timeout. Most of all, he is there not to fuck things up for a team that was one game away from winning the title last year. The way DET is executing on offense and playing their trademark brand of defense, they should end up back in the Finals at season's end.

Comments

[Natalie]

Hey what was Sheed saying to Dunleavy it was so funny to watch on TV he seemed so pissed pretty funny. Check out the clip here...

http://need4sheed.blogspot.com/2005/12/video-is-worth-thousand-words.html

[Brett]

That was as I was leaving unfortunately, I just heard him get the T when I was at the top of the stairs. But remember they have history together in that building, as members of the Blazers in 2000 they blew a 15 point 4th quarter lead to the Lakers in Game 7 of the Western Finals, maybe 'Sheed was reminiscing...I love that guy.