Leelanau Sports Guy’s World

Obvioiusly it’s a no-brainer, but still, is any team sitting prettier than the Pistons right now? The answer is a big, loud, NO!

Check out Steve Kerr’s final rankings below…

Read The final analysis at Yahoo! Sports

For the Pistons and Red Wings playoffs are all that matter. Sure the regular season records are nice and you want to do well, but for both teams it’s all about championships. Mark Urban of the Record Eagle takes a look at both teams heading into the playoffs after both clinching their respective league best records.

Read The proof is in playoffs for Wings, Pistons in the Record Eagle

Not alot of time today but I had to post about our 3-0 Tigers! 7 Homeruns! Awesome. The Tigers topped the Rangers 10-6, how’s that for run support Nate?

Other notable Detroit sports news…

Pistons crush the Heat. I just don’t see how they are going to matchup with the Pistons in the playoffs. Wade and Shaq aren’t enough to beat the Detroit “team” in a seven game series.

The 2006 Lions Schedule is out, and it’s pretty tough. I hope Rod has the boys ready because Seattle will be here for Game 1 and a trip to Chicago looms for Game 2.

That’s it, gotta get back to work…

At least I have! A good, solid, playoff-type performance from our Pistons in a 97-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Sure they beat the Heat last week, but after losing to the Nets and struggling at times, the Pistons showed us when it counts they will perform. Not that we had any doubts, but it’s the time of year you want to see your team start to get a little tougher and focused for the playoff run. There’s no doubt Dirk Nowitzki knows the Pistons are ready. Nowitzki scored 25 points, but needed 23 shots to do it. Chauncey Billups was the man down the stretch and Rasheed Wallace turned in another solid game. The Pistons evened the season series with the Mavs in what might have been an NBA Finals preview. If that’s the case I like Detroit’s chances.

The Pistons struggled early, but in the end were able to wear down the Heat and earn a 82-73 victory to improve to 2-1 against the Heat this season. Same old story according to Shaq, the Pistons never get any of the credit when defeating the Heat.

Shaq: “It wasn’t really anything they did — we just made a lot of mistakes and they capitalized.”

How about that tough team defense Shaq? Did that have anything to do with it?

Although it looks like Wade is beginning to get it.

Wade: “I missed some shots that I normally make, and they really pressured me. It was tough, but when we play them again in April, we’ll have some counters for what they were doing tonight.”

You had better have some counters if you want to even extend the series to 6 games.

Read Pistons shut down Wade, top Heat 82-73 at Yahoo! Sports

A little journey around the world of Detroit Sports…

Pistons - Flip is starting to give the bench more minutes and they are responding. Dice had a great game tonight as did Maurice Evans, but the bright spot off the bench was Tony Delk. This will end up being a huge move by Dumars as Delk brings experience, defense and solid 3-point shooting off the bench. The Pistons should be able to hold on to their overall lead for best record while giving the bench enough minutes to keep the starters fresh. They will have the occasional letdown, but once their are about 5-6 games to go in the regular season watch these guys start to turn it up a notch!

Red Wings - The Wings are rolling right along. Goaltending still makes me nervous, but the team is a good combination of youth and experience right now. The young guys are coming along and no matter how minor a move Ken Holland makes it ends up helping the Wings. Amazing!

Tigers - Health is going to be the key to the 2006 season for Detroit and so far it hasn’t been the best of spring for injuries. The competition for the 5th starting spot has been better than expected leaving Leyland with some difficult decisions ahead. Come on Opening Day get here!

Lions - Kitna is a good move, not spectacular but good. I think the best signing so far has been the resigning of Kalimba Edwards. (Added link to a good article by Kevin Antcliff on the signing of Edwards, see I’m not the only one!) In Marinelli and Henderson’s new defense he could have a big year, he is due for a big year that’s for sure. Corey Bradford gives some more experience and depth to the wideout spot.

P.S. Now I am off to second guess my bracket and probably make some boneheaded changes. If I would just leave my original picks I would probably be better off! If you need to join another bracket contest head on over to www.kevinantcliff.com where some Detroit (and Denver) sports bloggers are having a contest!

P.S.S. How come paint looks so different in the store than after it’s on your wall? Seriously it didn’t look like that on the color swatch at Menard’s!

Everyone is talking and writing about it. Some think it’s a good move, others don’t. I believe that if Joe D. can get a #1 pick back for him at this point, that’s a good trade. I like the trade (Darko & Arroyo to Orlando for a #1 pick - maybe lottery protected - and Kelvin Cato) because it would give the Pistons a pick and also free up cap space for Ben Wallace to sign after this season. Dumars is always looking towards the future and this is no exception.

Farlane and I were just talking about what if the Pistons had chosen Bosh, Wade or Anthony? Would they be the big stars they are today, or would they have rode the pine like Darko? I tend to think they would have been relegated to backup and mopup duty just like Darko. That’s why good teams don’t have high draft picks, because they don’t need them. If you look at any of the good teams (Spurs, Mavs, Suns, Heat) not many of those rotations would find a lottery pick contributing much. And remember, the Heat weren’t considered elite when they drafted Wade, they hadn’t traded for Shaq yet.

Here’s some bloggers opinions I read today on the subject…

Read Available: One Human Victory Cigar, Barely Lit at Out of Bounds

Read Darko’s Mood: Bewildered at Deadspin

Read If it’s Tuesday near the trade deadline, it must be Belgium time to talk Darko at The Wayne Fontes Experience

Read Darko… Cato… Darko… Cato… ? at Sweaty Men Endeavors

My man The Sports Dude got an honorable mention at Deadspin in their Blogdom’s Best series about the best Detroit Pistons blogs. Congrats Sports Dude!

Read Blogdom’s Best: Detroit Pistons at Deadspin

Indy Star Mark Montieth wrote this complimentary article on the Pistons and his thoughts on the NBA All-Star Game.

Read All-Star idea: Pistons vs. NBA at the Indianapolis Star

Photo by Farlane

Farlane took a road trip down to see the Pistons/Grizzlies game on Friday and ended up with some bonus photos of Ford Field. Check them out!

Farlane’s Pistons/Grizzlies Photos from January 27, 2006

Farlane’s Super Bowl XL Photos

Post your Super Bowl XL photos at the Flickr Super Bowl XL Group

James Cook from the Record Eagle has a cool article about a local television channel out of Traverse City. WLLZ-TV12 is an independent station not available on cable or satellite, only through an antenna. The station currently has 12 Pistons game during the rest of the regular season on tap, and has 24-hour programming from the Urban America TV and sports coverage through America One Sports. I am definitely going to go home tonight and see if I can pick this up!

Read Need a Pistons’ fix? TV12 adds games to coverage in the Record Eagle

The Pistons have the best record in the NBA and are playing very good basketball. New coach Flip Saunders hasn’t missed a beat and has the Pistons playing hard on both ends of the floor. The defense has remained as tough as ever, but under Saunders the offense has blossomed, and Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton are having career years. They are intent on owning home court advantage for the playoffs and near the halfway point they are well on their way. The bench is starting to come on strong now as Antonio McDyess and Carlos Delfino are starting to play better. Maurice Evans has been everything the Pistons hoped for. Just like Latham said, it’s easy to give this group an “A”.

Read Pistons Midseason Grades: Easy A in the Freep

The American Decency Association is after the Detroit Pistons because of the dance team’s 2006 swimsuit calendar. The ADA “views the calendar as inappropriate for a pro sports team to market when the team is supported by many families, women and impressionable young children.” Copies were given away at a December home game and the rest are for sale at team retail stores but only to adults over 18.

Read Pistons dance team calendar draws a foul at Fox Sports

And for another opinion (very good) read Shield your eyes! Women in bikini’s! Stop devil stop! from the Sports Dude

My View: If I was the ADA I would be more concerned about the skimpy clothes these dance teams are wearing during games.

A nice article looking at Ben Wallace and his memories of his college days at Division II Virginia Union. Wallace played for two years and ended up leading his team to the Division II Final Four his senior season. It’s nice to see guys not forget where they came from.

Read Ben’s beginnings in the Detroit News
Virginia Union University Website

I didn’t get to see much of the game because I was battling hard in a game of Pictionary, but I did see the last few minutes. Chauncey Billups had better be in the All-Star game this year, that’s all I have to say. Billups scored 30 and Rip Hamilton had one of his best games of the year with 25 points and 9 assists as the Pistons topped the Heat 106-101. The Pistons are playing very good team ball and anyone can take over on any given night.

Two things stood out for me, the first was Tayshaun Prince sliding over and guarding Dwayne Wade in the final minutes on a crucial possession and forcing a tough shot, and Rasheed Wallace hitting a big three that basically sealed it. The Pistons can beat you so many different ways and there isn’t one team in the NBA that has more options than Detroit.

Read Billups, Hamilton lead Pistons past Heat at Yahoo! Sports