The East and West All Star were announced so without further adeu
Here they are!!!!!
East Starters West All Stars
PF Kevin Garnett PF Tim Duncan
SF Lebron James SF Carmelo Anthon
C Dwight Howard C Yao Ming
SG Dwayne Wade SG Kobe Bryan
PG Jason Kidd PG Allen Iverson
Most of these selections are pretty reasonable. Luckily many of the players that the fans vote in consistently, are consistently deserving of their selection. The only real gross example of All Star fan voting gone awry, is Allen Iverson. Both Chris Paul and Steve Nash are far more deserving of starting at point guard for the Western Conference, as is Tony Parker. Besides that however, the picks look pretty solid. As far as seeing your favorite Piston player in the All Star Game? Let’s just be thankful that the coaches pick the reserves not the fans.
Its been a while, I apologize for the delay but I’m back!!!!!
Since the Boston Celtics snapped the Piston’s 11 game win streak, things have been kinda
eh!
That’s right, eh. The Pistons haven’t plunged to the depths of despair, nor have they recaptured the stellar play which left them after the Celtics rolled into town. Since January 6, the Pistons have won games in Charlotte, Toronto, and most impressively, a 90 to 80 victory against the World Champion Spurs. Unfortunately, the Pistons have suffered equally ugly losses to the Dallas Mavericks, and that stink fest against the New York Knicks (It may take a while to block that game from my memory.) It’s a long NBA season and things like this will happen. There will be ups, and there will be downs. Not every game means absolute doom for the Pistons, or that fans should start guarantsheeeeding that the team will win the NBA title.
Now that I have that off my chest, let’s switch topics a bit, and discuss the development of the Piston’s first guard off the bench, Rodney Stuckey. Honestly, I would like to see more from Rodney Stuckey then he has shown so far but, I do see enough to stick with the opinion that he has a real future in the NBA. Although not yet consistent, Stuckey has proven that he can get to the basket, and quick! Stuckey has also quieted skeptics by showing he can also pass the basketball. The Pistons have benefited from having Stuckey and Jason Maxiel on the floor at the same time, perhaps giving fans a glimpse of a future dynamic twosome. Besides consistency, which should come the more games Stuckey gets under his belt, he also must improve his perimeter shot. The form is good but the results haven’t been so good thus far. To truly be a great point guard, which is something I believe Rodney Stuckey can be, he must develop a serviceable jump shot. Otherwise opposing teams will focus purely on crowding the lane so Stuckey can’t attack the basket, or dish the ball off to his post players. A jump shot that will keep teams honest will allow Stuckey to capitalize on his strengths, and make him a much better player overall. Rodney Stuckey can get there, but it will takes patience from coaches and fans, and a whole lot of hardwork from him.
The Boston Celtics got their revenge on Sunday night beating the Pistons 92-85. The win snaps the 11 game streak of dominance the the boys from Mo Town exhibited over their competition. The game was intense, but certainly not free of mistakes. On this night the Pistons just made too many.
Ok I know what you’re gonna say. “C’mon Gary give the Celtics some credit.” My response of course would be “NO AND YOU CANT MAKE ME!!!”
Just kidding.
Of course the Boston Celtics deserve credit for the win. The Pistons jumped on them early with a 22 to 12 lead after the first quarter. But the Celtics kept fighting and kept it close enough in the fourth quarter to earn the victory. The sign of a good team is one that capitalizes on the mistakes of the other team. The Celtics did just that and deserve praise for it. With that said however, the Pistons did make critical errors that no doubt impacted the outcome of the game.
Chauncey Billups, who has the reputation of being a clutch player, and a excellent free throw shooter, missed three critical free throws down the stretch, and took a hasty three pointer that got nothing but air in the final 30 seconds. The Pistons were also outscored in the paint by a inexcusable 26 points in the second half. Many of these baskets were scored by first year forward Glen “Big Baby,” Davis who had 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter. None of these things should have EVER happened, and I highly doubt they will again. Perhaps the only silver lining here is that the Pistons got beat because of boneheaded moves that shouldn’t repeat themselves, not because of being clearly outperformed by a superior team.
After two games the budding rivalry between the Pistons and the Celtics is all tied up. The two Eastern powers meet up for the final time in the regular season on March 26. One thing is for sure, the Pistons need to perform far better then they did Sunday night.
