Hayes is averaging 6.5 ppg on the season and his production and minutes have dropped considerably since the beginning of the season.
Hayes is a chucker, a guy that likes to shoot the rock when he gets it and he's very streaky, today was one of those days. I don't expect to see more games similar to this from Hayes this year. If Hayes can somehow find a way to give them 40-50% of his effort today on a consistent basis, it will make the Pistons a much more serious contender.
So to the announcers; don't call this guy Hayes "The Microwave" just yet.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Jarvis Hayes!?!?!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
LeBron drops 50 @ The Garden, KG drops 31 in his Garden
It doesn't matter how awful the Knicks are, anytime a player steps into Madison Square Garden there is still that magic. Players live to play inThe Garden, rock artists dream to play in The Garden and tonight LeBron rocked New York.
All that on 16-30 shooting, including seven three pointers and add four steals to the mix. Oh yeah, and Cleveland ate up the lowly Knicks 119-105.
I guess after Kobe's performance against the Mavs and all the MVP talk surrounding him, LeBron figured he'd come out and make a statement.
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In other statements, KG and the Celtics beat the Pistons down tonight 90-78, at another one of the Gardens in the NBA, the one in Boston.
Garnett had 31 points, six rebounds and three assists. Pierce had 15 points and 5 assists on a 5-9 shooting night and Ray Allen only had 3 points on 1-9 shooting.
The Pistons came out sluggish from the gate and tried to have late heroics, but the Celtics turned the defense back on in the fourth and held the Pistons to a measly 11 points in the quarter. If you're keeping track, the Celtics are up in the series 2-1 this year.
Kendrick Perkins added a career-high 20 rebounds to go along with 10 points for the victorious C's. Cassell did not play tonight, but might get on the floor for their next game against the Bulls on Friday.
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Those are the three teams to beat in the East, any of them have a great shot to make it to the Finals, who are you picking?
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Theo Ratliff officially signs with Pistons
While the Celtics wait for Sam Cassell, the Pistons got a backup big man in Theo Ratliff.
Ratliff returns to the place where he started his career. Here's a great picture of Ratliff and his new teammate from back in the day. Crazy to think it's been over a decade...
Something caught my eye on NBA.com
On NBA.com there is a poll:
Jason Kidd
Steve Nash
Tony Parker
Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Now, yes, I'm from Detroit. Yes, I'm a Pistons fan, but where is Chauncey Billups on this list? To be honest, I'm not really much of a Chauncey fan. I mean the guy has had two horrible playoffs in a row, I understand. Though he has been to the NBA Finals twice, has a ring and a Finals MVP. The only person who can match or better him there is Tony Parker.
Billups is averaging 18 ppg, 7 apg and 3 rpg this year. He's shooting 44% and 40% from the three point line, including 91% from the charity stripe. His numbers are better than Parker's, and a little bit shy of the other players on that list.
How about this, Jason Kidd is putting up a complete line: 11 ppg, 8 rpg, 10 apg, but he shoots 38% and couldn't do anything in New Jersey, obviously now the tide changes in Dallas, but is that line all that better than Billups? Okay, 5 rebounds and 3 assists more per game, but how about the fact Billups has won a ton more games than Kidd this year, and not just this year, the past 5 years.
On top of all that, Billups' team has a better record than any of the other players on that list, second best in the league, and it's been that way almost all season. In addition to that, Chauncey Billups has the 2nd best +/- ranking in the entire league. Steve Nash is seventh, Chris Paul is in the top 15 and none of the other players are in the top 20. Some of this has to count for something, right?
We don't have to jump out and say Billups is the best point guard in the NBA. Based on this year, the answer to the poll is Chris Paul, right now he's the MVP (that's another conversation that for some reason he's always left out of over Kobe and LeBron). I just find it interesting that Billups' name never comes up in this conversation and to him, and for what he's done in the past five seasons, that's an injustice. He's accomplished more than pretty much any of the names above, I would say Nash and Parker are the only exceptions. Jason Kidd is a great point guard, but at this point, he's not better than Billups, maybe they're equal?I guess the main question is, is Billups a top five point guard? According to this list, he's not. Heck, there isn't one Eastern Conference point guard on the list, and Billups is undoubtedly the best PG in the East. He has his problems, he's struggled in the playoffs since 2006 (since his buddy Flip Saunders showed up as head coach, noticing a coincidence?), but he's still a great leader and player. His team has been in the Eastern Conference Finals for five straight years, and could be going for a sixth. He's been in the finals twice, won a title and the MVP, we shouldn't have to repeat this, but unfortunately for Chauncey Billups, he probably will have to continue to repeat himself to get his due in this league.
Monday, February 25, 2008
The definition of ugly...
The Spurs had the red hot Manu Ginobili on the court, along with Tim Duncan and a now healthy Tony Parker, but only managed five points. Talk about getting off to a bad start. Though the Spurs are a great team, because they can recover, they won the game 89-74, obviously taking over after that point.
The Spurs have rolled off six straight wins, and people sleep on them every year. They got Damon Stoudamire and Kurt Thomas for practically nothing (especially if they get Brent Barry back), and now have Parker back presumably healthy. This team is going under the radar a bit, and that works just fine for them. Personally, I'd love a Pistons/Spurs Finals. People say that's boring, but those two teams played a hell of a series back in 2005, the first seven game series in like a decade at that point.
