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Exactly. This is why I really don't worry about this stuff. Harrises and Jenkinses of the world aren't going to get the calls. And when you don't have the defense spaced like other teams, fouls are not going to get called as frequently. So much with fouls are visual when you are out in space. They are easier to see and call. It's harder to ignore out in space when a defensive team is scrambling to help. When teams are just sitting 15 feet away from the hoop and are more ready to collapse than run out to defend a trey, that helps the defense. I just get tired of Lions fans and other Detroit fans always complaining about everything officiating. This team was up 9 with about 2:30 to go. Win the game at home. And if you don't, you SHOULDN'T have won the game. You got the result you deserved. Complain about free throws all you want. You took what had to be somewhere about an 80 to 90% chance of a win and went into OT only because the Cavs didn't captialize on a chance to actually win the game. The Pistons were lucky to go to OT when they were up by 9 with about 2:30 left. And, man are they awful in the third quarter. I think we won one third quarter and beyond that this team has been awful coming out of the half. One of my favorite things to chart is the "subtle six-point run" out of the half the last five or six years - not only in the NBA but the prep games I cover. I'm not talking about a 10-0 run, although that can be that. However, quite frequently a team will just steadily win the first five or six minutes (using the NBA for this one) with a 12-6 run, or maybe a 14-8 run. You hardly notice it, but it completely changes the dynamic of the game. Last game that minor run meant the difference of being a two-point lead midway through the third or maybe a double-digit lead for the Pistons. Of course, the Cavs won it. These moments tell you who are making the adjustments and learning the first half. The Pistons haven't been the better team. In fact, as the series goes on, the Cavs are learning and really making the Pistons' offense as easily defensed as one would've expected a decent team would once you've played them three, four, five and now a sixth game. These are the themes that bother me. Fouls and free throws - yes it sucks, and looking at the numbers can easily make someone fall into the trap that says that's the series. It hasn't been the series. - The Pistons never seriously addressed the perimeter issue - especially after it was apparent Beasley wasn't coming back. It's biting them big time. - The Pistons are subpar to horrible in the third quarter. - The Pistons couldn't close out a nine-point lead with 2:30-something left in a home game. - Duren has been a complete no-show. And is it up to him to step up? Of course, but the playoffs are 12 games deep and if anything he's getting worse on both sides of the floor, minus the occasional nice dish on offense. - The Cavs had figured out how easy it is to defend the Pistons' no-perimeter offense. "Beat us from outside and we'll live with it, we just don't think you can, Pistons." I can't even get myself to worry about free throws. All this said, and they can still win this series. I wouldn't bet my life on it. But it's still reasonably possible.

Never say never about marginal prospects finding themselves for a period of time, but I agree Workman is very unlikely going to be involved in any decision to dump Torkelson.

This is pretty cool.

Yet Jimmy Carter had to give up control of his farm and Billy had to stop selling beer

Probably right, I'm just tired of waiting for never fulfilled promise.

well

The only good thing about a Vegas cup win is Marner taking the cup back to Toronto

That is just incredible. Every day another stat surfaces that makes you wonder how any player that size playing that many minutes mostly inside the paint can't do any better. That means all of us here have as many second chance points as Duren in this series.

Growing up in Detroit and listening to WJR, especially the Tigers, do you remember them referring to themselves as “the Goodwill station”? So do I. Ever wonder what they meant by that? I didn’t. It was part of the wallpaper. But I ran across this ad in an old Broadcasting magazine issue, and … well, now I know. And so do you.

Could be a chicken/egg thing. Franchises that don't tolerate prolonged mediocrity tend to not be mediocre as long as teams that are ok with spending a decade in no mans land. Compare the Vegas Knights firing their coach with 10 games left in the season just few years after bringing them a Cup to the Wings wading along for the better part of a decade doing basically nothing and showing little urgency about it.

Careful what you wish for … ? 😉

I promise you Gage Workman and his .454 BABIP at Toledo will not be the player that finally dislodges Tork from this team’s future. It will be someone else, like Josue Briceno, although he will have to hit enough to overcome his own minus defense. Either that or go on the market for a short-term guy until we develop a guy in-house.

Precisely. People tend to misconstrue the defensive value of a player based on the loud plays they make, such as diving stops and scooping errant throws. But loud plays have lower value than the everyday plays that good range gets you to, and you miss 100% of the plays you can’t get to.

This is not a partisan issue. This is an institutional rot issue. But there is one side more invested in keeping the rot as rotten as possible, and spoiler alert, it ain’t the Dems anymore. You may argue against that, and you’d be right in normal times. We are in post-normal times now, it’s time for a new normal, and if either party is still a viable force when that time comes, I believe it will be Democrats working toward that new normal.

Exactly.

Once this fever has broken and the adults seize control of the levers again—which I hope to live to see—there is going to be a lot of talk about remaking the American system of government in a dramatic fashion.

i understand, but i think that's the root of the problem. tobias and duren get no respect and mitchell/harden get WAAAAY too much respect. cade doesnt get enough respect. i also think the officials dont like jb. he's always barking at them, he does a lot of histrionics on the sideline if things go against the pistons, he's always showing them up. theyre humans too and i doubt they enjoy it. i do recognize your point that this is outside the realm of normal, especially considering the cavs are a 3 point shooting team and the pistons live in the paint. so i get it and i think it is unfair. however, caris lavert, danniss jenkins, tobias harris, and jalen duren will get no respect from the refs. maybe tobias, but certainly not the other three. i think that's a part of nba life. just wait til brunson gets 3 fouls on ausar in every first quarter while josh hart mugs cade.

Sure, that explains why they might be getting more free throws than us. I expected that. But that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing something historic. Something that has literally never happened in the history of the NBA.

Honestly, that might be one of the positives to come out of this playoff run. Duren has been exposed and the organization should respond accordingly. Let the market dictate his value since he's an RFA and maybe work out a sign and trade. I doubt they'll do the latter, but at the very least his agent should get laughed out of the room if he requests over 30M. Then again, sometimes these things are worked out during the season with the expectation that they'll happen in the offseason. They may have been stupid enough to already commit to a deal which would explain the long leash he's been getting from JB.

Ouch! And to think it's a contract season. He is costing himself a lot of dinero

Detroit is coming into next season looking to prove something too. they came into last season with an entitlement mentality. They were coasting on their reputation and came into week one and got embarrassed. Dan Campbell remembers that. Penei Sewell remembers that. Gibbs and Goff and ASB remember that. They are going to come out in week one this year and try to establish their identity as bullies in the run game and precise in the passing game. They want to announce to the league that they are back.

Not to be too "both sides" but there is also a Dem lady in Texas who has gone missing from Congress. She's on the far side of her sell-by date so its probably illness related as well. Congressional staffs are gonna do that thing aren't they?

I'm still holding out hope....but why do they have Taps on loop on every elevator here?

And Tork doesn't hit enough to justify his abymsal defense. Baez is an athlete and he can cover either SS or CF at an adequate level. That allow Kevin McG to play 3rd(another black hole).