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Harris could be the key to this series. If he is the turd that showed up the first 6 games against Orlando, the Pistons are in trouble. Odds are they are going to cover Harris with Harden to let Mobley play Ausar and roam free to spy on Cade. Harris needs to work Harden if that happens. If he can get them to switch Mobley back to defending him, big win for Detroit as it should free up some more mid-range space for Cade.

LOL I bet Trump doesn't even know. Officials have probably been told not to tell him because he'll throw a tantrum. So have they told Vance? Probably, and he probably says "what do you want me to do about it?" Absolute disgrace. And we deserve every bit of it.

The Pistons shot 31% on three pointers where there wasn't a defender within 6 feet of the shooter in the Orlando series. That isn't good defense, that is a shoot slump. In the regular season they shot 37% in those situations. A few guys started hitting some threes in game 7. Hopefully that holds up going into this series.

With the amount of money Gores flushed on Monty I would not worry. Must be all pocket change to him.

A pitcher trying to bulldog his way back from an elbow injury asking for big trouble. Curt Schilling? Maybe, Skubal can put ketchup on his sock when he gets back. 😀

Break it down any more than two outs with RISP and the sample size gets really small. Thirty years of baseball social media have shown me that fans almost always feel like their team doesn't hit in the clutch. I think it's because hitters fail more often than not in any situation, and fans remember the high leverage failures more vividly.

A reporter in the Free Press this morning speculated that Ron Holland will be getting important minutes in this Cavs series.

Sneaky good.

I wouldn't. It takes away their one legit three point threat. It also makes Harris try to defend on the perimeter, which won't be pretty. Mobley is more of a finesse big anyway. He won't bully Harris like Banchero did

I was joking that the Pistons would extend JB. Now the Free Press says they did extend him but no details. Prolly 2 years?

Not that Bickerstaff would do it, but would starting Stewart in place of Robinson and having a taller more defensive starting lineup be the better way to go against Cleveland's offense?

Madden understood. Nice outing from him.

I'm no expert on anything, but I have thought that the way pitching has been going, max effort on nearly every pitch, cannot be good for the human body.

Jaylen Brown calling someone else out for flopping is pretty hilarious.

you realize you are talking about the executives who put together the josh smith/greg monroe/andre drummond and james wisemam/marvin bagley iii front lines?

I was optimistic before reading this but even more so now. Tarik is a bulldog. He'll be back very quickly;

Hey, you say something dumb so I can respond on my podcast for clicks. Also, the airline bailouts don't even rank top 3, do they? Fannie and Freddie, S&L, AIG, the auto bailouts in 2008 were all bigger I'm pretty sure.

That would be pretty hilarious. Trading your lottery pick in one of the most stacked drafts in decades for a center. Then turning around 12 months later and trading away your best trade asset for another center. But wait, there's more. The new center you traded for has a range of about 3 feet from the rim. The same range as your PF. So now you have created some of the worst spacing in the league, and you traded away arguable your best 3PT shooter to do it. But wait, there's more. You probably signed Duren to a stupid contract that will be one of the worst in the league. You traded away Murphy, who at $27/29/31 million a year for the next three years is one of the best contracts in the league. That is terrible roster management, even for Joe and Troy.

Random thoughts Of the 16 first round teams, Cleveland gave up the third most points in the paint. They did this against a team who did not have functioning center. The Cavs are not a good defensive team. Ranked 15th for the regular season. But if you limit that to the time Harden was on the team, they rank 18th. Very exploitable. Who guards Cade? Not Allen or Mobley. Not Mitchell or Harden. They used two different guys as the fifth starter against Toronto, so that leaves either Strus or Wade on Cade. Yes please. Yeah, Mobley is going to cheat off of Ausar and basically play free safety on Cade. Thompson will have to be aggressive running the baseline and cutting so they can take advantage of him being left alone. Orlando is one of the most physical teams in the league. Cleveland is not physical at all. The Pistons can bully them and Mobley and Allen are two of the softest bigs in the entire league. This will be a little bit of a Duren redemption series. I don't think he will get back to his regular season numbers, but I expect him to play better than the Orlando series. He can really push Allen and Mobley around. Cleveland is a dumb team. It will be interesting to see if the Cavs remember Allen is on their team while on offense. The Raptors played two terrible centers most of the game and Allen had a big advantage over both. But for the first six games Cleveland rarely went to him. They finally did in game 7 and he responded with a monster game. The more ball screens he sets for Harden the more involved he will be. The Pistons cant have the long stretches of low offensive production like they did against Orlando. The Magic are a bad offensive team and you can survive that against them. Cleveland has a good offense and they will be up 25 on Detroit if the Pistons struggle to score on a regular basis. The more Donovan Mitchell dribbles, the better the Pistons odds are of winning. Their offense is at its best when Harden has the ball and is distributing. When they go Iso Mitchell he forgets he is playing with 4 other guys and is just concerned with getting himself a shot. That is not good offense.

The offense always feels worse when you are behind and/or especially when you don't trust your bullpen so failure to add runs feels like it's courting impending doom.

He played in national showcases, he'd proven himself against the best competition. His hit tool was highly regarded, but nobody was projecting he'd hit for the power he has because he's 5'8.

This game is Valdez, and then the next day Jack. And then an off day. Then there’s three games in Kansas City and, surprisingly, yet another off day followed by three games against the Mets on the road. So, will having two off days in a five-day period deflect or lessen some of the impact using “pitching chaos?”

Minnesota takes game 1

you never know what the future holds, which is why it would have been nice to make some big signings LAST YEAR OR AT THE TRADE DEADLINE...