| Detroit Playoff Preview Authored by Elliot Cole - April 16, 2007 - 12:52 pm
With the departure of Ben Wallace to the greener pastures of Chicago this offseason, the Detroit Pistons faced a new challenge in the 2007 season: finding a new identity. In recent years the Pistons have had to deal with the loss of their most identifiable player, the unceremonious exit of Larry Brown, and alleged inner turmoil between Rasheed Wallace and Brown’s replacement Flip Saunders. With the impending free agency of Chauncey Billups and a consistently inconsistent bench, the Pistons seemed to be falling off their pedestal as one of the league’s elite.
Rumors of their demise had been greatly exaggerated.
Billups hasn’t showed any form of selfishness, Rasheed Wallace has adjusted to his coach, and the Pistons have found a way to adjust to their newfound tests. Richard Hamilton has met his career high average of 20.1 PPG, young bench players like Carlos Delfino and Jason Maxiell have shown promise, and Antonio McDyess caught fire towards the end of the season, averaging close to 12 PPG since the beginning of March. It also doesn’t hurt matters that the newest Piston, Chris Webber, has fit in seamlessly with his new team.
Webber has single handedly helped the Pistons find a new identity. Instead of finding a replacement for Big Ben, they found the complete opposite. They lost rebounding and intensity, but picked up passing and maturity. Where they lost defense, they gained offense. Most of all, they rediscovered a chemistry that all of Detroit has become accustomed to. Entering the 2007 playoffs, the Pistons are a slightly different team, but are still perched atop the Eastern Conference. By virtue of New Jersey’s Sunday win over Indiana, Indiana has been eliminated from playoff contention. Based on conference record (the tiebreaker since Orlando and New Jersey split the season series), Orlando is locked in at #8. Here’s the breakdown of their first round match-up:
ORLANDO MAGIC: The Magic have faltered in the second half of the season after a quick start. The team is noticeably plagued by immaturity; Jameer Nelson is a scorer masquerading as a point guard with a pension for taking And 1 style pull up jumpers. Dwight Howard, despite his progress, has yet to become a “go to” offensive player, and in the playoffs his inability to pass out of the double team could prove lethal. Although Grant Hill and Hedo Turkoglu offer valuable playoff experience, they are too young to handle the systematic attitude of the Pistons. What the Magic do have is health; Grant Hill and Trevor Ariza both seem to be healthy and in rhythm. The return of Ariza has helped the Magic, but he’s a full court player on a half court team, stripping him of his greatest strengths.
The only saving grace for the Magic is that they have the athleticism on the defensive end to prevent the Pistons from taking advantage of 1-on-1 situations, but the Pistons’ passing prowess and ability to cut should give Detroit easy layups and midrange jumpers. Unfortunately for the Magic, they don’t have the offensive execution to make up for those easy buckets, and the steady defense of the Pistons will make that even harder. Consider it a “happy to be there” series for Orlando, but even one win would be a result of Detroit’s boredom. In four regular season meetings with the Magic, the Pistons are 4-0. Don’t see that changing.
Bold Prediction: Pistons sweep.
The second round matchup for the Pistons will be much more compelling, putting them in a rematch with either the Cavs or Heat. For the first round, experience reigns supreme, and few lower seeded teams have the veteran talent necessary to make a run. The consistency of the Pistons wins out, a comforting sight for fans of DE-troit BAS-ket-BALL.
Elliot can be reached at elliot.cole@yahoo.com |
