So, it ends the way I think most Pistons fans expected it would end. Not the series per se, but the "If It Ain't Rough, It Ain't Right"-era. I can't even say I'm all that sad. For the last four years, life as a Pistons fan has been full of nothing but frustration.
The Pistons have the best overall level of talent of any team in the league excepting only the Spurs perhaps. Yet each of the past four seasons, we've watched them fall to teams that quite simply wanted it more. Last year it was the Cavs, the year before that the Spurs and prior to that the Heat. Two of those three lost series are completely inexcusable.
I grew up watching the Pistons in the 'Bad Boys'-era and that kind of set the standard for what I expect from a Pistons team. I expect a team that come playoff time leaves everything out there on the court, every game--every single game. When the Pistons lost to the Celtics in '88, it was heartbreaking not only for the team, but the fans. You saw the pain on those guys faces. You saw how badly they wanted it. And as a fan, it made you want it too. The next year when Isaiah finally led us past the Celtics, we lost another heartbreaker to the 'Showtime' Lakers. These were my formative experiences with not only the Pistons, but pro-basketball itself. I rooted for a team back then that played as if the fate of the free world depended on boxing out properly or getting back on defense. I cheered a group of guys that even if they didn't win, you absolutely knew without a doubt that they'd played as if each game were the last 48 minutes of basketball that would ever matter.
Suffice it to say, today's Pistons haven't lived up to that legacy. I don't blame Joe Dumars who has been an exemplary GM over his eight-year tenure (note: Darko was a respectable gamble and even if we'd gotten Carmelo, I don't think the Pistons would have been appreciably better due to his attitude and off-court issues; Bosh would have been nice though...). I don't blame Flip Saunders either. There's nothing wrong with the Pistons' 'X'-es and 'O'-es. He's just not the type of coach who can impose his will and temperament on a team. I do wonder if Larry Brown would have had more success had he not felt that wanderlust well up in his heart. Maybe he could have stopped the team from believing too much of its own press.
The blame for the latest collapse falls squarely on the players' shoulders. Let's start with 'Sheed. I really felt he should have been traded after his inexcusable meltdown last season in the Cavs series. I don't care what he gives you on the court; he's a liability. He probably should have gotten his seventh technical last night and the mandatory one-game suspension that goes along with it (obviously a moot point now). I can't fathom how the significance of his foul situation doesn't alter how he carries himself on the court. That shows a total disregard for the team, the coach and the fans. And that's been his M.O. for a while now. I don't care if his game is all-world. It does a team no good if you can't rely on him when it really matters. Last night's offensive woes I can forgive, but antagonizing the refs? Inexcusable. The Pistons lost last night and Rasheed was a big part of that. Billups shouldn't be guarding KG, because our most talented big man can't keep his head in the game.
Rip, McDyess, Stuckey and Maxiell all get passes in my book. Rip slumps from time-to-time, but that's the life of a pure shooter. He runs his man ragged with endless screen-and-rolls and curls and loops; I get dizzy just watching the guy. I've never seen any of the other guys dog-it on a nightly basis. I was so impressed with the play of Stuckey and Maxiell. These guys have the composure of 10-year vets. Two solid pieces for the next iteration of the team I think we can safely assume. McDyess is like a figure from Greek-tragedy. Once an all-star forward whose game has changed to accommodate his diminished athleticism, he found the perfect role on a team with enough talent to get him to the promised land. Except nobody around him seems to want it half as much as he does.
That leaves Billups and Prince. Prince's problem isn't attitude so much as consistency and decision-making. He's always tenacious on defense, but he seems to slump too often offensively when he has the option of adjusting his game. I don't need him to be 'Melo, but you should be able to pencil '15' into his box score every night. He's typically a defensive mismatch for whoever the opposing team puts on him-- too quick for most forwards and too long for most guards. He's got time though. Chauncey I reserve my biggest criticism for. Unlike Wallace, Chaunce is mentally stable. He's a top-five point guard not just in the East, but in the league period. If the team seems to take games off, it's because the floor general lets it. You've got one of the best technically proficient SGs in the league, two Fs that can create their own shots against practically anybody and a bench that most of the league envies. How do you let your team come out so flat in game 3 against Boston? Too often these Pistons seem to look at their wins as 'cushions'--or reasons not to worry too much. Too often I've watched the team go on autopilot. 'Zeke never let that happen, especially not in the playoffs. Is it fair to compare Chaunce to arguably the greatest undersized-point in history? Not entirely, but despite what he lacks in the skills department, Chauncey has no excuse for the gulf between the two when it comes to having heart.
It's almost as if the worst thing that ever happened to the Pistons was the '04 championship. It must break the old team's heart to watch. Here these guys are squandering the prime years of their basketball careers for whatever reason. The Bad Boys spent those same years battling the Celtics and Lakers to the bitter and bloody end seemingly every game. Their end came at the hands of His Airness and the ascendancy of the greatest team in the modern era. That Pistons fans could all live with. Watching Rasheed Wallace sulk, curse out the cameraman before throwing a towel over the lens while the Pistons blow a 10-point lead and another prime championship run opportunity, well that's just too rough for me.
