PISTONS POST SEASON SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

NBA Playoffs

Pistons vs. Cavaliers

Best-of-seven series

Series
Cleveland leads 3-0
Sat 4/18	@CLE 102, DET 84	Recap | Box Score
Tue 4/21	@CLE 94, DET 82	Recap | Box Score
» Fri 4/24	CLE 79, @ DET 68	Recap | Box Score
Apr 26, 2009	CLE @ DET	3:30 PM ET
Apr 29, 2009	DET @ CLE	TBD
May 1, 2009	CLE @ DET	TBD
May 3, 2009	DET @ CLE	TBD
· Complete Schedule: Pistons | Cavaliers

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Conference Quarterfinals Schedule/Results
APRIL	OPPONENT	RESULT	W-L	HI POINTS	HI REBOUNDS	HI ASSISTS
Sat, Apr 18	@ Cleveland	L 84-102	0-1	R. Stuckey 20	R. Wallace 9 K. Brown 9	R. Stuckey 4 R. Hamilton 4
Tue, Apr 21	@ Cleveland	L 82-94	0-2	R. Hamilton 17	A. McDyess 11	R. Stuckey 6
Fri, Apr 24	Cleveland	L 68-79	0-3	R. Hamilton 15	R. Hamilton 8 A. McDyess 8	R. Hamilton 6
APRIL	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)	TV	LOCAL TV	RESOURCES
Sun, Apr 26	Cleveland	3:30 PM			Tickets | Travel
Wed, Apr 29	@ Cleveland	TBA	TNT		Tickets | Travel
MAY	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)	TV	LOCAL TV	RESOURCES
Fri, May 1	Cleveland	TBA			Tickets | Travel
Sun, May 3	@ Cleveland	TBA			Tickets | Travel

RESERVED

Saturday, April 18, 2009
Cavaliers 102, Pistons 84
Cavaliers roll over Pistons in Game 1
Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

Cleveland -- Of all the things that went into the Pistons' scouting report before their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, it's a good bet that trying to contain LeBron James was prominently mentioned.

Yet, the one thing the Pistons didn't or couldn't do in Game 1 Saturday was contain him.

"Once we let him get going downhill like that," Tayshaun Prince said, "game over."

James posted 38 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, leading the Cavaliers to a 102-84 romp.

"We said before the series started that it was important to keep him on the perimeter," Prince said. "If we keep him outside and he makes jump shots, we'll be fine. But you can't give up a mixture of both. That's what he got and he really put on a performance."

It didn't matter who the Pistons put on him. Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, Arron Afflalo, Rodney Stuckey, they all took a shot. It didn't matter whether they trapped him or played zone. He just did whatever he needed to do.

James made 13 of 20 shots and 11 of 14 free throws.

"We are going to have to do something about it next game," Afflalo said. "We have to find a way to make not only him but all of their players uncomfortable out there."

James set the tone by scoring 22 points in the first half. He capped that with a 41-foot running bank shot at the buzzer that gave the Cavaliers a 57-45 lead.

"I know this is the playoffs," James said. "It's a different level of basketball. Mentally you have to be more in tune. Whatever the defense gives me or wherever I see cracks, I try to attack."

Cracks? The path through the Pistons' defense had to seem like a four-lane highway to him. Nothing the Pistons did fazed him. James certainly didn't appear to take the physical pounding he typically takes against the Pistons.

"Easy for you to say when you aren't out there," James said. "It was a very physical game tonight. Maybe the games in the past you used to see me get knocked into the stands, maybe that's what you are used to.

"I think we are ready for whatever -- a finesse game, a physical game, we can adjust."

The only time the Pistons made some noise was when James sat down. And he only sat down for seven minutes.

"It seems like they can't take him out of the game," Antonio McDyess said. "Every time they did we made a run and they had to put him right back in the game. He's got to play 48 minutes to keep them on top."

The Pistons made a quick run to start the third and got within eight. James scored four straight and set up another score to restore order. Then he took a rest at the beginning of the fourth quarter and the Pistons went on a 7-2 run that cut the deficit to eight again, 80-72 with 8:48 left.

James came back, found Mo Williams for an open 3-pointer, scored inside and then made two free throws to trigger a 10-0 run and the Cavaliers proceeded to run the Pistons out of the building.

"It's just so tough when he gets going like that," McDyess said. "We trap him and he makes a play (for somebody else). We contest his shot, he makes it anyway. He goes to the basket and he gets fouled. It's just going to have to be a collective effort."

There were a few things the Pistons could conceivably build off of for Game 2. They showed they can crack the Cavaliers defense. Stuckey was able to break them down off the dribble. He scored 20 points, despite missing 14 of 21 shots.

Rasheed Wallace (13 points, nine rebounds) and McDyess combined for 23 points and 14 rebounds.

"We just have to put this one behind us," McDyess said. "We did everything well on offense, now we've got to build our defense. We know what we need to work on the next couple of days."

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

RESERVED

I doubt you'll end up needing that space

catbox_9 wrote:

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

RESERVED

I doubt you'll end up needing that space

I know.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Notebook
How can Pistons stop Lebron James?
Ted Kulfan / The Detroit News

Auburn Hills -- Tayshaun Prince has an unenviable task: Produce offensively, while limiting Cavaliers star LeBron James.

"It's tough," said Prince, who also is fighting a nagging a rib injury. "That's why it's important to continue to put different guys on him, move guys around, give him different looks and see what works."

James had 38 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in Cleveland's Game 1 victory.

The Pistons' plans tonight? It's easier said than done, but they want to force James to work harder on defense.

"You can't have LeBron relax on defense," Richard Hamilton said. "That's what he's trying to do right now, he's trying to play safety -- play behind the rim and help a lot. We have to make him play defense and wear him out. He means so much on the offensive end for them."

And at either end, the Pistons say, it's got to be a team effort.

"We're going to try to limit (James) as a team and move Tay around a little bit, and put different guys on (James), but it's a tough challenge," coach Michael Curry said. "It's a tough challenge. Our guys have to ... accept the challenge. There's no other way to get around it, really."

Joe Smith sighting

James wasn't the only Cleveland player causing Detroit some hurt in Game 1.

Joe Smith , a former Pistons forward-center, scored 13 off the bench. He was the only other player to score in double figures.

"Joe Smith is one of those X-factor players," Prince said.

The Pistons want to force Smith to take tougher shots, and into mismatches defensively.

"Joe is ... another guy who can spread the floor when (center Zydrunas ) Ilgauskas is out," Curry said. "Joe can shoot it real well and knows how to play."

Slam dunks

Hamilton believes the Pistons can be more decisive on offense.

"We have to be a little more crisp," Hamilton said. "We had a lot of opportunities on the break and passed up shots, just thinking too much. We have to do what we've been doing all year, and play off each other."

Curry stressed better production in the lane on both ends. The Cavaliers were 13-of-15 shooting in it; the Pistons were 7-of-19.

ted.kulfan@detnews.com (313) 223-4606

How can Pistons stop Lebron James?

They can't.

gdennis59 wrote:

How can Pistons stop Lebron James?

They can't.

Not unless Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn come out of retirement and suit up for the Pistons


They would knock Lebron on his ass

gs78 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

How can Pistons stop Lebron James?

They can't.

Not unless Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn come out of retirement and suit up for the Pistons


They would knock Lebron on his ass

That's not gonna happen.
Even if it did, Mo Williams and Delonte West would step up I'm sure.

Go Cavs! Finals!!!!

gdennis59 wrote:

gs78 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

How can Pistons stop Lebron James?

They can't.

Not unless Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn come out of retirement and suit up for the Pistons


They would knock Lebron on his ass

That's not gonna happen.
Even if it did, Mo Williams and Delonte West would step up I'm sure.

Go Cavs! Finals!!!!

The Bad Boys Pistons teams that won 2 championships were the best Pistons teams ever


Too bad the Pistons of today are more sad boys than bad boys

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Game 2: Cavaliers 94, Pistons 82
Cavaliers put Pistons on the ropes
Cleveland builds 27-point lead after three quarters
Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

Cleveland -- If this series was a boxing match, the referees would stop it -- TKO.

It's over. There's no fight left in the dog formerly known as the Detroit Pistons -- at least not in the primary players.

The Cavaliers got themselves halfway to the second round with a 94-82 romp at Quicken Loans Arena Tuesday. They will take a 2-0 lead into The Palace for Game 3 Friday.

Don't be fooled by the final score. The Cavaliers never trailed and were up by 27 points after three quarters.

"They are the best team in the league and they are at home, but at the same time, we've got to play with some type of heart," Antonio McDyess said. "We aren't playing at all like we've got any energy. We're just going through the motions, it seems like."

When asked why that was, McDyess said, "Your guess is better than mine."

A late run by five Pistons reserves that cut the lead to seven with four minutes left and forced the Cavaliers to re-insert their resting starters, was the only fight the Pistons showed.

"We didn't do the jobs we were assigned to do," McDyess said. "It seemed like they were doing anything they wanted to do."

LeBron James, despite several defensive looks applied by the Pistons, scored a very comfortable 29 points, with 13 rebounds and six assists. Mo Williams had 21 points and Delonte West 20.

For the first three quarters, the Pistons' indecisiveness and ineptitude was embarrassing.

They failed to secure rebounds. At least three times two Pistons came together for a rebound and wound up knocking it out of bounds. Early on they were throwing the ball around the court like school kids. They had seven turnovers in the first quarter alone, equaling their Game 1 total. They steadfastly refused to defend the basket, and were often slow to rotate out on shooters. They again missed a bushel of easy shots.

They were, in short, a picture of a broken and beaten team.

Richard Hamilton had 17 points and Rodney Stuckey 14 to lead the Pistons. Tayshaun Prince, even though he didn't have to guard James much, struggled, scoring two points, missing four of five shots. He has averaged six points in his last six playoff games.

Rasheed Wallace was a non-factor -- with eight points and four rebounds, playing just 26 minutes.

Coach Michael Curry did keep his word. He emptied the entire trick bag -- most of it in the first quarter.

He had four different defenders on James. He played zone. Whenever Hamilton or Stuckey guarded him, he sent a forward over to trap.

He finished the first quarter with a jumbo lineup -- Wallace, McDyess and Kwame Brown, with Prince and Hamilton in the backcourt. That group scored once in eight possessions, turning the ball over four times.

Nothing worked, all the strategies were rendered useless by the Pistons' inability to execute.

It was as brutal as it gets. It was so bad, even their attempts at trying to be tough were weak.

Amir Johnson made a hard foul on James with 5:35 left in the first half.

Anderson Varejao took exception and walked toward Johnson. Johnson gave him a two-handed shove, and was hit with a technical foul.

"I was going for the ball (on James) and Varejao came and got in my face," said Johnson. "I am not going to get punked in the playoffs and I just pushed him out of my face."

It all came too easily for the Cavaliers until the fourth quarter.

With Johnson, Walter Herrmann, Afflalo, Will Bynum and Jason Maxiell on the floor, the Pistons began to chip away. Bynum scored 11, Afflalo eight and the Pistons had the lead down to 11 with seven minutes left when Cavaliers coach Mike Brown put James, West and Varejao back into the game and order was restored.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com (313) 222-1489

Saturday, April 25, 2009
Game 3: Cavaliers 79, Pistons 68
Bob Wojnowski
Cavs emphatically ending Pistons era

Auburn Hills -- One last feisty flurry, a few hard fouls, a couple snarls, and then it was over. The Pistons had a little something left, but not much, not that it really matters anymore.

It's not official but it's absolutely inevitable, and has been for a while. And for a team that terrorized the Eastern Conference with a clenched fist for six years, this is the worst kind of humiliation. The Pistons are being defrocked and declawed, and LeBron James is having a grand old time doing it.

With five minutes remaining Friday night, James grabbed an alley-oop pass from Mo Williams and slammed it in, then celebrated like the bad guy was dead, which for Cleveland, he is. The Cavaliers stomped the Pistons 79-68 to seize a 3-0 series lead, and everyone knows where this is headed: straight toward a first-round sweep.

The funeral will be Sunday in Game 4. This was the respectful public viewing, and it actually was interesting for a while, 53-53 after three quarters. But in the NBA, the Pistons know both sides of the brutal truth: There's no stopping a rising superstar, and there's no stemming a precipitous decline.

This isn't about heart and pride and effort anymore. The Pistons played hard for stretches, they're just not nearly good enough. Once this team fully realized how valuable Chauncey Billups was after the trade, and how uncoachable Allen Iverson was, it was over.

All that's left is the humbling, and the Cavs are delivering it with glee. They shrugged off Kwame Brown's hard foul on James, they shook off the Pistons' attempts to be physical, and they glided to victory. James mostly toyed with the Pistons and finished with 25 points, and former Piston Joe Smith chipped in 19.

"We get paid a lot of money, you should always play with pride and play with heart," Richard Hamilton said. "I'm not the type of guy who hangs my hat on moral victories. Everybody here knows what it means to win."

Or, what it meant to win. Hamilton admitted it was killing him to watch the Cavs celebrate, knowing the Pistons used to snap teams in half at The Palace.

"It's hard," Hamilton added. "Just a terrible situation."

Speechless

There's isn't even much anger left -- from the Pistons or their fans. The Cavs won 66 games in the regular season. The Pistons won 39. This series is a surprise only if you're clueless.

There's nothing left to say, and don't take my word for it. Antonio McDyess, the most-forthright Piston, was asked for a comment.

"Sorry guys, I got nothing to say," he said.

Rasheed Wallace, you got a minute?

"No."

It's a sad scene, as endings usually are. Sad and eerie, and maybe for this final season, avoidable. The Pistons did win 59 games last year, and played the eventual champion Celtics tough. For all those who shrieked for Joe Dumars to blow it up after six straight Eastern Conference Finals, this is what you get -- the pieces of what used to be a very good team, the hole in the ground where it stood, and the memories.

Shadows of former selves

Nothing goes on forever, but goodness, when the Pistons deconstruct their great eras, they crumble ingloriously. On this night, there was Wallace trying to keep his heavy old legs moving, trying to summon his old edge. Sure enough, he got another technical foul, but it came from the bench, where he did his shouting while sitting.

There was one-time Pistons stalwart Ben Wallace, a reserve for the Cavaliers, his hair shaved short. There were the thunder sticks, slapped together by a decent-sized crowd, but with more than a few Cleveland interlopers. Was it really only five years ago those sticks were thumped with passion as the Pistons stomped the Lakers?

This should be painful in every way for Pistons fans, watching another superstar shove them aside, as Michael Jordan did in the '90s. Then they get to turn on the TV and see Chauncey Billups averaging 33.5 points and zero turnovers as Denver holds a 2-0 lead on New Orleans.

This is what happens when you pull the string, any string, on a tightly wound team. It unravels, and can't be re-wound. Dumars' task will be very difficult now, because he squandered his cushion. He essentially got nothing for Billups, and although all that cap space is a worthwhile asset, it still must be used smartly, otherwise the trade will go down as a disaster.

Planning for the future will resume shortly because there's no suspense left in this series, in this season, in this era. The Pistons may not be giving up but they've long since given in -- to age and frustration. And yes, to simple inevitability.

bob.wojnowski@detnews.com.

Stick a fork in the Pistons; they are done

Cavs sweep!

gdennis59 wrote:

Cavs sweep!

gs78 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Cavs sweep!

Sorry, gs. It's destiny though.