Hedo Turkoglu, Maurice Evans, and James Augustine mob Rashard Lewis after Lewis' shot at the buzzer lifted the Magic over the Pistons, 102-100, on Monday night.
Photo by John Raoux, the Associated Press
Brett Edwards is a great blogger. In addition to co-writing The Association with Craig Kwasniewski, Edwards regularly contributes to NBA Fanhouse. I've always enjoyed reading his take on NBA goings-on, even if I don't always agree with him.
That's why I find it so odd that he'd make a post like this one at Fanhouse, in which he tries raining on our parade by writing the following:
That's an okay shot by Shard I guess (it did win the game and all) but he sure needed a lot of rim and backboard to get that thing to go down, didn't he? Hey, how about that three by Chauncey though? It was from about 32 feet, and please, he only took two and a half steps, not four as the ESPN goofballs would have you believe. In the end it was irrelevant, as the Magic got the victory, but to me that was a much more impressive shot than the game-winner from Lewis.
I see Brett's point regarding Rashard's shot: it did bounce around for a while before dropping, which makes it a bit less remarkable. I also agree with Brett that Billups was indeed really freakin' far away from the basket on his shot. But I don't buy his argument that Billups' shot was more impressive. Why? It should never have counted in the first place, and there are two reasons why. First, Keyon Dooling did his best to intentionally foul Chauncey when Billups received the inbounds pass, but the foul wasn't called. Second, Billups took approximately 83,422 4 steps before hoisting that trey, which should have been subsequently waved-off due to traveling. Edwards doesn't think Billups took extra steps, but the tape doesn't lie: watch ESPN's fourth-quarter highlight reel (thanks, YouTube) and you'll see what I mean.
However, I guess we should thank Chauncey for making the basket and the liberal officiating crew for not making the proper calls. In a way, those forces collaborated to make our victory that much sweeter for us, and the defeat that much more bitter for Pistons fans.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch Detroit Bad Boys, Matt Watson concedes in his post-game write-up that Billups traveled. He adds this condescending remark towards the end: "So yeah, unbeknownst to you, me or the Pistons, the Magic viewed this game as their own little Ohio State-Michigan." Yes, the Pistons have every right to talk down to us after having owned us for this entire decade. But is it really so bad that a team celebrates a victory over a tough opponent after years of futility? I don't think so.
We'll see what happens Friday night in Detroit when these teams meet in a rematch; needless to say, the Pistons will be juiced for that one, especially given our excitement last night. Until then, I'm going to enjoy this victory as I should, and not let other people in the basketblogosphere dampen my enthusiasm.
UPDATE: Two more Pistons-centric views for you.
- Need4Sheed wasn't a fan of Detroit's defense:
You can't let a team shoot 50% from the floor and expect to win. You can do it...but it's not easy.
- Pistons Nation wasn't happy with the play of the Pistons' reserves:
The bench, out side of Jason Maxiell (11 pts, 7 rbs / 4 off ), continued to struggle. Jarvis went 0/4 from the field while picking up 4 fouls in 12 minutes of play. Stuckey too continued to struggle matching his point output (2) with his turnovers.
Until further notice they’re NOT the "Zoo Crew", they’ve been playing more like the animal shelter.
Pistons junkies are lucky enough to have three great blogs chronicling their team. Check them all out.