The quiet notes will take quick looks at what is going on in the NBA.

The top teams are:

(in no particular order)

San Antonio Spurs (now with Kurt Thomas) until proven otherwise in the playoffs

Detroit Pistons now with added youth

Boston Celtics with the 3 amigos

The hottest team:

Houston Rockets with an energized T-Mac and best center Yao

Biggest question?

Who will play better? Cleveland with Wallace or Chicago with Gooden?

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It was supposed to be a great ball game.

ABC had the Phoenix Suns vs. the Detroit Pistons at 2:30 pm Eastern time for all of us Piston fans.

A blockbuster battle of the team of no stars vs. the Shaq Suns.

Just how would Steve Nash direct Shaq in the half court?

Your intrepid author mistimed his afternoon nap and woke up in the 3rd quarter. My Pistons had a 30 point lead.

30 points? Ok, you knew there would be problems getting Shaq into the Phoenix run and gun system, but 30 points?

It was a contrast of styles with Phoenix running around outside picks, one man after another, to get lanes to the basket for Stoudemire or mid range jumpers, while receiving Steve Nash passes, while Detroit set up one on one mismatches of Tayshaun Prince or Rasheed Wallace or ran Rip Hamilton through inside screens or used McDyess on high pick and rolls.

Billups played smart, with 14 points and 11 assists, steering the offense to the post as much as he could to combat the Suns’ potent fast-break offense. It worked, too — the Suns had only 10 fast-break points.

“I didn’t come down a lot on the break and shoot my three that I love to shoot,” Billups said. “That gets them into their fast break. I just wanted to control, control, control and get some guys down there with me.”

He looked in particular for Rasheed Wallace, who abused Phoenix forward Amare Stoudemire with his turnaround jumper in the post to score a team-high 22 points. He also had eight rebounds.
source

The announcers did their best to keep it entertaining. Know what they talked about?

Rasheed Wallace. Nothing but Rasheed for the remainder of the game. You would have thought Rasheed was the best player on the planet.

At one point, ABC even replayed several of Rasheed’s moves scoring bucket after bucket on turn around post moves.

Now as a Piston fan, it can be told that the Pistons are not very good without Rasheed. When Rasheed turns it on, he is unstoppable.

When Rasheed goes down in the paint on defense, you will not score. He stops all the top players and is a key to the Pistons great defense.

Often with Rasheed it is keeping him motivated. You see there are nights when Rasheed just gets bored or cranky and then you see little production and maybe a technical.

That is the Rasheed that most fans think of when thinking of Rasheed.

The real Rasheed is one of the best big men in the league.

Did you know Rasheed keeps a library of books on the team plane and reads about everything from current world leaders to Genghis Khan? No, you didn’t.

Did you know that Rasheed has taken all of the talented rookies on the team under his care and tutelage? No, you didn’t. Coach Flip Saunders calls him Mother Goose.

As they say in the Shrek movie, Rasheed has layers. He is an Onion boy.

Did you know he is also not publicized for giving to a lot of local charities?

Today Rasheed was motivated and dominated the Suns!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can Rasheed rule in the playoffs?

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The Pistons were able to play defense on one guy.

Uhh, one guy?

Yeah, they held Dwight “Superman” Howard to eight points on 2 for 9 shooting with 5 turnovers.

Nice, what happened?

The Pistons lost to the Magic 103 – 85.

How could they lose?

They forgot to play defense on the other 4 guys.

“I am disappointed, (the players) are disappointed and the fans are disappointed,” coach Flip Saunders said after the Orlando Magic came into The Palace on Wednesday night and laid a 103-85 whipping on the Pistons. “We didn’t need to come out and lay an egg like that.”

The Magic shot holes in the Pistons’ 10-game winning streak with a barrage of 3-point shots. They knocked down 13-of-20 on the night, nine of the first 12. source

Apparently the Pistons have the magic powers of a chicken and can lay eggs.

The NBA just gets weirder all the time.

Anyway, the Magic just kept pouring in the 3’s.

Bogans, Rashard Lewis (20 points) and former Piston Maurice Evans (16 points) combined to make 11 of 13 triples and the Magic won at The Palace for the first time in eight tries.

“They were hot, man, hot, hot, hot,” Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said. “Give them credit, they came in here and took it to us. No excuses.”

Was Chauncey singing when he said this?

Oh, my. What could happen next?

Leave it to the All-Star break to break momentum.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do strange losses upset you?

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Jason Maxiell danced to victory against the Bobcats

The Pistons are hot again and looking like a championship team.

Taking 24 three-point attempts was probably not the way the Pistons figured they’d beat the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday night.

But they started falling early, when Tayshaun Prince made four of five in the first quarter, and they never really stopped, as the team finished 12-for-24 from long range in a 113-87 victory at the Palace. source

The Pistons set the tone early with defense.

The Pistons (37-13) held the Bobcats to 13 points in the first quarter, when they went up by as much as 20, and for the second game in a row, they didn’t look back.

The Pistons just keep on rolling.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Pistons win the East?

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Your intrepid author has been warning you that it is a long season.

It is much too early to hand the crown over to the Boston Celtics.

Now with the Western Conference top teams adding Shaq, Weber, and Gasol and the Spurs healing up and adding Stoudamire, it is even more reason to not hand over the NBA Title to the Boston Celtics.

Not that we should give up on the Lucky Green men, but take a look at this recent quote from Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars:

On the Boston Celtics possibly riding their superstars too much:

“All I will say is this: We’ve seen it before. I think it’s great for them, it’s exciting for them, we’ve been there before with the gaudy record. Phoenix was there a few years ago with the gaudy record. Dallas had a gaudy record, Miami had a gaudy record, and none of us got to where we wanted to get to in that particular year.

So all I’m saying is that we’ve seen it. We’ve done it, we’ve lived that gaudy record that they’re living right now, and it didn’t pay dividends for us so I would tell people to hold up on presenting that trophy just yet, because there’s a lot of basketball yet to be played. A lot of playoff series, and a lot of things can go on.

The gaudy record is nice, but like I said, you go back over the last four years, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix, and Dallas had the same gaudy record that Boston has and none of us won it that year.” source

You see it may come down to how Doc Rivers uses his players or uses them up. The choice will be his.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Are you still picking Boston?

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Rip Hamilton scoring over Dwight Howard

The Pistons destroyed the Orlando Magic.

It was a no contest.

Rasheed came out to show Orlando and Dwight Howard what an NBA All Star veteran can do and he did it early and often.

By the time the first quarter was over the game was hard to watch.

First Quarter score Pistons 39 – Magic 18

Final Score Pistons 101 – Magic 93

Rasheed was a +24 while he was on the floor. That means the Pistons outscored the Magic by 24 points while Rasheed was on the floor. Pretty hard to overcome that kind of output.

It was not that Dwight Howard looked bad on the court. On the contrary, at times he looked dominant, but that was against the Pistons bench. And that was a bored bench, most of the time playing with a 20 point plus lead.

At times, even Amir Johnson looked better than Dwight. It is hard to play on the road behind by so many points.

Yes, it was a hard game to watch.

Rasheed Wallace stole a pass on the opening possession against the Orlando Magic. In the first 2 1/2 minutes, the Detroit Pistons’ forward scored seven points, blocked a shot and grabbed a rebound.

When Wallace’s pace slowed, Richard Hamilton picked up the slack.

Hamilton scored 32 points and Wallace had 13 of his 15 in the first quarter, helping the Pistons build a big lead that allowed them to coast in a 101-93 win over Orlando on Friday night. source

The Pistons wanted to send a message back to the Magic. The message was sent in impressive fashion.

What was the message?

We are better!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you think the Magic want to meet the Pistons in the playoffs again?

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Rashard Lewis – We beat the Pistons!

Young teams have to go through a growth cycle and it appears that the Orlando Magic took a big step in that growth cycle.

The Magic beat the Pistons 102 to 100.

The Pistons had pounded the Magic on a regular basis

It had gotten to the point that some of the Magic were tired of the losing and some of them half expected to just lose again.

This is the growth cycle.

You must overcome the psychological hurdles that the great teams can throw at you. Losing to the Pistons was one of those hurdles.

It happened four straight games in last year’s playoffs, and four in the regular season before that. Detroit also handily won their first of four contests this year. source

The Pistons did not make it easy for the Magic. Chauncey Billups managed to can a 32 foot 3 pointer to tie it up with 3.6 seconds left.

“I was thinking, ‘How in the world did he make that?”‘ Howard said. “I was expecting him to miss it, but they call him ‘Big Shot Chauncey.”‘

Actually they call him Mr. Big Shot, maybe correct nicknames is another one of those hurdles.

Rashard Lewis made a tough shot at the buzzer to pull out the victory.

Mr. Big Shot was willing to accept that. Great teams accept great losses.

“I can sleep after a game like this,” said Chauncey Billups, whose 32-foot 3-pointer tied the score with 3.6 seconds left. “After that loss in Chicago, I was up at five in the morning, mad, wondering what’s going on. A game like this, we fought, we competed and the dude (Lewis) hit a tough, tough shot. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.” source

The Magic had more heroes in this game.

Lewis might have received a $116 million contract from the Magic, but on this night, it was Hedo Turkoglu who hurt the Pistons the most.

He had 26 points and had eight assists. The Magic kept running a high pick-and-roll play with Dwight Howard (23 points). While the Pistons’ defense focused on Howard, Turkoglu continually got clear lanes to the basket.

Rasheed Wallace had a monster game for the Pistons with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Orlando took a little step towards believing in themselves and it can only pay dividends down the road.

Keep in mind they caught the Pistons in a mini slump and things may not work as well the next time, but that too is a part of the growth cycle.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Where is your team in the growth cycle?

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LeBron James knows he must improve for Cleveland to win

It is not often that LeBron James is humbled.

It is even less often that the King is shown to be at a deficit with his hoop skills.

The Cleveland Cavaliers surprised a lot of teams last year, but unless LeBron and the team improve, they will fall behind the Pistons, Celtics, and probably the Magic.

And right now LeBron is behind Kobe in his ability to finish a game.

In last year’s Championship, the San Antonio Spurs took LeBron and basically punished him.

So the Spurs took LeBron out behind the woodshed?

Well, not exactly, but something like that.

The San Antonio Spurs prevented LeBron James from dominating in last year’s NBA Championship series.

The Spurs, given more than enough time to game plan, took advantage of his shortcomings during the Finals. Bruce Bowen chased him wherever he went, and when James did penetrate, he usually found a four-man wall waiting for him.

The Spurs’ goal: If James wanted to drive, he was going to have to plow through a crowd of them to do so. Instead, they dared James to fire pick-and-roll jumpers, and he didn’t make nearly enough, shooting just 32 percent in the four-game sweep. source

The King was not going to side idly by and let this public humiliation escape away without rectifying some soft spots in his game.

So, LeBron James went to work this past summer.

So James brought Cleveland’s shooting coach, Chris Jent, with him nearly everywhere he went last summer. Jent was in Las Vegas working with James as he trained with Team USA. He accompanied him to Los Angeles for the ESPYs. To New England for a working vacation.

The results aren’t hard to see. Just ask the Memphis Grizzlies, whom James hung 51 points on Tuesday. He’s leading the league in scoring, averaging 29.8 points per game while shooting a career-best 48.7 percent. James’ three-point percentage has dropped slightly, but his midrange game has never been better.

Now that the King has improved, LeBron would like to see the team improve. One area of definite improvement would be more talent.

“They have to get LeBron more help,” one scout said recently.

The GM, Danny Ferry, has twice tried to get Mike Bibby, asked about Andre Miller of the Sixers, tried to put together a package for Jason Kidd of the Nets. So far no luck.

Geez, LeBron takes the team all the way to the finals without talent. How scary would the Cav’s be with talent?

One thing is for sure, LeBron will be working on his game in the meantime to get better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Is LeBron the best player in the NBA?

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Rasheed says – You will now be eaten alive!

Rasheed is the reluctant superstar.

At times, Rasheed is as dominant as any player on the floor and at times, Rasheed just seems to disappear.

When Wallace disappears, he can do it quietly just as well as he does it loudly. Most of us remember the loudly, but long time watchers also notice the quietly.

But like a sleeping Bear, beware when Rasheed wants to be the dominant force. He will wake up and eat your team alive.

The Rasheed that showed up in San Antonio was of the wake up the bear variety.

You just cannot stop Rasheed when he wants it and he wanted it against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Final Score Pistons 90 Spurs 80.

Wallace was all head-shakes and scowls after two frustrating losses to Boston and Dallas. He was all smiles, dancing and dunking here Thursday.

“We could lose 10 games in a row, but we’re the type of team, we don’t hang our head. We don’t walk around moping — that’s not us,” said Wallace, who produced 23 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and three steals in the Pistons’ reassuring 90-80 win over the defending champion Spurs at the AT&T Center where the Spurs had won 17 of 19.

“We all want to win too much,” Wallace continued. “Everybody in here is a winner.” source

Rasheed is one of the most quotable players in the league with a refreshing view on everything. Tim Duncan of the Spurs is at the opposite end of the quote spectrum. When asked what happened, he replied.

“It’s not even the turnovers,” Duncan said. “It’s just everything: The missed shots, the turnovers, the turnovers turn into easy baskets, us working hard and them getting an easy play at the other end. Just all of that came at once tonight.” source

Even though the pesky defense of Lindsey Hunter on Manu Ginobili produced a couple of turnovers and a 7 point outburst that helped determine the game, it was still a night that belonged to Rasheed.

“When Sheed is locked in and focused like that, he is, without a doubt, our No. 1 option,” said Billups, who added 11 points for Detroit. “He does something out there that nobody can do.”

The Pistons and Spurs could easily meet in the NBA Finals, so for Rasheed to have his way will alter how Tim Duncan and the Spurs play Wallace the next time.

You just cannot wake the bear and expect to have a pleasant conversation. You have to run for your lives when Rasheed wants to play!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Who else would qualify as a reluctant superstar?

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Teammates?

Can you see it?

Rasheed Wallace joking with Shaq before the game?

A front line of Tayshaun Prince, Wallace, and Shaq?

Yeah, you are right; it probably has a zero chance of happening. But how cool would it be, if it did?

Just think of the next time the Celtics rolled into the Palace to play the Detroit Pistons and Kevin Garnett had to look up to Shaq and then see Rasheed needling him, standing right next to Shaq.

Shaq could help. The Pistons have a serious flaw on their team and it is in the paint. Rasheed and McDyess do not like to post as much as they like to shoot.

On the few occasions when the Pistons have lost this season, opponents have destroyed them in the paint.

Excluding the Nov. 18 game in Sacramento, in which both teams scored 36 points in the paint, the Pistons have been outscored in the paint by an average of 15.4 points in their seven other losses. source

Hey, Big Baby on the Celtics had the game of a lifetime against the Pistons the other day. If Big Baby can suddenly look like he is an All Star, then anyone can.

Shaquille O’Neal lowdown

Shaq will turn 35 in March and that is getting up there for a guy that carries so many pounds around. So his trade value is not too high. He can be had.

Ok, dreaming again. But even a 35 year old Shaq put on a solid roster is still dangerous. Besides, we all know Shaq only plays in the playoffs these days.

Shaquille O’Neal is off to Los Angeles to have further testing done on a dodgy hip that he hurt a few days before Christmas while diving for a loose ball. Nobody knows the extent of the injury other than to say that it could be worse than previously diagnosed (bursitis of the left hip). If it turns up that O’Neal has anything, anything wrong with his left side beyond just a little inflammation, then the Heat need send the Big Fella to bed, and not think twice about it. source

You scoff, but who would have thought Danny Ainge would land Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and not lose Paul Pierce?

Could you see the look on Duncan’s face in the NBA finals?

Yeah, the Pistons should trade for Shaq. They could be handing a championship banner.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would you make the trade for Shaq?

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