Theo Ratliff drawing a charge on Dwight Howard

Image details: Detroit Pistons v Orlando Magic, Game 3 served by picapp.com

The Pistons have a habit of nullifying the best player on the other team. In the case of the Orlando Magic that player would be Dwight Howard, better known to some as Superman.

For the first three games Dwight Howard was up and down, but key to the Magic fast break.

Then came game four and the disappearance of Dwight Howard.

But perhaps basketball’s Man of Steel possesses feet of clay.

High drama generally serves as a casting call for the game’s true stars, but Dwight Howard disappointingly proved again in Game 4 against the Pistons on Saturday that he’s currently more a creation of hype than its validation.

He shrank from the pressure. It was as though the basketball doubled as Kryptonite.

“They played defense on him, we didn’t,” Antonio McDyess said. “They stopped giving him the ball in the paint. (Hedo) Turkoglu just started taking over the game, and (Howard) wasn’t getting the ball in the paint. That was huge.”

McDyess was being charitable.

Howard didn’t get the ball enough, especially late, because he didn’t want the ball enough.

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Dwight Howard was Superman at the slam dunk contest. He is super built in the upper body. The NBA marketing guys love him. He made the All NBA first team, which puts him on a par with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Wonder what Rasheed thinks of that?

There’s always blame when stars don’t shine, but Howard can only fault himself because for all his above-the-rim theatrics and man-child physical form, Howard doesn’t score unless he rolls off the screen for a thunderous slam or goes back up quickly with an offensive rebound.

Howard’s offensive repertoire remains at a rudimentary level. He’s not comfortable making an away-from-the-basket offensive move. He rushes shots, clumsily throwing up garbage and then complaining that the referees aren’t giving him a fair whistle.

The Pistons removed Dwight from game four and now it is up to Stan Van Gundy to find a way to put him back for game five.

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Hedo Turkoglu misses over Jason Maxiell with game 4 of the Orlando Magic vs. Detroit Pistons NBA playoffs on the line

Image details: Detroit Pistons v Orlando Magic, Game Four served by picapp.com

The Orlando Magic had great chances to win game two and game four of the second round series with Detroit.

In game two, Rashard Lewis had the ball with seconds on the clock and Orlando down by 1. He chose to drive to the hole and put up a funky shot while guarded by McDyess. Rashard sort of tried an up and under layup trying to go under the outstretched arm of McDyess. The ball rolled off of the front of the rim and Dwight Howard missed the put back.

Why did Orlando choose that particular play?

In game four, Hedo Turkoglu had scored several points in a row and he was red hot. Orlando again had the ball in the waning seconds down by one.

Down by one with 8.9 seconds left, Hedo Turkoglu bled the clock at the top of the key, then drove into traffic and missed a lay-up at the buzzer.

It seemed a curious decision.

“I was reading the situation,” Turkoglu told the Sentinel. “I didn’t want to rush and force a bad shot. Maybe I was holding it too long instead of going right away. I’m just upset that I couldn’t help the team. I think we can all say this one is our fault.”

Coach Stan Van Gundy shouldered some of the blame.

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Some of the blame? Stan Van Gundy should be taking more than some of the blame.

The play was strange in several ways. First off, Hedo had driven to his left about 50 thousand times in a row. Tayshaun Prince was guarding him, an excellent one on one defender. Hedo faked to his right with the same right footed jab step. Tay took the fake and Hedo was off to the races. Maybe the Pistons wanted him to go left, who knows.

Then, Jason Maxiell was waiting for him, just like the Pistons knew the play. Go left and run into Maxiell. Hedo put up a funky shot and from there the game is history.

Second off, the Magic have a play with a high post of Dwight Howard. You remember him? Yeah, he is the center on the Orlando Magic known as Superman. He used to be a main cog in their offense until game 4.

Hedo would come off of a high screen by Dwight Howard and have several options. It is their bread and butter game breaking play. Two times now they could have used it to win games and instead called for one on one drives by three point shooting forwards.

Stan? What are you thinking?

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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.
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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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Tayshaun Prince from stopper to scorer

Joe D wants Tayshaun to become a scorer. Joe wants it to be Tay’s team.

The Pistons solid line up has grown a little old in the tooth. Joe D had a plan. He always has a plan.

If you watch the moves Joe makes for the Pistons, you will see that his sight is always towards making them better down the road. There are no quick fixes.

His formula worked as Tayshaun had 34 in the first game. Even Chauncey was pushing him.

“I told him before the game, ‘You’ve got to go, man, you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go,’ ” said Chauncey Billups, who shot 5-for-14 from the field and 9-for-10 from the line, finishing with 19 points and 11 assists. “He was awesome. He’s capable of doing that a lot.” source

But there is more to the Pistons than just deciding a different starter will score the most points.

The new Pistons are going to rely heavily on their youthful bench. It is time for Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Jarvis Hayes, Arron Afflalo, Nazr Mohammed, and Richard Stuckey to play big time minutes.

Oh, did your intrepid author forget to mention Flip Murray? He led the team in scoring in the next victory.

Put it this way, Wally Pipp’s name came up after the game and when Chauncey Billups was asked if Richard Hamilton would be able to get his starting job back, he just smiled and said, “I don’t know, man, I don’t know. We are 2-0 without him.”

They are joking, of course, but for the second straight night without leading scorer Hamilton, the Pistons won impressively on the road, beating the Orlando Magic, 116-92. source

So what happened to the old guys?

It is not like Rasheed, Rip, Chauncey, and McDyess are suddenly going to quit scoring or head to the bench, it is more like making the team more powerful, more relentless. All of these young players bring a certain strength into the game that improves the chances of the Pistons winning.

The last few years the Pistons have looked very tired in the playoffs and kind of slow to react.

This year with all the youth seeing the hardwood, the Pistons are faster, younger, and more energetic than in a long time.

So look out Eastern Conference, the Pistons are back and deeper than ever.

And Tay shall lead them back to the top!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the young guys see enough minutes on the Pistons?

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