Tim Duncan says “You have to stop me to get to the finals

The Lakers picked up Pau Gasol, so they would not lose any momentum when Andrew Bynum was injured. When Bynum comes back, you have a front court of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom to go with Kobe Bryant. Arguably a powerful lineup.

The Phoenix Suns dealt the Matrix for Shaquille O’Neal. The Suns needed a center to get past the Spurs and because the Gasol deal had moved the Lakers ahead of them. If Shaq can turn it on one more time for the speedy Suns with Amare Stoudemire moving to power forward and Steve Nash wanting to win a ring before he retires, then the deal will look brilliant.

Even the San Francisco Warriors picked up Chris Weber, because they have playoff potential and are seeking any edge they can find.

So the Spurs looked around and decided to take…no one.

Yeah, that is right. No one.

“I never feel pressure to make a deal,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We talk to everybody, just like the other 29 teams. If something makes sense, we’ll do it. But making deals because you feel pressure is a recipe for failure.” source

Now the San Antonio Spurs did sign Damon Stoudamire to fill in for the injured Tony Parker, but that is it.

Their record does not look quite as sparkling as usual due to various injuries, but come playoff time you still have to knock off the Big Fundamental if you want to win the West.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Are the Spurs still the team to beat?

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Tayshaun Prince

The story was not in the victory over the Warriors on this wintry Detroit day.

No, the 109 – 87 victory was nice, but under the circumstances, expected.

The real story is that the Pistons are on a roll and rejuvenated. They play a lot of youth and still have that menacing mix of Rasheed Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and, of course, today’s hero Tayshaun Prince.

Boston may be getting all the press clippings, but Detroit has quietly begun to play great defense and great offense. This had led to a lot of winning, despite injuries and a lot of road games to begin the season.

But how about that game in the snow storm?

Even though the snowstorm kept half the announced sellout crowd of 22,076 away from The Palace Sunday (10,050 fans actually walked through the turnstiles), and the schedule-makers may have hamstrung the Golden State Warriors by making them play a matinee after flying across the country on Saturday, the Pistons didn’t care about any of that.

“That happens,” said Chauncey Billups, after the Pistons ran roughshod over the Warriors, 109-87, raising their record to 17-7. “We are going to get it later on when we have to make a short trip to Phoenix on a back-to-back. Everybody has that. They came out not being aggressive and running and gunning like they usually do, so we tried to take advantage of that.” source

With Tay and Dice playing tonight’s important roles, Chauncey Billups explains how it works in the new all offense NBA.

Tayshaun Prince and Antonio McDyess accepted that challenge. Prince led the way with 23 points, hitting 8 of 14 shots. McDyess, who only played 25 minutes, produced 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting, with 11 rebounds.

Prince and McDyess combined for 17 points in a 35-point second quarter.

“A lot of teams like to play small and fast and shoot a lot of 3-pointers,” said Billups, who produced 19 points and six rebounds. “That’s OK. We just stick to our guns and play the same way. We can do that because our bigs are pretty agile and they can stay with the smaller forwards. If you go small on us, we are going to punish you every single time.”

Look out NBA; the Pistons are coming to get you!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Pistons win the Eastern Conference?

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The return of James, your basketball author. Now the good and the bad. The good is that my most excellent boss and coworkers filled in quite nicely and that is most appreciated.

The bad is that James is diagnosed with Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Fear not, they say the cancer is one that is curable, so let us move forward with our dreams of basketball!

Who you calling senile?

The Warriors are wild and crazy guys!

The thing about the Warriors is they make no sense. Basketball at the professional level isn’t supposed to work this way. In the mixed-up Warrior World, one-on-four pull-up jump shots are encouraged, not punished; a player who has been suspended six times is a source of inspiration and stability; and guys called Mully and Nellie are considered the masterminds of the operation. source

Now how many coaches tell you to shoot the ball? Now years ago while coaching amateur teams your intrepid author used to tell players if you get your shot take it or expect to come out of the game, but Don Nelson tells his players to just shoot the ball. That will get the defense to spread out.

“It’s a lot more organized than what it seems,” Baron Davis said.

It starts with rule No. 1 from coach Don Nelson: Shoot the ball.

“He actually said, ‘Don’t worry about making it,’” Austin Croshere said. “You have to take that shot in order to get the defense to extend to open things up. It’s within certain parts of our offense. To get the ball into the corner, you have to get that guy out there.”

GM Chris Mullins thinks it makes their version of small ball work. Chris was one of the all time great long range shooters, by the way. His shot was smooth and easy.

There’s nothing you can do to stop their style. You know how you don’t want to fight a crazy guy, because you don’t know what he is going to do? The same thought applies here. If the Warriors are going to shoot the first 25-footer they see, is there really any way to defend against it?

Oddly, their best player is Stephen Jackson, the prime suspect in the Malice at the Palace against the Pistons.

With the Warriors, he’s a source of inspiration. He plays with confidence, and it spreads.

“The guys on my team know that, the best player on their team, I’m going to make him work,” Jackson said.

The Warriors were 1-6 while he served a seven-game suspension for the shooting incident. Since he returned, they’re 9-2. Going back to the end of last season, the Warriors have won 25 of their past 32 regular-season games in which Jackson has played.

The Warriors play a game even stranger than the Suns, but will it be enough to win a championship?

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you like watching the Warriors play?

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