Human Victory Cigar

Alright kiddies,

Now is the time we’ve all been waiting for. As I sit here in a small corner bar in Portland, OR listening to one of my best friends play a ridiculous jazz guitar medley that would make you cringe it’s so good, let’s consider what lies ahead in the 2007 NBA Playoffs.

Now that the pain and misery of the NBA regular season is behind us, we can now focus on what the players have referred to as “what really counts.” We’ve watched great play, we’ve watched half-hearted play, we’ve watched absolutely brilliant play, and we’ve also witnessed a home loss to the Bobcats. So, what are we left with? Absolutely no definitive sense of what we can expect from this team in the weeks to come…that’s what.

For me, it has boiled down to this:

• How long before this team self destructs from all their regular season bad habits and begins fingering anyone and everyone in the organization for their lack of performance?
• How long before someone realizes that give up massive amounts of easy lay-ups and high percentage shots to your opponent is not the safest road to the NBA title?
• How long before this team realizes that thinking you can “3-point” your way back from a large deficit is only going to make matters worse?
• How long before the practice of double and, on occasion, triple teaming players who have shown the ability to pass the ball is accepted as a bad idea?
• How long before the Pistons players stop shrugging off humiliating losses to inferior opponents (as often as it continues to happen)?
• How long before the Pistons decide that it is in their best interest to snap a team’s neck when they’re down instead of launching 20 footers until the opponent finally obliges and snatches victory from the jaws of defeat?
• How long before Saunders actually takes charge of in-game situations instead of making excuses after the fact about what he didn’t like or was hoping wouldn’t happen?

Yes folks…many many questions to be answered and only 4 playoff series (if they are lucky) to do so. I am a Pistons fan through and through, but much of what I saw this year leads me to believe that they will go down in a flaming heap much like last season. Heck, if they manage to squeeze by MIA or CHI in round two, they might just have an easier series against CLE (considering they don’t go back to triple teaming Lebron for the entire series and leaving half the Cavalier roster open under the basket) and wind up in the Finals. That said, I have no real confidence that this team will leave its lesser twin behind and soundly beat their Western Conference opponent. Actually, this team’s lack of a killer instinct, lax defensive efforts for long stretches, reliance on jump shots, lack of interior D, lack of paint scoring, and overall needless cockiness might just have them sitting in front of that big blue Pistons/Chevrolet backdrop shrugging their shoulders and making cliché excuses about being outplayed, chips falling where they may, just going cold, opponents getting hot at the right time, or wanting it more, or any other of myriad excuses for why they came up short.

Let’s hope they actually DO find that magic switch that they clearly are reaching for, but insist on telling us they don’t believe in and doesn’t exist.

It’s playoff time….get your caps! You don’t want co-workers laughing at your for the missing hair you will have voluntarily removed from your scalp.