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Wednesday, October 22, 12:42 am

Burying Bo

A little less than two years ago my parents and I went to Michigan Stadium to attend a memorial service for Bo Schembechler. We followed our usual routine, even tailgating in the parking lot for a little while outside Crisler Arena prior to heading over the stadium to pay tribute to the man we'd watched for so many years. The scene was a little surreal--I'd never been to a memorial service held in a football stadium before. The marching band was subdued, the stadium only one-third full, none of the charge of a football Saturday, appropriately enough. I think the only other times I'd ever been inside the stadium when the football team wasn't playing was when my cub scout troop would get free tickets to watch the Slippery Rock-Shippensburg State game. Otherwise it had always been packed, of course, and since my parents were the proud holders of four season tickets I got to go to most of the games.

The Bo Shembechler memorial tribute had its highpoints and lows. The low came when Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman mispronounced Schembechler's name, calling him 'Schlemblecher,' much to everyone's disappointment but nobody's surprise. The highpoint was without question Lloyd Carr, who quoted poetry and gave a moving, sincere eulogy about a man he obviously loved dearly. But that was no surprise, either. Lloyd Carr is a very classy guy, someone who always did Michigan and Ann Arbor proud.

Since Lloyd retired it's hard to get excited about Michigan football. Granted, some of this has to do with the team's performance, which has been terrible. But it's more than that. The Rich Rodriguez hire has been one of the two main factors turning me, a lifelong fan, off from Michigan football. Hiring the vulgar Rodriguez from West Virginia was a disservice to fans of both Michigan and UWV. It was wrong to hire away someone else's coach--the sort of shmoe move that only a poor judge of talent would feel required to do. It was also wrong to pay someone four million dollars a year to coach the football team.

Honestly, why couldn't Michigan hire a young, bright up-and-coming coach from the MAC or another second-tier conference from the midwest? Where, after all, did Michigan find Bo Schembechler? Miami of Ohio. Where did Ohio State find Jim Tressel? Youngstown State. But in order to find a diamond in the rough like those two you have to be able to make a smart hire. Because Michigan's Athletic Director, Bill Martin, clearly lacks the confidence in his ability to choose a lesser-known coach, he had to go for people who were already well established, not to mention expensive: first Les Miles, who turned him down, and then Rich Rodriguez, who notified a high school recruit, Terrell Pryor, about his departure for Michigan before he told his own players at West Virgina. Very classy.

And now, to make matters even worse, Michigan Stadium--the most beautiful stadium I've ever set foot in--is being redeveloped to look like an eight-storey mini-mall, which is hardly a surprise given the fact that Martin is himself a developer specializing in the construction of ugly shopping centers. Rodriguez will likely be gone within a few years, but the damange that Bill Martin is wreaking upon a building which should have been declared a protected architectural landmark will never be undone.

The University of Michigan Athletic Department was once run by capable of people who knew how to make a smart hire and keep the fans happy. Well, this fan is not a bit happy about Michigan Football anymore, and even a victory over Michigan State this Saturday (while nevertheless welcome!) would do little to erase the genuine sense of dismay that I feel when I think of what has happened to Bo's team and the stadium he once worked in.

Tuesday, August 5, 1:53 am

Pudgeless in Tigertown

I can't overstate how bummed out I am by the Pudge Rodriguez trade. The guy is hitting .300, is a great fielder, knows how to manage the game--and people think Brandon Inge is going to be able to replace him? Um...does anybody remember how the Tigers played the last time Brandon Inge was their starting catcher? I like Brandon Inge--he's a great 3rd baseman and is one of the 'glue-guys' on the team. But as a catcher, he's a backup. Inge hates catching and is a much worse hitter when he catches than when he plays 3rd base. So, basically we've downgraded from a .300 hitter to someone who will hit .250 maximum....in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth, whom the Tigers traded to New York four years ago for Zach Miner.

I understand that the Tigers need pitching...but trading Pudge for a middle reliever? Even if his contract was due to expire this season, couldn't they have tried to re-sign him for a couple of years? I guess the Tigers assumed--perhaps rightly--that Scott Boras would just send Pudge off to the highest bidder, no matter what, so there was no point in even trying to keep him. But Farnsworth's contract is expiring at the end of this season, too, so what's the difference?

The Tigers may need pitching, but not at this price.

And by the way, why is it that the Tigers need pitching? Oh, I guess that has something to do with the fact that the traded away pitching for hitting over the winter! Thank you, Dealing Dave Dumbrowski!

Friday, June 27, 3:47 pm

When do we get to stop hearing 'God Bless America'?

The other night I went to a Pawsox game with some friends. As has been the case at stadiums throughout the country since September 11, the seventh inning stretch featured a rendition of 'God Bless America.'

Look: I like the song as much as anybody. Indeed, unlike our national anthem, 'God Bless America' is really positive and stirring and doesn't celebrate war. It's a beautiful song.

However, the seventh-inning stretch is something that each stadium has traditionally celebrated in its own way. At Tiger Stadium, they'd always play "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," for some reason. They probably still do at Comerica Park.

After September 11th, and particularly during the world series of 2001 (in which the New York Yankees played), it became common for stadiums to play this song. This is fine--temporarily. But can we please decide when this can come to an end? Is 'God Bless America' for the Iraq War? The War in Afghanistan? Or is it for the never-ending "Global War on Terror"?

There is a time and place for openly manifested group-oriented displays of patriotism. What I object to is the extent that these public and semi- obligatory displays of patriotism have crept into our lives in ways that would have been unfathomable before September 11th.

Most of us have shaken our heads clear of post-September 11th panic and fear. But many elements of it remain. The flack Barack Obama received for not wearing an American lapel pin is one example. Military fly-overs at big games are another example. The American flag patches on NCAA basketball players come to mind, as do the air force jets that buzz my parents' cottage on Lake Michigan while 'patrolling' the Great Lakes. All of them are reminders: we are at war, people! We are all a part of this!

Except we're not all a part of this. Indeed, separating the voting, better-educated, better-connected parts of society from those people who are actually doing the fighting has been a strategy of the Bush administration since September 11th. Our job was to shop, to get the economy moving again. Okay, George! No problem! No wonder Bush was so popular then.

If people in this country want to get serious about not forgetting the troops and the fact that we are at war, then they should instate a draft and bring some equality to a deplorable situation in which the poorest and most poorly-connected are sent to fight in the interests of George W. Bush's corporate donors. That, I think, would bring an end to the war very quickly.

Playing 'God Bless America' endlessly makes me feel that I, along with everyone else, am being asked to put myself on a war footing, but only in a civilian way: by shutting up, standing up, taking off my hat and, for the second time in about two hours, prove my patriotism.

I think that we can prove our patriotism by, at the very least, sending our troops into battle with decent equipment, not stop-lossing them, giving them first-class medical and psychiatric treatment, increasing their benefits, and through countless other tangible measures (immediately beginning a withdrawal from Iraq would actually be my highest preference). The screaming airplanes and forced patriotism I can do without.

Thursday, June 19, 5:17 pm

Bold Tiger Talk

Maybe it's just that the basketball season has ended, but I'm coming down with a serious case of Tiger fever!

Detroit has won eight out of ten, and the Tigers are now just six and a half games behind division-leading Chicago.

All of this is starting to feel vaguely like 2006, only with Detroit in the role of Minnesota. On June 19, 2006 the Twins were eleven games behind Detroit! As was the case with Detroit this year, in 2006 everybody had picked the Twins to do well, but a sluggish start combined with a suprising Detroit surge kept them way behind the Tigers and White Sox (who are now playing the role of Detroit in 2006, but who will fade much sooner) for most of the season. Ultimately, the Twins won the division (on the last day of the season, no less, and at the expense of the Tigers).

Anyway, if the 2006 Twins could do it, why not this year's Tigers?

 

Tuesday, June 10, 1:26 pm

Dominik Hasek retired from professional hockey today, for what seems like the fifth time in the past six years. The announcement is playing second fiddle in the Detroit papers today, because the Pistons have also announced this afternoon that Michael Curry has been hired to replace Flip Saunders as coach.

Since I was living in Turkey for most of the nineties, I missed the first two Red Wing championships of the modern era (that is, the first two cups they won after the 1950s). I saw the third one, though, in 2002, when Hasek played strong through the playoffs and led the Wings to their third championship in six years. Watching the 2002 Stanley Cup finals with my brother at his home in Los Angeles remains one of my favorite sports memories of all time.

This year, Hasek traded goaltending duties with Chris Osgood all season long, but was our starting goalie going into the playoffs. After a couple of wins against Nashville (I still can't believe the NHL actually has franchises in places like Nashville, Tampa Bay and Carolina), Hasek dropped a couple of games and was replaced in net by Osgood. Osgood played well throughout the playoffs and Hasek never appeared in another game.

Good luck, Dominator! Thanks for the memories!

 

Thursday, June 5, 5:30 pm

Detroit sports round-up

Well, they did it. Even after losing what Bill Simmons would describe as a "stomach-punch game" in game five of the Stanley Cup finals, the Detroit Red Wings managed to win game six on the road in Pittsburgh and claim their first cup since 2002. I couldn't be happier. Particularly impressive was that the road win came after their brutal defeat in game five at home (see posting below), after the Wings had been 35 seconds away from capturing the cup in Detroit. You really have to hand it to the Wings' experience. A younger team might have cracked after that bummer of a game five, which Detroit lost in the third overtime. And the final two minutes of game six were almost unbearable to watch, especially after Jiri Hudler's penalty with 1:47 to go. The final Crosby to Hossa shot on Osgood in the closing seconds reminded me a little of the Tennessee Titans losing to St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXIV when Kevin Dyson was tackled at the one-yard line. Close, but we got out of it!

Games five and six were two of the best hockey games I'd seen in a long time. Indeed the first overtime period of game five and the third period of game six were probably the two most competetive and exciting periods I've watched since college (which isn't saying much, because I didn't watch a lot of hockey when I was living in Turkey--and since I've been back in the US the NHL has mostly been on cable channels I don't get). Anyway, it seemed clear that the teams werequite evenly matched, and for a lot of the time they raised one another's performance--a really nice change from watching the Pistons!

Speaking of the Pistons, there's all sorts of talk in the Detroit media about who among the starters will be traded (see here and here). Rasheed and Chauncey are the two most frequently mentioned. Even though Rasheed is my favorite player, I think it's time to bring things to an end with him. The Pistons don't need a seven-foot jump shooter. We need a hungry, semi-veteran power forward or center who is willing to bang bodies without being too much of a drop-off from Rasheed's defense. But you don't replace somebody with nobody. There's no point in trading Rasheed unless it's actually going to make the Pistons better.

I think the Pistons should hold off on trading Chauncey until the second half of next season. As good as Rodney Stuckey looked at times in the playoffs, that's not much to serve as a basis for trading away Chuncey Billups. While Stuck has often been impressive offensively, I'm not sure I trust him to run the offense yet. Lindsay Hunter as player/coach and Rockin' Rodney are not, I think, capable of running things. Stuckey should get another half-season of tutelage, then perhaps the Pistons could try to deal Chauncey.

The one player who shouldn't be traded is Tayshaun Prince. Prince is a "glue guy," someone who helps the team in a lot of intangible ways. He's the one player remaining who, in my opinion, best exemplifies the "spirit of 2004." Like Joe D. was for the Bad Boys, Prince is the one player I'd like to see stay around after the team is broken up to teach incomers what it means to be a Piston.

Depending on what we get in return, Rip Hamilton might be expendable. Same for Antonio McDyess, although it would be a real shame to see him go. Poor Dice--he might have been better off if he'd ditched Detroit after last season to sign with Cleveland. But hopefully, Joe D. will spend his assets wisely. There's no need to blow up the core, but I do think that by the end of next season forty-percent of the starting lineup should be different.

 

Tuesday, June 3, 2:33 am

I'm not yet able to talk about last night's game. In fact, it traumatized me so much that I've spent the last hour or so just sitting and working on the Turkey photos for this website, which I've posted here. They're not finished, but I thought it would be better to finally put some up.

The Wings were thirty-five seconds from the Stanley Cup. They had the cup in the building and then boom--the Penguins scored.

The first overtime was so great, so exciting, I started feeling thankful just to be watching it. Of course, the Wings were taking most of the shots. The Penguins were down, having lost a couple of players to injury in the final minutes of regulation. I thought a few times about where I was the last time the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, in 2002--I had been visiting my brother in Los Angeles at the end of a cross-country drive. We cheered the Wings and then drank to Detroit, the city made so happy by the victory. But then I also started thinking about an acquaintance of my sister, a Red Sox fan whose hands had literally been on the champagne bottle in 1986. Would this game end that way? It seemed unlikely, given the absurd number of shots the Wings were getting. But for every six or seven shots Detroit would take, Pittsburgh would get one or two, and all it takes is one shot.

And, towards the end of three overtimes, that shot came. There was no Igor Larianov to save the day this time.

 

Monday, June 2, 2:47 pm

Today is all about the Wings, but I'm wearing a Nordiques shirt

Today is the fifth and hopefully clinching game of the Stanley Cup finals, which features the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I really wish I had a Wings shirt to wear today, and I've wanted to order one throughout the playoffs, but the only ones I've been able to find online were red, and I want a white one. Also, I don't like the ones which have "Detroit Red Wings" written on it, to clue in anybody who can't understand the wheel and wing logo. I just want a simple white t-shirt with the Wings logo on it. Is that so hard?

The Quebec Nordiques had a pretty cool logo

Late one night last month while searching for a Red Wings t-shirt, it came into my head to try buying a Nordiques shirt. The Nordiques, as most of you remember, were a professional hockey team in Quebec City. They first played in the World Hockey Association from 1972 onwards, then joined the NHL after the WHL's absorption into the National Hockey League starting with the 1979-1980 season. After the 1995 season, the Nordiques moved to Denver, where they became the Colorado Avalanche.

I'm sure the Nordiques had good reasons for leaving. I don't know--I was in Turkey when it happened. But for me, their move represents a lot of terrible changes that have occurred in the NHL since I was in college. Maybe other people can think of crimes that go back earlier, but the first major bummer that the league inflicted upon its fanbase was allowing the Minnesota North Stars to leave its devoted fanbase and depart for Dallas, where they became the Dallas (south?) Stars. Now, I have nothing against the Dallas Stars--they're a good team and they've had some success over the years. But I could never understand how the league could allow the North Stars to leave, especially on the heels of their galvanizing eighth-seed trip to the finals, where they lost to Mario Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins in six games? It was a true bummer, and the transfer of the team would foreshadow subsequent stinker moves, like the Nordiques from Quebec City (1995), the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix (1996), and the Hartford Whalers to "Carolina" (1997).

Another crime against the league was the changing of the names of the conferences and divisions. From 1974 until 1993, the two conferences were called Campbell and Wales, and the four divisions were called Smythe, Norris, Adams, and Patrick. For the non-fan or casual fan, this could be confusing, but it also could inspire interest and pique curiosity. I remember when I was a little kid reading the Free Press sports section at breakfast, asking my mom why the divisions and conferences were named the way they were. It seemed illogical, strange that it wouldn't be obvious, the way it was in other sports leages (divided into Eastern and Western conferences, with likewise geographically named divisions). But it sparked interest in me precisely because it wasn't obvious, that a story would need to be told to really explain it. This was part of the charm of the league, as was the swinging of the octopus in Detroit--until that too was banned earlier in the playoffs!

Even octopus swinging has been forbidden in today's NHL

G.W. Bettman's legacy will not be a good one--and he continues to damage the league

The damage that has been brought upon the league is, in my opinion, largely the fault of the commissioner, Gary W. Bettman.The first American commissioner of the NHL, Bettman has inflicted considerable damage upon the league since getting the job in 1993. So I've got the Nordiques shirt on instead of the wings shirt I wish I had right now. I know, it's a pretty lame substitute, but still--it's my own fault for being a fair-weather fan.

Nevertheless, it's a nice looking shirt and logo. Moreover, I've always had a special fondness for defunct sports teams and leagues (don't get me started about the Michigan Panthers).

In any case here is the main message: despite Bettman's incompetence, the Red Wings have gotten me excited about hockey again! Go Wings!!!

 

Saturday, May 31, 7:48 pm

The non-legacy of Larry Brown

Last night the Pistons lost game 6 of the Eastern Conference championship to the Boston Celtics, and thus lost the series. Like a lot of Pistons fans I'm disappointed, but not surprised. How many of us really believed we had a shot at the title this year, anyway? Nevertheless, I was hoping we could at least get past Boston. As I wrote in an earlier post, in Boston we had the perfect matchup for the team's weakest link, Flip Saunders. Indeed, Celtic coach Doc Rivers was probably the only coach left among the final four teams against whom Flip had a fighting chance.

The coach is important in the NBA, even more important than in other sports. Mediocre coaches win super bowls, NCAA basketball titles, the world series, whatever. But rarely in the NBA. The winning coaches from the past two decades are all people who've struck me as smart and capable of motivating a team: Gregg Popovich, Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Larry Brown. (I don't really know too much about Rudy Tomjanovich, who coached the Rockets to two championships during the MJ interregnum--I was in Turkey at the time. Perhaps he's an exception, I can't say.)

The Pistons had a coach that I liked, years ago. Rick Carlisle took a Pistons team that was supposed to finish last in their division and instead won fifty games with them two years in a row. In 2003, the Pistons made it to the conference finals, only to be swept by New Jersey. Nevertheless, it was an astonishing turnaround.

Carlisle was fired--I think the official reason was that he was rude to people--and Larry Brown was brought in. Larry was a coach I immediately liked. So smart, articulate. Moreover, everyone on that team seemed to add a wrinkle to his game under Larry. Chauncey started acting like a real point guard, Ben Wallace started shooting (under Carlisle, Wallace had been forbidden from shooting, but Larry forced him to). In 2004, the Pistons won a championship, then lost in seven to San Antonio in 2005.

It may not have seemed like a big deal to Larry, but a lot of people in Detroit were upset when he negotiated with Cleveland during the playoffs

Maybe the Pistons had learned all they could from Larry by that time, who knows? Maybe that's why he wanted out, because he sensed that he'd given them all he could. In any case, he left. Obviously, he rubbed a lot of people (myself included) the wrong way by negotiating with Cleveland for their GM job while still coaching Detroit in the playoffs. It was inexcusable. All the same, the man had just taken the team to the finals two years in a row. What a waste.

Could the Pistons have won another championship with Larry? Nobody knows, of course. What we do know is that the Pistons fired Larry, hired Flip Saunders and things haven't been the same since. The point is: good coaches are rare, and in the NBA it is almost essential to have a good coach in order to win the title. When you've got one, you should try to hang on to him. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but it now seems pretty obvious that the Pistons made a monumental mistake in getting rid of Larry Brown.

And now people will want to have Flip Saunders fired. Okay, I'm not against the idea--but who do you replace him with? While I'm pretty confident that the Pistons will never win a title with Flip at the helm, there's no point in firing him only to replace him with Flip 2.0.

Let's just say that Flip doesn't inspire a lot of confidence among Pistons fans

Maybe we can wait a year until Larry leaves Charlotte.

Or maybe this team has just missed its chance.

 

Wednesday, May 13, 9:39 pm

The Celtics-Cavaliers game is all tied up with just a few minutes left in the third quarter. As a Pistons fan, I'm cheering for a three-overtime bloodbath. I'd like to see Boston come out on top tonight, followed by Cleveland winning a three-overtime slugfest at home, followed by Boston's ultimate triumph in a four-overtime heartbuster at home.

I'm not afraid of the Celtics. None of them have ever won anything and their coach is even worse than Flip Saunders. Imagine that--Flip Saunders in a coaching advantage this deep in the playoffs!

No, I remember last year. I don't care if the Pistons would get homecourt advantage versus the Cavs, it's just not worth it. LeBron is always capable of taking over, and no one in Boston can do that.

Then again, I was totally wrong re the Orlando series, so what do I know?

About last night: I really liked Rodney Stuckey's slashing. So good to have a slasher at last! Hopefully Flip won't bench him once Chancey is back--but with Flip, anything is possible.

 

Tuesday, May 13, 9:53 pm

Goodell and the NFL are indeed doing a whitewash (see post below) but not everyone is convinced. On the other hand, here is a perfect example of the corporate (apologist) take that will most likely win out.

Goodell has decided that information provided today by spygate figure Matt Walsh falls within the list of offenses for which the Patriots have already been punished.

That's not surprising, especially as they had announced as much last week.

My prediction is that there will be some pressing of Goodell, especially since Senator Arlen Spector has gotten involved. Ultimately, however, this will all be forgotten. A country as messed up as ours is right now needs to prioritize.

I miss the USFL!

 

Tuesday, May 13 12:07 pm

Nixon in Foxboro

"I am not a crook"

Patriots coach Richard M. ("Bill") Belichick can probably look forward to getting off the hook again once NFL commisioner Roger Goodell finishes his job of whitewashing the New England cheating scandal known as 'spygate.' Indeed, according to an ESPN report, new tapes provided by former New England video assistant Matt Walsh have already been dismissed as having little importance.

Goodell, whose league enjoys an anti-trust exemption from the US government, has been trying for some time to make this scandal go away. On September 20, the NFL announced that it had destroyed all of the tapes it had obtained during its investigation of the matter, and in his Super Bowl news conference on February 1, Goodell argued that New England's stealing of their opponents' signals had "probably" not benefited them anyway.

Oh really? All three of New England's super bowl victories were by just three points. They beat the Steelers by just seven in the AFC Championship in 2002--one of the games for which it is now clear they used stolen (videotaped) signals. It is preposterous to argue that knowing what play the opposing team is going to run was not a significant advantage, or that having such an advantage could not affect the outcome of a game. Of course it can, and it's precisely in order to avoid opening this can of worms that the NFL quickly rid itself of the incriminating tapesafter receiving them from the Patriots last fall.

Obviously, it is impossible to go back in time and see what would have happened if the Patriots did not have this advantage. Would they have won three super bowls without the stolen signals? We'll never know. And this is what the Patriots and Bill Belichick have stolen from NFL fans everywhere. They have cheated us all.

As a penalty for violations for which Belichick has already admitted to, he was fined $500,000 and the Patriots were fined $250,000 and they lost a first-round draft pick. By comparison, Chris Andersen of the NBA had to sit out two years for using recreational (non-performance enhancing) drugs. Barry Bonds will likely go to jail for lying during his steroid hearings. And Belichick? He was named coach of the year.

But who has done more damage to the game they represent? Bonds and other players suspected of steroid use were under professional pressure to improve their production. Chris Andersen's offense had nothing to do with what he was doing on the court. Belichick, meanwhile, knowingly and repeatedly cheated. Unlike Bonds, who could at least claim that he was only doing what 90% of his colleagues were also involved with, Belichick and the Patriots appear to be the only ones who have been involved in this type of behavior (at least they are the only ones who have been caught). He wasn't doing it simply to keep up with the others, he was doing it to get ahead--and he did.

Separated at gate? Nixonian DNA stalks the field in Foxboro

Some people will no doubt see it as ironic that Belichick and the Patriots would cheat, given the fact that they are perennially one of the best teams in the league. But there's nothing ironic about it. Belichick is a successful coach because he'll do anything to win. This also led him to compulsively use any advantage possible, even if it meant cheating. All of this, despite the fact that he probably would have won anyway. Sound like anyone you know? Maybe we can't impeach Belichick and Goodell, and probably we can't do anything about this at all. Goodell will sweep it all under the carpet and the professional sportswriting punditry will likewise downplay or dismiss it (with Bill Simmons playing the role of apologist #1). There are, of course, many more important acts of corruption and negligence that we should be devoting our attention to--things that have far greater significance than this. But as someone who has followed professional sports in this country since the mid-seventies, I resent Belichick's theft of something that rightfully belongs to all NFL fans--the chance to really know which team was best. In my book, Tricky Bill Belichick and Goodell the Lame are more of an embarrassment to sports than Andersen and Bonds will ever be.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Rasheed Wallace can't believe he's stuck again with a shaky coach in the playoffs

In sports news, Doc Rivers and Flip Saunders continue their duel to find out which shaky coach can run their team into the ground first. As a Pistons fan I hate to say this, but in the NBA it seems almost impossible to win a championship with a weak coach. Seriously—when is the last time this has happened? In the NFL, in baseball, in hockey, it’s possible to win even when your coach is a bonehead, but in basketball too many in-game adjustments are required, too many matchups need to be understood and exploited…good teams with mediocre coaches stand little chance of winning it all. On the bright side, Detroit’s first-round win over Philly marks the first time since Colonel Saunders became coach that the team has actually improved in a playoff series. Usually, Detroit storms out ahead, only to lose steam (see: the Cleveland 2007, Chicago 2007, Miami 2006) as the series progressed and the other team begins making adjustments. So, maybe there's hope...I’m worried about Orlando, frankly, and have been ever since it became clear they’d be Detroit’s second-round opponent. Stan Van Gundy was, after all, the coach of the Miami team that nearly knocked Detroit out of the playoffs in 2005.

 

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