NBA- Best in the East
 

With the recent addition of Rasheed Walace the pistons are contenders again for the eastern conference championship. Anyone disagree?
:hmm:

In the East they were never out.

We have discussed this in another thread.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=46212

They are a contender but they still are behind Indiana and the hot Nets.

hm...pacers are definently top team in the east, but i think the pistons could take the nets.

Go Raptors!! :rolleyes:

VC is so not worth the hype..

Best in East? Yeah, it probably is Detroit now, but Indiana is right there with them, Jermaine O'Neal is sick.

Detroit would win a playoff series w/ any of those teams.

Detroit has a strong lineup. Pacers are playing awesome, Jermaine, Artest, Miller.
And Nets...they have Kidd...

The Paceres are too deep right now. Their point guard, Tinsley is playing the best ball of his career (trust me I root against him) and they have two All-Stars, the most improved player of the yaer, and the 6th man of the year on the team, not to mention possible COTY in Carlisle.
Rasheed isn't going to fill the viod in the Detriots lineup, I think the Nets are going to be the other beast in the East.

It's funny how people keep giving no credit to the pistons. The biggest problem they had with indiana and NJ was defending k-mart and jermaine o'neal - both of which rasheed can do. Lindsay Hunter will be healthy by the post season, who is an excellent defender and can make a lot of plays. Mike James is playing pretty well at backup as well. I'd say the pistons have the best bench in the east, even if Indiana has the 6th man of the year.

Jersey won't make it to the conference finals this year. They're already starting to slow down, and streaks in the regular season mean jack and crap when it comes to the 2nd and 3rd round of the playoffs. Both Detroit and Indiana are better teams than NJ.

Beast of the East?? That would be the Miami Heat... :D

ok wishful thinking, but we are almost there... one player short (center!)

Pistons with 5 straight opponents held under 70 points.





Go Pistons!

I'll give the nod to the Pistons. Indiana is looking strong, but I dont think they'll be able to keep up with intensity that Jersey and Detroit play with.

Oh yea...

Go Knicks

As long as indiana stays healthy, it will most likely be Detroit and Indiana. New Jersey has been playing well, but they're slowing down a bit.

Then again, Indiana got beat by Cleveland tonight... so you never know.

I still think the Nets are the team to beat.
Detroit isn't better than the Nets or Pacers. Detroit just doesn't have enough offense to win it all. Their D isn't that good. Sure, they're playing great at the moment, but they won't keep up this pace for the rest of the season, and the playoffs.

Heh, defense not that great? ... average, or even good defenses don't hold 5 straight teams under 70 points. Since acquiring Rasheed, they've won 9 out of their last 12. A lot of pistons are really stepping up on the offensive side of the game too. I definitley disagree that their defence isnt "that great". It's one of the best in the league, if not THE best. Especially with rasheed. The way they played today was just awesome.

Do you think they would stand a chance in keeping the Pacers or Nets under 70 points 5 times in a 7 game series? Never ever gonna happen in a million years. They can't keep this up forever.

Nets are weak, and they are not going to do shit in the playoffs. They will not be able to out score detroit in a defensive game. They will also not be able to hold Indiana's offense i.e. Ron Artest and Jermaine > Rich Jeff and K mart. Not to mention that as Defenders Artest and O' Neal are two of the best the east has to offer.

Heat beat the Nets... I think they are coming together, they will make the playoffs if they stay healthy...

I dont think they are the best though.... but they are getting there....

No, that definitley won't happen, your right. But its not like they needed to keep them under 70 points. They won all those games pretty big, and they weren't even really aiming for it. They didn't keep out their starters at the end to try and keep the record. I mean, Brown was wondering why the crowd tonight was cheering with two minutes left, Prince had to remind him about the record.

With Rasheed on board, he will be able to help contain K-Mart and O'Neil, the two big problems the pistons have had with Indiana and Jersey. They won't be blowouts on either side, but I still think that Detroit will at least make it to the finals.

As for keeping things up forever, its partially a streak of hotness, sure. But again, the addition of Rasheed has brought a new energy to the team, and its obvious when you watch them play. They had the 76ers confused and lost out there. They're contesting every shot, getting a lot of boards, and forcing a lot of turnovers too. The only problem is their offense, but I feel like Rasheed and our bench will step it up in the playoffs.

The pistons have a real challenge in front of them with the nets next, however they should be able to beat them. Like many people have said with the addition of Rasheed there will be someone down on the blocks being able to defend K-mart. I know phili isn't that great of a team but look at what the entire piston defense did to them. It totally caught them off gaurd and put them out of the game. The streak of under 70, yeah it's nice, but that's not really what's important.

IMO, their overall defense has picked up greatly with the Rasheed deal and will be able to handle and help their defense improve even more.

Think about it, Rasheed has only been there 12 games, they are just getting acustomed to eachother... wait until this team gets going on all cylinders.