I made mention of this in the recap, Sheed clowning around with the Sixers huddle with the game on the line. I can’t say Sheed didn’t buy himself some slack with his performance (first half at least), but not this much. Could you imagine Bill Laimbeer doing this? No.

He could have at least have been trying to see what the Sixers plan to do to stop the ‘Stonz, but nah, this is funny because I’m not supposed to be here tee-hee.

Photos credits: Detroit News

I know it’s “all love” and there’s no real animosity towards the Sixers, but damn, this is the playoffs! Ok, Sheed loves Mo Cheeks and has mad respect for his home team’s grittiness, but c’mon. Isiah and Magic were tidy bowl during the season and at All-Star games but nearly came to blows in the Finals (that pretty much ended their cutesy friendship).

If Sheed and Co. really wants to do this thing right it’s HAS TO BE us vs. them from the first tip to hoisting of the O’Brien. Period.

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Photo by Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Sixers 4 guidos pin points what led the 76ers past the ‘Stonz:

Reasons for the win? I would say Sixers’ trademark “Never give up attitude”, that kept us playing hard even when the game was apparently slipping out of our hands, balls showed by many players that stepped up in different moments, as usual: not only Evans, my MVP, but also an excellent Willie Green (yes, I wrote it…) + Andre Miller who scored 9 points in the final quarter, providing veteran leadership when we needed the most.

The Piston Post stresses the importance of Detroit being victorious Wednesday:

Maybe next time, right? More like definitely next time. We’ve been in this situation so many times before, it hurts my head to think about it. You don’t even need to have faith in the Pistons to be certain they’ll win Game 2. However, if they do drop Game 2, they’re in deep #$%&.

The World of Isaac says to lay off Philip:

I’m really getting sick of people using Flip Saunders as the scapegoat for every single Pistons loss. In most peoples minds, you’d think that the Piston players haven’t lost a game since the George Irvine era.

Need4Sheed is in a state of consternation over the lack of Miggidy-miggidy McDyess:

Where the hell was Dyess in the second half? I know Maxiell was a monster, but 20 minutes for Dyess all night is questionable. It’s not like he put up a stinker in the first half either. Same goes for Thad Young for the Sixers, he was killing us in the first quarter but I can’t remember even seeing him in the second half.

Depressed Fan wants more respect for his team:

First, not surprisingly, the experts aren’t really giving the Sixers any credit for this win. The prevailing knowledge seems to be that the Pistons took the Sixers too lightly, and let the Sixers hang around when they could’ve put them away. I might buy that if the game was within 5 or 6 points the entire night, but the Sixers were down by 15 late in the third. The Pistons put their foot on the gas in the second half, the Sixers took their best shot and fired right back.

Ball Don’t Lie sees a disturbing trend that wasn’t supposed to be present in this years team (so says Joe D):

But all the signs are there. They were there while the Pistons were trashing the Bucks in the first round back in 2006. They were around even as Orlando barely gave Detroit a problem in the first round last year. The results barely matter - but the attitude and style of play does. Something within the Pistons was lacking even in those two first round wins, and whatever it was revealed itself as they lost in the conference finals both years.

D. Lippitt/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Didn’t really expect this outcome. I think after the Herculean efforts in the Saturday games I was expecting our guys to come out and really send a message to the rest of the league that the real season has begun. But that didn’t quite happen.

Looking back we should have expected this type of game. We had four just like it in the regular season. That’s what happens when you pit two of the top ten stingiest defenses in the league up against one another.

FIRST HALF:
The Sixers didn’t hesitate to go to what works for them right from the outset. They were getting their hands in the passing lanes and crashing the offensive boards (the Sixers finished #2 in the league on the offensive glass). Philly was getting points in the paint early. Sixteen of their twenty-two first quarter points came in the lane.

The Pistons started to wake up once Jason Maxiell got into the game. Maxy made an immediate impact with a quick block, offensive board, kick-out assist sequence. Maxy’s energy helped spark a 13-2 Pistons run to end the first quarter. By the time the first half had come to a close Maxiell had 9 boards and 10 points on 5/7 shooting in just 12 minutes. Me and a friend were texting back and fourth while Maxy was doing his thing and I was so pumped by Maxy’s energy and imapct that I told my friend I’d like to have Maxy’s baby just so he could eat it. Jason finished the game with 12 points and 11 boards.

Allen Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images

The second quarter was pretty good for our guys. They (Rasheed mostly) shut down the paint. The Sixers were held to 23% from the field in the quarter and 33% for the half.

The Pistons front court was getting down in the first half. They combined for 35 points led by Rasheed’s 15. Rasheed also had 6 boards and 5 swats. Meanwhile the backcourt of Rip and Chauncey combined for only 13 points with only 2 of those points belonging to Billups on a lone shot attempt. Didn’t know it at the time, but the lack of production from those two would be one of the stories of the game.

The Pistons held the Sixers to 16 second quarter points for a 51-38 half time lead.

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