Detroit to win the East? (Plus WNBA Preview)

by: Andre Gomes

Detroit is officially the first team this season to have reached the conference finals. Well, if you look to what happened in the last few seasons, this can be considered everything but a surprise. The roster is basically the same for seasons. If we look to their six players most used in the playoffs (Rasheed, McDyess, Maxiell, Prince, Hamilton and Billups), the last one to join the team was Maxiell in the 2005 Draft! And this fact makes them so close that this alone makes them already a very dangerous team, as they know their teammates so well that they could play blind-folded! Also this fact turned them into a very dangerous team in ball games, where they can easily comeback from big deficits without any kind of panic, like it happened in the Game 4 of the series against Orlando, where after trailing by 11 points at half time, they simply started to play with more aggressiveness and they were able to come back into the discussion of the game and win it by one point. This is the main reason why they have to be considered as a natural contender to win this season's NBA final. Besides the Spurs, no other team is so good as the Pistons in the post season and no other team has the experience that they have in the decisive games of the season. In case you haven't noticed, Detroit has reached the Eastern conference final every single year since the 2003 playoffs. No other team has even came close to make such thing during this period.

But ok, now they are into the conference finals, but can they advance into the NBA final and win it? Why not? First of all, besides having the most experienced team in the league, they have also showed they are motivated enough to fight for another ring. Their opponent in the conference final will be either Boston or Cleveland. The Celtics looks far from the level they have showed in the regular season and they have already dropped five games in the post season. Even if they win this series against the Cavs by 4-2, they will reach the conference final having played more three games than the Pistons, so it would be a very hard task to win three very long series in a row, as nobody is expecting Boston to beat Detroit by 4-0 or 4-1 in the conference final, right? The Celtics are yet to win a game on the road and they have been keeping themselves in the post season, thanks to their home games. But Detroit has already won at Boston this season and they are one of the strongest road teams in the league. It would be a very hard task for Boston to win four home games in a row against Detroit, especially in the post season, where all four games would probably be ball games, where the Pistons are extremely strong.

But if the opponent of the Pistons is Cleveland? Well, Cleveland has defeated Detroit last season in the conference final, which was considered as a big upset, but the team of Cleveland has changed and they can't isolate Billups like they isolate Rondo in their current series against Boston, as that would be the end of them. Lebron pretty much decided the conference final last season on his own, but that would give an huge motivation for Detroit to try to stop him in a potential conference final this season between these two teams. As Detroit would have the home court advantage in this series, I think on a close series, they would end up winning and going into the NBA final.

So, is Detroit the new favorite of the East? Well, probably but it's way far from a done deal. Both Boston and Cleveland have enough basketball to beat them, but Detroit can now rest and watch the rest of the series between Boston and Cleveland from the tv and that's an huge advantage for them.

WNBA Preview: Chicago Sky

This will be the 3rd season of the franchise and team once again look ready to evolute in an explosive way. The Sky in their debut season had a record of 5-29 and last season they finished with a 14-20 record, but being one of the moneymakers of the league with an ATS record of 20-13. This season Chicago promises to be even stronger and they have all the conditions for that. The key of the success is the young players of their roster and who were always top picks in the previous drafts. If Candice Dupree was two years ago and last season Armintie Price was considered the rookie of the year, this season it was the center Fowles who was the 2nd choice in the draft and has potential to be a superstar.

It's curious to see the destiny of this franchise to be on the shoulders of very young player and as every young team, there will be good and bad runs, however if they start the season well they can be a serious threat, as with confidence they can go far. The frontcourt of the team is extremely powerful and Fowles will bring lots of aggressiveness in the fight for the boards and she will also free Dupree from the defensive tasks. The weakest point of the team is clearly the backcourt and this will decide the success or not of the team this season. If they can solve this problem, then Chicago will surely reach the playoffs this season.

Andre Gomes Past Articles

WNBA Preview
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WNBA Basketball

Chicago Sky @ Indiana Fever Wednesday July 2, 2008 7:05 pm
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MLB Baseball

New York Mets @ St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday July 1, 2008 8:15 pm
The Cardinals will try to get their fourth win in a row today to keep the run which continued yesterday with a win against the same Mets by 7-1. For today they will have the right handed Todd Wellemeyer as their starting pitcher, who is 7-2 and 3.46 ERA this season. Wellemeyer was ... read more

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WNBA Basketball

Chicago Sky @ Minnesota Lynx Tuesday July 1, 2008 8:05 pm
I have to say that 7,5 points is just too much for Minny tonight due to the circumstances of this game. This team of Chicago hasn't been doing a great season, but just like Minnesota they are a young team, who needs confidence to compete and eventually have some surprising results. ... read more

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WNBA Basketball

Detroit Shock @ SA Silver Stars Tuesday July 1, 2008 8:05 pm
Duel between two top teams of the league, with Detroit going to San Antonio. Detroit comes to this game with a terrible spot, which was also created by the team itself. This will be the last game in a brutal schedule, where they have played 7 games in just 11 days. The team had a ... read more

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MLB Baseball

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Houston Astros Tuesday July 1, 2008 8:05 pm
For this game Houston has a tremendous edge in every level and even with the low price offered, it still is an excellent bet, as I'm going to demonstrate. Houston will look their fourth win in a row and they will send the left handed Wandy Rodriguez as their starting pitcher. Even ... read more

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WNBA Basketball

Houston Comets @ Connecticut Sun Tuesday July 1, 2008 7:05 pm
Houston comes to this game billed as the hottest team in the moment right now and why not? They have won four games in a row and all of them being underdogs. Today they played at Connecticut being a 9,5 points dog? This makes no sense at all. I love the spot for Houston tonight, ... read more

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WNBA Basketball

Washington Mystics @ Seattle Storm Sunday June 29, 2008 9:05 pm
Washington was great in their last game by committing the upset of the season, winning at LA by 77-74 when they were a 12 points underdog. In fact they are in a nice run of 3 consecutive road wins and they will be looking today for the fourth one in a row. "It gives us a lot ... read more

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WNBA Basketball

Atlanta Dream @ Detroit Shock Sunday June 29, 2008 6:05 pm
Detroit comes to this game in a terrible mood, at least they will face Atlanta and a victory for them looks easy to guarantee. They were slaughtered by Chicago last night on the road by 59-76 in a game where they were favored by six points, but everything went wrong and I expect ... read more

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WNBA Basketball

Indiana Fever @ Houston Comets Saturday June 28, 2008 8:35 pm
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MLB Baseball

Boston Red Sox @ Houston Astros Saturday June 28, 2008 7:05 pm
Boston defeated yesterday Houston by 6-1, in a game where Matsuzaka bounced back and prevented Houston to do more than 4 hits during the whole game. Today the scenario for the Astros isn't much better, as Boston will send the left hander Jon Lester, who will play his first match ... read more

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