View From the Cheap Seats

I got a chance to witness the demolition that was Pistons/Bulls game 2 at the Palace last night. Before the series I predicted that the Pistons would pull through in six hotly contested grind it out games not unlike those of the Bad Boys vs. Michael Jordan era rivalry. The first two games in the Palace, both lopsided wins by the Pistons, are forcing me to revisit that. A few observations:

1. Scott Skiles has absolutely no answers right now-Skiles has done a wonderful job in his tenure as Chicago and could do no wrong against the Heat in their 1st round sweep of the defending champs. Skiles trio of Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng are getting worked by the veteran savvy Pistons perimeter threesome of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince. I won't even speak of their ineptitude in the post or the glass. Skiles club is getting outworked in every aspect, and he has no idea why. He'd better figure it out fast or his season (job?) may be finished sooner than anyone thought coming into this series.
2. Flip Saunders has all of them-the man who was almost solely blamed for the 64 win Pistons falling short against the Heat last year all of a sudden looks like a genius for not pushing his team too hard and letting them go through the motions all season long, only to hit their stride now. Amazing what a difference a rejuvenated Billups, Hamilton, and healthy Rasheed Wallace makes.
3. The Pistons are deep, really deep-while they didn't put up the volume of points of game 1, Detroit's bench has four or five reliable players (depending on which Flip Murray shows up) coming off the pine. Jason Maxiell has been the most impressive of the 2nd unit in this series and everyone is holding their own defensively. Detroit is 6-0 in the playoffs and Antonio McDyess hasn't found his shot yet. When he heats up, they'll become almost unbeatable.
4. Nobody in the East can touch the Pistons-the playoffs really are a formality until the NBA Finals. Don't kid yourself. If you want to see compelling basketball before the finals, stay up late and watch the west (as I am currently watching Spurs/Suns game 2 as I type this).

I'll be back later this week with an analysis on the Roger Clemens signing and the impact it will have on the Yankees.