buddha

i understand, but i think that's the root of the problem. tobias and duren get no respect and mitchell/harden get WAAAAY too much respect. cade doesnt get enough respect. i also think the officials dont like jb. he's always barking at them, he does a lot of histrionics on the sideline if things go against the pistons, he's always showing them up. theyre humans too and i doubt they enjoy it. i do recognize your point that this is outside the realm of normal, especially considering the cavs are a 3 point shooting team and the pistons live in the paint. so i get it and i think it is unfair. however, caris lavert, danniss jenkins, tobias harris, and jalen duren will get no respect from the refs. maybe tobias, but certainly not the other three. i think that's a part of nba life. just wait til brunson gets 3 fouls on ausar in every first quarter while josh hart mugs cade.

The cavs have two guys who are foul-getting machines: harden and mitchell. those guys get respect and consequently get foul calls. a majority of which they do not deserve (how many times can harden be allowed to run right into someone, throw back his head in a ridiculous fashion, and then get a call? or kick out his feet on a jumper and get a call?). the pistons have one superstar and one wanna be. cade can get calls but doesnt sell it like harden/mitchell and consequently doesnt get as many BS calls as they do. he also eschews contact at the basket sometimes (that said, he should be getting MORE calls for sure). duren is supposed to be superstar #2 but as weve all pointed out, he isnt that and has been useless and gets no respect from officials. the pistons are also very physical on defense. sometimes too much so. the league isnt cheating for cleveland, its cheating for mitchell/harden. like it always has for superstars. which - again - is another reason why the pistons need another star next to cade. duren is not that player.

he's not open. he drove the lane yesterday once and scored. more of that please. every thing we said about duren in the playoffs has come true. the hope is he is young and will continue to improve.

cleveland took away the pick and roll by packing the paint and having two giant shot blockers on their team. that was to be expected by everyone paying attention. orlando did the same thing. its not that cade isnt looking for him, its that he's no longer trying to force it like he did in the first few orlando games. the real problem with duren is that he's been totally ineffective on the boards and in interior defense. he's been outplayed by stew (before he got hurt) and reed (whenever jb's dumb ass gives him a chance). he's frustrated and sulking. after each time he misses a bunny or "almost" gets his hand on a rebound, he shakes his head, throws his hands in the air, and sulks back down the floor. he needs to hustle like reed and ausar. and he's not.

also, multiple times the pistons had mitchell/harden trapped between the half court line and the sideline in the corner and then refused to double them. totally let them off the hook. frustrating.

saying he wasnt good enough isnt "blaming" him for the loss. he HAS TO BE SUPERMAN because the rest of the team is so flawed. he wasnt good down the stretch in the 4th and overtime. like del said, both things can be true: cade was the only reason they were in the game and then was a big reason they ultimately lost it. i think he was obviously gassed down the stretch and made some big mental errors. cleveland did what we all said teams would do to the pistons in the playoffs: send a hard double team at him and pack the paint, daring the pistons to beat them from 3. and - just like last year - the pistons couldnt do it because their other scoring options are duren, harris, and caris lavert. this game is on the front office (trajan and jb) much more than cade, BUT, jb wasnt the one who didnt box out, or got stripped late, or faded down the stretch. cade has to be superman and tonight in the 4th quarter and ot he wasnt. and that's a big reason they lost.

to betrayer's point, you have to hit your wide open 3s. and the pistons didnt. cleveland had strus and we had lavert. not sure where heurter was at the end. he played earlier.

yup. but by the end of the game reed was exhausted. cade too. there's a reason jb was fired in cleveland.

i agree there is nothing wrong with keeping cossa. my point was there is little precedent for a goalie prospect like cossa warranting a top 15 pick and those past trades cited by max dont support it either. if they trade cossa, its probably going to be for someone else's salary dump/rehab project. like nurse or ep40.

mitchell and harden seek out contact and the refs reward them because theyre stars. cade needs to do that too but he largely doesnt.

cade doesnt need help to turn the ball over. yet another "casual cade" play in ot lets strus strip him and set up a layup. he turns the ball over when he drives because he doesnt seek contact, gets in the air, and then looks to pass instead of shooting.

disagree. cade has to be special. go quick before the double team comes. get to the basket and draw contact instead of fading away. he was passive. you know who he looked like tonight? game 7 tracy mcgrady. making "the right pass" but not taking charge of the game when youre the best player on the floor. harden drove and got fouled all game. cade didnt. make the refs make the call. there's still some naiivite to cade's game.

but he doesnt have teammates that can hit them. he has to take over. and he didnt.

another mistake by cade. lazy.

they paid their entire MLE for caris ****ing lavert.