Will Saunders get the axe in Detroit?

[chillzatl]

After the Heat finish them off, I think there's a good chance Saunders will get the axe in Detroit. He's showing why he had such a hard time getting Garnett out of the first round. He doesn't coach defense and he refuses to change his style when it's proven to be a failure.

As much as I dog Larry Brown, you can see what he did for this team. They weren't smoke and mirrors regular season ball like they are now. All about winning lots of games, but when the pressure comes up, they simply can't respond. That has Flip Saunders signature all over it too.

I would not fault them for cutting him loose after this season. That team can still have 2-3 years of solid runs in them. But they need a coach who can and will coach defense over offense. That is not Flip Saunders.

[Plainview1981]

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After the Heat finish them off, I think there's a good chance Saunders will get the axe in Detroit. He's showing why he had such a hard time getting Garnett out of the first round. He doesn't coach defense and he refuses to change his style when it's proven to be a failure.

As much as I dog Larry Brown, you can see what he did for this team. They weren't smoke and mirrors regular season ball like they are now. All about winning lots of games, but when the pressure comes up, they simply can't respond. That has Flip Saunders signature all over it too.

I would not fault them for cutting him loose after this season. That team can still have 2-3 years of solid runs in them. But they need a coach who can and will coach defense over offense. That is not Flip Saunders.

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Well, like someone said on another board....Flip was in a no win situation coming into this year. If the team won the title it would be all because of the players... If not, he's the escape goat.

Defense? Well, maybe they haven't great on that side of the ball, but averaging 83PPG is a big problem aswell. No matter what, it's tough to win averaging 83PPG.

The question is did Larry jump off board because he seen a sinking ship? I mean, Ben Wallace has seemed to show signs of slowing down the last year and a half. His rebounds and blocks are going down and he seems to have less entergy than in years past.

Also, Detroit has no depth. What do they got after Dice? Lindsey Hunter hasn't truly been an effective player since he played that year with the Bucks. They have nobody after that.

Also, Rasheed has been way inconsistant as has Billups who has often done nothing for 2 or 3 periods then have big 4th.

I think it's kind of dumb to totally blame Flip. The lack of depth and and increase in arrogance seem to have hurt them.

Big ben talks about defense... Well if he had done better than 2-10 at the line it might have helped. Seriousally, if I was Miami, I would foul him every chance I get in the 4th and make him miss ft's. Unlike Shaq who will atleast make some of his ft's in the 4th, it doesn't appear Big Ben can do anything on offense besides dunk.

Now, Miami needs to start Gary Payton for game 5.

1.Billups can't push Payton around like he can Jason Williams who has done NOTHING in this entire series.

2.They need to keep making Prince try to win the game. If you limit Billups and Sheed you can take down the Pistons.

I think Detroit will come out and win game 5, but I don't see them winning 3 str8. If they do, I'd consider it a choke job from Miami.

Because Detroit looks tired and has no depth. No reason for them to drop 3 straight games to lose this series.

[1524]

Flip isn't going anywhere, it was reported by the NY Post.

[Lascar78]

I can't see them canning him. It's not like they lost in the first round. If you can coaches for not making the finals, a lot of coaches will get canned. Flip is still a very good coach, even though his style is more geared to regular season. I don't know who they would get to replace him. Adelman is just as much a regular season coach. I don't see how they could upgrade

[chillzatl]

I think the fact that they can't upgrade is the only reason he wouldn't be. But without someone to drill defense into them day after day, they will never go back to the finals. They've turned into Minnesota East.

[drzachary]

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Well, like someone said on another board....Flip was in a no win situation coming into this year. If the team won the title it would be all because of the players... If not, he's the escape goat.

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"The escape goat."

You just used my favorite phrase in the English language. "Escape goat" (which is really 'scapegoat') is what we call an 'eggcorn,' a mispronounced/spelled term that can still make sense in context. 'Eggcorn' was coined when someone said 'eggcorn' instead of 'acorn,' which makes sense in its own right: an acorn is egg-shaped, and acorn : tree :: corn kernel : corn.

Another example would be saying 'butt naked' instead of the original 'butt naked.'

I'm so happy I got to see 'escape goat' used in the wild, and I couldn't thank you more for it!

[tmac13]

If Wade had been healthy in last years Heat/Pistons series the Heat would have knocked them out and went to the finals..I simply think the Heat are a better team and the Pistons players are making excuses...

[Lascar78]

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Another example would be saying 'butt naked' instead of the original 'butt naked.'

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You lost me here. What's the difference between butt naked and butt naked?

And while we're discussing interesting phrases and words, did you know that a card shark is actually not a person who cheats at cards, but rather just a good card player who takes advantage of weaker ones, whereas a card sharp is a guy who cheats? Ok that's all I've got.

[drzachary]

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Another example would be saying 'butt naked' instead of the original 'butt naked.'

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You lost me here. What's the difference between butt naked and butt naked?

And while we're discussing interesting phrases and words, did you know that a card shark is actually not a person who cheats at cards, but rather just a good card player who takes advantage of weaker ones, whereas a card sharp is a guy who cheats? Ok that's all I've got.

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Oops.. I meant to say "butt naked" and "buck naked."

[Plainview1981]

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Well, like someone said on another board....Flip was in a no win situation coming into this year. If the team won the title it would be all because of the players... If not, he's the escape goat.

---

"The escape goat."

You just used my favorite phrase in the English language. "Escape goat" (which is really 'scapegoat') is what we call an 'eggcorn,' a mispronounced/spelled term that can still make sense in context. 'Eggcorn' was coined when someone said 'eggcorn' instead of 'acorn,' which makes sense in its own right: an acorn is egg-shaped, and acorn : tree :: corn kernel : corn.

Another example would be saying 'butt naked' instead of the original 'butt naked.'

I'm so happy I got to see 'escape goat' used in the wild, and I couldn't thank you more for it!

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lol. I spelled it out like I say it. Yeah, I know it's not the correct way, but that's the habbit of the way I say it.

Kinda like LJ's name... I often call him LaBron James and so I spell it that way sometimes even though it's LeBron James.

[exodus]

What is going on now is not unexpected (although I didn't predict it) considering the way they played during the regular season.

Flip got a lot of credit for giving them more freedom and opening up the offense but it was obvious he overdid it. Detroit was a jump shooting team all year and had no post game at all. Rasheed took 434 3s on the season. His previous career high was 317. Plus they frequently coasted on defense, turning it up only on occassion.

The general consensus was that they would turn up the intensity during the playoffs, but history has shown that doesn't generally work. I bought into that to an extent, thinking that they would look to post Sheed more often and play tougher D.

Bottom line is that the bad habits they developed during the season have done them in.

[DJlaysitup]

Yeah ex...They're not quite dead...but I don't think they are getting better.

A. Walker has been an interesting story for Miami as well. I thought they were crazy to sign him last year, I sure didn't think he had it in him to play at this level in the playoffs.