Sports 4 Dorks

Detroit
at Philadelphia, Game 6 

You can count on the Detroit Pistons for very little, but
you can count on this: the team will not be swayed by a desperate, seething
home crowd partial to the Philadelphia
76ers tonight.

This is a Pistons team that couldn’t be bothered to think
twice about the Laker backers back in Game 1 of the 2004 Finals, nor a couple
of Hoosier honkers against the Pacers that same year, nor the Heat’s spray-on
rabble rousers in Game 7 of 2005, nor …

(Well, it sort of stops there. But the ability to overcome
is in Detroit,
as we noticed in the team’s frighteningly-potent dominance of the Sixers in the
third quarter of Game 4.)

It might be a recipe for disaster, but Philly should think
about slacking off Chauncey Billups a little bit on defense, tempting him into
breaking plays and shooting perimeter shots whenever he feels like he’s open.

Now, Chauncey could respond with a 5-11 night of shooting from behind the arc,
but his bombs could also fall flat, and the Sixers might be able to overcome
that 5-11 night if it means the rest of the Detroit offense has to improvise.

On the other hand, the 76ers saw how Detroit harassed Andre
Miller into a pitiful night on Tuesday (13 points on 17 shots, three assists),
and might want to counter by shoving Andre Iguodala into that point forward
role that he’s done well with in the past. Tell him there’s money in it.

Iguodala’s assist-ratio (the percentage of possessions he
uses up that end up in an assist for AI) went down a little this season (18.6,
down from 22.4), but he was 10^th amongst small forwards last year
even with a supporting cast that couldn’t shoot straight, and it might be wise
to let Andre dash to the basket with a trailer (and potential lob partner) not
far behind.

Beyond the typical adjustments and hope that the lanes are
empty and waiting to be filled, there’s not a lot the Sixers can do beyond
trying to make each possession count, and the hope that the Pistons take a few
quarters off.