Detroit Pistons @ MindSay

This morning I went grocery shopping. I went with my mom and youngest sister Maria. Maria helped me do my shopping after I bribed her with a soda. This is a bit of our conversation that made me laugh.

 

Maria: when it's spring I can play basketball.

Me: Well ,you can play basketball right now, there's no snow.

Maria: No, it's to cold. I'll do it when it's warm

Me: Ok, hey who's your favorite team?

Maria: Pistons, they hate the Yankees

Me: Umm... Maria they don't even play the same sport. But I'm sure they do hate the Yenkee.

 

Maria is the greatest person. The simplicity of her world is awesome I wish I could be like that sometimes.

 

Thanks for reading,

Mark M.

 

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade missed the team's morning shootaround practice with what the team said were flu-like symptoms, marking the second straight year his health has been a major factor entering Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

 

Miami coach Pat Riley said Wade was being treated and did not divulge any other specifics -- but insisted his leading scorer would be ready for Friday night's sixth game of the East finals against Detroit, a series the Heat led 3-2.

 

"He's going to be fine. He'll be here tonight, yeah," Riley said. "It's just something that came on. He's going to be fine. ... He's being very well taken care of."

 

 

Personally, I hope he does play.  It'll make it all the more sweet when we beat them!!!!  :)

 

Great column here by Mitch Albom, dealing with Proof, rap music, etc.

 

Gonna be a nice night, watching the Red Wings and Pistons.  I love the playoffs.

There was no champagne in the Detroit Pistons' locker room Monday night.

 

In fact, the Pistons didn't even realize they clinched a tie for their fourth Central Division title in five years by beating Atlanta 91-84.

 

"I didn't know until someone just told me," Tayshaun Prince said. "I guess that shows you where our minds are right now."

 

The win put Detroit two steps up coach Flip Saunders' pyramid.

 

"First, you have to make the playoffs, which we did a couple weeks ago, and then you have to win the division," he said. "Now we have to get homecourt in the East, homecourt in the league, and then we have to win the championship."

 

Detroit (53-13), whose magic number to clinch the Eastern Conference dropped to nine over Miami, also moved to 40 games over .500 for the first time since the 1988-89 season.

 

"That's crazy," Chauncey Billups said. "This has been one of those special years for us. Hopefully, we can keep it up."

 

NEW YORK -- Detroit was rewarded Thursday night for one of the best starts in NBA history when four Pistons made the All-Star team as reserves.

 

Chauncey Billups,Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace all were picked for the Eastern Conference team that will be led by Detroit coach Flip Saunders. Tayshaun Prince was the lone Pistons starter not chosen in voting by East head coaches.

 

"I would just like to thank the coaches in the league for recognizing our players," Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told The Associated Press on Thursday night. "What the coaches are saying by voting our guys on is that they appreciate unselfishness, great attitudes and team basketball."

 

The Pistons (40-8) became the first team with four players in an All-Star game since the Los Angeles Lakers sent Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel to the 1998 game in New York.

 

"I wish Tayshaun would be there," Hamilton said. "If that would have happened, that would have been incredible because it hasn't happened before. But it will be incredible to be there with those guys and if Flip plays us all at the same time that will be even more exciting."

 

Joining the Pistons on the East team for the Feb. 19 game in Houston will be Toronto's Chris Bosh, Boston's Paul Pierce and Vince Carter of the New Jersey Nets.

 

The Western Conference reserves are guards Ray Allen of Seattle and Tony Parker of San Antonio, and forwards Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas, the Clippers' Elton Brand, Memphis' Pau Gasol, Minnesota's Kevin Garnett and the Suns' Shawn Marion.

 

Billups, the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, and Hamilton are among the five first-time selections, joining Bosh, Parker and Gasol.

 

"That is something that you play for, to be recognized as one of the best," Billups said. "I've felt like I've played like that for a couple of years now and it's nice to finally get that validation."

 

Despite playing in the NBA Finals the last two years, recognition had come slowly for the Pistons during the season in recent years. Ben Wallace was Detroit's only All-Star in each of the last three years, and the Pistons haven't had multiple selections since Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse in 2000.

 

"What they have done the first half of the year, I wouldn't have disagreed with five," said Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, who will coach the West.

 

The only other teams with four All-Stars were the Celtics (1953, '62 and '75); Lakers ('62) and 76ers ('83). This is the first time four players from one team have been picked as reserves by the coaches.

 

The starters were voted on by fans and were announced last Thursday. Miami's Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade were chosen in the East along with forwards LeBron James from Cleveland and Jermaine O'Neal of Indiana. Philadelphia's Allen Iverson was the other guard.

 

Houston's Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady were voted in, along with guards Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and Steve Nash of Phoenix, and San Antonio forward Tim Duncan. The Mavericks' Avery Johnson is the West coach.

 

Jermaine O'Neal is injured and his replacement will be chosen by NBA commissioner David Stern. Though Saunders gets to choose who will start in O'Neal's place, he doesn't think it will be one of his players.

 

"I haven't really thought about that yet, but it probably won't be one of our guys," he said. "The first time they step on the floor, we will have them step on the floor together."

 

The toughest omissions in the East seemed to be guards Gilbert Arenas of Washington, the league's No. 4 scorer at 28.2 points per game, and Milwaukee's Michael Redd. Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Hornets rookie Chris Paul were among those left out in the West.

 

"I wish they would take more people, but they can't," Johnson said. "You have that every year. Every year you've got guys that's deserving. Guys that get out there every night, lay it on the line."

 

Coaches were required to select two guards, two forwards, one center and two other players regardless of position. They could not vote for their own players.

 

There were six All-Stars born outside the 50 states for the fourth straight year: Yao (China), Nowitzki (Germany), Gasol (Spain), Parker (France), Nash (Canada) and Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands).