I can see why Dumars made the trade. Clearly, the Pistons weren’t going to win another title, and even with Billups they would have finished below the Cavs. They’re planning for the future, so in the end the trade will probably still work long-term. Dumars had hoped the Iverson would help in the present, and that has been a miserable failure.

As this post points out, it will be much fun to see the Cavs be the team to officially kill off the current Pistons era. As recently as a few weeks ago people still seemed worried about playing the Pistons? Really? Even at their “dominant” level, they barely scrapped by us in 2006, winning a close 7 game series against a Cavs team in the playoffs for the first time. In 2007, we overtook them in 6 games (the 6 game sweep as it’s been called). Now, no contest.

Maybe the Pistons summon energy to win Game 3 when they go home down 2-0, but there’s simply no bite behind their bark.

I always look for quotes that, unintentionally, give away the truth. For the Pistons, here it is:

“Tonight just sums up the way we have been playing the whole season,” Antonio McDyess said. “We’re up in the fourth and we just let the game go. Playing Cleveland, Boston or Orlando — it doesn’t matter at this point. If we can’t do this during the regular season, it is definitely going to be hard to do it in the postseason.”

Translation: We’re done.

Go Cavs

If there is one team that you did not want to face in the bottom tier, it was the Detroit Pistons.. .without question.

 I’m a Celtics fan, and that was the one squad I was hoping did not match up with us, and, if you guys were honest with yourselves, you would admit it as well. They have more playoff experience than the top 3 seeds combined.

You cannot legitmately tell me you were sitting there hoping for a Detroit/Cleveland series for Round 1, as opposed to a series with either Chicago or Philly… two squads with virtually zero postseason experience.

I am thrilled the way the playoff picture has formed. Celtics draw the 76ers, who are young, no elton brand, and who they have not lost to once this season. Then, we get to play the winner of Chicago/Orlando…. And you wanna talk about late season collpses, check out the Magic’s record the last couple weeks. I would be surprised if they even beat the Bulls the way they’ve been playing lately.

And, then you have a second round match up, provided you beat Detroit, with either Miami (Dwayne Wade, hungry eager to prove he is the more deserving MVP candidate) or the very dangerous Atlanta Hawks. Neither, by any stretch of imagination, is an automatic victory.

So, go ahead and keep those positive thoughts flowing Cavs fans, but the road is clearly more challenging to the Finals for you your team. And, let’s not forget that Cleveland has NEVER won the big game, and this season will be another indication of that and another reason LeBron will be heading somewhere else in 2010.

GO BOSTON!