Playoff Revelations honors playoff players without big names, but who are having a big impact in the postseason.Before the start of the Pistons-Bulls series, Henry Abbott predicted the following on TrueHoop:
Chicago over Detroit. I have a feeling that by the end of this series people will be saying that the Pistons look a little old. If the Pistons win? It'll be because Tayshaun Prince is amazing.Well, he didn't pick the right winner, but at least he hedged in the right direction. Tayshaun Prince is hardly an unknown player, but he's often overshadowed on a team full of current and former All-Stars. Still, he was one of Detroit's most consistent players against the Bulls, which was absolutely huge for the team considering he was going up against Luol Deng, the most consistent guy from Chicago. Rarely does a play start with Prince as the No. 1 option, but there he was in the fourth quarter last night scoring eight of his 17 points to keep the Bulls at bay.
Prince is usually content to linger in the background -- both in the flow of the offense and after the game with the media -- but I think anyone who's seen him play will appreciate the spotlight Abbott put on him today in a post simply but accurately titled, "Tayshaun Prince Wins Games." Abbott speaks mostly about Prince's on-court performance and demeanor, but it reminded me of similar praise lavished upon Prince by Joe Dumars this past October:
"First of all, he's the smartest guy on this team. He has the highest basketball IQ. The second thing I always say is that if there's a guy on this team who could make the transition to the seat I'm sitting in right now, it's him. He has that perspective. He has that kind of depth to him. And discipline. He has the type of discipline it takes to sit here."As Need4Sheed points out, Prince has now advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals every year of his career, and I think the fact that he's often one of the smartest guys on the court is a big reason why. (Remember his highlight reel block on Reggie Miller? He didn't just come out of nowhere to reject that shot, he also kept it inbounds for Rip Hamilton to recover. It's those little things that Prince can be counted on doing night in and night out.)
His stats will never tell the whole story of his worth to the Pistons -- not as long as he's the third or fourth scoring option behind Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace -- but he's the glue that has kept this team among the league's elite for as long as he's been in the league.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. I'm really feeling all of the love for Tayshaun. I remember when I was a Freshman/Sophmore out here playing high school ball. Tay, Ty Chandler, and the rest of the Compton Dominguez squad were the talk of the local basketball world. I went to see them both play at a UCLA high school basketball tournament on MLK day (my school sucked at ball, so I could only dream of playing in such a tournament). Anyhow, it's good to see the type of players both of them have become.
On another note, as Henry mentioned this morning, the success of Prince and guys like him (athletic, long wing spans, good outside shooters) are the exact reason teams in need of a wing should not hesitate to draft Corey Brewer. The guy is going to be a stud in the mold of Tay.
Posted at 2:50PM on May 18th 2007 by Nate Jones
2. Bernard King, Tayshaun Prince, Acie Law, John Amaechi and some guy wearing #10 would be a fine card hand.
Posted at 4:16PM on May 18th 2007 by Napoleon