this was a fun game to be at, as the refs (mostly) swallowed their whistles and let the guys play. don't wanna talk too much about the starters, but chauncey looked great and tayshaun was superb.

flip was the 1st off the bench because of rip's early 2nd foul, and he proceeded to come in and play atrocious basketball. he took 5 ill-advised shots and missed, stopped feeding tay when tay had hit around 4-5 in a row, got burned by the guy he was defending, and had a couple turnovers. he played more controlled in the 2nd half and made some nice things happen, but yikes...he's going to play himself out of a roster spot with that inconsistency.

jmax was awesome, hitting his first 4 free throws and hitting 2 more in crunch time. there was a noticeable difference in his defensive rebounding tonight. he grabbed boards because he got in position and blocked out. i think he'll begin to realize that there's glory in defensive boards as well. he's got a long way to go on his post-up game though...he's better just facing the basket and popping a shot over a defender.

afflalo and stuckey continue to learn. stuckey had one great drive, but had another that was blocked. he also missed a drunk after driving the lane that would've put the crowd in a frenzy. he'll get there. afflalo made some nice plays, didn't force anything, and played great man-to-man defense. lindsey came in and made some nice shots, but also got blown by twice in a row when defending one of denver's quick guards.

hayes was awesome. he got the hot hand and has a quick release, and isn't afraid to shoot it. he played strong defense, fought for boards, posted up, made 3s, and made his free throws. he knew how to draw contact and looked great. he's an upgrade over delfino - tougher, better shot, more confident, taller, and he actually speaks english rather than never bothering to become proficient at it. ever see delfino score 24 in a game? me neither.

so another encouraging game. the starters looked sharp and the bench came up big. we did have trouble defending the drive-and-kick game denver was using in the 2nd half, but flip said he hadn't really established a zone with that 2nd unit yet, so i'll give him the benefit of the doubt there. one point that is not being emphasized enough is free throws. joe drafted 2 guards who are rock solid at the line, and jarvis hayes shoots bunnies at an 83% clip for his career. the pistons were 31/35 from the line and that ended up being very important.

another fun exchange was when jr smith got a dunk over maxey. there was a stoppage of play and smith was near the pistons bench, where sheed was giving him an earful. smith's attitude the entire game was that he thinks he's a superstar (admittedly he was quick to the lane). well after that, smith tried again and maxiell promptly rejected his shot. he tried yet again and maxiell took a charge. good job maxey.