Wow, Camby did not even play in this one. Denver did play all its stars in the game between the two with Detroit. Its hard to gage a whole lot against a weak Denver front line, but here is what I saw.:

Flip Murray scored a lot. He made three open outside jumpers. He got inside quite a bit, either finishing, or making his free throws. He dished quite a few decent assists. Flip limited his crazy shots to just a few for the game. His stats were also added to by Denver grabbing him a few times on the perimeter and him making his resulting free throws. On defense on the other hand, he was often out of position or simply slow to get to where he was suppose to be - and could not keep players in front of him.


Stuckey also got inside a lot, and made a ton of free throws. His stats were padded a bit at the end as Denver was fouling to stop the clock and him making the resulting free throws. Stuckey continues to miss his outside shots. On defense, pretty darn good.

Afflalo very quietly just keeps pouring in the points. A shot here and there and he makes his free throws. Good solid D.

Mejia got to play a bit. Not much in the offense department, but he can handle the ball and consistently beats everyone to loose balls to rack up some rebound numbers - not that he did not go up for a few too. He has some height, and some size and strength to hold his ground in rebounding situations. His defense is clearly a notch above Stuckey's and Afflalo's.


Hayes shot a lot, made some and missed most. He was continually too slow for the speedy team Denver had out there. He played both forward positions.


Samb looked impressive shooting the ball, and compared to the guys Denver played, just towered over everyone. He towered over our guys too, and he has some serious long reach. To just send him to the D league with no chance to stay up here - I just can't agree with it. He got into early foul trouble, getting 3 fouls pretty quick, but ended up with just 4 while playing most of the game.


JMAX was awesome, but you got to mention again the level of the competition. JMAX was hitting his outside shots, getting anything he wanted around the basket. He missed more than he made at the line though. The solution to that is simple. Play the heck out him so he gets comfortable up at the line. If he can make those jumpers, he can certainly make the free throws. Again, JMAX got tons of rebounds, but against who?


Billups did not play. Hunter just a couple of minutes. No Rip. No Amir. No Mohammed. Dupree got about 7 minutes of work in, did very little besides finish a fast break or two.


Tay, Sheed, Dyess started but did not play past the 1st quarter. Dyess had a putback score, made a free throw off some inside play. Inside play that we need from him. He also missed a fade shot he shoots so much. It is a post move, but a very weak one. JMAX shoots it too on occasion, but is told not to. For a very simple reason. If your big is fading from the basket while shooting -who is going to get the rebound? Its a double standard that must be addressed. Dyess only hurts us shooting that shot, he needs to stop.


It was a very high scoring game, and I am sure the folks in GR loved to watch a MIGHTY PISTON VICTORY. GO PISTONS!!!!!