Flip played his token young. Six minutes, six productive minutes, for Afflalo. Just enough to avoid being fired. Not one bit more. He is probably proud of himself for it. Wins don't matter to him. Just as long as he can keep getting away with defying Joe Dumars.


This game utterly cried for Amir Johnson to play. Jason Maxiell was in foul trouble, four fouls late in the 3rd, but he was kept in. Mohammed was totally ineffective guarding Nocioni - indeed its almost insane that Saunders even tried that for a moment. Jason was having deep trouble guarding Nocioni. Dyess had some foul trouble too. And still, no Amir Johnson, the quickest big on our team by far, and one with plenty of height to guard Nocioni. But Flip Saunders chose to lose the game rather than play a young player he is bound and determined not to play.


Hayes did nothing defensively, and yet he played. Another case where Amir would have been the better choice.


Some people may want to blame this loss on Tay. But wait a moment. You can't possibly expect more than 3 of our starters to have a crazy good scoring night. Rip, Billups, and Sheed all scored plenty. Rip started out 7 of 8. Billups scored about 23 in the 2nd half. Sheed had a blockbuster first half.


More reason to play Amir. Dyess has not been playing 30 mintues a game for us these past 3 years. What makes Flip Saunders believe he is capable of doing that now, 3 years older than he was? His absolute insistence on playing the vets, his rationalization to do so, does not make Dyess any younger. Dyess should be playing 18 or 20 minutes tops per game, whether he starts or comes off the bench. On that topic, Dyess did absolutely nothing in the first quarter. Chicago was getting all the rebounds. Both ends. Every trip. Dyess shot 2-10 for the night in all, so its not like he ever made up for it. And in the 4th, the middle was full open with Dyess in the game. No rebounding from Dyess. No D. and no scoring. But I pretty much guarantee you it won't matter. Unless Flip is fired, we can only expect the same thing next game, a DNP, for Amir Johnson while Dyess gets overplayed yet again.


Hunter did ok. Certainly nothing to write about. Certainly nothing to keep him in the rotation ahead of Stuckey when Stuckey is healthy. Not even for a minute. I'll take a 75% Stuckey any day over where Hunter is at.


To the posters who continue to defend Saunders, I say you are part of the problem, the complacency, that Dumars fights every day. Lets all get behind Dumars and send the message, the youth must play. No excuses accepted.