A 45 point squashing of the Bucks. Amir Johnson's putback slam gave us that final margin.


The only thing I read anyone complaining about for Amir in this one is that he did not hang on to a couple of rebounds. But in both cases, we got the ball since the ball went out of bounds off the opposing player who was fighting him for the ball. He still did his job. Just did not credit for two more rebounds.


Saunders gets a B for this game. He played Stuckey and Afflalo almost the entire 2nd quarter. Good job there for sure. But yet Sheed only got 4 minutes rest thru 3 quarters of basketball. Sheed, who went scoreless in the first half, really did not have to play that long. I don't think we would have lost the game if Amir had gotten 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter.


Another minor improvement. Why did Tay come back in for the end of the 2nd quarter? Herrmann could have gotten some minutes right there. But hey, thats minor. Tay got a good long rest by Hayes there before he came back into the game. And why did Rip and Dyess start the 4th quarter with us up 29? Again, minor, no big deal. But you still got to wonder why. What would we be saying though if Rip got injured right there in meaningless minutes?


Ok, some details about the game. Rip is way past on fire. The very ground buckles from the heat as he walks on it. Nine for 10 today, and that goes with the last few games where he is just not missing. He is hitting triples. He is hitting pull up jumpers on the fast break or off a curl. He went inside once or twice. Rip is getting just so automatic its amazing and then some.


Billups I think had a double double. 12 assists with no turnovers. Dyess had a double double with 10 points, 10 rebounds. Tay was agressive with 11 in the first half. JMAX continues to nail outside jumpers, getting steadier and steadier at it.


Stuckey got inside for about 3 layins. Two were the conventional sort where you catch them napping a bit and lay it in. But one was of the oh my variety, laying it in right over their bigs, going right down the middle and upwards.


Afflalo scored a couple of times impressively taking it in, and I think on a fast break once. Good solid D. By the way, Stuckey looked a lot more comfortable on D too, but yet you got to remember Milwaukee played this game without a point guard.


Herrmann hit several jumpers. I can't remember him missing any. Pretty nice shooting. Defensively? Well, Milwaukee only scored 12 points in the 4th, so how can anyone complain about anything to do with D while Herrmann was in. 114-69. Unbelievalbe. Yeah, I had to type that twice to get it right. I still don't believe it.


Brezec did nothing much. But nothing bad either. He hustles all the time. He does not look to score much. That is probably because this year Charlotte was starting him, but playing him very little while going to Okafur (sp) for the post ops. He did have two offensive rebounds on the same sequence that resulted in him getting to the line. He made one of two. Talk about earning your point.


Hayes did real well. Several more jumpers made. The announcers pointed out that he was like 10 for 13 going back a game or so. I am still thinking its no coinkydink that Hayes started doing better the day we dressed Fabio for the first time.


Dyess did a pretty good mixture of working inside and out. No complaint there today.



One quick note about the game flow. The starters handed Stuckey a sizeable lead. That lead dwindled a bit the first couple of minutes as Milwaukee had a 7-0 run. Good job by Flip to stick with the youngsters though, as they responded with an 8-0 run after a timeout and the Pistons just kept it on overdrive the rest of the game. A bit of youth and energy does indeed work. (and in my ever so humble opinion, if they had not put Sheed back in with no rest, that run by Milwaukee may not have happened.)



Lots of games coming up yet this week. Should be loads of fun.


PLAY AMIR!!!!!


GO PISTONS!!!!!