Originally Posted by Warthog

saunders was quoted after the game stating that he and joe talked and that joe wanted to shorten the rotation for the time being to make sure stuckey the backup G minutes (at the expense of afflalo for now), so he'll be ready for playoffs. i haven't seen stuckey hurting us defensively though...i thought he's been a very solid defender, and the turnovers aren't a big deal right now. stuckey said after the game he still is a bit tentative in deciding when to attack the basket, and 2nd-guessing himself at times, but he'll get over it. and i believe that's true - the way chauncey was penetrating tonight, i thought stuckey could've killed toronto the same way.

let's give credit to chauncey and the pistons for pushing the ball up the court more, and for chauncey driving to the basket. there were a few times early they were trying to draw fouls instead of just making the basket, but they corrected themselves later. after being at the palace so many times, the pistons knew they were never in danger of losing this game, and i think that's why they relaxed a little bit at the end of each quarter after building a lead. to their credit, after the debacle near halftime, they really came out in the 3rd with a purpose. toronto is an okay basketball team, but not great. bosh is too weak for our frontline, and without bargnani playing well they have no chance in the playoffs.

oddly at the palace tonight, they sung the national anthem like 10 mins before announcing the lineups, which was pretty strange. there were quite a few raptors fans, and they started to chant "let's go raptors" in the 4th, but a sheed dunk and and-1 quickly shut them up. the family in front of us, i'm pretty sure they were from toronto (no team apparel either way) because the dad was clapping when the raps scored, and then when his kid cheered along with pistons fans he kind of made his kid stop heh.

something is definitely up with tay though. in the first 5 minutes of the game he missed an offensive rebound that was bouncing right to him, simply because he was standing still and didn't take one step to reach the ball, and then he let bosh rip a defensive rebound right out of his hands. i don't know what his problem is, but if anyone has seemingly grown complacent, i think it's tayshaun over anyone else. but i seem to remember a slump like this every year for tayshaun, and then in the playoffs he steps up. no excuse, but still.

2-0 with the maxiell jersey. he's struggling lately as well, but he still makes hustle plays and tough plays that don't always pile up on the stat sheet. he's learning to pass out of double teams and is making teams pay for putting him at the line, drawing fouls and making his FTs (over 73% in january, getting better every month).