Great game. It was not perfect, but a great step toward playoff preparation. Tonight, I am only going with positives.


Stuckey did not play a ton in this game, but he played enough. He got some late 2nd quarter minutes along with about 5 minutes between the quarters each half. He was part of a shutout pitched against Philly to start the 4th quarter. He did not score, but he did not hurt us either while giving CB some rest.


Afflalo got 15 minutes. A fiery ball of energy out there. He got to the rack a few times for us for scores.


Amir was pretty awesome. Yep, he came short on his few post moves, but remember, those are like the first set of post moves he has been given to take in well over a month. Amir does normally make those shots. Amir also got 15 minutes. Five rebounds, 2 blocks, a bunch of shots they could not take or missed from his presence, and a few times where we got the ball from him fighting for a bound. He did make a couple offensive rebound putbacks and one of two at the line.


Hayes was limited to 6 minutes, and Saunder kept him off the floor when Stuckey was out there. Afflalo got his minutes in the 2nd half. (Which resulted in no points for Philly while Afflalo was out there.)


The Pistons took control of the game in the last minutes of the 1st half,with both Stuckey and Amir on the floor.


For the most part, despite some really hot shooting by both Billups and Rip in the first half, all our starters did all game long was trade baskets with Philly. In the first half, we scored plenty, but so did they with our starters in the game. In contrast, when guys like Afflalo and Amir were in, the Philly team just could not find a bucket except by shear luck upon occasion.


Tay had a decent game. So did Sheed, although his rebounding and points totals were low.


Dyess played about 35 minutes.


While Philly was manhanling our starters on the boards pretty badly, Amir and JMAX turned the tide our way when they were in. Stuckey and Afflalo also help on rebounding.


We did get to see Amir and JMAX together as a pair of bigs briefly. Other than Dalembert scoring on Amir the one time, it worked out fine. But it was a rather brief time. Maxiell only played 10 minutes in this game. He got stripped on a couple of post possesions, but he had some fine moments on the offensive glass too. I am not too worried about Maxiell playing short minutes in this game as he has been complaining about tired legs of late.


Hayes made a short shot on a cut to the basket.
Stuckey had a steal, and had an easy dunk attempt. He did not miss for nothing. A replay showed he was fouled. (His leg was hit to knock him off course.)


Feelings of elation were frequent and long from watching this game. A whole lot of people loved watching Amir play tonight. Like a cool drink of water in the desert after a long, long thirst.


If this keeps up, with the youngsters playing, I suggest everyone start buying tickets again, as they will go fast.


GO PISTONS!!!!!