wow ... i watched this game and thought it would be really, really hard for people to find reasons to complain about our team, but i guess i under(or over...heh)estimated! i saw nothing but good things from this game, except for the refs who single-handedly prevented a 40-point blowout. i thought they were bad in the last game against orlando, but it was ridiculous here - how much respect can you give these guys? turkey-glue has never been a spectacular player, but now any time he drives he gets a foul called. then we were the aggressor and driving the lane and not getting any calls.

anyway - amir looked GREAT. i found myself cheering all of the young guys in the 2nd quarter, especially amir. he blocked shots and as a result made orlando very tentative in the lane, and he used his athleticism to keep balls alive and get boards. even when he didn't have the proper position under the basket, he could reach over his man (without fouling) and snag the board. people have been saying at least give him some minutes in the 2nd quarter, and flip does that, yet they complain that he didn't get 2nd half minutes. c'mon. even flip said he was disappointed that he couldn't get amir back in, but he had a point - sheed owned howard in this game and it would be hard to take him out...and dyess was grabbing so many boards, that if amir was going to sub for anyone it would've been jmax, and jmax was making some key plays.

afflalo? solid as always, and you have to be pleased at flip playing him over jarvis at SF, even though afflalo had a severe height mismatch. sure rashard took it to him at the basket one time and drew a foul on the other, but if that's what your rookie can do against a $118 million player, you've got to be pleased.

jmax - not a ton of 'stats' but he made key shots and grabbed a few key rebounds, and did his job.

hayes - maybe this will humble him. i don't know how hard he works in practice, or if he stays after, but hopefully this will motivate him to work harder on his game. i think he has the physical tools to be a decent defender, but he lacks the knowledge on what to do. if you notice, his teammates are no longer passing him the ball unless he's in the post area, where he actually does have a decent game. in 7 of the last 10 games he's taken one 3-pointer or fewer, and that's more of a result of losing trust in his teammates than anything else.

stuckey? his shot will come. finishing at the rim will come. like hubie said on one of the possessions, if he had taken an extra dribble he would've gotten to the basket. those are things you can fix. what he is doing is playing solid defense and making other contributions (boards/assists/steals), and he's back to being aggressive again. he has a very long way to go and has a lot to learn, but he *is* learning and we're still winning.

for those who didn't like the starters coming back in the 2nd quarter, yeah i thought it was potentially unnecessary, but they were +3 as a unit in those couple of minutes.

i have absolutely nothing to complain about, and i thought this was a fantastic win. amir got some burn and played so well that he got extended time in the 1st half and actually made flip regret not using him in the 2nd, and is making it impossible not to give him time over the next several games. afflalo is earning his time back even with stuckey playing a lot of minutes, and he deserves it. stuckey is struggling, but hey he's been aggressive the past 2 games and is building a knowledge-set of what he can and cannot do. he's struggling scoring, but he's playing solid defense, and in the past 2 games he still managed to grab 3 boards, dish 2 assists, and get a steal in only 12 minutes of play.

the pistons are back on track and the games are fun to watch again now that the failed short-rotation experience is over. flip appears to be learning that throwing additional players into the mix makes it harder for opponents to prepare for us, throws the opposition different and unique looks throughout the game, and keeps the starters fresh (even if they end up playing a few more minutes, they're not mentally tired).