Great game. I don't mean the win. Great coaching. Great preparation for the playoffs. The use of a rotation that will win in the playoffs. The use of a rotation that will get stronger and stronger game by game as we continue to use it.


Rip played the most minutes. He did hit some hoops for us, but he also shot the worst for us in the game. Just maybe letting Afflalo play a bit more, who did a fine job with the minutes he did get, would have helped Rip have a bit better of a game. Other than that, can't complain about a thing really.


Dyess got plenty of rebounds, hit an outside shot or two, and worked the post enough to be helpful. Sheed did major damage in the post tonight. But I don't totally agree with Cureton's comments about how Sheed is so much more effective in the post vs. shooting outside. Remember, this is Indiana without O'Neal, without any decent post defense. Of course I want to see Sheed go inside more, but it won't always be this easy. Sheed added 10 rebounds to go with his 24 points. Not to mention some seriously good D, especially in crunch time. His block of Diener on a corner shot helped seal the deal. Notice all that energy late by Sheed? He did not get over played. What a difference having that 4th big in the rotation makes.


Tay hit a shot late. Another guy who did not get overplayed. Hayes played plenty in this one, as he got hot on his shooting. His defense did hurt us some, but he more than made up for it with that shooting. Tay for the game had 17 points, and played good solid D.


Billups had a good all around game. And he got plenty of rest from Stuckey. Stuckey did some scoring himself in this one, and played good D. His highlight was a made pullup jumper. He missed 3 of 4 at the line, something not like him. (He would have had a double digit scoring game if he had made all his freethrows.)Stuck also scored on a cut to the basket, and on one drive to the basket.


Maxiell did not really have a bad game. He just did not play that much. He did manage some pretty good work on the baords, drew some fouls, and did a bit of scoring. And good D.


Amir was pretty sensational. A couple of offensive rebound putbacks, one a slam. (or were there 3 of them-can't recall but I know he got a 3rd bucket in there somewhere.) Amir had plenty of rebounds for his time on the floor, and also fought for it a couple of times resulting in a teammate getting the bound. Speaking of rebounding, I must mention that Stuckey looks good going up for bounds too.


Afflalo did not score, only played about 10 minutes. But he was helping. Good D mostly. Indiana had jumped out to a lead in the first quarter and Afflalo was one of our subs who came in and started cooling Indiana down a bit. (JMAX being the other.)


I must say, Indiana did shoot very well in this game. Thats one thing about letting your team hoist at will, they will get sharper on their shooting. But in the end, our going inside often, and tightening the screws a bit on the perimeter defense, did Indiana in.


Indiana was killing us on the boards to start this game. JMAX and then later Amir did a lot to stop that. When we finally caught all the way back up, and even took a lead, Amir and Sheed were up front. Like someone mentioned, Amir was the highest plus guy in the game for us. And it was his play that was responsible for a lot of it. (Although the announcers gave pretty much all the credit to Sheed's offense, hey, its was Amir's defense just as much that was hurting Indiana. We went on a 12-2 stretch there.)


This is the right way to play. The other team was ahead of us. Coach did the right thing, played his bench extensively, and in the end our starters had the gas needed to win the game. If this continues, no team will stop us this year. (Yes, I mean in the playoffs, when it counts. We will win a championship this year if we stay on this course.)


GO PISTONS!!!!!