Great game, great win, against an opponent on fire of late. And we did it minus one of our stars, with Rip being out with some kind of hip problem.


For the record, we are now 30-4 when Afflalo gets 11 or more minutes. (In all cases, he got at least 6 minutes in the first half, so this record is not due to us winning by wide margins and Afflalo getting those minutes from garbage time. He started this one, and got praise for consistently keeping Nash out of the lane. And yes, he did seem nervous on those two long jumpers he took. Both came up short and the shots were flat. But hey, let him shoot some more. That is not like him. He did nail a shot after driving into the lane (foul line extended.) He did twice convert a turn into a bucket by driving aggressively to the rack against traffic. No, he does not seem to be offensively challenged at all. He has some height and knows how to use it to score at the hoop.


Billups got a ton of rest, despite Rip not playing. Someone mentioned that Hunter was plus 5 in his nine minutes. Hunter did nail that triple for us. He also alertly picked up a ball someone else knocked away for a steal.


So what did Billups do with the rest? He was the scoring hero for us at the end of regulation and thru the whole OT. Great stuff. Driving and getting to the line, hitting shots. Not to mention he took over the chore of guarding Nash toward the end of the game too.


Sheed made 5 triples, scored inside some, and hit a tough, fairly long ranged forced shot over Stoudemire in OT. Then he stuffed Stoudemire and took the ball down. Wow.


Stuckey had his shot going tonight. He had limited success driving in. I think he made a total of 3 free throws. (But maybe only 1? Yes, I watch too much film. Sometimes its hard to separate what I watched earlier from the game I just watched.) Anyway, Stuckey had it going from the outside. Phoenix kept leaving him open, and he kept nailing the shots. He was rewarded with all the time down the stretch and into OT. Anyone notice it was Stuckey who got that key strip from Shaq? Maybe it was a foul, but it was not called. Stuckey did not score late. Phoenix started guarding him. Stuckey did take one forced shot over Nash, trying to stretch out his game a bit. Nothing wrong with that.


Dyess was certainly needed tonight, for his strength in guarding Shaq. He also hit some shots, and two clutch free throws to help send it to OT.


Tay, well, he had his hands full guarding Hill. That is plenty to do these days as Hill really has his game going.


Hayes. Not much to say about him. He got some minutes. The team did well with him in the game.


Theo made a couple of dribble moves to the rack and looked good doing so. One ended up with a hook off glass from in front of the basket. (driving from the right.) One ended up with him at the line making free throws. Theo also had some blocks, and basically was quite helpful guarding Shaq. Not to mention the rest he gives both Sheed and Dyess and the fouls he has to give. Quite a good pickup when you consider Phoenix just might come out of the West.


JMAX and Amir both played. I can't remember much from Maxiell. I do remember Amir getting a rebound over Stoudemire and then laying it in over him. Nice. I also continue to see a trend where Amir is used to guard small forwards. Tonight it was Hill.


And in a huge improvement in Flip's coaching, he took Dyess out early in the first quarter. Part of a great night of playing the bench well. Pretty much getting everything right. (Of course, I would not play Hayes.)
That was one highly entertaining game. I heard Philly beat Boston too. Sweet.


GO PISTONS!!!!!