Darn, Cleveland broke the 70 point mark. About the only thing to worry about by the start of the 4th quarter, as Cleveland only had 50 points at that time. And they only had 54 five minutes later. Yes, Afflalo can play some D. He did quite well in the first half too, where Clevelan only scored 2 points with him in the game. Not to mention he was guarding Bron. And we are going to take him out of the rotation for the playoffs? Nuts.

Amir only got into garbage time. A block or two, several reabounds. As long as its just one game, its ok. As long as its just one game.

Theo looked pretty good defending the middle. Yes, he did stay in too long in the first half, but we are trying to play him into shape. (Two year layoff from injury.)

Rip was getting played back into condition himself after a week off. He kept hitting free throws even though he could not hit a shot otherwise for much of the game. On defense, he stuck with Bron well.
Other than Rip's 14, Jason Maxiell's 13 was the next highest point total for us. Most of his was short jumpers, with him just rising up over people. Looking good.

Billups, Tay, and Sheed did not do a whole lot on offense, but somebody was playing some pretty good D as Cleveland only got 33 points in the first half, needing a bit of a run there to even get that.

Dyess had a fine game. Big Z gives him a reason to be in the game on defense, and he got inside for several scores and hit some outside shots too. Lots of rebounds.

Stuckey nailed a jumper and helped a couple of teammates to easy scores. Not bad. Afflalo did nothing on offense. He had some nice defensive plays besides just guarding Bron.

Hayes played, hit one shot. Otherwise, he was just a door for Cleveland to score. Maybe we are playing him just so Cleveland will be drawing their game plan up to score against him. Then we will fool them by not playing him. Hopefully.

Herrmann got into the game in garbage time and pretty much stunk. You can say it was rust from not playing if you wish, but he just looked slow in everything he does. Hayes would have converted those shots Herrmann got stuffed on. Herrmann was too slow.

How did we do for playoff prep? Nobody played heavy minutes. Three of our key young guys got substantial minutes while Amir got about 7 too. Theo got some time to knock off some rust. We watched Afflalo do well indeed guarding Bron. Lots of good stuff. If we contine like this, we will win it all. (A decision to shorten the rotation, removing Afflalo and Amir, and replacing Stuckey some with Hunter will mean a first round exit. Don't do it. Keep going as things are instead and win it all.)

GO PISTONS!!!!!