I tried watching a bit of the Tigers game after the Pistons were done. Not that I turned the channel. The Tigers game was on Fox plus, and when the Pistons were done, they put the game on regular Fox. Result, within like a couple of minutes, I fell asleep. Just no interest.

So what kind of game did Maxiell have? Completely dominating. The phrase, foul him to stop him, was heard endlessly. But it did not stop him. He still scored sometimes, or if not, he hit some free throws. And on the defensive end? Washington was not scoring but a few points over a long stretch, several minutes, at the start of Maxiell's 2nd half stint. (And this came early as Dyess picked up his 4th foul five minutes into the 3rd quarter.)

And no, JMAX can do more than dunk. Sure, a whole lot of damage he did was inside, but he hit several outside jumpers too. If a defender was on him, he would make a move, rise up and shoot over the bum. 28 points, lots of rebounds. Some blocks. And an unselfish assist to Amir at the end of the game to cap it all off. A friend of mine sure likes to argue about how much we miss Ben, and I always tell him the same thing: we got JMAX and just wait. Well, I don't think he needs to wait any more after tonight. JMAX plays very good D, and has an excellent offensive game to go with it.

But who was the real defensive hero? Dyess also went out early in the first quarter, and Theo came in to play along side Sheed. Result: only a few points scored by Washington over a several minute stretch. So, in this game, we see Sheed paired with Theo, and later Sheed paired with JMAX, and the other team not being able to score. GO SHEED!!!!! Oh yes, Sheed can score too.

Billups had a decent game, nailing a few threes. Rip had a good game too despite starting out 0-8; he ended up with 10 assists and 9 points. He had only played one game over the last couple of weeks, so some rust was too be expected. Both Billups and Rip were in during those defensive runs, as was Tay. As someone pointed out, you get Dyess out of the way, and the Pistons have some pretty darn good defenders in their starting unit otherwise.

Afflalo only played some garbage time in the 4th. Dixon did not play. Hunter got extensive playing time in this one, did very little. Of note, Afflalo was playing small forward, with Hayes sitting, in the 4th. Hayes played a lot, shot a lot, and missed all his shots but one if I remember correctly.

Dyess did hit some shots in this one.

Tays outside shot was on, and he got some alley oops too. Usually from Rip. Rip fed Maxiell some too.

Billups and Rip actually ran a fast break well tonight, with Rip getting the assist to Billups.

Stuckey made a couple of buckets on rather dramatic drives in.
Amir had some blocks, and several dunks, and one layup in traffic. He only got in for about 5 minutes in the first half, and then the whole 4th, which was all garbage time.

In all, we pulverized this playoff bound team, and Amir had very little to do with it, nor Afflalo. Stuckey might not even have been positive in this game himself. The game was won primarily by the starters, minus Dyess, and with help from just two players, Maxiell and Theo. And this with a rusty Rip who missed his first 8 shots. As we approach the playoffs, we have a well rested group of starters and a bench that has played extensively all year. Flip has everything he needs right now to win it all. Lets see what he does with it.