| game report
first half:
Two new twists tonight. One, Arroyo came in after 3 minutes when Billups picked up his 2nd foul. Early in his stint, him and the other 4 guys out there looked like strangers, but they settled down, at least on the offensive end. We were shooting 60% late in the 1st quarter. On defense, Anthony Johnson used a pick to hit an outside shot, and backed Arroyo down once for a bucket. Johnson continued to go after Arroyo, but got no more. Arroyo got one bucket himself and a hesitation move ending in an uncontested layup for him. He missed a few shots too. But he handed back Billups a three point lead to start the 2nd quarter.
On the defensive side of things, our starters, both before Arroyo came in and after, could not clear the defensive glass. Its like, all the sudden they don't do windows. Indiana volunteered to do the job, swiping 14 offensive boards in the opening quarter. So in comes Dale Davis, and that non-sense stopped. Good job Dale. Dale also hit both his free throws, and got a bucket off an assist from Delfino on a fast break. Dale was in for a pretty good stretch there.
For much of the 2nd quarter, we had Billups in with four bench players, Evans, Delfino, Dyess, and Davis. They held their own. Don't read the rest of this paragraph though if you are a fan of Mo Evans. Anyone we put Mo on scored, and they scored all too easily. And to make up for that? Nothing from him on offense. Hey, Indiana is a good team, what did you expect.
Delfino played some good D. Whereas Jackson for instance was a bit too physical for Rip to handle, Jackson trying to back Delfino down resulted in a very weak shot that barely made it to the rim. Jackson used about 12 straight head fakes, and finally a drive in to pick up a foul on Delfino later, but thats it. Delfino hit one shot, and led two fast breaks that led to scores. One of the fast breaks was from his knockaway and steal. Delfino also missed a couple of shots.
Tay has knocked down some shots. So has Rip. Got to say, Rip has gone from can't drive without turning it over, to be effective at driving in, to becoming a master at driving in, all right in front of our eyes.
Sheed hit a triple early, but has been doing damage from closer in. CB, I think he has made some free throws. Ben? Where is Ben? Can't say much positive about Ben so far. Clear those boards in the 2nd half. GO PISTONS!!!!! Oh, and Dyess has hit some shots.
First of all, don't feel too sorry for Indiana. Sure they got some guys out. But how much respect around here do we all give Tinsley exactly? Not much. Artest has been replaced by Peja, a fine player. I know we hear Indiana is looking to trade the guy yet, but you know, he looks pretty good for Indiana. Anyone notice he had 10 assists, in just his 2nd game for them, their last game? And finally, sure O'Neal is out, but look at Danny Granger. The guy can play.
Billups was not exactly Mr. Big Shot tonight. The announcers, for him, and all the Pistons, kept bemoaning tired legs. But like one poster mentioned, Delfino made a couple of shots. Why not let him shoot more? And Rip, man, sure he missed the long guns, but he sure was hitting everything else. He was not that tired. Sheed was doing enough damage in the post, and Tay actually made some shots. Man, we were outplayed. Outhustled. By a team that had been resting several days for us, at home, picking apart everything we ever did this season. Quite an advantage. Lets just say its more Indiana being raring to go more than us being all that tired.
All in all, our bench played quite a few minutes for a tight game anyway. Evans made no appearance in the 2nd half. Arroyo and Delfino came in at the same time. We got back into the game a bit with those two in. But I am still not satisfied. They should have left Prince out there, and had Delfino be the primary scoring option. Then bring Rip in for the rest of the game. Just my opinion. Basically, I am chomping at the bit waiting to see three good ball handlers, Arroyo, Delfino, and Tay, all in at once for us.
Another guy who did not play in the 2nd half sure should have. Dale Davis brought great energy in the first half, so why not play him in the 2nd. Show people what is needed to get minutes around here.
Offensive rebounds in the 20's for Indiana. Crazy. Next game we play them,lets tell our starters they are coming right out of the game if they start by going on strike as far as the glass work. Davis is more than willing to take their minutes.
Man, I got to mention once more the contrast between Rip and Delfino as far as their size. Jackson was guarded by both. Rip looks very slight of build next to Jackson. But Jackson looks very slight of build next to Delfino. Delfino is one solid player. And one solid defender. Next game vs. Indiana, he certainly needs to be featured a lot more.
Ok, I am going to check out the box score now. I bet I see quite a few assists for Arroyo, and no turns. He did well tonight. He probably should have been played more. But hindsight is 20/20 they say. Coach was probably sure that Billups was going to dig down deep and light it up again. Maybe he could have if coach had given him a bit more rest yet in that 2nd quarter, on this, the 5th game in 7 nights. (Especially after playing the guy over 40 minutes the previous night.) About all for now. GO PISTONS!!!!!
I forgot to mention Ben's 2nd half play. Pretty solid for the most part. Despite all the games, and all the minutes, he seemed to wearing Indiana out. Indiana sure puts a lot of effort into keeping Ben off the boards. Ben may not have a ton of rebounds on the stat sheet, but he ended up doing his share in this game for sure.
Last edited by Lee356 : 02-04-2006 at 10:49 PM.
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