We lost the game on the boards. We lost the game on tiredness on the starters. Did i mentioned this 2 points in my pre game post?

Boards - Tay has 2 boards the entire game with the heavy minutes he had. No doubt that he did a decent job on Peja making him go 3-14 for the game but Tay did not box out on Peja. Peja managed to have 4 offensive boards.

Fatigue - All 5 starters played more than 35 min again on back to backs and 4 games in 5 nights. Even in this 4 games stretch, starters been averaging 36 min a game. That's ridiculous. Flip should have rested the starters more against the Sixers.

If Flip would have played the bench more minutes in the Sixers game, I'm very sure we would not have lost this game. Even though the game score were close in the Sixers game, I believe the bench would not have lost the game if Flip mix the subs minutes with the starters more. By mixing the subs with starters, he is developing the bench as well as giving the starters some rest. Where is the disadvantage in doing that, Flip? I understand players in a team need to play more together to build team chemistry, but our starters has played almost 3 seasons together for heaven's sake.

Even when the starters can play those heavy minutes as their age permits them to do so, coaches must not be afraid to use the bench when the starters are not playing well. Proven coaches like Phil Jackson, Chuck Daly, Lenny Wilkens, Greg Popovich and even Larry Brown will not hesitate to use the bench when the starters are not getting the job done in certain games.

There are 9 more back to back games in our schedule. Use the bench wisely. Arroyo, Delfino and Mo's game is improving and with more minutes, they can still improve. Dice, Hunter, Davis has proven track records. We can still develope Darko and JMax if necessary.

__________________
DETROIT BASKETBALL