1st half

Wow, Flip has been hiding it all year. The perfect bench combination. Arroyo, Delfino, Prince, Dyess, Sheed. Guess he was just waiting to pull it out in a big game. This unit pulled ahead of Miami. It featured strong rebounding by Delfino, fantastic defense on Wade by Delfino. Arroyo ran the show to perfection. About the only thing that could go better is if Tay had not tried to force things quite so much. Good to see him stay aggressive, but he can work on his offensive game some other time. Time to win today.

Shaq. We are not even guarding the guy. So far, that is pretty much what Ben, Sheed, Davis, and Sheed amount to. Shaq is getting right where he wants, getting the ball, and just dunking it all over us. Davis looks particularly insignificant next to Shaq. And he did not look like much at all vs. Mourning either.

Wade was one for 7 with a few minutes to go in the half. Rip comes in and gives him a bucket. A bit too easy. Frankly, why Flip feels he must put his starters in for the last 3 minutes of the half is beyond me. Our subs were doing just fine.

Sheed has hit a couple of triples. Tay has done some scoring, Rip has made his midrangers. CB has hit some shots. Dyess hit one outside shot and got an easy dunk off a no looker from Arroyo, and another dunk off a pass from Arroyo after an offensive rebound. Delfino got to the line after another offensive rebound and made both. Did I mention Delfino was all over the boards? Did I mention he was virtually smothering Wade?

Evans played bit, and did not do much. He made way for Delfino rather quickly and that five man unit mentioned above played most of the 2nd quarter.

Arroyo missed a shot, but we got the offensive rebound, so no harm there. He did commit one foul that hurt us later as we got into the penalty. Delfino, well he got a foul call that hurt us too, but that was a superstar call as he breathed on Wade.

Well, we have a ten point lead, but our defense is not doing that great overall. At 59-49, we are pretty much letting them get toward a 100 points for the game. We are scoring at a very high rate too, and it better keep up if we are going to continue to let Shaq dunk all night uncontested.

game report

Well, Flip choked. Absolutely choked. Completely forgot he ever had a bench in the 2nd half of the game. Yes, Dyess played some, until he picked up a fourth foul, but saw no 4th quarter action. No Evans. Can't say I mind that any, but you got to play somebody. How about Hunter? Apparently, either Hunter is in no way ready to play at all, or Flip is treating Hunter like the rest of his bench players. Not playing them. Ok enough venting. Now for the good.

CB shows he can hit shots. And Rip scored a bunch. Sheed knocked down plenty of triples. Usually, three guys going good on the scoring is a win. But not if you simply let the other team have two star players go unchecked for long stretches of the game. Late in the game, CB hit a couple of triples. Rip knocked one down too. We had a 4 point lead with a couple minutes left. Oh so close, but Wade could not be stopped. That is, he could not be stopped by any of our starters. Delfino was like an on / off switch in the 2nd half for Wade. Wade started the half strong, completely was stopped by Delfino, and then was impossible to stop after Delfino came out of the game.

Delfino pretty much flawlessly stayed on Wade like a cheap suit. And while in, he helped run our offense a bit, and continued to be a force on the boards. Delfino did hit one triple in this game, but notice, from the right side. From the left elbow, he has launched two airballs in the last two games. What is up with that? Maybe not his best spot? Other than that, wow, quite a game from Delfino.

No sign of Hunter. No Darko. Dale Davis did not come back out in the 2nd half. No Arroyo, no Evans in the 2nd half. Just 7 guys, and only 6 played in the 4th quarter due to foul trouble on Dyess.

Can we say fatigue lost this one for us. Nope. Both CB and Rip continued to nail their shots right to the end. The only thing not working for us was Tay, who got plenty of rest from Delfino. What lost this game was matchups. A ton of baskets to Shaq because we have no EC anymore to at least slow him down some of the game. And Wade, a coaches choice. He will not believe in any of his bench players apparently. How can you possibly let a guy score 17 straight and not bring in a defensive specialist to cool the guy down?

Did I say I was done venting? Hardly. That unit from the first half, you know, the one that got us a lead, Flip said heck, who needs it. He left Arroyo sitting out the 2nd half. What more can a guy do? And one more game not playing Darko. Even after it was proved beyond any doubt Davis is worthless on Shaq. How in the heck does this coach expect to win a 7 game series against Miami while letting Shaq go rampant all game long. And look, Shaq played a whole lot in this one. In the playoffs, he will be long past his current injury recovery, and the games will be very well spaced. Joe better do something. Have Flip play Darko or give EC whatever it takes-oops, he can only pay league minimum. But sweet talk, cajole, whatever, get EC back.