I'm confident Ben will bounce back (hey, he's rested for a change), but if he doesn't have a great postseason this could get interesting. The Joe Dumars who evaluates playoff performance is very cold-blooded compared to the Joe D. everyone loves the rest of the year. Just ask Stack and Cliffy.

And he played some good D against Redd when the game was hanging in the balance in the 4th quarter. It was frustrating that his shot wasn't falling, and he probably did take too many of them at a couple of times, but he also made a good adjustment at other times by getting to the hole and drawing fouls.

Looks like Ben was more frustrated with the refs than anything else last night. From the Free Press game wrap:

I wish Ben could have played through it better, but he really was getting the shaft from the refs. There was one possession where he got called for a touch foul on Magloire, and after the Bucks missed their next shot, Magloire put two hands on his back and SHOVED him out of the way for the stickback...with no call, of course.

We are giving up way too many points. The D really has to clamp down.

Delk and Hunter were both +7 in 7 minutes. That is what I mean by doing their job. Bogut was -4. 6 fouls and 7 points. 1 for 6 at the free throw line.

Here is what really jumps out at me though. In game 3, Tayshaun was a -31. In game 4, he was +15. That is a 46 point on the floor differential from one game to another. Redd had good games both times.

ben got hosed by the refs last night. he got one call early on one the first play of the game, and then he got dumped on every other time. thankfully dice is awesome, and our bench as a whole shot 11/15.

delk couldn't guard redd, but he did foul him several times and didn't allow him to take jumpshots. i think that was big in taking redd out of his game, and i commented earlier in the year when delk first joined the team that i loved how he didn't let guys get layups.

it's weird that we now have some offensive sparks off the bench instead of just defensive sparks. evans and delk have taken good shots, not forced anything, and shot very high percentages...in fact i think they're being underused.

the bench has come to play this series and have really stepped it up when some of our starters were off.

Looking into the possible future, the Mavs are taking care of business and with blowouts They look like a scary matchup with that offensive fire power.

+/- is almost completely meaningless. And I've thought the bench effort - aside from McDyess - has been lacking. Evans had a good Game 1 when they kept doubling off of his favorite spot but has been invisible since then (racking up points in Game 2 garbage time at a phenomenal rate notwithstanding), Delk hasn't gotten nearly enough shots for my liking, Delfino and particularly Dale Davis - DD being the Pistons' second-best interior defender, something that's been sorely needed - continue to rot on the bench, and I've thought that Lindsey Hunter has been uniformly terrible. He takes about 18 seconds to get the ball upcourt, then dribbles around and jacks up a 3. I'm glad that the worst-shooter-in-NBA-postseason-history is making a few, but he kills the offense, and his defense is nowhere to be found (hello Mo Williams!).

I agree with anakin about the Mavs, though. I've said since January that they're the best team in the NBA, and if the Spurs or Lakers don't take them out, we're in trouble. They're deeper, more explosive, and far better coached than the Pistons.

Monday's Worst
Bucks forward Andrew Bogut: The No. 1 overall pick struggled in the late going, missing free throws, throwing the ball away and fouling out. Finished with seven points at least.

Daily Dime

I don't know why I am seeing it so differently, but I really thought Lindsay has been awesome. He is exceeding my expectation by actually making a good % of his jumpers while playing great defense. The biggest run we went on last night was when he first came into the game.

It's about time you gave that 1 oz. of love to Mayhem, he can hit some shots. Scarey thought is BBen may not be right for Flips system. Could be a change in a couple years.