Once again, "hack-a-whoever" fails to work. We were better off when we were forcing them to make mistakes on the offensive end, as they were failing to execute. But, no....we'd rather use a worthless chicken-sh** strategy to get back down 10.

Genius.

One game, big deal, Bulls suck, they'll die on Tuesday.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

hack-a-ben is most definitely Flip's biggest flop of the post season to date.

Yeah which doesn't say much considering how much winning we have been doing.

I'm not crazy about it, but Ben has sucked at FTs throughout his Detroit career, and only this year decided to earn his salary by working on his FTs, so it backfired.

The game was lost when Webber didn't show up and Danny Crawford put Billups on the bench.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

Well, I bailed again when the Pistons got down big, and of course they started a comeback immediately, at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Not enough, though. I'm not in favor of Hack-a-Ben, but whatever, that wasn't why they lost. Being down by 20 points after 3 quarters and letting them shoot 50% from the floor was.

Detroit just fell back to old habits today, letting the other team get a much better start and falling behind in the first half. The Pistons are a very good team but they aren't a great team yet so they didn't put the hammer down today. I sure wish Flip would play his bench rotation some meaningful minutes instead of relying on the starters to come from behind and get a lead against a team that was playing for a lot of pride today. Maxiell was showing some great energy and he should have been in the first half as well. No Delfino to even give Tay a bit of a breather in the 2nd half so a little disappointing for me since I like to watch my favorite pine guys get some burn.

CWebb will be fine, just let him score early in the next game at home and he'll be back to his normal self.

The scary thing is Gordon hasn't even kicked it into his higher gear yet and how long can we keep him down?

Anyone thinking that Hack-A-Ben was the reason we lost is wrong.

Apparently someone thought it was a bright idea to leave their best 3 point shooter open, which deflated our comeback effort. Plus, we came in the quarter down 21 points. Don't count on beat Chicago with that kind of deficit. We just have to go home and take care of business.

I do like, however, that posterization Flip Murray put on Heinrich's ugly mug, perhaps the only bright spot in that 3rd quarter.

It's not the reason we lost. It's just a stupid %%%%% way to ruin a run that you have going because you keep resorting to a strategy that NEVER works....EVER.

The Heat used it pretty well against us last season. Back when Mitch Albom was writing about Ben's wrists that need surgery, that if I remember correctly, he never had.

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

A late rally falls short. Why did we get so far behind, and why did we make our move so late? Billups got into foul trouble. And Flip Saunders does not happen to have ever managed to solve the backup point guard problem. Something about the fans being complacement enough to keep their mouthes shut about it. Oh well, you like mediocraty, you got it. You called for Hunter and Flip Murray all year to back up Billups, you got it. Ugly basketball when Billups leaves the floor. Me, I don't like it one bit. Nice rally though.

Anyone notice that when we were making a comeback, JMAX was in the game. Kind of stopped dead cold when he left the game though. The same JMAX the coach in his wisdom decided not to play in the first half.

The rally was mostly Billups getting to the line and making free throws. How ironic when Billups missed two as the rally fizzled. Right after Ben made 2 at the line. I have never liked Hack-a-Ben. For Flip Saunders using it, it would sound awful shallow of me to call him incompetent as a coach. Just call it one really stupid move, killing our rally. How in the heck you going to get any fast break scores off the free throw line? We should have been playing some tough D, there was plenty of time left and we were just down 7.

Rip just could not hit a shot in this game. He was pretty much open as usual. That hurt. Tay was not miraculous on his outside shot. Sheed could not muster up enough threes, and did anyone notice the disappearance of his inside game today? (I mean, all those shorter jumpers just were not happening-why?)

That we got close at the end was incredible considering we were outboarded about 2 to 1. Considering they killed us on fast break points, and just about every category imagineable. Their rookie Ty Thomas loosened up a bit and scored some points on us.

For Chicago to win from here, Billups would have to be in deep foul trouble the rest of the series. Pretty much impossible, but of course Chicago will be doing everything in their power to exploit this horrid weakness of ours. A weakness that so many fans here have cheered on all season.

Webber had a bad game, but you got to realize that Ben Wallace was guarding him. Webber scored 22 the game where they tried Ben guarding Sheed instead. But does that mean I think Webber should play in this series. Nope. JMAX is the much better player for this series. Dyess, I am neutral on him. His game is the complete wrong game for the series. Outside shooting from Dyess just adds to the problem of us not going inside enough. Amir Johnson should have his minutes, and Dale Davis should be playing too. Defense always helps. Our best defenders are Dale Davis, Sheed, JMAX, and Amir, and they should be the ones getting the minutes.

Getting behind that far in two straight games is dangerous. Chicago got their win. I predicted Pistons in 5. Looks like I will be right, not that I care. The only good from this game were those solid minutes turned in by JMAX, in a playoff game, under really high pressure conditions. Could not ask for much better than he did. GO PISTONS!!!!!