which means Sheed should kill in the post. I agree with mostly everything said.

Amir on Lewis
AA's ability to stop penetration
Hermann getting a look

Let's see if Dolphin learns how to adjust w/o someone breaking their nose.

And it can't be 4 games in, or this series will be out of reach.

I think you all may be underestimating Rashard Lewis. He is overpaid, but he isn't under talented. I think Rashard would eat Amir alive during extended minutes.

A roster for this series: Herrmann, Hunter, and Hayes stay in street clothes.

Hunter is too slow to guard Nelson, and too slow and too short to guard Dooling.

Herrmann is simply too slow in foot speed.

Hayes is not much better than Herrmann in foot speed, and has no defensive footwork.

This leaves us with:

Billups, Stuckey, and Dixon as point guards.

Rip and Afflalo as shooting guards.

Tay and Amir as small forwards.

JMAX and Amir as power forwards.

Sheed, Theo, Dyess and Samb as centers.

For strategy, its pretty simple. Orlando plays a center, and then two weak defensive small forwards up front. Every play pretty much should be to the basket, targeting to get Howard in foul trouble. And once Howard is out of the way, keep attacking inside relentlessly.

On defense, match up.

This means do not ever play any of Sheed, Dyess, and Theo at the same time. Again, Orlando does not use a power forward, so we can't have a power forward in the game who can't chase small forwards around.

Our guards overmatch theirs as long as we don't play Dixon or Hunter.

Dixon can be used for offense / defense substitutions at end of quarters. Sneak him in there to can a shot, and take him right back out of the game. If Dixon plays at all beyond that, it should be for an early substitution for Billups so Dixon is in while he can guard Nelson.

Sub pattern:

Starters play the first 8 minutes of the game. Thats Billups, Rip, Prince, JMAX, Sheed.

Amir spells Jason Maxiell for the last 4 minutes of the first and then the first 4 minutes of the 2nd quarter. Then Amir stays in and plays 6 minutes as the small forward while Tay rests. Maxiell is back in for the last 8 minutes of the half. Tay comes in for the last 2 minutes of the first half.

Afflalo and Stuckey start the 2nd quarter and play 8 minutes. Rip and Billups come back in for the last 4 minutes of the half.

Sheed sits after the first 8 minutes and Theo plays center for the rest of the first quarter. Dyess comes in to start the 2nd quarter, and Sheed plays the last 6 minutes of the quarter.

In the 2nd half, you play basically the same rotation, changing things just a bit if needed of course. But with everyone getting a decent rest in the first half, a lot of flexibility is left for the 2nd half.

Just to put this altogether

Billups, Rip, Tay, JMAX, Sheed. minutes 0-8.

Billups, Rip, Tay, Amir, Theo. minutes 9-12.

Stuckey, Afflalo, Tay, Amir, Dyess. minutes 13-16.

Stuckey, Afflalo, Amir, JMAX, Dyess. minutes 17-18.

Stuckey, Afflalo, Amir, JMAX, Sheed. minutes 19-20.

Billups, Rip, Amir, JMAX, Sheed. minutes 21-22.

Billups, Rip, Tay, JMAX, Sheed. minutes 23-24.

Lee, you forgot to give minutes to Samb down here at the bottom. Oh, that's OK, I don't see Samb suiting up for this series.

From ESPN analyst Jon Barry. Pretty good assessment of the peaks and valleys of one Rasheed Wallace.

Who needs to have a big series against Orlando for the Pistons to win? I guess I would say Rasheed. I think he’s the most important player for this team. I think you’ll probably see him playing Dwight Howard. When he plays on both ends of the floor and gets in the low post, and knocks down threes, and is focused, he’s a top five power forward in the game. But there’s other nights when he doesn’t play focused, he losses his mind and is very ineffective. It comes down to me that he’s the guy that makes Detroit a championship caliber team or a team that is going to get bounced.

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"I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore. - George Carlin

"Hunter is too slow to guard Nelson, and too slow and too short to guard Dooling." Qoute Lee
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Wait a minute Lenz is a strong 6'2''. Dooling is a short 6'.

I am confused. Doesn't the entire first round have to be done with before the second round can start? (Boston still has game 7 tomorrow)

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Yeah...

So much to worry about...

Will Evans get into Rip's head and take him out of his game by shoving him around a bit here and there? If Evans manages five or more boards it will be a long series.

Will the entire front line foul out guarding Howard, moving Affalo to the center position where he pulls a Magic Johnson and never looks back?

Will anybody bother to guard Turk who could hit at least ten threes per game otherwise?

To coin a phrase, no rebounds, no ECF.

Orlando's offense: Shoot a three or hit Howard inside for an easy bunny.

If Orlando shots a bunch of three's, that means they'll miss around 60 percent of them so we do need to corral some of these long rebounds, as dba says.