Ok I still haven't seen the game yet, but did we have anybody out there on our team that even resembled Kobe?? I mean some body who could slice to the hoop and get the basket or foul??

I did check out out the boxscore and they killed us from the paint 49-26 and beyond the arc 33-6.

Why is it our little guys are attacking Howard and getting blocked, but our bigs aren't attacking and getting him in foul trouble?? It would be eazy to neutralize him if Sheed and Dice would play and shoot around the hoop instead of the turnaround Sheed fade shots or the catch and shoot Dice shots from 15 ft away.

The Magic got off over 24 shots from the 3pt line in games 2 and 3 and hit 11 in each game. Why are we double teaming Howard and leaving Lewis open...by the way who was guarding shard tonight?? Dude hit 5-6 three balls..

Don't the coaches and players know this teams MO? They will shoot the 3 as long as you leave them open. Turk will come down the floor and jack up a 3 just like CB. The defense has to recognize this and stop daring them to shoot the three. Play them tight and make them take the bad shot.

Also why do we keep going to this one on one back down to the hoop? No one ever helps out and we wind up taking a bad shot as the clock runs down.....remember I didn't see tonights game, but I did watch the Lakers pass the ball around to the open man tonight and hit them. When Prince or Sheed attempt to post up /back down their man to the hoop, the other floor players stop and watch on the other side of the hoop and NEVER come over to the other side to receive what might be a pass and an open look at the hoop.

Somebody tell me what Walter Hermann did tonight?? 1 board and 4 points. Did he play any defense? Probably not if they scored 111 points..... Put Amir in there Flip...Yeah he might get a couple of fouls and get dunked on by Howard, but at the same time he might get 2-3 blocks himself and I guarantee 7 times as many boards as Fabio gets...Flip are you reading this!!

We did this in the 1st game and then . . .

Also Max, ppl are saying that Nelson deliberately turned his ankle so he could hook him and pull him down. I've seen the play a few times. His ankle is turned but whether that was intentional or just a result of falling i couldn't tell you.

No, it probably does not matter very much. I suppose it might be more difficult for Joe D. to exercise some positive influence over Flip if Flip were moved by hatred rather than mulishness.

Well, Stuck had a few good drives and Rip made some nice short jumpers, though he also forced a few shots and hogged the ball too much on four or five possessions. Through the first three, I thought Stuck had a very nice game.

We started out badly and fell behind (I believe) 12 to 2 very early, and were behind 54-42 at the half. But then we went on a very nice run in the third quarter, closed the gap to three late in the third, and were only behind by four at the end of that period. So at the end of the third, I thought the Pistons were still in the game and would have some momentum to start the fourth. But Orlando opened the fourth with a big run, and I think we went the first three or four minutes of the fourth without hitting a single basket.

Orlando put on a real offensive show in the fourth, and they were scoring from all over the court. We were not guarding the Magic's three-point shooters as closely as we should have in that quarter, but on the other hand I don't recall many of their threes being wide-open. Dooling was very effective for Orlando in the second half, and that was a factor for Orlando too.

Lee, I'd like to see your proofs for "vendetta" - do you know how much is media ready to pay for such story?

Whatever, if some of you think here that Amir is a world saver, and can cover many holes at the same time, then be aware that even DPOY Garnett is not able for that. Most of their treys werr contested and if your bigs(dice, maxi, sheed ) are quiet, you have to make your jumpshots. Plain and simple.

Only "adjustment" was needed for that game: very good shooting night.

No one thinks Amir is a world saver. All ppl want is for him to get a chance at guarding Lewis or making an impact, but he'd have to play for those things to happen.

I absolutely do not care who played or who not. All what counts is who won and who lost.

Whining who didn't get playing time in a lost cause ( ok, they still tried to win) is a very minor issue, at least in my opinion.

Our bench can play well against of lottery teams at the end of the season, where intensity level is already low, and even then everything has work for them.

Starters didn't get it done and as long as davidson refuses to pay lux tax, our bench is filled with veteran minimum or rookie contracts.

I do not mind of Amir playing but there are more serious issues now.

A winnable game that was lost when they started doing nothing but forcing into Rip, Tay, and Sheed in iso's to start the 4th. Rip and Tayshaun were good on those at times, but when they unravel it happens fast, and Flip has to notice it. It starts with a turnover, and ends with forced shots and more turnovers. Orlando has no one who can stop Rodney from getting into the paint, yet it was always the last option.

I also think Flip needed to give Afflalo a few more minutes in the 2nd half early on. Hiss perimeter D is absolutely critical on a team that seems to constantly have mental lapses.

One more thing I will reiterate, that I have already said in the past. The mis-match at PF is not in our favor. It's time to start thinking about giving more minutes to guys like Walter or Amir, who feel a little bit more comfortable on the perimeter defensively. Guys like Dice and Ratliff are terrible at challenging Turkoglo and Rashard's 3-point shots.

Starting with the second most important thing first (perhaps) Rip, Tayshaun and Rasheed need to lose this little "club" mentality where they dominate the ball in between them and act like the other guys are supposed to be invisible out there.

Seriously, after the Magic jumped up on us by double digits I spent the rest of the game counting passes before shots, and toward the end I was pretty ticked off at the starters.

If this "mannequin offense" is what Flip is so famous for, somebody fetch me a bucket and about 10 feet of rope. I'm not even going to delude myself into thinking a championship will come out of that kind of ball movement (or lack thereof).

First and foremost this team played craptastic defense. And you know what? I happen to think that if you reward the guys like Afflalo and Maxey by passing them the ball every so often, perhaps they are content to cover your lousy perimeter defending butts when you let your guy penetrate at will.

Perhaps if the Magic truly believed that the Pistons would do something other than play two man basketball (3 tops) while the other guys stand perfectly still....
perhaps then some shots are less contested resulting in a made basket.. and you have time to actually set your defense on the other end.


Rip is a ballhog. He calls his own number like he's Kobe. He kills our rhythm every time he's allowed free reign.

And Tayshaun Prince.

Will he ever pass the ball to a teammate that is posting up?

Of course he'll pass it to Sheed, because Sheed will beat him down, but anybody else.....Tayshaun pulls the "I can't pass it to you...come set a screen for me so I can run more clock and throw up some junk....oh yea...I might throw the ball to you with three seconds to go..thanks."

Two great big continuity killers right there. And they were flying their selfish flags full mast for this little gem of a blowout.

Please someone get rid of this sorry excuse for a coach so we can get a guy in here that isn't afraid to put the bench to the behinds of these guys when they quit playing the right way.

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No boards no rings. Nelson and Evans again combine for 10, and second game in a row Nelson is the second leading rebounder on the team. Pistons' guards must box out or you allow a very limited offensive team to play to its strengths.

Shooting better than 31% in the second and fourth would help a lot too.

If Rip and Tay can stay in the offense with Stuckey running the point then losing Billups for a bit won't be the end of the world. So far though, they haven't shown any inclination to let him run the team, and the sets get one dimensional really quickly with Tay or Rip at the helm.

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"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi