Tonight after the game ended, a few of us stayed behind in the chat and Low, in a very good natured way, was confessing to a perfectionism that causes him to be driven crazy by some of those things the Pistons do that he knows they could do better. And that's when the word came to me for something I'd said earlier in the chat, about loving the Pistons unreliability: I'm an IMPERFECTIONIST.

Tonight's game was a class A exhibit of what I believe is the Pistons' nature and of the things they do that drive the perfectionists nuts and make the imperfectionists feel like we're smoking grade a weed or watching an incredible sunset.

Pistons opened the game by falling behind 15-0 and didn't score until 8:30 remained in the first quarter (Hyde).

We then outscored them 44-29 over the next 17 minutes so that with 3:23 left it was tied up at 44-44 (Jeckyll).

Then the Bucks went on a 15-1 run to make it 59-45 at the half (Hyde).

The second half saw the Bucks extend the lead to 69-51 with 8:45 left in the third (Hyde).

We then outscore them 49-23 over the next 16 minutes to take a 100-92 lead with 4:35 to go in the game (Jeckyll).

The Bucks go on a 9-0 run to go up 101-100 with 2:25 remaining (Hyde).

The Pistons go on a 10-1 run to end the game and win it 110-102 (Jeckyll).

Thus, to summarize: For (I think), 12:10 (about 1 quarter) the Bucks beat us 49-7 and for the remaining 35:50 we won 105-53. I know, every game has runs, but I think in this game the sense that one was watching two different, alternating games (and thus four different teams) was especially striking. It was a gloriously perfectly imperfect victory.

And so a moment of illumination I'd had earlier in the game came strongly to mind: i love that about this team. they are so, well, human. i have no idea which pistons, which particular version of each piston, is going to show up from one moment to the next. i exaggerate slightly for effect, but you get the idea. and part of the phenomena, and my enjoyment of it, closely resembles something i've discovered over time in my closest friendships and relationships: the things that drive me mad about these people are the flip-side and inseparable from the things that I completely love about the. I felt (sorry BarbaraSanAntone) that it would be terribly boring (for me) to be a Spurs fan.

Sorry, this is probably saying more about me and psychological idiosyncrasies than is likely to interest most readers of the Pistons Forum. But as I was thinking that and then Low said he was a perfectionist and I realized i was an imperfectionist, it seemed really cool that my relationship to the Pistons could show up so clearly something in my life as well. And vice-versa.... i suppose that's the way it is with all real fans, each according to their own idiosyncrasies. Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch" (the story of his love told through the story of his love affair with the mostly terrible and boring Liverpool soccer club) hits upon this fact in a hilarious and touching way. The Pistons, of course, aren't mostly terrible. They mostly win. But they make it look hard and then, to top it off, act as though they had made look easy. I love that, like me, it takes a lot to get them off their ass, but that when they do and they really commit to something, they are effective and inspiring...And that i don't think they could be so effective unless they also had plenty of "ass time". (At least that's true of me) Finally, they find a way to get it done around 80 % of the time overall and even more often when it's really on the line, which is a percentage I would happily live with in my own life.

Anyway, I'll leave the more detailed recap to others... but I'd say this: Redd was on fire in the first half and not only because we played crappy defense...he also made some terrific shots, winding up with 24 for the half. In the pivotal 3rd that really changed (Rip really got up in his face and held him to 5 so props to Rip -- who it turned was battling a dizzying sinus infection -- for that d). My props also go to Lindsey and Dyess off the bench: L. for the defense, dyess for the boards and aggressiveness on offense. Rip also had a strong game offensively, getting to the hole a lot, as did tayshaun. Chauncey was not a hugely visible presence, but he did have 11 assists and just 1 turnover and shot just 3 triples, making a big one near the end of the game. His defense could have been stronger, but offensively I think he just played a very effective traditional point guard type game. Sheed made some characteristically bad decisions on offense, but also was key to our turning it around after the disastrous start and also pulled 10 boards. Ben, like Chauncey, wasn't as dramatically visible as he is sometimes, but I would say he had a quietly solid game. He did a lot of little things, especially on defense during some key runs, that helped us. Finally, Evans (2nd half) and Delfino (first half) each got some minutes and I actually thought they both did okay. Delfino played good defense on Redd and hit an open jumper. Evans hit a triple, didn't force, and had a key hustle play for a loose ball down the stretch.

Thanks for indulging.