Got a little too close for comfort there at the end, but we kept the outcome of the game in our hands and came away with a win. Note, we did not have that much a margin of error. If Flip had tried to hide his favorite scrub into the game, we could have lost. Instead, he chose to use good solid NBA players.

Delfino did not play a whole lot, yet it was night and day difference when he was in there or not in there with our bench. Our bench with Hunter in there without Billups just did not work unless Delfino was in at small forward sharing some of the load of making the offense run. A pick here, a good feed to the post there. Lots of good stuff by Delfino on both ends of the floor. No stats, but if you look a little closer, he was helping us get bounds, helping us come up with loose balls. Its certainly a step in the right direction. Now hopefully Flip will look at the film and realize that he simply needs to ensure he keeps Delfino in the game whenever Billups sits and we will do even better going forward.

And Dale Davis got time. Great. Some more fouls you can give Shaq and a little more energy for our bigs toward the end of the game. Even though Shaq made way too many free throws for my liking, fouling him was effective, as often it gave Miami side line out vs. a scoring op from Shaq or from Shaq finding a shooter off our double team. We still have not used Cato though, and I think we will have to to get a win down in Miami. For some of the game, you actually need to put someone on Shaq who can keep him away from the basket. With Shaq near the basket, if our big comes off him to help, Shaq is right there for a catch and dunk.

Rip nailed some long range shots, Sheed hit a couple of threes and hit several other shots for about 16 points I believe. Billups did some scoring, not a ton. But Tay was the big time scoring hero tonight. Man was he aggressive going into the lane. He would attack once, get stopped, turn and attack again, and a third time if needed. But he kept finding his way to the basket. And he continues to make those free throws. After being the clear MVP of the last series, he is well on his way to being MVP of this one. 11 bounds too, a whole lot of them offensive.

Hunter did not do that great on Wade tonight, but Flip certainly used him extensively on Wade. Good job of coaching. Hunter did ok at least, which saved energy for Rip and Tay to score more. On offense, like I mentioned, Hunter could not make anything work, nor could he hit a shot himself. Flip, in my opinion, ought to give up the idea of Hunter being a point guard. Play him along side Delfino and let Delfino do the bulk of the ball handling. Hunter can be a very valuable asset in this series, as long as he uses all his energy for one thing, guarding Wade.

Dyess did not do a whole lot in this one. Delk played briefly in the 1st half and did little.

This is pretty obvious, but I will mention it for anyone who may be reading who does not follow the game that closely. Shaq is not too quick. The more the Pistons can push the ball up the floor and shoot before Shaq gets back on defense the better. We did some of this, but we can do more.

For this game, other than Wade and Shaq, the rest of the Miami players were cold shooting the ball. And we still just won the game. Don't expect things to get any easier Saturday night down in Miami. Of course, since Flip seems to be on the right track tonight with his use of the bench, it could get easy. Its up to Flip. PS Evans did not get into the rotation in three of the last 4 games. All Piston wins. The one game Flip tried to hide him in there for a spell, we lost the game. Give it up Flip. Especially in Miami Saturday night. Please don't even try it. Us Piston fans are rather fond of wins. GO PISTONS!!!!!