Rip wasn't marginalized, he was missing good shots. They're shots more in the middle of the court now, but he'll start making them.

23-21 Detroit after 1, 44-39 Milwaukee after 2, 67-64 Pistons after 3 and 95-88 at the end. Story of the game was that the Bucks were too small to deal with both Ben and Sheed playing at near-peak levels. Story within the story was a flat game for Bogut, who had something like 3 points, 4 boards and a couple nice assists. Ben was, shall we say, extremely focused on Mr. Bogut. Swatted one weak scoop to Belleville and intimidated several others, then grumbled when the rookie got bailed with a few FTs.

Darko started tight but outplayed his Croatian counterpart with 10 pts, 9 boards and 4-5 shooting in just 14 minutes. Showed much stronger on the boards, getting a great offensive rebound and 3-point play in the fourth before giving way to Glynniadakis, who ran around and screened with little effect.

Starters were fine in quarter 1 and gave way to the bench, which laid a big fat 16-point egg in the second. Arroyo shot well but doesn't grasp the fact that in this offense, good things happen in the middle of the court -- dribbling to the baseline or playing 2-man ball on the wing just results in things getting jammed up. He did a poor job orchestrating. Quick reversals to the high post, then cut to the hoop from the wings WITHOUT the ball ... that's how it's supposed to work. Carlos disappointed with that and his terrible defense on Charlie Bell, who beat him off the dribble frequently. Looks like CBell will be in the league a while.

Ben and Sheed were great. Rip did some nice things, missed some makeable shots and tried to be a passer with deadly results to fans courtside. Tay again played a low-key game, not shooting very well.

After the terrible 2nd unit offense (10 TOs by half) left them in the hole due to a 14-7 fast break disadvantage, the starters came out flat and gave up a couple of quick buckets before a 12-0 run highlighted by a trio of 3s from Billups ... one after a miraculous save by Ben, who was really feeling his oats. Then the starters got a little bored but were too big and aggressive to give up the lead against a Bucks team without Michael Redd. Evans came out playing like the rookie Richard Jefferson, missing a lot of outside shots but releasing like crazy and leaving the pack behind for breakaway dunks. He's got some jets.

All three rookies played. Maxiell could always be found by looking for debris and bodies on the floor. He got a foul within a few seconds of entry late in the 2nd quarter, knocked his first guy down 40 seconds after that, and then spent a lot of time banging into people. He was intimidating a few people, and ended up with some tough boards and 7 points (including one thunderous jam). Watching him bang with Brandon Hunter was pretty scary.

Amir J. came in five minutes into the fourth and got a foul a few seconds later ... followed, surprisingly, by a great offensive rebound and pretty reverse layup. Then Acker, who'd come in a couple of minutes later, stole the ball and gave it to Amir for an UGLY top of the key jumper that somehow leaked into the basket. Great leaper, nice body control, awful shooting release.

Acker didn't shoot much, but handled the ball competently. All in all, not an inspiring game but a win's a win.