micro-cap (better late than never edition)

The Big Nasty

Able to control his propensity to accumulate fouls at a rapid and uncontrolled rate, Nasty Naz established a rhythm and had his first double double as a Piston. Granted it was against a Hawks lineup shorter than a baby midget crawling, but Nazr was active, finished well and pulled down some tough boards. If this was a consistent game for him, he would be a free agent steal at $5.5 million a season.

Delfino è stupefacente e meraviglioso

I don't give Carlos Delfino enough love. Tonight I will. CD had a great game. He didn't score from the field until late in the game, calmly dropping a 3 pointer with the silky smoothness of Ray Allen, but his defense and intangibles (that's the stuff that I see, but doesn't make the stat sheet) were great. He played Joe Johnson, possibly the toughest cover at shooting guard in the Eastern Conference outside of Michael Redd and Dwyane Wade. Johnson went 6-16 for only 12 points. Most importantly, Delfino did not put him on the line.

Delf finished the game with 8 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. Truly excellent 25 minutes of court time.

Free Brahma

Maxiell. An absolutely terrible game. He made some tough dunks, but he blew several as well. Jason decided to get a little cute this game, one handing over Shelden and Marvin Williams. Bad idea. This Hawks team is small and hurt right now, but they have a ton of athleticism and their little-bigs are super mobile and strong.

Max was good at the line, but his defense, rebounding and overall energy took a step back tonight in my opinion. It's the goal of every player on the edge of the rotation to strive for consistency. A more consistent effort could have yielded 20 points, 8 rebounds instead of 14 points, 3 rebounds.

In his defense, Maxiell did throw a nice touchdown pass to Carlos Delfino and finished with 3 blocked shots. It's just that I am no longer totally awed by the ferocity of his dunks. I need to see him crash those boards, and develop better footwork on defense. Trying to block everything is something the better big men in the league know how to take advantage of.

The Unemployment Line

After a strong start, Antonio McDyess became lost in the mix again, scoring only 2 points and grabbing 2 boards to go along with 3 fouls in nearly 17 minutes. Dice did finish with 3 blocks, but that is an Adonal Foyle stat line, not what we have come to expect from a 6th starter.

Give Flip a KitKat

He deserves a break. Saunders put the zone in. They said boooo! Zone works. They said that Flip Saunders had intense man love for Flip Murray. Murray has either played well, or gathered splinters in his hind parts. They said that Flip's offense is all jumpshots. Jason Maxiell is re-writing the playbook.

Flip's doing a great job, and it looks like he and Billups may be the only Pistons at the All-Star game (now that AI has moved to the West).

My good guys: Nazr Mohammed, Dale Davis, Flip Murray, Flip Saunders, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, Carlos Delfino, Will Blalock

My bad guys: Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell, Ronald Dupree

My player of the game: Nazr Mohammed

Notes:

• Billups' second straight game without a turnover. He has 4 in his last 4 games.
• Ronald Murray hit double digits in points for the first time in 5 games and only the 3rd time this month.
• Rookie Will Blalock scored his first NBA field goal with a high glass layup in the second quarter.
• The Hawks had ZERO fast break points at halftime.
• The Pistons have won Points-in-the-Paint in their last 4 games. They're 13-3 over the last 16 games.
• The Pistons had 10 players with 16 or more minutes, 8 of them had over 20 minutes with no starters hitting the 30 minute mark.