I'm still not sure why this happened, but JMax started for Sheed in this game, and again in the 2nd half, although Sheed ended up playing more minutes, 29 to only 18 for JMax. Pistons shot the ball well in the first quarter, but a few defensive breakdowns and a lot of second chance points for Philly kept the game close. The second quarter started with a big Pistons run to get the lead into double digits--Delfino was playing really well, and Ashton Korver almost single-handedly punk'd the Sixers into a hole with several missed shots and turnovers. The starters didn't hustle much in the last few minutes, and some sloppy play allowed the Sixers to get within 3 at halftime. Flip Murray didn't do a whole lot from the floor, but he did get to the line a number of times and knocked most of his FTs down. Rip and Tay both shot well in the first half.

But the third quarter was a whole other ballgame. The Sixers continued to crash the glass, with Dalembert and Smith getting second chances all over the place (they combined for 15 offensive boards in the game), but aside from that their offense was mostly one-on-one with Iguodala jacking up tough shots. The big story was that the Pistons were almost flawless on offense--15-18 from the floor in the 3rd quarter, with assists on 13 of those baskets!! Rip, Tay, and Flip led the way as the Pistons moved the ball beautifully and scored on almost every possession. Their lead ballooned from 3 at the half to 16 at the end of the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, both teams traded buckets for a while, with Tay still on fire. He ended up with 33 points, a new career high--13-18 from the floor, and 5-6 on threes! Rip ended up 11-16 from the floor. The starters got lazy and let the Sixers cut the lead down to 10 with a couple of minutes left, and then Flip threw in a few stupid turnovers down the stretch, but the Sixers never got it closer than the final margin, which was 9 points.

The key difference in the game was the Pistons' ball movement, particularly in that big third quarter. They ended up with 32 assists, which I'm pretty sure is a season high. Flip led the way with 12 dimes, Rip had 7, and Tay had 4. Blalock also had 4, in 17 minutes, and he also hit his first NBA three. Delfino started off really well in the 2nd quarter, though he only ended up 1-6 from the floor, but he did get 6 rebounds. Nice win to get things going after the recent struggles.