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Originally Posted by BillLaimbeer  Below is a list of some things that Flip Saunders did correct tonight. Some of these items have been areas of criticism during the season: - Most important, Flip coached the Pistons to a win.
- The win was Flip Saunders 500th career victory. You don't win 500 basketball games without knowing a little bit about the game.
- Flip used a 10-man rotation.
- The offense is running extremely smooth with the starters in the game. The ball movement and the cutting is sharp. The Piston starters jumped out to a 23-8 lead in the first 9:49 of the game. That is 120-point per game pace.
- The Pistons were attacking the basket more on offense. This resulted in 38 free throws (Detroit made 33).
- On several possessions, Pistons ran successful plays after a timeout for buckets.
- The Pistons milked plays that were working. For example, the Pistons went down low to Sheed on the first 5 possessions of the 3rd quarter. Only after Sheed turned the ball over and then the Pacers put O'Neal on him did they give up on this strategy.
- When units were not working, Saunders changed it up. For example, when the reserves started to stink it up in the 4th, the starters were back in quickly to close the deal.
- Zone defense was only employed on a couple of possessions the entire game.
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One more if I may. When the bench struggled against the Pacer zone, Flip ordered them to pick up the pace and run on every stop. For a minute we were able to get decent looks before the zone could get set.