Another outstanding coaching job by Flip. He bettered last game where things were going reasonably well in the 2nd quarter and Flip leaving the subs in. This times, things were not going so well. We had a 14 point deficit after 8 minutes in the 2nd and Flip still left the bench in. Hunter, Flip, Delfino, Sheed, Webber. This group was in there as that lead was cut to 3 before the half. Rip, CB, and Tay were resting for the 2nd half. This excellent faith Flip showed in the bench, combined with the garbage time in the is blowout Piston victory means tomorro's night's 2nd of a back to back should be no problem. At least in regards to tired legs.

It worked. Of course, we had the added bonus of Sheed leaving early in the 2nd half, so that not only did we have a fresh Tay, Rip, and Billups in there, but a fresh Antonio McDyess too. Only Webber among the starters played both the end of the 2nd quarter and most of the 3rd quarter. This group won the 3rd quarter. Now, Tinsley did go down with injury late in that quarter, but we had already gained the lead at that point. Tinsley was ready to rotate out soon anyway, so no way I will take that as any kind of excuse from Indiana.

Sheed had a small bandange on his finger to start the game. He seemed to reinjure it right there at the end of the 2nd quarter. He came out with a bigger bandage on to start the 2nd half but left the game for good in the first few minutes. As far as I can tell, they don't think the injury is all that serious.

We started out badly. Good coaching by Carlisle. He knew the Pistons were a rather banged up group prone to slow starts. He ran us early and we were not getting back on transition D. It did not last though as Indiana is not really a transition team. Dyess came in early for Webber and that really helped our defensive speed.

Tay was the offensive hero. Indiana has nobody close to be able to guard him. They tried Dunleavy first, and all Pistons fans know that story. Might as well let Tay just go in and dunk uncontested if you are going to gaurd him with Dunleavy. But some of the other choices were pretty bad too. Armstrong? You got to be kidding. Tay had a field day. Still not making his outside shots though he did hit one 3. Most all his damage was inside. 24 points.

Rip was hitting his shots. Nobody else did a whole lot of scoring for us. Just a little here and there from the rest.

While in, Sheed did his usual fine defensive job on O'Neal.

Flip managed one drive in and dish. That was part of a comeback by the bench in that 2nd quarter. Actually, the first bucket in the run. Flip made some free throws on a few drives in, I don't think he made a shot. Delfino, the latest victim of the flu bug, missed his shots, but played his usual good D at least. He did not play until garbage time in the 4th.

Hunter made a couple of shots, got a couple of nice assists, and played solid D.

Why did we get so far down in the 2nd quarter with the subs in? A sequence of plays where Rip was overmatched by the Indiana shooting guard did not help. Flip Murray running the point did not help. The combination of Flip and Hunter together in the backcourt looked pretty bad at first, but like last game they seemed to get their act together after a spell.

Maxiell played in both halves, including about the whole 4th quarter. He made quite a few good defensive plays and had one tap back score. Rebounding seemed ok. He made one fall back midranger but missed a few inside shots and his first midranger. So so game. Note, he made that jumper after being in the game a spell, something he does not alway get the benefit of.

Dale Davis got in for just a moment to end the 2nd. Mohammed played in GT and did little of note. He did have one fast break dunk.

The lead hit 23 points early 3rd. It got a little scary there after our bench was emptied but the lead never got below 16 I believe.

Anyone notice how few threes we took? I hope thats a trend. Of course, with Tay owning the inside, why ever shoot a three. Probably just a fluke for this game. Ok, its down to 4 for that magic number to clinch #1 seed for the East. Hmmm, did Cleveland or Chicago play tonight? GO PISTONS!!!!!