Wouldn't worry about that game. After the big lead, you could tell that the Pistons were only looking to go home with a W and take the next 4 games off.

Also, I get the feeling a lot of the matador D had to due with players not willing to risk injury this close to playoffs.

Come playoffs, our starters ('cept C Webb) will be playing 40+ min of basketball without letup, and hopefully without the fatigue that they had last year.

Kinder Gentler Low Says:

I don't have anything to add to the discussion. I'm just looking forward to seeing how our guys perform this coming post season. Go Pistons!

Right. We didn't play defense. They will have trouble reaching the 80s in the playoffs. Their scoring options are limited.

We played spectacular D on DHo though. He got "worst of the day" on the daily dime. This dude always shoots > 50%... because he doesn't really shoot so much as "use the rim as a gymnastics aparatus." to quote Bill Walton.

He only dunked twice on us last night, which tied his season low.

(On a side note, Dwigt's scoring average is 30% higher in games when Darko starts. And his FG % is > 70%. )

i disagree. i think darko can be successful in any system with the right coach. i do however think that him and d. howard would be the ultimate tandem for years to come with the right coach. ben wallace isn't as good defensively without rasheed. darko and d. howard in the paint shuts things down. the offense just needs to be ran through darko at this point in thier careers. darko is the more willing and capable passer. if the magic played it right d. howard and darko would be playing with single coverage the majority of thier careers. i'm sure they would get about 6 - 8 points off each other misses every game.

although i would love to see him get 3 years by himself as our starting center. s & t with orlando again i hope. nazr, dale, and webber are aging to aged.

I will add two things. The media loves Howard. One night, he had the two dunks, and not another basket made that night. Several players outdid Howard that night in an Orlando win, but the highlight real pretty much consisted of the two dunks by Howard-with no mention that he scored only those two dunks.

The 2nd. We played some outstanding D mid-2nd quarter with Dale Davis and JMAX in together. I would dare say that we could have gone nearly undefeated this year if we had featured this pair heavily from the start of the season. They are that good together.

Recently, Darko and Howard played about 20 straight games together, and Orlando did not do that great. Some people not familiar with what was going on take that as meaning the combination does not work. What they are missing is that Tony Battie was out the whole time save a couple of games of that. So they were very thin up front, and very prone to foul trouble. If they went back to these two starting together, with Battie available, they could have a good, dependable rotation and fully exploit the problems they cause other teams when in together.

You have to keep in mind that point differential factors in points scored and given up for wins AND losses. The Pistons got HAMMERED in several games this year (2x to GS, once to CHI). If you take out just the two Golden State games, for example, the Pistons move up to 4th on the list.

Yeah, but you would then have to take out the losses for the other teams as well. If you take all of the losses out of the Spurs and Pistons record for the past 26 games, then you get a pt differential of +16 for the Spurs and +9.6 for the Pistons. If you count the losses as 0 instead of ignoring them completely, then SA would be +14 per game and we would be +7 per game.

We are good. They are gooder.

Darko may have 1/2 of Dwights physical ability, but he crushes DHo when it comes to the fundamentals. All Detroit had to do with DHo was make sure he got the ball more 5 feet from the rim. Since Dwight can't dribble, shoot, or make a move, so he usually turns it over, or passes.

Even Shaq can dribble once, and do spin move to the basket.