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Half time score 50-50. Looks like Flip is going with the bench again as they played the entire second Qtr. No Hunter sightings. AJ played the whole qtr plus some scoring 2 pts on 1-8 shooting, but comtributed 7 boards, 5 blocks. Without his rebounds, the Pistons may have been down as they have been out boarded 28-16.

One other thing about the bench..either they didn't go to the hole or scrubs don't get calls...Only Flip jr went to the FT line in that second stanza.

Lets hope Flip sr wants to win this one for the home fans and inserts some starters down the stretch..

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"Once you go Barack, you never go Bak" Mario Cantone 2008

Amir Johnson is not a power forward.

Maybe he can be a Shawn Marion finisher-style 3, but he was slower and weaker than some scrub named Louis Amundsen at the 4.

I could live with that.

Then Maxiell is the future 4? If so, Maxiell needs to work on his FTs. If he's gonna bruise his way to the hoop, he'll get fouled a lot (see Karl Malone).

He also need s to learn how to pass out of a double team. It`s nice that he is being doubled! I guess.........

I'm fine with Amir this game... yes he got beat down the court once... he also gave up some O boards to Amundsen... it's no secret that Amir needs to add some weight/strength... but this is not anything near the end product... it's nice to have a front court player who can play above the rim and get out in transition.... Marion also played PF a lot.
Amir looked like he wasn't breathing hard after a long shift (the F key acting up creates some funny sentences lol).
He has also demonstrated that he will pass out of a double (just not recognizing it all the time)

Credit due to the shooting by the sixers... Hunter thought he was Dirk for a day... and that floater by Willie Green is almost unstoppable...
that said maybe we should temper our optimism about our bench... they were clearly out played... Flip Jr acted like he was the only guy out there (somehow he got 6 assists).
I'm just thrilled we finally get to see Amir in some NBA action.

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With politicians the future lies ahead

Well another " I don't give-a %%% " effort by the Pistons. . No D was played by starters or bench as sixers shot 48% for the game after hitting almost 80% in the first 8 minutes before cooling off. What did we learn today? That Amir can block and he can probably rebound better than JMax, but still needs to learn how to shoot. He also showed some athletism, something that the Pistons surely lack.

I don't know about you all but to me it appeared that the sixers scrubs have more upside than ours do. At this point I trust no one off our second unit other than Dice as the others are to inconsistent. Don't know who to blame here? Joe for not evaluating his talent, or Flip for not playing and getting the best out of them. What do they do in practice? One thing for sure, it looks like Dice, Murray Delfino will get the playoff minutes, with Dale and Hunter getting the defensive or foul minutes.

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"Once you go Barack, you never go Bak" Mario Cantone 2008

Hard to believe this is same Philly team that Orlando slaughtered the game before, just yesterday. Hunter nailing two consecutive outside shots, hitting a very well executed sweeping hook across the lane? Not typical for Hunter at all. UD grad Willie Greene did his college proud. Nothing new there as Greene has been shooting lights out for quite a while now. He is no new player. He is just a forgotten player after getting a long term injury. He is back.

Billups made Miller look all world in that first quarter, but hardly made a shot afterward as we used someone other than Billups (like Prince quite a bit) to guard the guy. Billups ain't moving none too well. Last chance. I still say rest him until next weekend. He is still injured. Is it the new injury or the old groin thing, I don't know, but Billups could sure use the rest. And Blalock could sure help us a lot in these next couple of games,and into the playoffs.

Hunter and Murray were completely outclassed by the Philly guards in this one. And worse, the two played together for much of the 4th, dooming any chance of a comeback by our sub unit.

And here is another problem. The only guy out there playing solid perimeter D for us in the 4th quarter was Delfino. But he was playing small forward. Dale Davis could have been playing instead of Murray. We would not have gotten beaten so badly on the boards. And Blalock could have gotten those minutes Hunter had, and actually played as a point guard. Sure Hunter did make a few shots after the game was decided to pad his stats a little, but how about acting as a point guard. Between him and Murray, we had a clueless backcourt. Again, we could have had Blalock, a point guard, Delfino, a 2nd good ball handler for the backcourt and solid defender, Amir at small forward, where he belongs, JMAX, at power forward where he belongs, and Dale Davis, an actual center at center. And its who should have been playing out there. No, its still not too late. The NBA finals are in June. I hope the Pistons plan on being there.

Amir had quite a game. He ended up with 12 points on 12 shots, not bad. His first two shots were blocked. Kind of made him nervous and he tended to rush things from there. But he on a couple of occasions then managed to get the ball back after getting blocked. He also missed an pretty easy dunk attempt. Rest assured, this is not typical play by Amir, just a nervous young guy at his first dance. Amir also managed 6 blocks, a steal, 3 assists, and 10 rebounds. None too shabby for his 2nd game in the rotation this year. Try extrapulating that a bit. What if Amir had been playing all year? As good as JMAX? Probably better as he rebounds better and is a tremendous shot blocking presence.

JMAX did some good stuff, but was not enough help on the boards. Again though, why play him at center any. Sometime he could even play at small forward, where his rebounding is not so critical. JMAX made a couple of jumpers, jumpers he should have been making all year long, if given the playing time.

Tay could have scored 50 in this one if the Pistons had wanted him to. Otherwise, none of our starters did much in the scoring column, except if you call all the points an injured Billups gave up to the other team. GO PISTONS!!!!!_the team that with any luck at all will be the next Champions. (But I don't like depending on luck. Give me a backup point, and get Dale Davis in there. And absolutely add Amir Johnson into the rotation.)

What's up with using the term "scrubs?" Sounds a tad...derogatory...

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Amir play. He showed some incredible hustle out there, staying with the loose balls and utilizing his length. He probably could've easily gotten a triple double--a beautiful thing considering he's only a sophomore and just came back from the D-League.

I was a little disappointed with the number of 3's we took (22). I wanted too see a little more inside action with Amir and Maxiell.

Why didn't 'Dyess get more time? I mean, I consider him a starter and all and I realize the regs played limited minutes but he only played like 8 or 9 and took just 1 shot. Call his number a few more times---he's money!

Where the hell was Nazr?? I went into these last few games with the hope of seeing some time from him and he's been stiffed the last 2 outings! If he doesn't get some PT in the next 2, I'm gonna be UP-set!