i was going to meet up with webz before the game, but i got there late with my dad. we paid $10 for parking, but since we had suite tickets we still tried to get in that special lot...my dad had made a copy of the parking pass from his buddy at work, and the attendants found that so hilarious that they let us in.

what wasn't hilarious was noticing the smoke from my engine as i parked, then watching radiator fluid GUSH out onto the pavement. doh. we went inside and to the 3rd-level suites, which are on the 5th floor and you can touch the palace ceiling. it's kind of surreal to watch the game from a further view than the TV cameras, and most of the PA sound is drowned out because you are so high. anyway, we had some dogs and popcorn and beer, then left at the end of the 3rd quarter to beat the rush since who knows how my car was going to respond. took a couple bottles of water to put in the coolant.

thankfully, my car drove just fine and hardly lost any of that water, and wasn't even leaking when i parked it again. gotta fix it tomorrow.

so, unfortunately i hardly watched the game, didn't meet up with webz, and had to leave early, along with my car breaking. but other than that it was a lot of fun!

Nice call by Saunders to leave the bench in even though it got close in the 4th. His trigger finger didn't even twitch.

they both played.

Good game, Pistons did just what they needed to do. The starters went hard for the 1st and 3rd quarters, and bench did its thing. The starters will shore up the D in the playoffs.

This headline made my day:

The Associated Press: Jarvis Hayes helps carry Pistons to 2nd-best record in NBA

forgot to mention that there are a LOT of cars that leave at the end of the 3rd quarter...was kind of weird to see.

sadly alot of "fans" don't care to sit and watch the zoo crew i guess... which is just sad, since the bench players are so much fun to watch these days... they make mistakes but the wow factors they show on a nightly basis along with there hard work and effort make the 2 and 4th quarters more entertaining the last couple weeks.

I liked the way the first team was doing some trapping in the 3rd quarter it seemed to raise there level of play a bit. Being so deep now, we should press, trap, and defend like crazed animals the whole game now.... your tired thats ok we have your backup ready to go...

That is exactly right. Our players are such intelligent trappers and unselfish on the break that it would be a great style for us.

The problem is that lately the first teamers haven't played much defense. It is a good idea for the playoffs though, I agree.

Rip sure does go into serious ballhog mode when he's in with the bench players.