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ZOO RULES!!

Just a meaningless game to close out the season. But hey, its still Cleveland, no Piston fan wants to see us lose to them ever. And our bench came thru. 59 wins, tying the Bad Boys for 3rd best ever record. Flip's first year was the record while the Bad Boys also have the 2nd best. That is something this group can be proud of, but later. Something called the playoffs coming up.

What did we do to prepare for the playoffs? No injuries. The starters only played in the first quarter. They did not do so well, with Rip leading the way to horridness with 1-8 shooting. At least they started the first half of the quarter playing good D. (No Bron, no Big Z. So it did not have to be that good really.) Our starters only scored 13, but we still stayed within 10 as Cleveland did not score that much either. More on playoff prep as I go.

Our bench played the next 3 quarters, winning all three. Pulling away for a 10 point win in the last minutes of the game. Afflalo got player of the game with 15 points, 4 assists, 8 rebounds, and a couple of steals. The one part of his game that still needs sharpening is the three pointer. (He took no threes in this game.) Afflalo's highlights included, one, making all his free throws, two, taking Verejou (sp) off the dribble from the perimeter and reversing, taking it strong to the hole on a fast break for a 3 point play. He also hit several outside shots, mostly in the lane. He scored on a cut to the basket as well. His closer in shots are ready for the playoffs, but not his three point shooting.


Stuckey did not do that great on offense, but yet he continues to get to the hoop with his speed and quickness, and making all his foul shots. Stuckey is not the greatest defender, but he does rebound quite well. Often you see several people, several taller people, go up for a bound but Stuckey coming down with it. Too bad Stuckey was injured early, he could have used more time learning defense. (But the silver linging might be the extra time Afflalo got due to that injury.) His driving to the basket and making free throws is getting very effective, he is playoff ready on that score. One highlight for him was a major dunk off a pass from Dixon.

Amir did nothing special, and got into foul trouble. Not to worry though, as he just simply fouled at his usual rate rather than adjusting to playing major minutes. Maxiell hit some jumpers.

The playoffs are arriving with our rotation not set. We have 14 guys ready to play though, and that is a good thing. But who will dress and who won't? Its not that clear at this point. Most of the uncertaintly revolves around Jarvis Hayes. Jarvis Hayes is a majorly weak link in our defense. Tonight, he did hit a couple of shots, but he gave up a myriad of points. The option of using Dixon as a backup shooting guard while Afflalo is the backup small forward can't be ignored. Nor can the option of using Herrmann.

For this game, Dixon on D was a mixed bag. He can't begin to guard most of Cleveland's guards. Not by any stretch. But he did manage to do fine on Jones, a very one dimensional player these days who just jacks up outside shots - if open. Dixon did well staying with Damon in the 4th. But in reality, Cleveland would never be so kind in a playoff game to ever let Dixon only guard Jones. Which leaves Herrmann. There is no way we are going to dress Dixon over Hunter unless we are desperate for a shooter. But we can choose to dress Herrmann instead of Hayes.

On offense, Dixon hit several shots, and dished 9 assists out. Quite impressive on that end of the floor. But our next opponent is Philly. Guards that would tear Dixon a new one if we let him play any. But then maybe Orlando next, where a guy like Dixon could guard Orlando's short person. Hey, if we can get Dixon into a game where his defense does not hurt us, then for sure we should use Dixon instead of Hayes. (With Afflalo playing backup small forward.)

Herrmann nailed 3 triples. One of them had to be this season's record for longest three made out of a half court set. The game was in Cleveland, but Herrmann shot that one from about the Palace of Auburn Hills. Herrmann also had one of his awesome inside scores where he puts the ball in one mit. His defense did not look that bad. He is slow, but he does have good footwork, something Hayes lacks completely while only being slightly faster.

Well, everyone take a bit of a break. And even after this first round starts, it will often be a long time between games. The Pistons will have plenty of practice time. Hopefully, they will be working mightily on solving the backup small forward problem.

GO PISTONS!!!!!

The following is my account of one of the best Pistons experiences I've ever had. It will contain little to no analysis about the game, so if you aren't interested in hearing the excited ramblings of a Pistons fan you might want to skip this. I'll leave the game analysis to the Lee, Dre, D4E and company.

My first Pistons game last night against Minny at home was pretty special. But I think this tops that.

Some may say that this was just a meaningless game. Some who watched it from the comfort of their couches may say LeBron and Z weren't playing so there was no feeling. These people are probably right. But to me it wasn't a meaningless game...

Maybe it's because I'm still pumped about watching the game live...
Maybe it's because I watched the entire 2nd half 6 rows back right behind the Pistons bench...
Maybe it's because I went into a hostile environment and went home a smug winner...
Maybe it's all of those things. But to me, this game was every fans dream. (or maybe just mine ).

So I ended up getting into the game. I still hadn't decided about going and it was 5:30pm, but ended up getting the bus into town anyway. Tashawn kinda convinced me that if I couldn't get a cheap Cavs ticket I could always check out some baseball (Tigers-Indians).
I watched the first quarter from a Sports Bar & Grill on 4th St about 2 blocks from the arena while eating my dinner and having a beer. No LeBron. I decided I could try and use this to help get a discount from the scalpers I was to meet in a few minutes time.
Talked to a few scalpers who waved me off when I said I only wanted to spend $20-30. They were peddling courtside seats. Walked a bit further and found a couple more guys. They were trying to sell me a nosebleed ticket on the end of the court for $40. I was feeling pretty cocky cos I really wasn't bothered if I saw the game or not. (The stein of beer I had probably helped too )

I bargained one down to $25 using my 'But LeBron isn't playing, I ain't paying THAT much!' The guy was starting to get sick of me and he said, 'Look, you're just one person. All you need is to get in the door and you could just sneak down to a better seat.'
I thought, 'You know, you're right. Let's try that.'
Got inside and went to my allocated seat. It was rubbish. But I decided to stay there for the 2nd Quarter and scope out some kick-ass seats down lower. I kept my eye on a few that were never filled during the whole Q. At half time I went down. If I got stopped I was going to use my line of 'I just want to take some photos'. It was half time after all, it should seem innocent enough. Well, it was not necessary. Security was non-existent and I just walked on down and sat myself 6 rows from the court, directly behind the Pistons bench. Sweeeeeeet. It was a few minutes into the start of the 2nd half before I relaxed and knew I was safe. From then on it was just fantastic.

I took some photos which I will post a bit later on. I could see all the guys on the bench. It was interesting to watch them interacting with each other. I noticed the whole time I was there I did not see anyone say one word to Cheik Samb (or vice versa). He truly looked like a loner at the end of the bench and I felt a bit sorry for him that he was invisible to the rest of his teammates. Nice suit though.
Meanwhile Sheed was being Sheed, throwing things at Maxiell while Flip was addressing them during a timeout, then hiding behind Terry Porter. Playing with the fans, making funny gestures to the camera when he appeared on the big screen.

Side note: Hayes went to the bench in the 2nd half and Arnie Kander was working on his left shoulder. He didn't look too bothered about it and he checked back into the game later on, but remember - you heard your Pistons injury report here first! Tay also appeared to be limping slightly when he walked off at the end of the game.

So, the game itself was a gem from the Zoo crew. All game we were just hanging around 5-7 points down, the crowd seemed pretty confident of a victory. Whenever we made a sweet play, all these people were saying, 'Who the hell was that?' (Stuckey), or 'Who keeps hitting that baseline jumper?' (Afflalo)
But to see that mental change in the Zoo crew during the 4th quarter was pretty special. You could just see the intensity pick up. Herrmann was a bundle of lightning caught in a Gatorade cup. Stuckey was a hot knife scything through Cavalier butter. Dixon was nailing cold-blooded dagger after dagger...

Then when Walter nailed that 3pt bomb from 40 feet out I just couldn't hold back a loud 'Whaaaaa-ha-hoooooooooo!!!! Oh MYYY!!' Up until that point I had disguised pretty well to anyone around me that I was a Piston fan. I thought they might alert security or something about my stolen seat. Haha.
After that, they knew. And I didn't care. I was too busy enjoying it.

The crowd were stunned. All of a sudden they were down. A lot... and then it was all over. I hung around after the game for a bit to let the crowd leave and watched Afflalo give his interview to George and Special K. Then walked through downtown Cleveland with a big smile on my face and went home.
It was a pretty special night. If you bothered to read this far, thanks. I'm happy to share my Pistons experiences with some of you guys. I'll be back at the Palace on Sunday for Game 1. Only a Pistons win there might be able to top this.

Any questions, let me know. Peace!

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That's awesome, Webz. Sounds like you had a blast. Plus, you've got great reporting skills!

Afflalo does have a nice outside shot when he takes it from the lane.

Here are some photos I took from the game

And the photo below I took specifically to end the 'How tall is Amir really?' debate. Save it to your computer, set it as your Desktop Wallpaper, burn it into your memory, whatever. But this ends it.

I didn't watch the game yet so can't comment on that, but Webz post made me feel sorry for Chieck Samb. Obviously the players on this team are threatened by his talent. Such haters.

Seriously Webz, I enjoyed that more than ANY article I've read on the Pistons all year long!!! And I read it from top to bottom...

Nice photo too.