Golden State gave it their best shot, as everone does against the Pistons anymore. I am not sure I have ever seen a team look more confident in the last 4 minutes of a tight game on the road.

Maybe more impressive than the 9-1 road record is the 7-0 mark against Western Conference teams.

Isn't Dallas a western conference team?

Player of the Game: Rasheed Wallace. In the third and fourth Rasheed really gave us a focus on the offensive end, and he kept coming up money over and over again. Anyone who says he never posts up or can't do it should be forced to watch a tape of this game. Nice decision to throw a long bomb to Ben off the final inbound, too, while the Warriors were trying to deny Rip and Chauncey. Once he started taunting Adonal Foyle (extending the ball behind Foyle's head was a highlight) and getting into it with the GS fans, you knew Sheed was into it ... and when he is, he's the one Piston who comes close to being unstoppable.

Credit to Golden State, which is really putting together a scary team. Great game by Richardson hitting all sorts of impossible shots and Davis played under control all game long. They just give up too much down low, but if they had a center it'd be really tough.

Terrible game by Mo Evans, who had me screaming at the TV. I really need to know what Delfino's done wrong, because Evans just won't play to his role. Arroyo played absolutely awful defense on Fisher in the first half but ran the offense well in guiding the Pistons comeback late.

Best game Ive seen in awhile, definitely worth staying up late for! GS looks like a team that works hard, if I lived in Cali I could definitely enjoy watching them play every night. Go Pistons!

Nice job Lee. I agree with you 100% on Evans and Arroyo. CA played really well tonight. I liked his energy on D. I also liked the fact that he didn't hesitate at all on that shot and looked very confident stroking it.

Evans still needs to find his role on this team. I've been disappointed with his defensive game so far.

Hard to complain about 14-2 though!

Excerpts from our first game chat tonight.

Good call linwood.
Needless to say, we have some pretty funny people on this forum and the chat was a good time. Make sure you come hang with us next game to get more hairstyling advice from the experts, and please bring your FREE THE BRAHMA crash helmets...

Not a great defensive effort by any means. Intensity was around 80% except for a few short spurts when they cranked it up to 95%. GS seemed to rotate quicker and more effectively. Their big white guys got some stuf%%%es on Mo and Sheed.

Both teams were in rhythm in the first quarter with Rip curling for jumpers (mostly) and layups (occasionally). On the other side, J-rich and davis were putting on a guard clinic. They hit some tough shots. Detroit got a hand up and contested most shots but they were in rhythm every time.

Arroyo was outclassed by Davis and Fisher. The biggest thing to me was that he gets picked something fierce...like he's unable to slip screens. But like Lee said he ran the offense. I don't know what all this overdribbling talk is about but Billups and arroyo dribble about the same while the play unfolds. Arroyo fires excellent passes and the team's offense runs smooth with him. Right now, we act like an offensive ball club. People might cry for Mike James but what will that buy you? One guy D'ing up while the rest of the team mails it in. James was perfect for Browns system. I think Arroyo fits better with Flip.

Arroyo tried hard though. One time he got juked and stumbled while Davis (? I was up in the nose bleed section.) sunk a 3-ball.

I was expecting Tay to light it up on Dunleavy but GS was cheating off their guy to provide quick help. Detroit went to whoever Dunleavy was guarding with a good amount of success. But there was usually the weakside cheating over.

I was unimpressed with Evans. No handle. He did provided athletic defense against GS's backcourt. And spotty shooting until it was time to stand in line for hotdogs.

At least two times Dunleavy was left so wide open you could hear Gold leader chanting "stay on target...(nobody's guarding me)...Stay on target...(still yet!)...Stay on target" Obi-wan must have told him to use the force cuz they went in.

I thought billups forced a few shots. More than once detroit and GS traded 3's.
Rip got cold late in the 2nd or early in the third but found his stroke again. Sheed was big with his face to the basket low post action. Wow. Solid. GS had no answer for sheed. All they had was J-rich.

Both teams were clutch down the stretch. Detroit got two key stops at different times and sunk their free throws to squeak by.

Looked to me like the Pistons were pacing themselves for a long trip. Little intensity...cranked it up to some intensity. Just enough effort to get a W and move on. In the pregame, it looked like both Darko and Delfino knew they weren't going to play. Darko spent an inordinate amount of time on the GS side. To talk to Cabarkapa. I thought he was trying to get onto the warriors roster. They didn't play darko either. The plane ride will wear the pistons out more than this game.

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Watching the game, we settled for a lot of midrange jumpers and long bombs. We get open looks but their team is in place to rebound the miss. For our part, our guys are curling off screens set by our bigs. That means they aren't in any position to crash the boards on the offensive end. Things change when Tay or Sheed get down low and force the other team to rotate but more often than not its a mid range jumper with our big guys no where near the basket.

On the other side, I am wondering if we are over rotating. We get 3 guys collapsing on a penetrator and then its a follow up jam by their unguarded big. Better basketball minds than mine can dissect this more effectively I guess.

Overall it was a fun time being there. The crowd was mellow. I think the most the arena was able to do was Moooooo when a freethrow was being shot.

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*sigh*
He just isn't working out, is he?

But it's Delfino that's especially confusing me these days. Did he run over Flip's dog? What's the problem here? He seems capable from afar....