This is the last possession by the Pistons

YouTube - running down the clock

Yeah, looks like he missed Sheed in that play. He was open from the wing after the double team. Besides why not a post play to Tayshaun or Sheed when only down by 1? Poor play calling.

If that was the call, fire Flip!

If that was execution, sign and trade!

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

Now that was ugly. You let a young team hang around and sooner or later they begin to believe they can beat you. The one thing sorely lacking from the Pistons is the ability to club someone when they’re down. They go up by five early in the first and then play even until into the third when the wheels come off.

- 50% shooting in the first drops to 41% for the rest of the game

- Although Nazr only picked up three boards, the Pistons only rebound when he is in the game, 10 and 11 in the first and third, 6 and 8 in the second and fourth. The small ball lineup works o.k. most of the time on offense, but rebounding stinks with Tay at the four.

- Dice/Defl/Murray shoot 9 for 14 but by and large sit in the second half. Dice gets two minutes in the second half and Delfino none. Flip plays the entire fourth once the other Flip figures out he forgot to sub in the third, but is ignored by the rest of the team.

- The final margin is all from the line. Both teams get 32 FGs (Pistons +4 in threes). No drives, no glory.

CB – Actually not an awful game – 5-12 / 4-9 with 8 assists and seven boards. Unfortunately Dr. Billups disappears at the end and Mr Big Shot reigns and falls. For 35 of his 40 minutes he was solid.

Rip – Starts out hot – 5-6 / 5-5 in his first stint, but goes 4-15 starting late in the second and for the rest of the game. 25 points, but nothing when it counted.

Tay – Stinks. 4-13 / 1-5, 6 boards in 40 minutes, more turnovers than assists. With a lot of that time at the four spot. No blocks, no steals, no impact.

Sheed – Doesn’t shoot well – 3-10/1-3, but gets 9 boards, two assists, two blocks, 1 steal, and no turnovers. Goes 3-5 in the first and fourth, but a goose egg in the second and third. 39 minutes is too much. Works really hard though – Zach didn’t have anything easy.

Nazr – The big enigma. The team seems to play better with him on the court, but he doesn’t seem to be doing a lot. The Pistons haven’t figured out how to play without Ben yet and even a shadow helps them get organized.

Delf – I thought he had a nice game in the first half. No clue why he sat the whole second half.

Dice – Shot the ball well, the most productive rebounder per minute. No clue why he only made a token appearance in the second half.

Flip – Maybe his best game as a Piston. But the defense really lags with him on the floor (-9 for the game) and CB doesn’t pass him the ball when they are in together. Unless he is playing the point he doesn’t score – gets five shots in the second, one in the fourth.

The Big Flip - Lost? Confused? Having a bad hair-day? Bad job.

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"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi

We need a new starting 5. People are too comfortable with certain teammates. They need a little shake up. I think Rip should come off the bench...and its not cuz he's sucking but we need to have a different chemistry in there.

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Darth Low agreed to do a recap for this game. I don't know if he can relive the experience.

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It is forthcoming. But, I was way too annoyed to be productive at it after that debacle.

I feel your pain...my bruddah.


slippy's recap:
1st Q:
2nd Q:
3rd Q:
4th Q:

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Good recap, slip. Not kidding. I'm speechless too....

Ok, kiddies let's see what my eyes did see:



Points of interest:

-Not only do I have to watch the Blazers on my assignment, they add insult to injury by giving me the extremely homer/crybaby-esque Blazer home broadcats. Crap.

-This is the first time in a long time that I have no idea who the hell half of these Blazers are.......I still hate them.

- Portland's announcers claim: "These Pistons don't seem ready for 'this' " - That's classic

1st Qtr

Randolph forces McMillan to call a time out at 10:30 on the clock for tossing up a crap jumper from about 20 ft. Just plain silly.
Tayshaun appeard to start the game pretty aggressive offensively. However, the rest of the team appears satisfied to simply toss up long range jumpers (although they are hitting some of theme early).

As far as the defense goes, Detroit is really lax, but they are playing just enough to look honest. The Blazers aren't helping their case much by turning the ball over and just looking awful. They are making it easy for Detroit to half-ass.

By the end of this quarter, I'm wondering two things:

A) Can this game be any less interesting?

and

B) Would a beer help?

2nd Qtr

Randolph starts the 2nd by going right at DD in the post and made it look pretty easy on at least one possession.

The Pistons are content to continue tossing up threes and it looks like they are going to be coasting tonight with the mindset of getting an easy win at the expense of the Blazers.

Detroit is currently losing the rebounding battle and PIP 12-4 (bad omen). This team is giving up 50% shooting to the rest of the leauge. My guess is that's not just coming from 3pt land. But, maybe I'm just crazy.

- This game blows.

Later in the quarter Delfino gets a few early minutes. However, as is Flip's want, the guy misses a shot (after hitting his first one) commits a foul and is immediately yanked. He is reinserted after a few minutes to stew about his misdeeds.

Detroit is not really doing a great job on the boards either. They could be blowing this team out, but alas, they are only up by a few points.

For the rest of the second quarter there's not a ton of action either, a few plays that are up and down the floor, but nothing of note and defeinitely nothing exciting.

This game is torture so far, thank God for the half. Maybe I could conjure something interesting in the second half if the teams don't decide to bring anything to the table.



3rd Qtr

A surprise to no one, the Pistons come out in the 2nd half and commence to getting their cakes handed to them. Luckily they pick up the effort a bit and cut into the quick lead that Portland jumped out to.

However, the refs are starting to whistle this game like "we hope these little guys beat you." Nevermind the fact that the Pistons are obliging and fouling these guys on the plays that haven't been called on the other end. The Blazer broadcast team is very proud of their 3 pt lead and, as is Blazer-fan's want, they are constantly whining for techs to be called on the Pistons for anything they do. For some reason they always have an interest in using technicalities (not just Technical Fouls) to win games and are never just concerned with winning the game on the court. They always seem interested in having the goal tending ignored when it would help them, but in return they wan't every travelling violation, 3 sec. violation, and 5 sec. backdown ruled called against the opponent.

About half way through the 3rd qtr, the Pistons are down 2 and getting absolutely nothing out of their offensive sets. Then, by the end of the quarter they are in a dogfight and are just being outworked/outhustled on a number of plays under the glass.

4th Qtr

The Pistons are really not producing offensively at this point and are really only getting buckets off of extra hustle plays, which can wear you down if that's where nearly all of your offense is coming from.

As a rule now, they are not defending the Blazers in the paint at all and are rebounding poorly. They are just being outworked.

The Blazers are giving up 50% shooting on avg. this season, yet the Pistons have only managed a paltry 42%

Mid-way through the 4th Portland is playing much of its second string and to be honest, they are pretty much holding the Pistons at bay. Which is just sad.

-Detroit allowed another NBA newbie his "first" a double double. I'm getting really sick of new NBA'ers having their coming out parties against us.

Late in the fourth, the Pistons appear interested in tossing up 3's to get it all back and simply hoping Portland misses on the other end. However, their fortunes change as they are given a few calls and are able to earn some trips to the line and get back in the game and take the lead. At this point it appeared the Blazers were pressing a bit.

Finally, toward the end of the game, Detroit is again lax on D (after taking a one point lead) and allows Portland to score on essentially a layup and take the lead back with 20 sec.

On the last play of the game what do we get?

A slop 3 from 24 ft with 3 secs left that misses everything...game over.

This was a pathetic and embarrassing loss and the Pistons deserved it.

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