So, just for kicks I had to go back and see these two fouls that Maxiel "drew on Darko". On the first foul, Jason Maxiel was being guarded by Pat Garrity (a scrub) and Maxiel beat Garrity to get in the paint. Darko reached and got a ticky tack foul (a dumb foul IMO), but it was GARRITY who got beat.

On the 2nd foul, Jason Maxiel was running in transition and got the ball in transition on a semi-fastbreak. Darko has just shot a jumphook on the other end and was running back defensively. Darko had been guarding Dice NOT Maxiel. (which is why I find it ironic that Darko was supposedly getting abused/fouls drawn on him by Maxiel). Flip Murray drew Garrity over and then lobbed to Maxiel. Darko, who was still running back in transition, caught up and fouled Maxiel over BOTH ARMS preventing an AND 1. Maxiel made both at the line.

That first foul was dumb on Darko's part (never reach and barely make contact). The 2nd foul was a good hard foul, (always make them shoot free throws instead of giving up open dunks). I wish the Piston's bigs would foul HARD more often. You can't give up layups and last night the Pistons didn't get too many layups.

I just didn't see where JMax "abused" Darko last night. Darko committed only those 2 fouls and he wasn't even guarding Maxiel. He was guarding Dice and Sheed the majority of the time. Dice was 0-3, Sheed was 5-12, not exactly "killer stats".

agree. that's why people say he should start over battie. i personally think b.hill likes him in the bench role so darko won't start at all this season.

i disagree with this. i don't have any problem with darko's spacing. he runs the pick and roll, pick and pop and never gets the rock. he posts up and never gets the rock. where do you think he should place himself to be more effective?? he has really good spacing in my opinion that's how he is able to pass so well. i think this is more coaching because he plays with a pg and a sg that don't pass much and do iso stuff so basically there is no place for darko to be just get out of the way.

darko's role on this team is to be the 4th option and he plays that role well. he showed in the worlds that he can be the #1 option on a team also. remember he is 21.

i'm sure sheed would like to have that mobile shawn bradley helping him in the paint. yes. dale davis and nazr are better options for us.

his only asset isn't his youth. dude has major skills that can't be denied even by the biggest critics. he can shoot, pass, defend and handle the ball very well for a 7' player.

he's still a devastating offensive weapon that just isn't his role on the team. he's getting maybe 6 attempts a game and a lot of those are rebounds. he isn't being called upon to do it but he definitely can. all of our starters except nazr could score 20+ a night if called upon to do so.

this proves what people have been saying all along about playing the bench. you can't play them every 7 games and expect them to be consistent. jmax when he first played as a piston could come in and put up 10 points in 6 minutes and have the other team in foul trouble. the last game i went to he missed 3 bunnies. in the preseason he would have dunked at least 2 of them or attempted to. not playing is having an effect on his game. i know in 2 years i'll be defending him like i did darko about how good he was when he first got to the league and he's just rusty now.

I only posted one line about foul trouble, geesh. But yes, I do think it's a problem. The few times I have seen Darko play he seems to make some bad decisions. He reaches and bites on fakes. (when I saw him play)

As for Ben Wallace, I'll take the bait. Wallace has never fouled at the rate Darko does. Ever.

Jay if you think Darko played a good game than he isn't that good. He couldn't stop Sheed, he couldn't intimidate CB, and Rip. If Tay wasn't passive today Darko would of looked real bad. Darko is good, but Jay you like Darko so much you think his bad games are good.

Great defense by Sheed. That was a sweet block he had late in the 4th. One problem is that Sheed does a lot of good defensive plays and gets called for a foul.

I think you may have just changed the subject from Darko's fouls to the bench theory... However, I'm glad to hear that you will be defending Jmax like Darko. I really like Maxiel and I look forward to reading your posts.

The bench really helped yesterday. Hopefully Flip can see that this time.

Thanks, Jackattaq, I was wondering there for a couple of minutes. I was watching the game closely and taking notes for my "recap" and for a little while I thought I must have had my head up my @$$. I did not see JMax outplay Darko and chase him off the floor.

Whew!! They had me there for an instant .

As the darko fans embellish a little, so too do the Pistons fans.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

And this is why I like you so much. Your message extends beyond one player.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."