Phoenix 4pm, December 31 - Page 4 - Detroit Pistons Fan Community

roscoe36 · #31 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 08:28 PM

That's the thing. Defense is not about talent. It is about energy and desire. I'm worried that performances like this will fool the Pistons into thinking that Flip Murray can be a contributor with his offense only and that Flip Saunders will continue to get positive reinforcement of a negative (16 Mile). That we can outscore opponents.

We cannot outscore teams. That is a fallacy. This is a middle of the road offensive team.

ahb · #32 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flip Saunders

And I can’t fault our guys, they came out and played hard. You can’t ask Flip Murray stepping into a role, as far as a point guard, to do much more than he did. [...] For us, we got killed by the three. At one end they were 9-12

roscoe36 · #33 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 08:40 PM

I wonder how we shot the three at that end.

FreshPrince22 · #34 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahb

Delfino: took three bad jumpers, including one which triggered a fast-break 3-point play that sealed the game inside a minute left. Two stupid bad pass TOs. Bad defense. Rebounded okay.

That's a bit harsh on a guy who put up 11 points (56% shooting), 7 boards (led the team), 1 assist, and 1 steal in only 19 minutes. Plus he came up with 5 clutch points in crunch time.

His "Bad defense" was on a play off a loose-ball where the D was scrambled and he let the 2-time MVP get a layup. But look at the 4th quarter when Delfino was on Shawn Marion.... What exactly did Marion do? 1 defensive rebound and 0 points on 0-for-3 shooting. A guy who usually kills us with his offensive boards, and those feeds from Nash.

Also, he had 1 bad pass TO, not 2. The other TO was a palming violation. And his "3 bad jumpers" were only "Bad" because they didn't go in. They were all good looks, and none of them were of the Chauncey, dribble-dribble-chuck, variety. All in the flow of the offense. Hard to blame Flip's awful transition D against the MVP on a Delfino missing an open shot. You wanna talk bad shots, look at Sheed. That was hideous.

Quote:

Maxiell: decent offense, decent rebounding, nice shotblocking. Didn't get nearly enough touches.

I agree, but he needs to get more aggressive on the defensive glass. That is his biggest weakness still. Otherwise, I still can't see how Flip keeps him off the floor. He makes things happen. From the charges to the blocks and the paint-points.

linwood · #35 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lapeapod

I however think the best D is the nasty Eastern Conference mano to mano combat that resembles dirty dancing on a hot Saturday night in your local bar.

Very nice!

bball jay · #36 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:09 PM

delfino played great. some of us like to see the one miss from 3 point land that he did. he also made a 3 just before that pulled us to within 1 i believe. he made a steal and a drive to the hole just before that. it seems like delfino is a major reason we've even been in position to win the last few games but a few of us like to see the 1 mistake he makes at the end of games. i say for a guy that was supposed to be out of the rotation he's bringing us a lot. for the delfino haters he's put like 3 good games in a row together.

starters killed us again this game. play the bench. amir would have been perfect for this game. jmax and fino give us lots of energy and production. will blaylock needs more minutes.

flip murray sucks. i don't care how many shots he made on nash. most of the shots he made were selfish. not to mention the amount of 3 balls nash dropped in his face. flip shot the ball off the side of the backboard. he sucks.

linwood · #37 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:10 PM

Defense? You guys are talkin about defense? I mean... this is the New NBA, and you guys are in here talkin about defense?

It's not like we aren't scoring, and we do use the zone... and you guys are still talkin 'bout defense? Defense?

roscoe36 · #38 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:13 PM

lol @ linwood.

Just going through the Play-by-play (when I should be working no less...) it looks like Will Blalock was +1 and Flip Murray was -7. Can't wait to see the popcornmachine gameflow.

ahb · #39 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flip Saunders

If Ben tells you that we don't play defense, then that's that. I may have concentrated less on defense this year but if somebody says we don't play defense with all the defensive plays this year, then that's enough to get a whole lot started. I told Ben that you didn't have to give the people of Detroit a reason to think about firing me or anything like that. If you fire somebody, you fire them to make the team better: simple as that. I'm cool with that. I'm all about that. The people in Detroit deserve to have a winner. It's simple as that. It goes further than that - if we don't play defense, then we don't play defense. It's as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about defense. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the head coach, and we're talking about defense. I mean, listen, we're sitting here talking about defense. Not offensive execution, not offensive execution, not offensive execution, but we're talking about defense. Not the jumpshots that I go out there and diagram for and plan for every one like it's my last, but we're talking about defense, man. How silly is that? Now, I know I'm supposed to plan for contingencies and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do, but we're talking about defense. We're talking about defense, man! We're talking about defense. We're talking about defense! We're not talking about how poorly we shot. We're talking about defense. When you come to the arena, and see us play, you see us jack up shots, you see us take every one we've got, but we're talking about defense right now. Hey, I hear you - it's funny to me too, hey, it's strange to me too, but we're talking about defense. We're not talking about the execution, where it actually matters: we're talking about defense. How in the hell can I make my team better by emphasizing defense?

FreshPrince22, you're right about the other turnover, and yes, Delfino's defensive effort was better in the second half. I still believe that two of those 3-pointers were bad shots and another was very questionable.

16 Mile · #40 (**permalink**) 12-31-2006, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahb

The one possession Delfino was matched up on Nash he got rocked on his heels and gave him the baseline for an uncontested layup. Two of the three or four possessions he initiated the offense resulted in turnovers from his overdribbling and awful entry passes.

Nobody stops Steve Nash, you only slow him down. Delfino covered Nash, only because Flip got lost. Delfino forced Nash to make great move, and squeeze the baseline without going out of bounds. Murray, who was behind Delfino, should have done something other than watch.

BTW, at least Delfino forced Nash to try hard. Murray got lost on pickandroll after pickandroll, making zero effort to keep up. I wished I taped the game, so I could make a youtube video of Flip standing behind Nash, watching Nash either drive for a shot, or making a great pass.

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