NJ Nets December 2nd, 6:00 PM

TV - FSDHD, NBALP

The Nets and Pistons meet at the Palace for the back end of a back to back - for both teams. Detroit has another back to back in a couple of days.

Exciting game, starters are rested!

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Thank you for another great season!

Don't get the game again, BOO HISS!

CHAT however, is OPEN!!!

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Early thoughts on the game:

Why, why, do other teams let Sheed take wide open jumpers?

JMax is coming into his own. He's really worked on his weaknesses (rebounding, FTs, and D) and is looking like a future 6th man of the year.

The Nets may have the worst bench in the league.

I'm really starting to like Afllalo

Lindsey still can't shoot

And AJ has gotten less PT and produced worse results than Darko at the same point of his career. None of which do I blame on Amir. Time for Joe start forcing his coaches to give his players some PT.

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Third straight blowout win for the Pistons. The Nets were on fire early, but the Pistons managed to keep it tied after the first quarter, and then the bench pulled out to a double digit lead as the Nets' offense vanished with Kidd on the bench. Things got a little shaky after both teams' starters came back in, but a good run at the end of the half pushed the lead back to 10, and then a dominant 3rd quarter ended with the Pistons up 20. 4th quarter was pretty much all garbage time.

JMax was the big story of the night with 18 points and 11 boards, including 6 offensive boards in the first half. He came in for Dice midway through the first quarter after Dice picked up his 2nd foul, and JMax played the rest of the half once he got in. Rip got back on track with 19 points on 8-12 from the floor. He played 34 minutes, CB played 31, and no one else played more than 29. Things seem to be clicking very well now on almost all cylinders.

The stats tell it all:

• Scored 118 pts and the most shots any Piston took was 13 (Hayes).
• 12 Pistons played and all 12 of them scored.
• 10 of 12 players snagged a rebound (Only Rip and Hunter didn't)
• 9 of 12 players logged an asst (minus- Dyess, Nazr, and AA)
• 9 of 12 players shot over 50% (sans- Tay(4/9), Hunter (0/3), and FlipM (4/7)

Plenty of meaningful PT for Maxiel, Hayes and AA. Plenty of garbage time for Amir and AA.

Rip also seems to have gotten has rhythm back, real good game from him tonight.

Flips press conference sounded like LB, alot of talk about ball movement, player movement and looking for teammates and playing as a team. THIS IS NICE!!!!!! Real test coming up next week against Atl and NewOrleans.

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Play hard, Play smart, Play together, share the ball, have fun....Play the right way!!!!!!

Looks to me like we got a new "starting six" with J-Max. Outstanding game for the young beast tonight. Amir getting some relatively significant garbage minutes is a plus. Unlike YKW, he has consistently made an impact every time he's gotten in the game just by being active. His time is coming.

At least, I think we were playing NJ. It really did not seem like another team was in the gym though as JMAX got one offensive rebound putback after another.


Another blowout. Another fairly meaningless 4th quarter. Sure, Amir played the 4th, but no, he did not get to shoot the ball. This time it was Hayes who went off for 12 meaningless points in the 4th. Flip Murray got his share too. Amir did get an offensive rebound putback. And lots of fouls called him. No respect from the refs at all. Something about us never playing the guy until this, his 3rd year.


A 2nd straight game where neither Murray nor Mohammed played any in the first half. We were up 20 to begin the 4th. Murray was in at point and NJ used that to press us every time. It did not look pretty at all with Flip and Rip trying to advance the ball. It got a lot better when Afflalo subbed for Rip.


Billups quietly had another superb game, lots of points and assists. Rip scored plenty. Sheed, Dyess, and Tay scored some. Dyess just took one outside jumper in the first, spending a bit more time around the basket. Dyess did hit a few outside shots in the 2nd half. Even though he made them, we really needed to be going inside. Sheed too was taking 3's when it was time to put them away by continuing our inside game. On the other hand, we went inside so much in that first half that NJ was pretty much conceding outside shots to anyone in the 2nd half. Billups driving inside was about the only inside game we kept going to in the 3rd.


Jason Maxiell missed about 4 of his first six free throws. Other than that, what a monster game. He made one outside jumper from near the free throw line. Everything else was at the line or dunks from offensive rebound putbacks. His 18 points is one shy of his career high and he had 11 bounds, about half offensive.


Afflalo scored on a fast break, and at the line after making a move inside. He was part of a 13-0 run by our bench in the 1st half. (About the 2nd half of it.) Hunter started it with some pretty good D. And Maxiell was providing the O. Hayes and Dyess rounded out the unit that ended that run. You pretty much knew we had the game won just because our bench played so much in the 2nd quarter, ensuring our starters would be fresh if needed at the end of the game. (But of course, they were not needed.)


Even though Hayes only scored once in non-garbage time, I like the fact he spends a lot of time around the basket on offense. He does spot up for jumpers from the perimeter too, and can hit a high percentage of those.


Mohammed played about 5 minutes of garbage time, did nothing that I can recall. Samb and Dupree did not dress.


Jason Maxiell had to be the most heavily plus player in this game. He was in as our lead expanded in every quarter.


The press mentioned that Samb might be going to the D-League this week. I have not heard if that happened. Mejia was cut by our D-League team because his ankle has never healed. Stuckey can start playing in a week or so.


Of note. Dumars was interviewed, and that interview was played during a commercial break. The message "He fights complacency every day." I have seen a couple of things I like these past two game. Anyone who knows me can figure what those things are I am sure. Just maybe Joe Dumars is making his wishes a bit more clear.


GO PISTONS!!!!!

The guy that you thought should be part of the Pistons regular core rotation was cut by an NBDL team? What are all these GMs thinking? You talk about a lot of crummy talent evaluators in this world. Geesh!

You are kidding, right? Read the press yourself. Mejia is still injured, and they don't carry injured players on D-League teams.