But he is starting to play better.

He just needs to keep working hard and it will come.

Right now he is behind Maxey, so minutes will be tough for him to get unless Flipper plays them together.

Good game, starters got pulled early. Stuckey is getting better, but we'll have to see how he does against better defensive teams. Afflalo can handle the ball, and that'll help Stuckey along the way. On thing I didn't like was Dyess and Sheed playing over 30 minutes, especially Dyess. No need for that. He could really be wearing out in the playoffs. Not sure why he was still on the floor with a 20+ point lead. Fabio looked good, Brezec looked strange. Seems that he's trying to do too much to impress. I know he has some skills, but they've been negated by his overbearing approach. That could be seen when he dove for the ball with 30 seconds to go in the game and 40+ point lead which caused a very incredulous look on Sheed's face. Sheed didn't do much, but he didn't have too. He was solid defensively and he set his teammates up for easy scores. He also added a couple of hoops in the 3rd. J-Max didn't play as much, but he was productive, as was Hayes. Hayes needs to take a few more shots a bit closer in as he's been operating from 18+ feet out for the most part. That won't be a high percentage shot, no matter who you are. Rip is turning into a robotic scoring machine - 9 for 10 from the floor for the guard, and shooting over 60% over the past several games. Scary stuff, but good for Pistons. Anyway, a good win to close out the season. Blaha and Kelser ran out of adjectives to describe the win and the team, it was kind of funny. Pistons just keep rolling.

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I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization. - C.Barkley

He's not going to develop as quickly if he doesn't get the minutes, but it looks like Pistons won't count on Amir in the playoffs this year, and will have Brezec as a back up big. He's been getting off the bench earlier than Amir. By the looks of it, at least so far, he's going to start getting more burn next season. Hopefully I'm wrong and he gets all kinds of minutes this season, we'll have to wait and see.

A matinee laugher at the Palace as the Pistons post an easy 45 point victory and every Piston scores. They also had 33 assists and at one point near the end of the game had more dimes than boards.

Rip played about 27 mins and was 9/10 from the field to lead the Pistons..CB had 12 assists, 13 points and breakaway hanging dunk. Dice had another double-double with 10/10.. Tay took the most shots so looks like he's coming out of his passiveness and Hayes continued his hot shooting of the bench with 6/9 shooting.

Stuckey continues to improve and handed out 7 dimes and scored 6 points as the bench contributed 47 points including 8 from Herrmman who entered the game with a little over 6 mins left for prerequesite garbage time.

Bucks??? a ton of turnovers in the first half (I think 9 in the first qtr??) 32 points in the second half half. Here is a team going in the opposite direction.

Happy New year!!

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"Once you go Barack, you never go Bak" Mario Cantone 2008

Bucks got manhandled. They'll keep getting better with Yi learning the game and all the youngsters developing.
I was wondering if Chauncey would get T'd for hanging on the rim.

I thought so too since it was obvious he was doing it for show, but have not seen that call made at all this season...refs must have been told to relax...?

I think they call it more when someone misses a dunk and keeps hanging on the rim and tries to get the ball, I don't know. But it is a good thing they didn't call it here. Refs also know the players tendencies, and they know that Chauncey is not a dunker.

It is way too early to determine if AJ will get playoff burn.

Most likely you are correct.

But he is now starting to get his rhythm and confidence after being sidelined with that ankle injury which I am sure was still bothering him even after he started to play.

So we will see.

Isn't it way too early to make that claim. Brezecs timeline is potentially much shorter (trade dedline) than Amirs. The staff needs to complete their evaluation of both Brezec and Herrmann by then if trades are to be considered. Two months (after deadline) is plenty of time to groom Amir as long as everyone else (AA, RS, JM) is well unway.

A 45 point squashing of the Bucks. Amir Johnson's putback slam gave us that final margin.


The only thing I read anyone complaining about for Amir in this one is that he did not hang on to a couple of rebounds. But in both cases, we got the ball since the ball went out of bounds off the opposing player who was fighting him for the ball. He still did his job. Just did not credit for two more rebounds.


Saunders gets a B for this game. He played Stuckey and Afflalo almost the entire 2nd quarter. Good job there for sure. But yet Sheed only got 4 minutes rest thru 3 quarters of basketball. Sheed, who went scoreless in the first half, really did not have to play that long. I don't think we would have lost the game if Amir had gotten 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter.


Another minor improvement. Why did Tay come back in for the end of the 2nd quarter? Herrmann could have gotten some minutes right there. But hey, thats minor. Tay got a good long rest by Hayes there before he came back into the game. And why did Rip and Dyess start the 4th quarter with us up 29? Again, minor, no big deal. But you still got to wonder why. What would we be saying though if Rip got injured right there in meaningless minutes?


Ok, some details about the game. Rip is way past on fire. The very ground buckles from the heat as he walks on it. Nine for 10 today, and that goes with the last few games where he is just not missing. He is hitting triples. He is hitting pull up jumpers on the fast break or off a curl. He went inside once or twice. Rip is getting just so automatic its amazing and then some.


Billups I think had a double double. 12 assists with no turnovers. Dyess had a double double with 10 points, 10 rebounds. Tay was agressive with 11 in the first half. JMAX continues to nail outside jumpers, getting steadier and steadier at it.


Stuckey got inside for about 3 layins. Two were the conventional sort where you catch them napping a bit and lay it in. But one was of the oh my variety, laying it in right over their bigs, going right down the middle and upwards.


Afflalo scored a couple of times impressively taking it in, and I think on a fast break once. Good solid D. By the way, Stuckey looked a lot more comfortable on D too, but yet you got to remember Milwaukee played this game without a point guard.


Herrmann hit several jumpers. I can't remember him missing any. Pretty nice shooting. Defensively? Well, Milwaukee only scored 12 points in the 4th, so how can anyone complain about anything to do with D while Herrmann was in. 114-69. Unbelievalbe. Yeah, I had to type that twice to get it right. I still don't believe it.


Brezec did nothing much. But nothing bad either. He hustles all the time. He does not look to score much. That is probably because this year Charlotte was starting him, but playing him very little while going to Okafur (sp) for the post ops. He did have two offensive rebounds on the same sequence that resulted in him getting to the line. He made one of two. Talk about earning your point.


Hayes did real well. Several more jumpers made. The announcers pointed out that he was like 10 for 13 going back a game or so. I am still thinking its no coinkydink that Hayes started doing better the day we dressed Fabio for the first time.


Dyess did a pretty good mixture of working inside and out. No complaint there today.



One quick note about the game flow. The starters handed Stuckey a sizeable lead. That lead dwindled a bit the first couple of minutes as Milwaukee had a 7-0 run. Good job by Flip to stick with the youngsters though, as they responded with an 8-0 run after a timeout and the Pistons just kept it on overdrive the rest of the game. A bit of youth and energy does indeed work. (and in my ever so humble opinion, if they had not put Sheed back in with no rest, that run by Milwaukee may not have happened.)



Lots of games coming up yet this week. Should be loads of fun.


PLAY AMIR!!!!!


GO PISTONS!!!!!