After reading the last couple of game threads and watching the games myself it is apparent that the Pistons offense is a complete relic of what it was at times during the season and last. The three main plays I feel the Stones are the best at are the Rip curl, Webber high post, and sheed post / P&R with Chauncey. During the last few games I haven't seem much of any of this, but a lot of new "stuff" not necesarily good stuff.

Therefore, I feel is if this is by design. Flip knows the curl and Sheed stuff works so he has slowly shut the stuff down and tried having Rip take it off the dribble etc. When Webber came we did all that cool high post cut passing and it worked and everybody was happy. Then we stopped running the offense through him. Basically what I am getting at is that the current offense is by design. Flip knows what works and is no longer showcasing it. This is two fold. First other teams don't get to see it -- lately we have been playing teams we could see in the playoffs (Cleveland, CHI, Maimi) -- and get accustomed. Second, since he knows it works Flip is trying new skills to ge the players another dimension etc. The problem with this is that the well oiled machine we had may get a little rusty, but I can see the reasoning behind it.

Nevertheless, this could just be excuses for the poor wins we have been racking up.

I'll buy that. I see this team starting to come together and get serious about the playoffs. Even the lackadasical play at times is all part of the process.

Eye of the Tiger.

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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."

I really hope you're right!!

I agree that we have been obviously avoiding tried and true plays.

The question is, do we hide them for the first round of the Playoffs too? Because if we don't "spring" them on somebody, then it was a waste of time.

Who knows what goes on inside the mind of a genius?

The offense that runs through Webber with all of the cutting is used against a man-to-man D. That is why we didn't see much of it last night. The Knicks played a lot of zone when CWebb was in the game.

maybe i'm being mary poppinish, but i trily believe were holding back offensive schemes for the playoffs. The Knicks kind of seem like a big scrimmish to me. Then when it was winning time, we put on the steam. As a matter of fact, the whole season seemed like that to me. We got 50 wins, yall, and i really dont see how. I'm hoping Coach flip is 'that' deceptive and after losing last year, he has a lil evil side to his style now. We'll see in 2 weeks!

I agree, HQ. I REALLY think we'll be holding some things back tomorrow against the Magic.

Kpaav,

You are on to something. Some things are definitely being held back. And we are not cutting and running as hard as we will in the playoffs.

But that being said, the good teams will be coming at us to stop us. We have been scouted now for three years of playing deep into the finals. When we have gotten beat in the past, it has been mainly because the other team shut us down. I never bought the shots were not falling reason. So back to your thread, the offense should be the concern of all of us who want nothing less than a "ship".

My concern is that the coach sold us on his playbook, but if we compare what we did under Larry on offense to what we do now, I would say we have regressed a bit, that, and teams have figured what to do.

We always had the Rip curl game and the Chauncey three ball. Teams now get into Chauncey and make him drive. They try and get Rip to put the ball on the floor to negate the quick hit of the curl. And, they are on Sheed for his three ball.

As the elite teams stretch their defense to stop us and keep the rest of the team down low waiting for drivers, their defense is vulnerable in the mid-range. We just don't exploit that.

If we had more motion, we could still get open looks or drive and kick out. We could drive and pull up. If we had the other three guys in the flow of the offense, we could get enough points from them. But we don't have a plan B. We don't adjust. The playoffs are a string of adjustments. Rest assured, the good teams will be coming at Rip and Billips. Our adjustment shouldn't be to send in Rip one on one. In a pinch (shot clock) yes, but not as a planned option.

We know enough now that Sheed should not come off the block too much. He could float to the free throw line for an open two. It will be there. Sheed can be contained somewhat down low but it takes a lot of effort by the opposition. Sheed cannot be contained if we pass the ball to him 10 to 15 feet from the hoop. He is a deadly shooter.

I don't understand why Tay catches the ball and does that pump fake. Catch and shoot--he is a good shooter. That is the way the Suns would use Tay--I am convinced. He is also very good as he gets into the lane. But instead, we post him continually. The other team adjusts and even when he beats his man, help is there. It gets me mad when I see players like Posey, Haslem or Walker outshooting our guys. Should never happen.

Webber should be another way out of our sometimes stodgy offense. No reason he can't roam the floor even more than he does putting pressure on their center to come out.

Notice when Murray is on, he makes the offense work. He gets into the lane and is not afraid to take the short two. We need Billips and Rip to do this as well. Why Murray doesn't always play the same way, I don't know. Dyss has been great as he stretches their interior D. Notice he does this without shooting the three ball as Sheed does. Dice now finishes around the hoop as well.

By today's league standards we are a not a praticularly good 3 point shooting team. We are 23rd in 3 point FG percentage. The Heat are actually lower than us but I thing a lot of that has to do with Kapono and Wade being out for extended periods. We are 3rd best in defending against the 3 percentage wise with San Antonio first and Cleveland second.

Gilbert Arenas is still out with an injury tonight.