I'm so glad we passed on Greg Oden! ...oh, wait ughhh, nevermind.

someone needs to post a youtube video of that pass by stuckey to prince for the 3, that was ridiculous...

15 points on 50% FG, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 0 turnovers

The key thing for him tonight might have been his adjustment after picking up 2 quick fouls in the first quarter. He adjusted well and played good D the rest of the way, and he ended up with only 3 fouls for the whole game. Just being able to stay on the floor was a big factor in how aggressive he was able to be on offense.

Pretty gutsy move by Flip to leave him out there during crunch time and not go with Hunter. I thought for sure Hunter was coming in.

Well, he didn't really make any bad plays in the 4th. Probably 2nd to only Dice (who was insane) for 4th quarter MVP. Having 0 TO's and 6 assists in a tightly contested 2nd round playoff elimination game is extremely impressive for anyone, much less a rookie who's still learning the ins and outs of the position.

You are right though. I kept glancing over at the bench, thinking Flip would play it conservative and scared. Have to give Flip credit for not going away from what was working just because Rodney's a rookie.

Interesting reactions here: flip has given to stuck many minutes so he trusts him. Replace him with Hunter - that thought did not come to my mind during 4th Q . And flip had said previously that hunter will not play as much as he did in game 4.

I was more worried when Arvis and Err-man were there.

Remember Stuckey had 5 fouls in game 4, otherwise I am guessing he would have played alot more in that game and hunter would have played a bit less.... I think its pretty safe to say the pistons org has alot of trust in stuckey and We have another "piece" as Dumars says he likes to collect that we will be watching for years to come.

I'm hoping the new found confidence in Stucky spills over and gives Flip the inclination to see what AA can do. His defensive tenacity and size could help in the upcoming rounds. He needs to take over the back up role for Tay for at least 5 minutes a half.

Tay will not make it to the end at this pace. There still needs to be some minute management even though the regular season minutes were reduced. Let's be smart here and not lose track of our goal. Get AA and/or AJ in there to give Tay a break every now and then. They do not have to be superstars; they need to keep up with the oppositions bench. That's all.

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Damn Right I Will!!!! - Joe Dumars

Think about it

6 or 7 games @ 38 mins = 228 or 266 and 3 or 1 day off.

5 games @ 44 mins = 220 and 5 or 7 days off.


But you are right Tay needs more rest in the next series.



Back to Stuck. Wow, what composure down the stretch. Those 2 drives late to the tin were awesome, and being adequate from the stripe late in the 4th. Good D too, although I wasn't focusing on him.

I think the road is going to get tougher and that is why I think Tay needs the rest. Flip needs to get in the "habit" now of giving him at least a 5 minute rest in each half. If not he will run 44 minutes for 6-7 games til the end. My hope is that Flip had a gut feeling that the Boston-Cavs series was going to run long so he could play Tay the longer minutes expecting the rest.

I don't think he can make that assumption in the next round. I want Tay "as fresh as possible" for the finals along with the rest of the "horses". This is the delicate balance a head coach gets paid the "big bucks" to find!!

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Damn Right I Will!!!! - Joe Dumars