Even Tough I called this a close lose, I think this game was just distrurbing down the Stretch, The last 5 possesions was 20 foot jumpers not one touch down low to Sheed. I hate to see that when the game come down the line that we did not execute any thing right. Tay on Wade was a mis-match Rip and Delfino played a great game on him.

Very upset with this lose more than the Atlanta lose, This game was under control and the guys committed to many TO's.

I'm very disappointed in the shot selection in the end by Chauncey. Bad - bad - bad - bad. We need to stop jacking up 3's to try to increase the lead when the other team is creeping up our necks

I'l put this one on the refs... by last count there was at least 8 over the backs on Shaq not called.
The only changes I would have made was feeding Sheed in the post more (they don't have an answer for this).... Also Tayshaun has never been able to gaurd Wade with his quickness... I'm also dissapointed in Tayshaun not even attempting to block Shaqs shots when he was in clear position to do so a few times.
Major props to Delfino on his defense on Wade... he's earning his stripes (I was wrong in saying he can't defend).
This will make the Pistons more determined for the rematch.
Overall a pretty damn good effort in a hostile environment.
When Wade makes those kinda crazy shots you know it's not your night.

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With politicians the future lies ahead

It would help if the Pistons

1. Kept their composure
2. Went to Sheed in the post more than once
3. Played Lindsey on Wade
4. Played defense more than twice a quarter

I was not impressed by this. The Low said it best in chat, if you blow a late 13 point lead on the road, you are gunna lose.

The refs hurt the Pistons, but the players and Flip (who is rapidly earning his way back on my %$@# list) did nothing to help themselves.

Bottom line, Pistons deserved to lose. 2-3 in last 5, 4-4 in last 8, it's time to shake things up. I'd like to suggest trading Flip and Darko to San Antonio for Popovich and Sean Marks.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

1st half

Wow, Flip has been hiding it all year. The perfect bench combination. Arroyo, Delfino, Prince, Dyess, Sheed. Guess he was just waiting to pull it out in a big game. This unit pulled ahead of Miami. It featured strong rebounding by Delfino, fantastic defense on Wade by Delfino. Arroyo ran the show to perfection. About the only thing that could go better is if Tay had not tried to force things quite so much. Good to see him stay aggressive, but he can work on his offensive game some other time. Time to win today.

Shaq. We are not even guarding the guy. So far, that is pretty much what Ben, Sheed, Davis, and Sheed amount to. Shaq is getting right where he wants, getting the ball, and just dunking it all over us. Davis looks particularly insignificant next to Shaq. And he did not look like much at all vs. Mourning either.

Wade was one for 7 with a few minutes to go in the half. Rip comes in and gives him a bucket. A bit too easy. Frankly, why Flip feels he must put his starters in for the last 3 minutes of the half is beyond me. Our subs were doing just fine.

Sheed has hit a couple of triples. Tay has done some scoring, Rip has made his midrangers. CB has hit some shots. Dyess hit one outside shot and got an easy dunk off a no looker from Arroyo, and another dunk off a pass from Arroyo after an offensive rebound. Delfino got to the line after another offensive rebound and made both. Did I mention Delfino was all over the boards? Did I mention he was virtually smothering Wade?

Evans played bit, and did not do much. He made way for Delfino rather quickly and that five man unit mentioned above played most of the 2nd quarter.

Arroyo missed a shot, but we got the offensive rebound, so no harm there. He did commit one foul that hurt us later as we got into the penalty. Delfino, well he got a foul call that hurt us too, but that was a superstar call as he breathed on Wade.

Well, we have a ten point lead, but our defense is not doing that great overall. At 59-49, we are pretty much letting them get toward a 100 points for the game. We are scoring at a very high rate too, and it better keep up if we are going to continue to let Shaq dunk all night uncontested.

game report

Well, Flip choked. Absolutely choked. Completely forgot he ever had a bench in the 2nd half of the game. Yes, Dyess played some, until he picked up a fourth foul, but saw no 4th quarter action. No Evans. Can't say I mind that any, but you got to play somebody. How about Hunter? Apparently, either Hunter is in no way ready to play at all, or Flip is treating Hunter like the rest of his bench players. Not playing them. Ok enough venting. Now for the good.

CB shows he can hit shots. And Rip scored a bunch. Sheed knocked down plenty of triples. Usually, three guys going good on the scoring is a win. But not if you simply let the other team have two star players go unchecked for long stretches of the game. Late in the game, CB hit a couple of triples. Rip knocked one down too. We had a 4 point lead with a couple minutes left. Oh so close, but Wade could not be stopped. That is, he could not be stopped by any of our starters. Delfino was like an on / off switch in the 2nd half for Wade. Wade started the half strong, completely was stopped by Delfino, and then was impossible to stop after Delfino came out of the game.

Delfino pretty much flawlessly stayed on Wade like a cheap suit. And while in, he helped run our offense a bit, and continued to be a force on the boards. Delfino did hit one triple in this game, but notice, from the right side. From the left elbow, he has launched two airballs in the last two games. What is up with that? Maybe not his best spot? Other than that, wow, quite a game from Delfino.

No sign of Hunter. No Darko. Dale Davis did not come back out in the 2nd half. No Arroyo, no Evans in the 2nd half. Just 7 guys, and only 6 played in the 4th quarter due to foul trouble on Dyess.

Can we say fatigue lost this one for us. Nope. Both CB and Rip continued to nail their shots right to the end. The only thing not working for us was Tay, who got plenty of rest from Delfino. What lost this game was matchups. A ton of baskets to Shaq because we have no EC anymore to at least slow him down some of the game. And Wade, a coaches choice. He will not believe in any of his bench players apparently. How can you possibly let a guy score 17 straight and not bring in a defensive specialist to cool the guy down?

Did I say I was done venting? Hardly. That unit from the first half, you know, the one that got us a lead, Flip said heck, who needs it. He left Arroyo sitting out the 2nd half. What more can a guy do? And one more game not playing Darko. Even after it was proved beyond any doubt Davis is worthless on Shaq. How in the heck does this coach expect to win a 7 game series against Miami while letting Shaq go rampant all game long. And look, Shaq played a whole lot in this one. In the playoffs, he will be long past his current injury recovery, and the games will be very well spaced. Joe better do something. Have Flip play Darko or give EC whatever it takes-oops, he can only pay league minimum. But sweet talk, cajole, whatever, get EC back.

The refs, the fourth quarter O, Tay doing his invisible man routine when a game gets physical. Boy am I pissed.

Delfino EARNED the chance to guard Wade in crunch time. EARNED it. Tay wasn't doing anything out there.

Props to the bench, crap on everything else.

The Pistons kind of lived -- and died -- by the three-point shot today. And I agree that Flip needed to get somebody on Wade in the fourth quarter (Delfino) who could stop him on at least a few of those possessions. He was scoring at will and single-handedly beat us. It seems as if the Pistons, with their big lead going into the fourth, were certain that they had won this game, and then had a letdown which allowed Miami to creep back into the game until they were in a position to win it at the end.

If Delfino plays the entire 4th on Wade, the Pistons win by 5-10. And that's with the Heat getting every whistle.

I hope that Flip learns his lesson and plays Delfino a lot more against guys like Wade, Pierce, Lebron, etc. He is the only guy that doesn't get lit up on this team. Sure he gets a ticky-tack foul occassionaly, but he never lets these guys get into a rhythm.

Shaq should have fouled out but didn't.Regardless we were up and should have won.Delfino was great on Wade I thought and did deserve the right in the end to shut him down.But with the shot he hit with Tay in his face I don't think matters,but he should have been in there he showed he can hang.

The Heat played and acted with the win like this was game 7 of the ECF,our turnovers and lack of execution killed us in the 4th.Flip better open up the bench after the all-star break and I've yet to see the mismatch master he was supposed to be in Minny shining through here.
We're a different team than Minny was with our starters but the bench has to start getting some more mins.

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oh really?

in the 4th quarter, with delfino in the game the pistons only scored 2 points in 5 minutes, 17 seconds. the remaining 6 minutes, 43 seconds the pistons scored 12.

in the 4th quarter, the pistons were outscored 10-2 (5:1 ratio) with delfino in the game, and outscored 19-12 (1.6:1 ratio)without delfino. the pistons had a better +/- without delfino in an extra 1.5 minutes. flip's mistake was not playing arroyo to start the 4th when up 13 points.

that's not to say delfino didn't play excellent defense on wade, because he was phenomenal and that's something positive to take away from this game. but according to the facts and numbers i can claim that if delfino had stayed in the game the entire 4th quarter, we could have LOST by 5-10.