...apologies for crapping the chat tonight.

Clippers had no chance tonight without Brand, and the Pistons cruised to a pretty easy win. It was close in the first quarter, as the Clippers were hitting a bunch of jumpers, but the Pistons' starters got things going and built up a lead. The bench gave some of it back in the 2nd quarter, but the 3rd quarter was all Pistons, and the bench played better early in the 4th, allowing for about 7 minutes of garbage time in the 4th. Rip was the only one who played more than 32 minutes for the Pistons--he played 35. CWebb led the way with 19 points and 9 boards. All 5 starters hit double figures for the Pistons.

Delfino is being interviewed on NBA TV right now.

Detroit is so dominant that you really have to watch the numbers in a game like this.:
Clips 74 fg's, Detroit 73 fg's
Clips 19-2 ft's, Pistons 19-28ft's
clips 9 to's, Pistons 10 to's
Clips 46 rebs, pistons 45 rebs

...AND yet, WE WON BY 18 points!!! tHIS IS AVERY GOOD TEAM AND THEY ARE UP FROM 10TH TO 3RD IN usa today'S RANKINGS.

whachawhat u do, Low?

Well, Delfino's English needs some work...LOL. I remember Ginobili struggling with that as well when he first came to the NBA, but he got way better in what seemed like a really short amount of time. Looks like Carlos still has a ways to go.

HQ, Low and Jackattaq got into another spat over Ben during garbage time in the 4th.

Nice to see that the Pistons were able to keep minutes down tonight instead of the bench not being able to hold a lead. Any time CB plays less than 30 and the Pistons win big, that's a good thing.

Merc-cap:

I’ll start off when I woke up with 4 minutes left in the 1st.
Pistons down three (sounds like the Clips were hitting all of their outside shots).

Cwebb makes a tough running hook shot.

Magette was bothered by Tays length and forcing against a double team earning a quick trip to the bench after pushing off.

Just when the Clips looked like they were rolling Sheed nails a trey

The Clips were staying in the game by pounding the offensive glass (three O boards on one possession)… especially Kaman … the Pistons need to work more on protecting the D glass.

Tay welcomes the Christies back into the league by abusing him twice in a row inside and once outside
Beautiful transition block by Maxiell where it looked like he had Jordanesque hang time.

Delfino real busy off the bench playing nice D and getting an and 1

Clips are on a losing streak and show very little ball movement

Tay & Thomas trade 3’s
Tay feelin’ it with10 early pts

Carlos finished inside on a nice move (usually the one he’s called for palming on)

Couldn’t keep Kaman off the boards

Delfino sneaks an O board in between 4 Clips
Magette is very active creating space and scoring 8 pts with 5 minutes left in the 1st qtr.

Hunter is cold missing open shots and botching a 3 on 1 chance… the defense is still negating the Clips guards though.

Rips nails a 3 for a quite 10 with 4.22 left in the 2nd

Kaman ain’t used to a big that can shoot outside like Sheed…
Sheed started off slowly but he did have two 3’s in the first half.
After he got Kaman’s respect Sheed had him set for a show and go drive for a foul.
I didn’t have a problem with Sheed starting outside on the bigger slower Kaman.

Cwebb not much of a factor early (Kaman winning the early edge when matched up)

Sheed nice stop in a 3 on 1 break… good effort.

Tay says dunk you very much off an inbound play as soon as he came off the bench ( a coaches call)

7 point lead after the first qtr… it was like the Pistons were jabbing them and setting up the killer blow

Delfino gets Mr. intangible for the first qtr (and the game)

Where is Brand tonight?… I must have missed something.

Special K says the Pistons held the Clips to under 40% shooting and under 40 pts in the first half

Tay 12 pts 6 for 9 in first half

Cassell gets the goose egg after two qtrs (not much more for the game)

3rd Qtr

Mobley starts off just like the first Qtr hitting from outside

Rip is back to doin’ his mid range thing in this qtr
Dunleavey gets T’d up (never liked this jerk)

Sheed got a bad defensive call and the fuse was lit… thank goodness he showed discipline in selecting his words

Chauncey made a nice drive and dish with the shot clock running out for an AND 1.

Cwebb and Rip get back to their Zen playing (did they play 10 years together somewhere?)

Clips are punch drunk half way through the 3rd… Ali is applying the rope-a-dope… the finisher is coming soon.

Defense is back?

I thought Livingston was an up-and-comer?... he gets the Mr. invisible award (ok he shared it with the Alien)

Cwebb was able to match Kaman point for point for most of the game… which is all we can ask… then he turns on the burners later.

The Pistons were clearly the smarter team… the Clips fell for all of the pump fakes.

As soon as they took Kaman out Sheed gets inside position for an easy flush.

The Pistons stayed with the zone longer than usually as it clearly bothered the Clips.

Dice finally gets on the board with 1.5 minutes left in the third… but he did make some nice effort plays tonight

Up 15 going into the 4th… the home team is already warming up their pipes with their rendition of “Goodnight sweetheart”

Webb starts warming up and he’s got 19 pts early in the 4th

Pistons do a nice job of denying the inlet pass to Kaman.

Cassell is starting to show his age.. pretty much a non factor this game.

The route is on and Brahma gets some PT with 7.5 minutes left.

Blaha says “Dice off the high glass with a circus shot!”

Nice defensive footwork this game… the Clips were late in the shot clock a lot this game.

Nazr in @ 5.5 left in the game… drops a nice pass inside that woulda been a dunk.
Murray also gets some PT this game.

Delfino draws Magette assignment most of the time… he did a pretty good job… and also lost the quickness battle a couple times… tough matchup…we’ll take it.

None of the scrubs played well… Jmax was out hustled by Paul Davis… Flip Jr. was “all about me”… and Nazr… well he uh… what did he do?

Overall solid effort by the core tonight… distributing the ball… lock down D… and running an efficient offense… keep them wagons rollin’

__________________
With politicians the future lies ahead

just the thought....Me and Low love some BEN!..BTW, last night, Ben was 3-12 vs Phoenix at the line .Final? bulls 116-103.

Good recap, merc. Brand was a late scratch because of back spasms.