02/20/2007
@ Milwaukee
NAT : NBALP
LOC : FSN Detroit
RADIO : 1130 WDFN AM

The Reddless Bucks should be getting their fearsome leader, Michael Redd back in time to make them the Reddy Bucks.

How Reddy the Pistons will be remains to be seen. Apparently Tayshaun Prince has been seen visiting local area Kroger's Supermarkets, buying Spinach by the case.

I think that ear has about another 2 days before it falls off. That's nastay.

Chat is open!!!

http://www.pistonsforum.com/misc.php?do=flashchat

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

Thank you for another great season!

This win was stinky. Tayshaun didn't play good. We stopped giving the ball to CWebber to initiate the offense.

Sheed came out with his game face all fired up. Played good.

Our rotations are silly, Flip Saunders is back to behaving badly.

Revenge is mine.

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

Thank you for another great season!

This was our first close win with Webber, right?

What a game by Sheed.

I am on the road, so I missed the game, but was able to see them survive a last minute shot on TNT Bonus by decoy Mo Williams. The Pistons have lost only one game this season when the opponent scored less than 89 pts (an 88-85 loss to Portland on December 5th.) So everyone else who has beaten the Pistons have scored more than 90 points. So the Pistons mantra is play defense, hold them under 90 and it should be a win...but tonight they almost blew a nice defensive effort with lackluster offense.

Except for the FG%, the scoreboard stats all favored of the Pistons, so a 1 point or close loss would have not fared well for a team that is the best on the road in the East and trying to still establish their dominance and confidence to hold off the likes of the Heat, Raptors, Cavs, Wiz and Bulls.

I mean they outrebounded the Bucs by 10, had 6 more assists and blocks, and the bucks made only 1 three pointer the whole game. So why was it so close? Well ESPN Coast to Coast showed some second quarter low-lights for the Pistons and at the 2:31 mark they had a 15 point lead 47-32. Well like in other games, the players started looking forward to half time cool down and let the Bucs go on a 9-0 run to close out the quarter. Then they opened the 3rd with a 7-2 run to get back in the game and eventually lead at the end of the 3rd - 64-63.

Like I said I didn't see the game so if the Pistons only shot 40% to the bucs 45.8%, it appears that the Pistons were still vacationing. They need to get on the stick tomorrow as like them, the Magic will be in a back-to-back situation and are 9-18 on the road. Darko is starting now, but hopefully as some have said, he will be intimidated and play just like he did when he use to wear # 31 in the Piston uni

Jammer Cap

1st Q
- Sheed controlling the paint well on D - 2 nice blocks and is cleaning up the boards
- It's a good thing we're shooting a good % because when Sheed hangs out behind the 3pt line we have no one available for an offensive rebound. It's 1 and done.
- A nice, clean slap away steal by CB - he's been doing that a lot the past few weeks, where before he was getting the hand, he's getting all ball right now

28-18 Pistons after the 1st


2nd Q
- Wow, I didn't even notice that Redd was playing tonight until I just now. Talk about a quiet first Q, 6 minutes 2 points on 1 for 5 shooting.
- Delfino-Dice-Nazr-Tay-Hunter to start the 2nd
- Wow, this lineup sucks. I'd like to see Rip in with this unit rather than Tay
- Looks like Flip Sr was reading my thoughts - Rip in for Tay pays instant dividends - Rip to Dice for a slam
- Hunter can't even bring the ball up the court smoothly. A couple of near back court violations with minimal pressure
- Delfino is showing some nice hustle - He turns a 2-on-1 against into a Nazr score at the other end
- Nice pass by Rip in traffic to Dice for another flush. Rip is a solid passer. For a scorer, he sure is unselfish and is always looking to get his teammates involved.
- Thank God CB is back in for Hunter - Sheed also in for Nazr
- CB, Sheed, Dice, Delfino, Rip on the court now
- More great D from Delfino - active hands on D creates another T.O. - gets a defensive board as well
- Nice play by Sheed guarding Mo Williams on a switch. He didn't go for the head fake and drew an offensive foul.
- Delfino gets a nice offensive board in traffic amongst Skinner and Patterson, then draws a foul going up strong, sinks both FTs
- Man, Boykins looks like a little kid out there. He really is BOYkins.
- Blocks on back to back possessions by Dice and Sheed
- Dice has played well this Q, allowing Webber to get some rest
- Tay over complaing to the officials again (what else is new) during Bucks FT attemps, Flip has to yell across the court to Tay to pay attention to the play.
- Sheed complaining to an official after CLEARLY committing a loose ball foul - lucky not to get a T
- Poor end of the Q allows Bucks to go on a run and get back in the game.
- Dice only Piston in double figures at the half with 10 pts.

47-41 Pistons at the half


3rd Q
- Sloppy play and careless D to start the 2nd half
- Shooting has gone ice cold, Redd has heated up.
- So what do you do when your shooting has gone ice cold? If you're the Pistons, you ignore the paint and keep bombing away.
- Not a very good quarter

64-63 Bucks after 3


4th Q
- Outstanding no look pass by CB on the break, drawing 2 defenders to get Dice an easy slam
- On 2 straight Bucks possessions, Patterson steamrolls Sheed. The results: #1 called out of bounds off Sheed, #2 Sheed called for the foul. Man, that's rough.
- 3-on-1 for Bucks, Rip gets the BLOCK!
- Sheed starting to post up, can't be stopped. Announcers talking about his high release point, saying it's nearly impossible to block.
- Another nice offensive board by Delfino and again draws a foul going up strong.
- A great shot of the back of the camera man under the basket for about 10 seconds during both of Tays FTs. Great job fellas. Oh wait, back to the same angle a 2nd time. Nice.
- I was watching a show about the back of a man's head and a basketball game broke out.
- Delf is playing some nice D on Redd, in his face, contesting everything, not letting him get to the basket.
- Sheed continuing to post up and be aggressive (2 for 5 from 3pt land for the game, I guess I can live with that)
- Pistons getting tonnes of offensive boards - 18 for the game, led by Delfino and Rip with 4 each.
- The game came down to a missed layup by Mo Williams at the end. It shouldn't have come to that, but a win is a win I guess.

Final Score 84-83 Pistons

Starters came out well, got a lead, but lost it and some late 2nd and early 3rd. Mid-third on was a battle, and we squeked out a win.

Sheed was pretty huge in this one, on both sides. Triples made, some post work, including a pretty big hoop in the last minute of play. Tay did very little. That ankle must still be bothering him 'cause he can't seem to hit a shot right now. (He turned it two games back.)

Rip gave us some scoring, but did not take that many shots. Nor did Webber. CB was taking, and making his share, a lot of shots. Maybe someone read something posted about CB not starting games off aggressively. Can't complain there in this one. And CB scored late too. Player of the game, although I really think Sheed should have gotten it.

Dyess was big off the bench with lots scoring and rebounds. Some inside scoring from him as well as some outside shots made.

Webber made 2 outside jumpers and just one other bucket. Like someone mentioned, we went away from running the offense thru Webber tonight. And back toward Billups.

Delfino missed one outside shot each half. Him and Dyess were the only two bench players to log any kind of minutes in this one. That stretch to end the 2nd had Delfino at shooting guard with Billups and it did not seem to go to well-just maybe Billups has not worked with Delfino enough yet. Or won't pass him the ball. Altogether, Delfino was pretty good tonight, fine D, lots of boards, including a couple of offensive boards that got him to the line where he was 4-4.

Hunter got no points, no rebouds, no assists, and played very little. Mohammed got to play some. Can't say much as again he did not play much, about 5 minutes. He did have an offensive rebound putback and made at least one free throw. I can't remember Milwaukee posting Bogut up vs. Mohammed.

No Maxiell. No Dale Davis. This is a back to back set. Hopefully JMAX will play tomorro night. But note, Flip Saunders just passed on an excellent opportunity to get JMAX some minutes at small forward guarding Patterson.

Considering its after a long layoff, and a road game no less, good win. GO PISTONS!!!!!

PS, I will add that I never think its a good idea to bring the starters back in late 2nd quarter if things are going well with the bench in. The bench was doing ok tonight and should have stayed in. When you can have it, the nice energy boost from this for the start of the 3rd quarter really helps. (In other words, Flip did two things wrong at the same time-not take the chance to develop his bench, and continued to tire out the starters-even on the front end of a back to back.

The Spurs came out with some hustle and didn't let up the hustle on a hapless Nuggets team. Pistons? That was scary, at the end.

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