Good grinder game for the starters. Nuggets lost in the last few seconds on really what amounts to as lack of controlling the clock and mismanaging the fouls.

Ugly win tonight, but we'll take it. The Pistons only shot 43% from the floor, but it was enough because the Nuggets bricked their way to 36%. Tay, CB, and Rip each scored exactly 20. Rip struggled in the first half but got it going during a key stretch of the 4th, and some big shots by CB and Tay were enough down the stretch. Some bad turnovers popped up from time to time, but the Pistons still only had 11 for the game, with a big 29 assists to get past that key total of 25 that almost always gets them the win. CB brain-locked and fouled J.R. Smith on a 30 foot desperation shot with the Nuggets down 3 in the final 10 seconds, but J.R. missed the 2nd FT, and the Nuggets misfired on a good chance to tip in his next miss before the Pistons grabbed the ball and clinched the win with CB at the line.

Bench was pretty bad, only 12 points total. Hayes went from 18 against the Suns to a big fat 0 tonight. Stuckey was lousy in the first half but actually played pretty well for most of his stretch in the 4th quarter; I think he was -2 in the 2nd quarter but +6 in the 4th.

Nice start to the road trip, with one flawless win followed by a painful but gutsy victory. Even if they continue their endless losing streak at Utah on Wednesday night, a win over the Clippers to end the trip would result in a very nice 3-1 record. And if they somehow break through against the Jazz, they'll have a great chance at 4-0.

Kind of a slow lull type of game. Not much flow either way. Pistons had a comfortable lead at the end, but almost blew it on a dumb Chauncey foul. Stuckey needs to stop thinking out there. I am still not sure what his role in today's game was. All he did for the most part was bringing the ball up the court and then giving it to Rip. Did anyone notice AA's defense on AI? He hounded him and slowed him down considerably. Not sure why Amir didn't get more burn, perhaps because Dyess was playing well with a double double and with Denver's slow bigs didn't need that extra speed. I wouldn't mind seeing AA get a few more minutes and have Rip sit for a few, he'd be fresher in the end. Hayes didn't do anything while missing 3 shots he took. Still would love to see Hermann play some meaningful minutes. Bench had 12 points in 56 minutes and although the guys struggled offensively, their defense held them in the game.

__________________
I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization. - C.Barkley

Herrmann is slower than hayes and against of melo it could have been really stupid choice. And I'm sure, when herrmann is not able to play in practices better than hayes then no PT

Another road win as Pistons beat Nuggets and Refs. Good coaching job by Dantley, with Karl, we would have blown them out...


Just the meaningless stats tonight.

29 assists tonight =38th win in row when they have dished out 25 assists or more.

FT's >Everybody perfect at the line with the exception of the two clanks Max threw up in the third. Last night everyone was perfect except 2 misses by AJ

All starters in double figures for the third straight game, three players CB, Rip and Tay score 20 a piece

2 straight games where Dyess has logged 13 boards.

4th straight game of 98 points or better (3-1)

__________________
"Once you go Barack, you never go Bak" Mario Cantone 2008

lpgrl on Sheed three,

I agree. It is a lame play at the end of the game. Of course, one of these days...

The starters were spent from yesterday and the kids were just so so.

Yes, Amir should have played more.

2nd of a back to back. Rare air in Denver. And yet Flip decides to overplay his starters. He did one thing right though, leaving Billups resting until the game got within 5 minutes. Billups had the energy needed to make a couple of shots, including a step back 3 that put us up 7 and in control of the game in the last minutes.


Stuckey hit a couple of jumpers. Nice. Remember he missed a bunch of shots last game. Practice for this one. The more Stuckey shoots those shots, the better he will be in the playoffs.


Though not a lot, Amir and Afflalo did play. I don't like the short mintues they got tonighty, however, this was a back to back set. On back to back sets, I judge coaching over the course of the two games. For the two games as a whole, our youngsters got plenty of playing time. They will not get rusty from not playing tonight. Another game comes up on Wednesday.


Tay had the midranger going real well. Rip hit enough to get near 20 points. Sheed did some scoring at least and Dyess had a good night shooting. I like that he did some damage here and there at the basket. A nice double double for him.


Amir had a pretty darn good minute during his brief stint in the first half. (He barely played really in the 2nd half.) He stopped an alley oop play, got a rebound, and then a tip in all in short order.


Maxiell hit a jumper. Thats been missing from his game of late. Maybe the legs are coming back.


Hayes did not do a thing in this game. No shots made, no defense played. Well, he still has yesterday. Lets all hope for more yesterdays, cause it don't look like Flip will ever give anyone else a chance at backup small forward minutes.


We have to sign Dale Davis by March 1 to use him in the playoffs. The latest we have heard is that as of last Friday, Dale Davis has agreed to terms and must pass a physical. I don't see any updates out there, just a lot of articles stating the above.


Afflalo played very, very little in this one.


Of note, you almost never see a team get two delay of game warnings in the same game, resulting in a technical foul free throw. Denver was silly enough to delay the game a 2nd time, and we made the free throw. Then at the end, Denver fouled while the ball was still not inbounded. Another made technical foul free throw for us. We'll take 'em.


This back to back set resulted in two wins against quality teams, and our young guys got lots of minutes in all. Not a bad start to a road trip. Lets see what happens Wednesday at Utah. There are indeed a lot of people who trust Flip not in the slightest. They firmly believe that Flip Saunders will find a way to derail this team. So on Wednesday, will he play the bench extensively, or will he back off from that and start the destruction. It seems such a simple choice. Play the bench a lot, and win in the playoffs with a capable bench, and rested starters. Or go out in the first rounds by burning out your starters and having an incapable bench for it not playing enough. Seems simple, but who knows what drives Flip Saunders toward failure? Why will he not choose to win? All we can hope for is that he changes. That he actually starts looking forward to winning in the playoffs and looks at every game the same way. A step toward preparing for the playoffs. Like I said, I will give Flip a pass for tonight cause the youngsters did play a lot yesterday. But tonight can not get repeated very often.

Lee, please. I loved the recap, but not the melodrama. Like you said, we won back-to-backs on the road against two quality opponents while plaing the bench plenty. Let's not pile on Flip because he MIGHT start doing things wrong, give him credit where it's due and at least wait until he does mess up to crucify him for it.

Sheed's clutch is broken. Needs to get a new one before playoffs start.

However, CB is such a weapon in the 4th that it is almost a joke.


Afflalo's defense is spectacular. I can't believe he was giving AI trouble.

One thing I noticed tonight especially, and maybe Flip did too, was that Amir wasn't even trying to box out. I'm honesestly not sure if he did it one time in this game. That is why Amir and Max aren't the best pairing. Amir doesn't box out and the oponent can go over Max's back when he boxes out. It is 1 area for improvement for Amir. He's doing everything else very well.

How did we win this game? Rip, Dyess, Prince were all on fire. Yesterday, the heroes were CB and Sheed, and tonight we decided to go with the other 3. Brilliant. Chauncey did win it in the end, but we wouldn't have had a prayer if those three weren't making a lot of great shots. And the subtle way that we won was that we didn't let them fastbreak like they wanted to.

They were getting the calls, and we just kept hitting shots.

__________________
"I’ll just say this: We’re not talking to teams about their second- or third-best players." Joe Dumars talking about his plan to get other teams' 4th best players.

Just finished watching the re-broadcast on tv20.

I enjoyed this game. Couple of heavy weights battling it out wating for the 1st one to blink. Rip finally got the Pistons over the hump mid-way through the 4th and the Pistons were able to survive Denvers late run in the 4th. One of those things going into the 4th where I knew someone was going to go on a run and I am glad it was the Pistons.

I thought the game was called pretty well. Couple of misques from the refs but overall Carmello and AI are almost always looking for the call so its a tough thing sometimes. They did not always get it but as often as they try it can take away from their offense.

Pistons did a good job slowing down Denver and forcing them to work in the half court. Nice bounce back on the rebounding from the Pistons as it appeared to start off as another one of those games where we would give up a lot of points on the offensive glass.

I love how we can bring in our bench in the 2nd quarter and rest our starters when the other team still has their starters out there. Flip is gaining a lot of confidence in the bench and Stucky co do not seem to care who they are playing against, they just keep executing the plays.

Nice win on the road against a good West coast team. Rack up another win.