The ball never crossed the 3 point line on the Pistons opening possession until there were less than 10 seconds left on the shot clock. I suppose CLE could have been very well prepared on that play and defended it well, but I don't think that was the case.

What's the point of playing Sheed the whole first quarter if he's going to get 3 shots?

It doesn't matter at this point, but they should sub Max and Amir in for each other every 5-6 minutes.

I love how they're playing Sheed, Tay et al 41 minutes in the throw away year. That's going to pay off down the road.

Some home stand, huh?

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Off the Charlie V bandwagon!

The thing about that is because Curry is either too stubborn, dumb, or whatever you want to call it he would probably stick with Rip on the bench until the middle of March before he would actually change the lineup again if it werent working.

The team simply has not shown it can sustain a defensive and offensive cohesion for a full game. Cleveland was outplayed. But that 4th quarter AI (who was playing well) had back to back defensive lapses on Gibson and suddenly it is a 3 point game. The problems are not due to lack of effort. Echoing Lee, I, too, would have played either Maxiel and Afflalo to start the 4th but AI was on a roll. Leaving the Cavs only scorer open was mind boggling. And it is not just AI who had a very good game otherwise. And, don't think there is a magic rotation with this group. They simply cannot sustain a cohesiveness on either end. Never new how much that meant in the Billips/Larry Brown era.

Another point, notice how the Cavs put the Pistons away: 3 balls and jumpers. That is the way the top teams compete. The Pistons have almost no three ball threat post Billips.

I realize it's more of the agenda talking, but I'll still take the bait....

Rodney Stuckey: +8 (The Pistons were outscored by 18 with Stuck on the bench)
Richard Hamilton: -11
Allen Iverson: -5

or...

Rodney Stuckey: 8 assists, 2 TOs
Allen Iverson: 1 assist, 5 TOs (yes, him and Mr. Can't Dribble are the guys I want running the show)

The Pistons were up 8 going into the 4th quarter when Rip was swapped in for Rodney. In 2 minutes 37 seconds, that great backcourt combo was outscored by 9 points with Lebron on the pine. Another example: Rip played the entire 2nd quarter (with AI playing all but 40 seconds) where the Pistons outscored the Cavs by 1 point total. Rodney was on the floor with them for 5:30 of that where the Pistons were +9. That means they were outscored by 8 without Rodney on the floor next to those 2.

Rodney and Tay are the only solid guys we've got in the lineup night to night. Even on an off scoring game like tonight, Stuckey had a positive impact. I really do not think sending Rodney to the bench is a viable option.

Here is part of my writeup of the first Cleveland game:

I am ecstatic. Great win. Great 2 of 3. We ended the longest going win streak in the West, then the East.


Where to start. I am going to start with JMAX. He was as important to this win as anyone. He completely frustrated Cleveland's pick and roll game. I mean he just tore it up so bad Cleveland had to simply stop even trying. That is some seriously fantastic pick and roll D.


Kwame started, and did fine in his 12 minutes on defense. One good score too, among several tries. But really, he did not fit this game much. Sheed can guard the big guy, and anyone pretty much can guard Ben. The game was won mostly with Sheed and JMAX paired up front in the 2nd half.


Amir got some minutes, gave us a boost when he first entered the game, making some good plays on both sides of the floor.


Stuckey had a lot of trouble playing D, but he also showed some versatility in being able to check Bron here and there. And then finally, he gave us some offense late in the game, with a couple of nice drives in and a made jumper. Quite timely. And he was part of the unit that played about the whole 4th quarter.


Got to give a shout out to Curry here. What guts to stay with his bench guys rather than bring back in his starters. Way to reward great play. Gotta love it.


Now, that unit: AI, Stuckey, running the point, Afflalo, playing solid, solid D and knocking down his shots. The play of the game involved him in the middle of it pushing the ball up for a JMAX ultra slam, JMAX, the perfect guy for this game, and Sheed.

End of quote from previous post.

So what happened between that game and this? Dyess is back. The most important guy in the last win, JMAX, just got to play 5 minutes. Dyess? By far the worst player in the game last night, a complete non-fit for this game. But Curry is addicted to playing Dyess. Its his security blanky.

Kwame gave us 12 good solid minutes of D in the first game. Dyess is back, so Kwame does not play. Why would Kwame be better? Because Kwame is not paid by the other team to take those rediculous jump shots that Dyess takes. Further, Kwame is not Curry's security blanky, so he would only play the minutes appropriate for a 2nd big center. Remember, this is Cleveland. They start Ben Wallace. You don't need much to guard him. With Dyess being way overplayed, we spent most of the game giving up the inside, with no power forward to get over to challenge any plays. Sheed and Dyes, you can't fault them for this bad inside D - they are not power forwards, and simply can not move that quickly. Its just a matter of a coach not understanding what his players can, and can't do.

And Afflalo, a very important part of our bench back then? Curry has reduced his role almost down to nothing. We had the same guards back in that first game as we have now.

Finally, I don't know if anyone disagreed with me when I wrote last night's writeup, stating that JMAX and Afflalo should have been in there for the 4th quarter. Well, they played the whole 4th quarter in the last game, and rocked. And we won.

Two things I noticed...

Rip did just as good a job on LBJ as Tay did. Somewhere there are probably player guarding stats that will prove me wrong, but it seemed like that watching the game.

Towards the end, LBJ coming down on the left wing, Sheed the only guy back - Sheed takes a foul, LBJ scores, and I launch into my little "if-you're-going-to-foul-at-least-stop-the-basket" tirade to the cat, who has heard it all before. Then they showed the reply a couple of times, and Sheed actually delivered a good hard shot to LBJ's hand and ball, one that usually knocks the ball away for most other players. I guess Lebron is pretty strong after all.

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"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi

I agree. Rip was harrassing Lebron. If you're undersized, that's how you have to guard him. It looked annoying.

Usually he can do that for short periods against anyone before he picks up fouls and starts yelling at the refs, but yesterday he either managed not to foul or not to lose his cool.

Just for the record, for anyone who hasn't subscribed to the podcast (via iTunes or other), the new episode is up for listening.

from espn's daily dime regarding this game:

Plus-Minus: The Pistons' Backcourt
Players +/-

All 3 in game +10
Stuckey and Iverson +1
Stuckey and Hamilton -4
Iverson and Hamilton -15
Hamilton only -2