Glad I don't have to read thru your entire re-caps to find the inevitable Mo bash (after 19 mins and 18 points no less).

Lee...you're a smart guy...but you lose credibility when your bias' domineer the rest of what you have to say.

Mo's not my favorite either (obvious since I've said I wouldn't mind trading him), but how about laying off beating up a 'playing' Piston day-in-and-day-out.

BTW...I agree with your assessment of Dallas, but not with you preemptively laying Evan's out as a pseudo reason for Piston failure against such teams.

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The difference is that he gets less minutes against top level teams. He also gets a lot less touches in those minutes. Seems like the bench only gets a lot of shots when we are up 15 points or so. No matter who is on the floor. If we're in a close one, the starters (and Dice) on the floor usually take about 90% of the shots. If we're up 10-15, the starters are much more willing to get guys like Mo Evans and Delfino a couple shots. That's why Mo has big games against bad teams. Because we usually have a nice lead.

And today proved why Flip likes Mo Evans over Delfino. He didn't run a single play for him all game and he still scored 18 points. He is the garbage bucket king. All of his points were in transition, off offensive rebounds, off loose balls, or off defensive lapses that leave him wide open from the perimeter.

Sorry, I got to point out this faulty observation. Evans was getting even more minutes early in the season than he got tonight. He was not getting it done, and his minutes got dropped. We still are waiting to see Evans doing really well defensively in a game. Tonight, there was simply no challenge for anyone really. Maybe Tay had to worry a bit about defense and that was it. Lets keep an eye on this. Gilbert Arenas remains the only top scorer in this league we have found that Evans matches up well with. And we still got to see Evans go off for a big scoring night against one of the top teams where good strong defense is played.

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You must have skipped over half of my post. The reason his minutes dropped is because we got in closer games, and because Delfino started playing well. And when we get in closer games, the bench doesn't get a whole lot of touches even if they are on the floor.

I'm bummed that Darko didn't score after looking at the box. He DID have 3 assists and the touch-pass was flat-out beautiful.

I hate to have to say this, but those games were close often due to poor play by Evans. Man, the guy played his way out of minutes, plain and simple. But look, no need to argue this too much. Lots of games to go. Lets see if Evans starts shining in the big games.

well with a lot of the next game against weeak teams we shoul see a lot of bench play. darko gave us some nice passes. 35 assists is crazy, and it was on 42 makes.

although it didn't seem like it, this was an important game for our bench. flip gave every player some extended minutes, and every player played well and did things that showed why they can contribute to the team. our bench gained confidence in themselves, and hopefully flip gained confidence in them.

- darko still showed he is raw, and i won't blame him for the turnover pass when he was wide open to shoot, since it shows he's not just thinking of himself...but the one-handed mid-air pass was beautiful. you can tell he has some skill, but no experience.

- delfino entered the game and got 2 steals within 30 seconds. he didn't get much time in the game but played well

- davis showed that we can give the big men more rest and not lose anything by having him in the game, although i'm not sure how good of an idea it was to have both him and ben in simultaneously for offensive purposes

- arroyo...did he hear flip's comments about giving tay time at point or what? 8 assists and 2 boards in 12 minutes? nice

- maxiel is a beast. a steal and 2 boards in 4 minutes is nice, but the real story was getting to the line 4 times in 2 minutes. you can't get any more aggressive than that...just too bad he missed 5 of 8.

- evans played phenomenal, and it was great because the starters were getting him more involved (giving him the 3rd pass on the fast break instead of taking it themselves). that guy can flat out JUMP, and his 3 offensive boards were amazing in that they were boards we'd normally just concede to the opponent, but instead we get 3 extra (and demoralizing) possessions out of them. i was waiting to see his dunk on sportscenter but unfortunately they never showed it...iamme plays of the week maybe? :0

-mcdyess 7-9 shooting, 4 boards 2 steals, 2 blocks. 'nuff said.

the starters were pretty lax on defense, but against the JV squad charlotte put out there it didn't matter. 7 players in double figures, 16 from dice and 18 from evans. 44 bench points. stellar. with a bunch of games against crap teams coming up, if the bench can continue to play like this, it will really benefit us down the road.