Hope the Pistons bring their A game. It used to be a time not long ago when I didn't even have to give it a second thought about who would win this game.

Now a days, I can say I honestly don't know. We do owe them some payback, then on Tuesday they have the Wizards and they also are owed payback for the friday night debacle.

I am just hoping that we make a trade shake up things a bit, getting too comfortable.

Just bring the A defense and keep them out of the paint and keep the turnovers to a minimum. In our last lost to the Pacers we had 19 TO's and let flu bugged O'neal get off for 25 pt and 13 boards. In the loss prior to that we allowed them 38 points in the paint an O'neal got off 26 pts and 14 boards in that one. Stop him and let one of the outher guys beat us.

Believe it or not stats here:
In terms of defense the Pistons have lost only one game where they held the opponent under 90 points (a 88-87 loss to Portland) All other teams that failed to score 90 vs the Pistons have walked away losers, so the defense has to hold and offense cannot afford any end of the half let downs ot half quarter scoring droughts.

Also Pistons are 1-4 vs their divisonal foes this season beating the Cavs and losing twice to the Pacers and one each to the Bulls and Bucks. Got to turn this around today.

Our next lost will match last season's total.

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

First half review

Billups: excellent shooting... good defensive effort to startr the game quickly faded off... got torched by Tinsley after Hunter let him heat up
Hamilton: bad shooting... unselfish... forced up some shots against the zone... gambled too much on defense but generally effective
Prince: typically soft and slow... he gets beaten off the dribble... he gets beaten off cuts... he's slow to make rotations... his best defensive effort of the night was a showboat block during a dead ball... he refuses to even think about rebounding... he might be the worst rebounder over 6-7 I've ever seen... he hit a few open jumpshots and missed some layups... he couldn't hold his position on the block... the $50 million invisible man
Wallace: good energy on defense... foul trouble... didn't get the ball when he asked for it on the block... missed some jumpshots... aggressive game
Webber: keeps on missing that jumphoook... decent but typically slow defense... quick hands... excellent rebounding
Hunter: I can't say enough about how awful this man was... he shut down the offense... he forced up awful shots... he played his typically bad pick-and-roll defense...
McDyess: extremely aggressive on offense and rebounding... good effort on defense, but picked up fouls as usual
Delfino: stayed too far off his man... stayed with Granger through screens, but bit on a ball fake... passive offensively against the zone
Davis: got called for some fouls... got stripped while gathering himself for a dunk
Maxiell: missed a shot... got a good defensive rebound... good anticipation for a steal... got a block... got a foul... subsequently yanked... got to the FT line in his second stint on an aggressive dunk attempt

Flip Saunders: experimenting with rotations... kept Hunter at point guard even after putting Billups back in

Ugly game--------but at least Webber is coming on strong now.

Second half review:

Billups: generally good decision-making... defense not great...
Hamilton: kept on missing shots
Prince: found new ways to suck on defense... ineffective at the top of the zone... held the ball and forced bad shots on offense
Wallace: a very good game... excellent post offense... hit a 3... phenomenal defense... made an effort on the boards
Webber: excellent rebounding... good effort on defense... slow-footed but solid... made some terrific ball-fakes... missed some easy shots but made a number of tipins
McDyess: fouled some... excellent rebounding... missed a lot of shots
Maxiell: missed another shot... fouled quite a bit... no more rebounding after his first
Hunter: did his level best to lose the game singlehandedly... made Will Blalock look almost competent by comparison... his defense wasn't spectacular... an overly aggressive double led to an open 3... ground the offense to a halt... pounded the ball around like Arroyo but didn't take any open perimeter shots
Delfino: played excellent man and help defense... his one offensive move resulted in a hack and a turnover... no points or rebounds... remains extremely ineffective playing the 3 position, especially with Lindsey at point guard
Davis: got blocked again while trying to get off the ground... defense good but foul prone... went after slashers

Flip Saunders: kept going to the zone... did a great job of getting the ball to Rasheed on the block for once... discarded the flex BS and went straight to actual basketball techniques of quick entry off of cross-screens in the lane and pin-downs and ball reversal... put Hunter back in the game

Tough win, some sloppiness caused us to lose our leads, but we closed out against an underrated Indiana team.

Highpoints:
Sheed- took some 3s, made some 3s, but mostly stayed in the post and abused the Pacers weak front line. Amazing defense, can't ask much more from Sheed. Hope that twist he took on his ankle doesn't linger.

CWebb- good rebounding, good dirty work down low, and some great defense, can't ask much more from CWebb and he played great, alot of heart.

Dice- Awesome first half, played his heart out down low, so-so second half but still was effective. hope his back is ok from that monster fall he took.

Low points-
Chauncey- needs to move the ball around more and get his assists up. 5-6 or a game wont cut it, need 8-10.

Tayshaun- some good moves to the basket but very inconsistent and some suspect lateral D on the top of the key / perimeter.

JMax- he had some oppurtunities but didnt make a single shot from what i remember. True, he didnt play much, but he should have made at least one of those shots. Decent d, but good energy.

Flip- not doing a good job with the subs, decent play calling to feed the post, but needs to manage games better.


Overall, not a bad win, but not a great forceful win. Its good we got a central division win tho. Lets hope we can stay strong and beat the Wiz tuesday to get atop the east.

Also, its become very apparent we need a bench scorer, right nows its Dice and a hit or miss Jmax, we need a combo guard who can score and pass. Agree/disagree?

GO PISTONS!

Agree on needing another scoring threat. Or someone to feed Maxiell down low the way we fed Sheed tonight.

__________________
They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

As I stated earlier today, if we hold them under 88, we WIN. Keep up defense and Flip play Webber at the right time when it counts.... 17 pts-13 boards, 3 dimes and 3 blocks. Where were you when we needed earlier buddy...

If flip knew how to substitute better, we wouldn't have these nailbiters. Two big leads of 15 in the first qtr and 16 in the 3rd and we blow them because Flip doesn't know when to mix up his bench with his starters. Still a win and we needed it.

Tough win, but a win is a win. Rasheed played great in the post today and hit a big three. Chauncey did good going to the line and managing the offense. Rip missed a lot of shots but at least he got 20+ points. Chris Webber played phenomenal probably his best or second best game with the Pistons. Antonio McDyess played with a lot of energy and got 13 points. Tayshaun Prince needs to be able to penetrate he only had 6 points. Rasheed Wallace with 5 points and Chris Webber with 3. Nothing more to ask from Sheed and Webber. Prince needs to do better in order for us to get easier wins. We only had 8 turnovers pretty good and although we were outrebounded we had 18 offensive boards.

Another non-factor night for Tay. 6 points, 2 boards, 2 assists in nearly 39 minutes.

No fouls, no steals, no blocks, no energy.

Very disappointing.

__________________
They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.