He could always play D. He's from Argentina. It's like a requirement. LOL

LPGRL, tomorrow you can get to the chatroom by hitting Quik Links above and then scrolling down and hitting FlashChat... see you tomorrow and hopefully a victory over the Spurs

Terrible loss tonight. The starters just stunk it up as a unit, way too many forced jumpers and not getting out to the perimeter on defense. The first quarter was a disaster, but strangely enough, a small lineup with Herrmann on the floor for the last 8 minutes of the first half (Sheed was the only big man) led to a nice run to close the Dallas to lead to 5 at halftime, with Herrmann mostly helping by annoying Dirk on D. But the starters blew it again in the third, almost a repeat of the first quarter. They did actually came out of the half with good defense for the first few minutes of the quarter, but the forced jumpers put them back in the hole again and Dallas never looked back after catching fire from behind the 3-point arc. Now they have to win in San Antonio tomorrow night just to avoid a 3-game losing streak.

I guess the one silver lining of the evening was that the Pistons didn't lose as embarrassingly as the Celtics did...no Ray Allen, but that's not much of an excuse for losing at home to the Bobcats, which happened tonight as JRich dropped 34 on them.

I left and didn't see the second half, other than the last 3 minutes of the game, but the first qtr was ugly defensive wise as the Mavs literally hit almost all of their outside shots and inside jumpers. Dirk was Dirk until Fabio decided to check him in the second. Meanwhile we were even missing shots in the paint with a bunch weak shots by both Tay and CB. The defense suffered from Sheeds 2 first qtr fouls.

Fabio sparked a second qtr offense as the Pistons came back to within 5 at the half. I will have to watch the tape to see what happen after that, but I bet the interior defense was exposed again and we probaly got out manned in and out pointed in the paint

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

i wish the starters woulda told me before the game that they were mailing this one in, because then i would've mailed it in as well and not bothered watching.

not much else to say. the starters didn't care, they jacked up long shots early in the clock with no chance of rebounding. max has to recognize a double team and pass out of it. if brezec is being shopped, fine, but if not, why is he getting minutes over amir johnson in garbage time?

Listening to Flip's post game "we didn't give enough effort" blah-blah, blah-blah

He always passes the buck and never takes any blame.

^

I actually left mid 3rd quarter, and went to get Starbucks so i didn't see the rest of the game, but in generally speaking;

There was no cohesiveness out there. It looked exactly like when the team was fractured throughout the ECF last year. It seems like half the players have quit on the coach, and the other half are just apathetic. When the team isn't on the same page, they usually look like what we've saw tonight.

Flip isn't cutting it. We found a defensive match-up that worked against Nowitizki (which is well-known around the league) and abandoned it. I also don't think it's coincidental that our defense getting worse (esp perimeter) coincides with AA not playing more. That line-up in the 2nd was holding it's own defensively. The starters just didn't have it. They took jumpshot after jumpshot with no repercussion. Tay is killing us, and i also thought his quotes before the game were quite telling. Don't have a link but something about not knowing if the Pistons have the mind-set or hoping they did before going into Texas.

Flip doesn't care apparently about points in the paint or points given up in the paint even though getting/giving easy baskets is CRUCIAL to a championship team.

The difference in energy with the bench/starters is so drastic sometimes, it's palpable when you're watching it. I still think the starting line-up needs to be shaken up. Amir NEEDS to play. We desperately need shot-blocking, and rebounding. Sheed can't do it by himself, and frankly looks as fed up with the quick jumpshots/getting burned on the perimeter as we are.

This team isn't going anywhere with Flip, and even though it's early in the season i've been convinced for awhile. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, and i'm getting sick of watching the prime of this team go by with his incompetence.

My faith in Joe D is taking a hit as well. I keep holding onto the fact that it's a money issue, but that's not really a good excuse anymore.

Thanks Dre for the link. I eventually figured it out LOL. I'll be watching tomm. I must be masochist or something.

edited to add;
Does anyone remember the last time we got beat, and came out swinging LB style?

This is the most baffling thing to me of all this. Joe D said he would play. Amir said he would play. The beat writers say he will play. Hell, even Flip said he would play at one point. Who's really in control here?

We need to start Maxiel. The good teams get into our jumper oriented start and so Dyss cannot help us as they get out on his jumper. We need Maxiel on the block.

Dyss's defense does not make up for not helping offensively.

Sanders offense does not fly against the good defenses as we open with a series of jumpers. The good teams get out on us and we are in trouble.

We will need to add a big. The coaching staff is still an issue. What has happened the last two years may not be fixed yet.

Most lopsided loss of the season. The starters just didn't show up, they played lackadaisically on both sides of the ball most of the night. Play like that against San Antonio and you're toast, Pistons.

A 3-big rotation isn't enough, that's been made obvious by at least 2 of our losses. And, Flip's excuse of Max/Dice/Sheed playing sooo well as the reason Amir doesn't play has been proven to be BS all the way. Kid needs to put on some weight, certainly, but he's better at guarding jumpshooting big men than any of our bigs outside of Sheed (who didn't show up tonight) and he's better than frickin' Tayshaun at stopping dribble penetration. Brezec coming in before him pissed me off. Even in garbage time, Flip? Cripes. That spaz should just be cut. He has no D to speak of, and he may have a jumper, but no one's gonna pass him the ball. I give no value to height without mobility/skill.

Our starting guards couldn't guard a pole either, and neither could Tayshaun. The coach needs to show some balls and yank some of these guys for performances like this one. He certainly has no qualms about yanking bench guys who're actually helping.