This tied the season series at 2-2

Dyess was great but you don't want to overplay him in the reg season. He still has that sore hand or whatever it is and his knee still has to be an area of caution.

The good. Team was getting into the paint more. At least Tay, Rip and Dyess were. Offense boards were great which gave the Pistons 10 more shot attempts. Nice production from the bench with Delk and Dyess. Something we did not get last season. And the defense kept the Pistons in the game during the 1st half.

The bad. Chauncey and Roscoe stunk it up. Bad games all around. 3 points for Roscoe as he was content at shotting 3's from the top. Differense was no other starter stepped up and picked up the slack like they usually do. Delfino continuing to be underplayed remains a mystery. Oh and bad clock management at the end there. Should have saved an extra timeout.

I've been so busy lately, I haven't had a chance to see many games, but this one I thought was safe to miss.

Imagine my disapointment when I checke the score at nba.com. I almost gagged on my saliva. WTF is going on, and if Micro is right, and Sheed is MIA again, that really blows.

Ok, this was a mini-statement game, but it was a game we should have won easily(74 points?).

I guess somebody forgot to tell them to use Flips playbook, not LB's.

bnech did great, but our first 3 options on offense was a combined 12-47. With the spurs losing both dallas and san antonio are tied and are 1.5 games behind us. We'll see how this team responds. Unlike before our defense is good, but our offense is bad.

I guess you can't beat NJ shooting 34% from the field and 55% from the line. Probably can't beat anyone. Got lots of boards, mostly because there were so many to be had - 17 offensive leading to what seemed like about six points. Ben looked down and Sheed and CB couldn't throw the ball down and hit the floor.

Dice might have won it single handedly if he had been on the floor when it counted. Given the bench effort in the first half that turned this from a blowout to a close game, it's hard to imagine not giving that exact same group at least a try in the second. Beyond hard to imagine, verging on criminal.

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

Flip Saunders

I'm with dba...Sheed and Chauncey weren't getting it done. Delk, Dyess, Huner and Delfino were looking great. Why not ride the bench instead of trying to force guys who are in a funk to play through it?

Even though we lost Piston fans have to be excited by the emerging bench unit. Dyess was incredible and the Delk Hunter combo is looking like the Pit Bulls reincarnated. Delfino's defense makes him the clear winner over Mo Evans....he has beaten Mo out of his spot in the rotation.

ben got manhandled constantly. toward the end of the game when chauncey airballed the open 3, ben was going to catch it before it went out of bounds, but one jersey guy on each side blatantly grabbed and held his arms so he couldn't move. it was obvious that this went on much of the game.

what made me the most upset was 74-72, plenty of time left, and we jack up a 3 instead of going for the tie.

I hope the +Delfino/-Evans part of the rotation is a sign of things to come. This bench unit of Hunter/Delk/Delfino/Dice has some serious chemistry. Hunter and Delfino are pests on the defensive end, and both Dice and Delk are capable of lighting it up at a moments notice.

Gameflow

Pretty interesting that despite being a big zero offensively Sheed was the only + starter. More ammo for the Delfino fans, he lead the team at +8 in only 6 minutes.

How Tayshaun can play nearly 40 minutes and not rack up a single foul is beyond me. There is some physicality required to play good defense. Not to mention he didn't even draw a shooting foul...

Bring on the Mavs, and someone please, FIND A JUMPSHOT.

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Thank you for another great season!

Interesting that the teams we lose to typically come back and beat us again. (Washington, Utah, Nets ...) Either they've got our number, or the starters really don't care enough about the regular season to make revenge an issue. I'd bet the latter, yet it still bugs me. And Chauncey's quotes after losses are always the same - no big deal. You wonder what it takes to actually make the guy mad about losing.

Jersey's a lot tougher now that Krstic is stepping up and diminishing Collins' role. That was always their glaring weakness. Like the idea of them playing Miami before the Eastern Finals.

Random thought: Has Jefferson got a restraining order on Prince or something? That play where Jefferson blew past Ben for the dunk, Prince just stood under the basket with his hands in his pockets.

Hard to keep perspective, but it's vital. These guys have played more games than anyone in the league the last four years, so they know the priorities and aren't about to change. Flip should recognize and rely on the bench guys' hunger more, especially since it helps them prepare for the playoffs. Here's hoping that the Pistons have enough pride to actually TRY and inflict a payback game on the Mavs.

someone please explain this play since i was at the game and couldn't figure out what the deal was. it was the 1st quarter, we had 14 points, and one of our guys missed a free throw but we tapped it in. originally we were given 1 point for that, then it was switched to 2 points, then the refs talked about it and changed it back to 1 point and counted it as a made free throw. this single point could have been big later in the game.

what happened here??