At Portland March 14th, 10:00 PM
TV - FSN Detroit (Local) NBALP

The Pistons try to avenge an earlier loss to the Blazers on the back end of a back to back. In the earlier contest, Zack Randolph went for 31-13, and Jarret Jack looked like a future hall of famer!

Not too happy bout this one right b4 the Suns game Friday and Dallas sunday. Blazers lost last night as Aldridge had 17 boards. Jack and Roy remind me of the Kamikazee Kids. Blazers win by 20.

Chat is open early because I might not be around right at tipoff.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/misc.php?do=flashchat

Have fun.

Pretty solid win tonight. Pistons went up big early, up 18 at one point in the 2nd quarter, as the Blazers couldn't hit the side of a barn. Pistons somehow managed to blow the entire lead at one time in the third, but they got it going again and went up 10 at the end of the quarter. Bench played well in the 4th, even some good minutes from Flip Jr., to extend the lead a bit and keep the Blazers down about 12-15 for most of the quarter. Portland was pretty hapless whenever the Pistons had cutters going across the lane--8 dimes for CWebb, 9 for Chauncey.

Did I just see two games in a row where Flip Murray actually ran the offense? Someone please verify this.

Now the Suns and Dallas. They were pretty evenly matched tonight. Dallas has no more grip on the title than we did last year. It is going to be a battle.

Other than having to listen to the Portland announcers I really enjoyed watching the Pistons put away the Trailblazers. The Blazers have some nice pieces (Aldridge and Roy) but they are still a few years away from being a contender. So what reason on earth does Rip play 43 minutes in this game, that seems to be lots of big minutes when young Will is ready to come in and get some burn. Why did Blalock get dragged back up from the D-League if he doesn't get to play a little? Delfino had another really energetic game and I noticed he was wearing a protective sleeve over his left elbow. With about 5 minutes left Flip was going to substitute Prince in for Carlos but it didn't happen because Carlos got to shoot free throws and Price seemed very unhappy about having to go sit back down at the end of the bench. Really what is it about Prince that he can't just get some rest and not play himself ragged?

Gawd what a snooooooooooooozzzzzzzzzzzzer. I'm surprised the Pistons didn't lay down and take a nap during the 3rd.
I flipped it on the Mavs/Suns game to wake up during commercials--lol

I found it sort of interesting listening to them. For away announcers, they were pretty honest about what they saw as far as fouls and such. I didn't really disagree with them once either way. They also seemed to really admire the Pistons... almost to the point where it got to be repetitive. I think that they obviously respect our MO and would like their team to be more like us. I would rather listen to Blaha, but life's tough when you've abandoned the state of Michigan.

We went up 18. Flip, although getting better, still made the mistake of bringing all his starters back to end the 2nd quarter even though the team was doing fine with the bench players in. The returning starters, even though it was only two minutes, managed to give up a large chunk of the lead as they just seemed not to be able to get back into the game.

However, Flip then made amends for his ways in the 2nd half. The subs were in and the lead was staying nice and high, around 15 points. He left bench players in this time. He did bring back CB, but at the last moment, he called Tay back to the bench instead of putting him back in for Delfino even when Delfino was doing fairly marvelous out there. Just maybe Flip is learning something finally after all these years of being an NBA coach.

The starters lost all the rest of the lead early 3rd, but got serious and got a ten point lead by the end of the quarter. And he started playing the bench to start the 4th. Now, Maxiell got to play too in the 2nd half, which should be a no-brainer; but for Flip its a definite improvement. An improvement brought on by the happenstance of Webber being in foul trouble, but hey, I will be kind and give him credit for playing Maxiell. Maxiell, who makes Randolph look 100% ordinary. JMAX only hit 1 of 4 free throws or I would be saying he had a great game. Make those free throws.

Delfino played his usual fine defense, as usual gathered in all the loose balls and rebounds. And even showed up pretty well in the scoring column. No outside shots taken. On one play, Delfino was wide open but Webber passed him up. We turned the ball over a moment later. Delfino got a dunk on a fast break, made a hook shot in transition, and made a bucket on a nice feed from one of the bigs-I think it was one of CWEBB's many many assists in this game.

CWEBB did not do a ton of scoring in this one, but our offense went thru him very effectively a lot. Sheed did some damage down low himself. Plus you add JMAX and Tay posting up and you got a whole lot of inside play. Them mentioned that we had the first 10 inside points for the game. I wonder where that ended up.

Dyess continues to score a lot, and with one huge change of late. He scored around the basket. Now, they don't even mind him taking outside shots so much, its a better option than letting him have a layup. If Dyess could play D somewhere on par with Maxiell, that would be something. Did I mention that nice block by Maxiell on a guard thinking he could waltz in and score on us. Not.

Flip Murray had a 2nd straight good game. A bit of scoring. Only one turn I remember, and no silly shots. Defensively, well, I would have to review tape on that before grading him. Probably won't bohter. We did well with him running the point. Actually he had a lot of help in that from Carlos, Tay, and Rip, but it all worked.

Good solid 9 man rotation with all nine guys making good contributions. Can't complain too much except where is Dale Davis. Ten guys ready to play the day the playoffs start should be the goal. (and where is a bit of time for Blalock and Johnson.)

Sheed had some early foul trouble, which is a good thing. More rest for Sheed, more time for JMAX. CB at times scored, like when they put a smaller guard on him, but mostly he just ran the offense. Rip scored some. About the only change of late from him is more ball handling duties for him when playing along side Flip Murray. Not bad. GO PISTONS!!!!! Oh Yeah, 4-0 on a west coast trip. Not bad at all. And again, Kudos to Flip Saunders for playing his bench. Keep that up and we just might get somewhere in the playoffs.

Lee, have you ever been married to Zsa Zsa Gabor?