Good points. I feel that Chauncey sometimes tries to get everyone involved in big games like today's, to the detriment of his shooting touch. He should try to shoot some more early in the game, just to make sure his shot is falling down, and that then we can get everyone else going offensively.

I agree w/ the offense going through Tay more. I'm encouraged by the fact that we kept it close w/o Chauncey. Discouraged w/how IMO FlipSr was outcoached yet again.Starters played big min.Max didn't really see time when he should've. And Sheed did seem to react slowly on that Dirk shot. Fatigue or laziness? You're probably right about it being laziness.Rip killed us down the stretch w/ his inability to make FT's. I don't know if the 2nd half was a product of Dallas' D, Avery's adjustments, or us just going away w/ what got us the lead in the 1st place ? I'd put my money on Avery though.

Tayshaun Prince only had (the stronger but much smaller) Stackhouse on him for a couple of possessions in the 4th quarter; the rest of the time he was being guarded by Josh Howard, which (to say the least) is not a matchup that favors Tay.

Why they went away from running the offense through whoever was being guarded by Dirk (mostly Sheed, Fino on four or five possessions, CWebb occasionally) is beyond me.

I don't know. I saw Prince score on Howard a few times. I agree w/ the 2nd point though. irk is a liability on defense. In the 2nd half, it seems like we just started running random plays, trying to involve diff ppl. It's like they got bored. Problem is what we were running previously was working.

Agreed. What I saw of the second half, Tay was working on building wells for Africa with all of those bricks, including one play that stuck out to me where Webber had awesome position on his man, was backing him practically all the way out to the three-point line, and does Tay toss it in for an easy bucket/foul/and one? No, he keeps the ball and tries to run in and shoot over two defenders, including Chris' defender, and horribly bricks the shot. I don't want to make accusations, since I rarely see a game, but where is the Tayshaun Prince that Joe Dumars called "our most valuable player" or something to that effect a season or so ago?

Free throws killed this team. The Pistons missed so many bunnies in the 4th quarter. This should of been a big win without Chauncey.

im sorry..but thanks

I thought the Pistons got stiffed on a few calls which could have made the difference. Did not notice any real bad calls on Dallas like the Pistons got. Not sure why but the Pistons seem to get better whistles on the road.

Great effort anyway without Billups. Pistons still played good enough to win.

Dallas did get a lot of questionable calls, but the Pistons missed many bunnies as well.

my thoughts;
Nowitzki is a problem for this team. Sheed closed him down in the first half and than Flip started to let Mc Dyess defend him. When Sheed got to defend him again, he was hot and it was too late to stop him.
On offense, our team is simply weak. No one you can give the ball and who is going to be able to handle the responsibility. That Flip got the ball in crunch time showed how poor this team is in crunch time if CB's not playing. Tay had one lousy game- he's playing pretty weak since CWebb's arrival. He certainly needs to add some moves to his repertoire, he can't surprise anyone with his left hook any more.
As for Sheed, he makes me wonder. His inconsistency is driving me crazy. A 6'11 PF shooting 41% is a shame. Today you could see how weak his post game looks at times- no wonder since he hardly works there.
McDyess had a decent game, knocking down those jumpers and working the boards. Fino did ok most times- that one time Nowitzki drove past him should be ok since he is much smaller and had to stand close to him since we all know Dirk can shoot.
Flip Murray- I can't stand him. Ok, he makes these shots, but he's simply too selfish. I can't help but he isn't enough of a team player to like him. Too many actions in which he tries to drive from the moment he gets the ball although he should run the point.
RIP had an off- night too. Everyone is allowed to have one.
No bench tonight. Flip Sr. is afraid to give them minutes since we all know he doesn't trust these guys. He prefers to hand 40+ minutes to Tay or Sheed who keep struggeling badly.

__________________
I'm a wannabe- GM, but I stand to it.