A win would have been good, but I think I detected just a bit of heart last night - an angry Pistons team who stepped up after running into a buzzsaw. SA came out to play and played hard from the jump. Detroit came out in their usual why-can't-we-be-friends-kum-ba-ya chant and got blown out. But for once, it seemed to really annoy them.

Maybe this will be a wake-up call and we might start seeing some games where they play for the whole 48. Good thing I think is that this was the Spurs A game, and at home, and the Pistons could have just as easily won.

It's easy to see why the refs don't like the Pistons after Billups' last minute throwing himself sideways attempting to draw a foul on a three try. That the replay clearly showed at least a foot of space between him and the defender, he also had to come running down the court with that look complaining all the way. Time to move beyond third grade Chauncey.

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We fell behind quick. A lot of that was Billups and Rip being injured and not being effective. Not to mention Webber, coming off the flu, was giving us absolutely nothing. For the game, Webber did two things. Miss shots. Poor D. Sure he guarded Elson ok, but what center can't? Webber should have sat the last two games out, it would have helped us greatly.

We did not take a 3 until 2 minutes left in the first half. Sheed made one, probably luck as it caught glass and went in. Bad luck, cause a couple of missed 3's in to open the 3rd quarter by Sheed helped trigger a 7-0 run for SA. Later in the 3rd, a couple of missed 3's by Billups helped SA to a 15-2 run. Threes were are enemy for this game. An enemy we chose to invite to the game.

The bench, thats Delfino, Dyess, and Flip Murray, came all the way back in the 2nd quarter to erase a double digit deficit the starters handed them. Sheed did a lot of good work around the basket in the 2nd quarter. Good D too. Still, I question why Sheed played nearly the entire first half. Jason Maxiell and Dale Davis were over on the bench just sitting there.

Flip Murray had a good game, and got a lot of assists. Still does not make him a point guard. He is a guard who can create his won shot, which often bails him out when he can't do a dang thing with the ball otherwise. Flip did manage to get toward the hoop and dish a few times in this game. A few times. Blalock can do more in two minutes in this regard then a game's worth for Murray. Still, a good game for Murray, and the team did very well with him in the game. One thing he did a lot better than Billups, he did not decide to start jacking up a bunch of threes to hand the game to the other team.

Tay had a so so game. He made an outside shot, a few hooks around the basket. But no rebounding. Maybe a bit lazy on D here and there. Still a good game from him but not as good as he could be with some rest. Tay is not built to be the top minutes guy for a team.

Dyess was pretty awesome. Rebounding, defense, and a lot of scoring. Both his inside game and outside shot were working. One thing this recent spout of adversity has done, brought out the best in Dyess.

Delfino just basically played good solid D. He did have the one steal and drive all the way to the basket, but that was it for his offense. They don't exactly run plays for the guy.

Rip has that nasty bruise on his thigh from a couple of games ago. Still affecting his shot, and his defense. In all, our starters are so banged up that they collectively do not hustle on D when in as a unit. If a guy has a wide open shot, you still got to charge out at him, with the arms up. You got to put some pressure on the shot. The subs do this. If a starter or two is in with 3 subs, they are shamed into doing this. Our starters should be leading the way on this, not following. And just maybe they could hand the bench a lead to keep, not a deficit to claw out of.

"Adjustment" . . . wow, what a word so heavy to Flip Sr !
If he wanted this game, he'd known that CB had been less than 50%, if it's just another regular season game why didn't save him for playoff. The season is already deep, where our benchs are ? Would someone so kind to help me to understand what does this 8/9 roration mean in back to back road games ? What will these great strategy and great tactics benefit both in short and long run of the team.
IMHO he's kind of either insult his bench or just play his starters to dead to get familiar to his game if he has any. What a star-coat-tail-rider.
I've not seen any improvement of our team since his arrival, credit to our players who sometimes played like what they once were at best and most of the time they just played by their instinct and experience as if they don't have a coach.
The looks of faces on our bench always twist my heart.

wham! 1st round to spurs
bam! 2nd round to pistons
slam! 3rd round to spurs
pow! 4th round the pistons...
final..spurs get decision in a great 15 rounder.Iwatched the entire game looking like Mickey in Rocky. Im not a regular season guy anymore, so i just wanted us to man up.
The difference? 1. Flip will never beat Pop in a game that counts. NEVER!EVER! So lets hope this aint a Finals preview....
2. Max wouldve have gone 10 and 5 in a game like this. Our coach is a nervous beeyotch and the team knows it.
3. Rip was 8 for 12, so he shot well. His ability to get open on the curl is the problem. Id sure like to see him come off the bench like Manu. But I dont think Rip has the heart Manu has and I KNOW Flip dont have the guts. Who would I start? Believe it or not -I Hate Him. He looks more confident and it would give us a Dumars-Thomas-Vinnie kind of setup. I mean, we dont start the game thru Rip anyway.
STARTERS:
PRINCE
SHEED
WEBBER
BILLUPS
HATE
BENCH:
DYESS
MAX
NAZR(even Pop gave him 10 min)
RIP
HUNTER
WILDCARD:
DELFINO...AS A REplacement for SF, PF ansd SG

This is a good/great team ...ran by a terrible head coach who has no control of his team or decisions.

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Some more observations. Sheed goes off for 19 in the first half using short jumpers and inside play. Second half he only has 2 pts and 3 missed 3 ball attempts. Talk about a disappearing act? He thru up a 3 ball brick in crunch time and Genobli who was all but invisible hits one on the other end after the Pistons had pulled to within 3 themselves. Then Rip an 85% FT shooter misses 2 freebies and Timmy a 65% FT calmly sinks his two on the other end which turns out to be winning point (or was the technical FT made earlier in the game due to Sheed's mouth, the winning point)

Popovich uses 12 men to get the victory...Flip limits his to 8 players...Like everyone said, the Brahma could have contributed something here. If CWebb has the flu, get someone in there that is healthy. Heck Nazr played here before, he may have even been able to contribute a rebound or a block.....Tony Parker dazzled the Pistons and no one could stop him.

I just don't understand what the assistant coaches do for this team? Can't they influence this guy to take a chance with this prodigies??

Pistons start off the month 1-3, then go 5-0, then another 1-3. Well I had the Pistons going 11-6 this month. Now they are 7-6 and we can only hope that they can finish off the month with a wnning record. The 10-1 February is a distant memory as is that Coach of the month and player of the month accolades bestowed upon Flip and Billups.

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To be honest, when it was announced, I was like, have happy ride Flip.

I am reallygetting sick of the ill-advised 3`s being jacked up by Sheed. I mean they happen in crunch time for crying out loud, right when two points or FT`s would be good.

He has the guts to complain about Flip going small, yet he shoots these 3`s like it`s part of the game plan. What`s even more disturbing is, Flip doesn`t say jack to him about it!!

Is he scared of Sheed or what???...........Jeeez

Roscoe, what should Dice's role be in a big game? It seems of late his numbers have been solid both on the offensive and defensive ends. I realise he gives away alot on cheap fouls but his energy more than makes up for this right? Are you suggesting that if Dice has a good game stat wise then that means our top guys arent looking for their own and giving it up to lesser guys like prince and the like...

I'm just saying that if you see Dice start to put up monster #s against a quality opponent, it's time to get worried. His best games seem to come in losses. Just pointing out a trend.

And yeah, if Dice is going off, it means Sheed and CWebb are not.

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

just wanted to relate this to todays game at Milw ...hmmm?! More minutes for Max? Rip off the bench? Delfino as the wild card? ..Its so carzy it JUST MIGHT WORK!!!