I'm not a happy man.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

Frustrating game. Terrible officiating, lots of ugly ball, but the Pistons went on a big run at the end and had a chance to steal it. And then Delfino commits ANOTHER bonehead foul in the dying seconds, biting on the pump fake like a total chump...game over. No excuses this time, people.

The Pistons were just smoked on the boards tonight and I don't blame Delfino for the loss. This game was lost because the Pistons didn't win the rebound game and add in the 3 techs. The Bulls were kept to a low shooting percentage but they ran wild in the paint on the offensive end with so many second chance opportunities. So give Carlos some slack, I would have liked for him to take the last shot of the game and it would have had a better chance of going in than that weak sister shot Tay threw up. The Pistons miss Rip and CWebb and still almost won this game. It's the long view people, the playoffs so don't get too hyped up about the loss. Flip is still playing Tay and Chauncey way too many minutes and I'm worried that Tay is going to get hurt from playing so fatigued.

A game that we should have been the underdog going in with 2 STARters missing. But we hung in there and almost pulled it out. Second loss this year that a Delfino foul in the last 3 seconds has resulted in a loss being decided when the opposing team hit the winning FT's. Note to Flip, have Delfino on the bench when game is tied with less than 20 seconds. Tay was the right man to take the last shot as he was the most consistent Piston tonight.

We got killed in the paint by 14 and destroyed on the boards by 14. offnsive was 22-11 ouch! Ben was a monster that we could used in a Piston uniform tonight with his 19 boards. Three technical fouls that they converted to 3 pts could have made the difference in this 2 pt loss but those things happen.......

Rip and Cwebbs replacements Jr and Brahma did little with 5 points between them. Max did get 3 blocks including 2 on Ben, but was rendered ineffective in the second half as was Flip jr who even let Hunter outscore him.

20 three point attempts was not needed to win this game.. Our inside was so MIA that Dice and Sheed took no FTA. Max bricked his 3.

Oh well, we should be healthy next week when we get them at home and hopefully we return the favor and beat them.

Flip S. I thought he did a good job today.

Flip M. Not enough in the tank. 2 out of 5 mangoes.

Rasheed Wallace. Looking old, but the effort was there.

Antonio McDyess. I swear he must have fooled around with a ref's wife once.

Jason Maxiell. Not ready for primetime.

Chauncey Billups. Forget max deal, he's no longer a second half of the season player.

Tayshaun Prince. Not capable of being "the man" but slowly rounding into "a man".

Carlos Delfino. You just cost yourself the opportunity to close out any meaningful games. Very few players can make that mistake 3 times in a career coming off the bench and stay in the league. Comprende?

Lindsey Hunter. Exactly what you expected.

Good job by the Bulls. They didn't play really well, but they scrapped out a home court win against a division rival in an ugly game. Made plays when it counted and owned the boards.

Chauncey better wakeup. He's killing us with his substandard offensive play. I can't remember any meaningful defense from him, and it hurt because he should be covering Gordon, not Delfino.

__________________
To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

Delfino was the goat at the end. Bad play, as he got caught up in the air, and fouled Hinrich taking a three pointer. But we lost this one from a bad decision by the coach. Delfino should have started this game. Our defense was a whole lot better with him in the game. Our movement on defense was a lot better with Delfino in the game. Delfino was the goat, but he also hit two shots late to get the game tied after we were down 12 with around 4 minutes to go in the game. Why did Flip Murray start over Delfino? Flip Murray, who for a long time was out of the rotation, no way leap frogs a player in the rotation, unless a coach is playing favorites. Which I hate.

Anybody watch Flip Murray in this game? What does he do on offense. He tippy toes around, moving about maybe one or two feet every few seconds. No clue what to do without the ball. A starting guard in the NBA he is most certainly not.

Prince had it going in this game, both inside and out. Probably should have even been more aggressive, but I won't fault him. The guards are the guys who are suppose to make the decisions about who is taking the shots. Billups had a horrid shooting night, and did not get Tay as involved as he should have. The other two guards we used for the most part, Hunter and Flip, they have no clue so are blameless in this situation. Its not their fault the coach thinks they are point guards.

Jason Maxiell was not doing a very good job clearing the defensive glass, but neither were any of our bigs. No Jason Maxiell in the 4th quarter meant us getting behind in that quarter. He plays pretty darn good D when in the game. The trick Mr. Saunders, is to put him in the game.

We drew several techs, and that certainly did not help in a tight game. Still we had a chance to win it at the end so maybe all that emotion helped.

Another goat. Sheed got a perfect pass from Delfino and blew that layup. But Sheed scored plenty too.

To those who think I am silly harping about the rookies not playing. A rookie did us in for this game. Thomas for them was pretty darn good. Not that Amir Johnson is a rookie anymore, but he might as well be. We certainly could have used this fine young player in this game, as our bigs we did play were a step slow to rebounds all game long.

Dyess hit some shots in the first half, but for the game, he was no factor inside.

This game saw one of the wierdest shots of all time. Ben Wallace hit the top of the backboard on a shot, and it bounced in.

Did I mentioned the team could not get a defensive rebound to save their lives? We held Chicago to 4-22 shooting in the 2nd quarter, yet only walked off with a 3 point lead for the half. Still some good D by the likes of Delfino, Maxiell, Tay, etc.

Webber and Rip missed the game due to the flu. Dale Davis played a minute to end the 2nd quarter despite having the flu. They mentioned Duhon had the flu for Chicago so its going around on other teams too.

The five guys out there as we almost came back late were Billups, Delfino, Tay, Dyess, Sheed.

Hunter managed one good play, a steal with a layup made off the steal. And nothing else. Why in the world did Flip not go to Delfino when Murray got into foul trouble in the 3rd quarter? Just flat out disrespect to Delfino. We could have started our comeback right there, the moment Flip came out of the game. Yes, Delino was the goat in the end, but the game should not have been close. Next time, Flip will do the same, play his favorites rather than his best, but hey, I will be here to point it out.

There would have been no close game for Delfino to be in at the end if he did not help lead a tremendous defensive effort in the 2nd quarter to give us a lead, not to mention he was a big part of the comeback in the last three minutes to tie it. Kudos for Flip Saunders leaving Delfino in the game. You can only learn by experience. As for JMAX, again, note, he was in there for much of that 2nd quarter. Mistakes are no reason to take a young player out. Mistakes must be made. Its part of the process of getting better.

Lee, I'm ok with Delfino making mistakes to learn. But he's made the same stupid goof twice. This isn't rocket science, it's basketball 101.

1. Never foul a jump shooter

2. Never foul a 3 point shooter in a tie game during the last possession.

As I mentioned recently, he's a fraction slow challenging the shot, and doesn't really impact shooters anyway. His best defense is played by keeping his man from penetrating.

I don't care that he was a goat. I do care that this is a simple mistake that will scare me anytime he is in during a late game situation. We're so close to the playoffs, and we need this guy. Focused and aware.

__________________
To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!

Delfino's reckless style of defense works well throughout the course of the game, but in crunch time, when players get more patient and deliberate, he shouldn't be out there. It's a shame he did it again, because he has actually become quite a clutch shooter.

The real story of this game was Chauncey and rebounding though. Hopefully Flip S. doesn't overlook the bigger issues while pointing the finger at Delfino.

^

The rebounding was laughable, but so was last games so i doubt anything will be done about it.

Chauncey; I don't know if it was KH's defense, or his injury. But he doesn't look 100%. By the time Rip comes back, Chauncey will be dead. We can't win lately (literally and figuratively)