New Jersey Nets March 30th, 8:00 PM
TV - (Local) FSN Detroit, NBALP

The Nets come to town as they are engaged in a fierce battle with the Pacers, Knicks and Orlando Magic for the last two playoff spots in the east. The Pistons will try and close out a tough month with their fourth victory of the season against the Nets.

Is this a preview of a first round playoff matchup??

i believ it could be a 1st round matchup but more than likely i think we will face the pacers in the 1st round

Chat is open!!!

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

Weird second half tonight (which was all I saw of the game)...nobody was playing any defense. 34-26 Nets in the 3rd, but the Pistons bounced back in the 4th, 39-29. CB rebounded from his lousy Chicago performance with some amazing numbers: 32 points, 14 assists, and ZERO turnovers! Dice was huge in the second half, 7-7 from the floor for the game. Lindsey also had a huge 4th quarter, 13 points and some good D down the stretch on Vince. CB's penetration was what drove things in the 4th; the Nets had no answer for him at all. Pistons gave up too many offensive boards again, but Sheed had a great shooting night, 8-10 from the floor and 5-6 on threes.

Actually the D was sort of up and down. Pistons were getting embarrassed on a bunch of junior-high school level pick and roll plays, with guys floating to the rim untouched for dunks, but they got some key stops in the last few minutes. Nice to get a win again, while struggling to get everyone healthy and back on the court.

So much for Flip getting Tay some rest. He just gets in the mindset that the starters have to be in there all the time and it comes down to what happened last year he is burning out the guys even before the playoffs start. So is Flip Murray trying to play his way out of the rotation again? He just sometimes seems so clueless out there and I'm glad that Lindsey had a great night so maybe those two can backup Chauncey in the playoffs.

Delfino redeemed himself tonight but he needs to learn to make his close shots because he gets several opportunities to score inside. Carlos at least knows how to rebound and for awhile he was the only one with any offensive boards. I wanted to see him in the second half but of course Flip had him nailed to the pine.

One last observation, maybe Nazr should get an opportunity to play a few minutes just to throw him a bone now that he's really out of the rotation.

Flip Murray continues to improve.

Game ball goes to Lindsey Hunter, for his shooting and shutting down New Jersey's unstoppable pick-and-roll offense.

Chauncey and Tayshaun played pretty much the entire game; Tay played well on both ends, but Chauncey seemed to have less impact than his stat sheet would indicate.

Webber may still be fighting off the flu, but he was terrible. Collins took away Rasheed's post game, but he still was effective with quick-release jumpshots and played pretty good defense. McDyess was very good. Delfino's offense has deserted him again, and his defense was not good, but at least he rebounded. Maxiell was flat-out awful. Davis fought hard on the glass but his speed was exploited by the Nets' pick-and-rolls.

The Pistons allowed nearly 20 offensive rebounds from all positions.

A win's a win, but this one isn't going to build any confidence.

I don't agree with that. It seemed to me that almost every possession they scored on in the 4th quarter--and that was a lot of them, considering they had 39 points--came off a CB drive-and-dish, driving and getting to the line, or setting someone up on the perimeter.

The rebounding is a HUGE problem that will expose us in the playoffs if it isn't fixed. I don't know what it it is; effort, not boxing out?; lack of rebounders ?

Oddly enough it seems like it started when Rip Hamilton went out or i'm imagining things. Does Rip Hamilton really affect our rebounding?

Great game from CB. He led us to a nine turnover game. Pretty darn good. Never missed a free throw, never turned the ball over on his way to 14 assists, 32 points. A lot of driving inside as well as lots of outside shots made.

Flip Murray did nothing. I won't be too harsh on him though as he is recovering from the flu. I will point out that Flip Saunders again chose disaster by putting Murray and Hunter in the backcourt together. One of the worst stretches for us there in the 2nd quarter. After a very slow start, down 2-12, we came back with a vengeance with a 24-7 run. Then the Hunter-Murray disaster. We still managed to end the half up a few points as Billups came back in to end the half.

Dyess had a great game off the bench with 18 points and no misses. Seven for seven. All outside shots except one touch up from a pass he barely handled. Sheed got that assist. It was noted in the postgame show that Dyess was avering something like 17 and 10 over his past 4 games. I remember the rebound number for sure anyway. Its always a lot of fun to listen to the post game show on the way home after a win.

The Palace announced another sell out. Really? A whole lot of empty seats. My section continually was making noise, but the rest of the Palace was kind of quiet. Oh, and my daughter still has not seen a regular season loss. (She has seen a playoff loss, but we won the series so...)

Hunter played 18 minutes in the 2nd half. He was hitting his shots so I can't complain about that at all. Not bad on the D either. Murray could get right back out of the rotation soon if he does not get back into form. Hunter has the flu too by the way, so the competition is fair enough.

Defino got some boards, made one shot on a drive in, and played ok D on Carter and Jefferson. He did not play in the 2nd half. Maxiell, due to not getting defensive boards, did not get to play much; but again, it was not him. We got outrebounded badly the whole game and JMAX played little. He did hit a short jumper from about the foul line.

From about 6 minutes into the 3rd on, we only used 6 players. Hunter, Dyess (in for Webber who really should not be playing yet due to the flu.) Billups, Tay, Sheed, and 4 minutes from Dale Davis. Sound the alarm? You bet. A win is nice, but to freeze the rotation, stopping all substitutions, that early in the game? Questionable. How is that expanding the rotation?

Tay had a near triple double. Never noticed it really during the game but heard it on the postgame show. 15 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds. His outside shot was not going early, and it never did get going. Tay did all his damage inside in this one. A steal and dunk was his highlight for the game.

Our first 2 points came on a hook shot by Webber. But other than that, Moore outplayed Webber completely in this game. First Moore was making his outside shots. Then we find him cleaning up the glass. Then he is hitting pullup jumpers on us. Carter was the big scorer for them and Boone got some too. But Carter took a whole lot of shots to get his.

Sheed scored in fairly close several times, but his 5 of 6 from behind the arc stole the show. I still say Sheed is nowhere near healthy as far as his wheels go. It shows on his defense and rebounding. Just not enough quickness.

Looked at as a pair of games on back to back nights, the Pistons played their bench plenty, so I can have some comfort in that. Delfino got about 36 minutes between the two games. Maxiell palyed little tonight but started last night. Hunter had his first helpful stint since coming back from suspension. Davis helped with some timely defense, even though just 5 minutes between the two games, still involved. GO PISTONS!!!!!

Great Leecap...I truly agree with the ones above. Six more home games left ..you need any cash to get tickets for you and your daughter to attend?