I don't mind seeing Tay get those minutes when he is actually playing well. That was fun to watch. Besides, he had those energy players in there doing all the dirty work.

Tay has been really aggressive and active on the offensive end lately. Nice to see.

i don't think tay got overplayed. he was playing well and we needed him. 39 mins one night isn't going to hurt.

this was a great game. amir is doing all of the little things to help the team out - keeping numerous balls alive, playing solid defense...you just never think to yourself 'wow amir messed up that play.' when he first came back you could tell he wasn't using his athleticism because of the injury, but now all bets are off. he's stronger than he looks and plays solid defense, doesn't get caught out of position...just solid all around. when he comes into games we lock the opponent down and go on runs...and we're going to need this in the playoffs when our offense dries up.

afflalo played great for his 4 minutes - made a smart pass to chauncey when he could've forced a shot, and the next play drove for a shot whe he could've kicked it back out. both were the right decision. maxiell looks to be getting his legs back, stuckey continues to gain experience, and dixon looks plenty serviceable. we are now at a point where i'd be comfortable with any of our 15 players on the floor...and i don't think there's another team in the league you could say that about.

I disagree with those that say playing AJ & Max at the end of the game was some gutsy move by Flip. To me it is just the other side of the coin. Heads = starters, tails = bench. It is all or nothing with Flip. He still hasn't shown that he can rotate guys in & out while playing everyone. I was glad that he got over his AJ/Max combo phobia.

For those lamenting the fact that Dixon is playing over AA, I wouldn't worry. It is only temporary. Flip is cleverly working towards not playing him by using him at the 2. He looks like a little kid out there. The chances of him succeeding there are minimal. It is pretty clear that Flip will not play him at the point.

The same goes for Herrrrrman. If Flip used him at the 3 and 4, he might have to work to play him. If he uses him solely as a 4 then he is behind too many guys to get PT and it is bad luck that he can't play. Plus he got 35 seconds last night and put up zeroes!

Agree that this was a perfect game to get everyone in the 1st by giving the clearly listless starters an early rest. I ain't mad at the starters, lulls like this happen.

Durant reminded me a little of early LeBron, G2 05 semi-final LeBron. He played into DET's hands by staying outside. When the game was pretty much over, he threw caution to the wind and drove. DET was helpless to stop him.

Stuckey's best game in a while.

Why? Because of "the block"?

He has been part of the problem when it comes to Detroit being one of the worst in the league at limiting dribble penetration, he has never been part of the solution, no matter how many times Ben and Rasheed made guys Tay has guarded think twice about driving the lane.

And point guard skills? Please.When Tayshaun can bring it up against moderate pressure without turning his back to the defenders to protect the ball....we'll talk. That's one habit LB could never discourage Tay from sticking to.

Why live in the far distant past? If we were going back to the most recent playoffs we would have to put Tay in the background with his arms over his head....running away.

Then and only then would we be summing up that matchup truthfully.

What? This doesn't make sense to me. The team was way more effective with AJ and Max out there last night then with either Sheed or Dice (or both) on the floor, so Flip stuck with what was working after finding the right combo, which is pretty much what we've always criticized him for NOT doing. How can that be fairly characterized as "just the other side of the coin"? Was he supposed to shuttle Sheed and Dice back in just to keep things fresh?

Did you notice that Flip put him in on defense and then subbed Jarvis back in when we got the ball back?

I was thinking that too, except I can't really include Lindsey or Samb. They may do well or they may not, but I'd be hesitant to put them in a real game. I know Lindsey won't make a fool of himself, but he gambles on defense, sucks on O, and has a lot of rust right now. Samb could possibly make of a fool of himself or he could block 5 shots. We haven't seen enough to know for sure.

One other thing. This was in reference to Flip Saunders' gameplan:
That is why I don't like the concept of having a "pure" point guard who doesn't score. Good teams will cheat off of him and take away the passing. Flip's strategy was very good in this respect and I'm pleased to know that he actually details a strategy for the bench to have success too.

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"Will was rolling, wasn't he? I roll with the guy that's hot." MC

I guess Mark Jackson was a horrible PG then... Magic did that quite a bit as well


Getting fairly irate with you at this point. You are saying he isn't a vastly superior defender than Hermann who moves laterally like a 4, and Hayes who is a god awful defender.

Damn I hope this is a joke.


Is that just as much because C$ is slower than most PG's and if you have one iota of strength you can body Rip off you and get to the rack at will?