It's beginning to look like Denver won't make it to the Playoffs. I really like the Denver team so much. It's the only team I have followed besides the Pistons this year. Last year I followed about eight teams, but I don't have that kind of bandwidth anymore. Anyway, I'm glad we won, but I do still hope somehow Denver can get in there instead of Golden State. Of course they would have to play the #1 team and would exit from the first round but stilll....

I thought we looked fantastic tonight. I like the way we play against these uptempo teams. I like to watch our defense operating at a faster pace. It's very exciting basketball to watch. Unlike the Pistons/Spurs yawnfests that are like a ritual with both teams now.

Did anyone record this one? Sounds like I missed a barn burner.

I dunno why, but it wasn't on Canadian TV, even with my fake League Pass package.

Sorry I missed chat, I figured, no game, might as well catch up on some sleep and reading so I can rock CLEVELAND tonight!

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Momma was queen of the mambo, Poppa was king of the congo, deep down in the jungle, I start banging my first bongo
Every monkey like to be, in my place instead of me, cause I'm the king of bongo baby, I'm the king of bongo bong
-Manu Chao

You get a glimpse of what's to come with Bedford in that game...7 pts and 2 rebs. in only 7 minutes...if there were a forum then there might have been some posts calling for Bedford to start and Laimbeer or Edwards to come in off the bench...

roscoe you missed an awesome game. pistons were unstoppable in the first half. it's funny how few responses there are in a game thread when there's nothing to complain about!! i mean, denver is DESPERATE for wins and yet the only guy who played over 30 minutes was maxiell.

could it be that flip saunders *might* know a little about what he's doing? we've complained about rotations, but it sincerely looks like he's changing it up every game and giving extended minutes to a couple players to see what they can do. today he threw AJ in the 2nd quarter for 6 minutes (there ya go lee!) and he produced 4 boards. dixon was also playing better and stuckey got the entire 2nd quarter as he, hayes, and maxiell sparked a huge run.

again i've been saying all year that we need game-changers for the playoffs, for games that our starters might not be doing all that well in. max can do it with his energy plays/putbacks/blocks, jarvis can do it when his shot is on, and stuckey can do it in an overall game (btw he got totally hosed on so many fouls last night). lindsey can with a few key defensive plays. i think amir/ratliff/afflalo/dixon can do it but you can't play everyone, and hayes/max/stuckey/hunter are our best chance in my opinion.

I agree that the first half was a healthy rotation. I would have personally played Dixon less and Afflalo more, but Amir's first half minutes were such a pleasant surprise that I'm not even going to mention it.

We do have a lot of game changers off the bench.

Amir- shot blocking, offensive rebounding, easy put backs
JMax- energy, points in the paint, shot blocking
Ratliff- shot blocking
Stuckey- driving and finishing ability, athleticism
Afflalo- defense galore
Hayes- streak shooter with quick release and great range
Herrmann- energy, 3-point threat, can lock down German 7'ers!
Hunter- ball hawking

Dixon- no special talent that I can see. Maybe heart. 3' jumpers.

We don't have any boring bench players. There is no Jenkins, M. Curry, etc. A blessing for us and a curse for the coach.

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

There is always the possibility that Theo's run was simply finding out if he could still play and could be ending. He might be back on the bench for 5th big spot duty for a while.

That was a pretty amazing first half last night. The second wasn't bad, but the Pistons were so smooth in the first. The lead seemed to jump by ten point increments rather than twos or threes - they were up three, then up ten, then up twenty.

Denver was unconscious with the 3-pointers in the 2nd half. Also, I agree with the bad call comment made earlier. It was one of those games where it didn't matter. But if that was close, then those calls would be getting analyzed all day long here. The charge that Maxiell took, which resulted in a jump ball? What the hell was that? The charge that Stuckey took?

dba, if I were the coach, I would have done exactly that with Theo. Give him a lot of time to get him acclimated, then cut it back so that he stays fresh. Ramp him up again right before the end of the season.

I really hope that is the case with Dixon too. Maybe the learning curve is just longer at his position and he will be cut back in favor of Afflalo pretty soon too.

Flip did make the comment that was something like "just because the young guys don't play for a few games doesn't mean that they are out of the rotation." That to me would support the theory that the new guys are being test driven.

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

He might play some tonight against Cleveland's big men. It's a better matchup situation for him than a track meet against Denver.

Is it possible to be in the rotation if you don't play?

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Momma was queen of the mambo, Poppa was king of the congo, deep down in the jungle, I start banging my first bongo
Every monkey like to be, in my place instead of me, cause I'm the king of bongo baby, I'm the king of bongo bong
-Manu Chao

That's what I was thinking was that they were giving him the night off to be fresh vs Clevelands Stronger Bigs like Z and Ben on a back to back.

Plus Amir just matches up infinitly better with Denver than "older" Theo does...