We don't apparently have a coach. What coach would play Dyess and Theo together when Ilgauskas was not even on the floor. Ilgauskas is the only player on Cleveland who either is needed for. Why get that slow for nothing? (Talking about late 3rd quarter as we fell behind for good.)
Flip continues to struggle to replace Afflalo in the rotation. This time, a combination of using Stuckey and later Prince. Gee, you got an excellent defender, and your chief mission in life is to replace him just because he is a rookie.


Meanwhile, Rip does not get any rest hardly, and does horrible in the 2nd half. Matter of fact, the Pistons as a whole did horrible in the 2nd half. We do have a bench. What worked last night could have worked tonight. Limit the starters minutes in the first half, have them fresh in the 2nd half where games are generally won or lost.


Rip did start out 7 for 11. Hayes hit his first 2 of 3. That was it. No way he made up for all the points he gave up this time.
Amir played quite a bit in the first half, and looked quite helpful in providing help out D. He should have played a whole lot more in this one. (And Dyess had no business in the game at all. Theo or Amir should have started.)


Maxiell was off the bench early in the first half. We did fine with him on the floor. Why he was kept out so much in the 2nd half is way beyond me. Except we don't have a coach.


Ben Wallace plays pretty good D. So Sheed decided to take the rest of the night off and launch a bunch of threes. Not good.


Stuckey hit a couple of jumpers. Not bad really. Should have played more, especially to finish out the 2nd quarter. Billups was doing nothing special to warrent taking away developement time from Stuckey.
Dixon nor Afflalo played. Now they say Hunter will play the last 10 games. Too bad Joe and Flip are planning their 1st round exit.


Cleveland honestly did not look that good. On defense, sure, guys like Delonte and Ben can play, but on offense? Weak. Except for Bron. Why can't we defend against Cleveland? Flip will not play young players who can hustle and defend shooters. Flip likes offense, defense no. That is why Hayes gets to play. Even the scatter shot Dixon gets to play some games, cause Flip just does not care about defense.


Theo looked good for a moment or two. Blocked a shot on one end and hustled down the floor for the fast break dunk. One other block and that was it for the energy that a 34 year old can bring who is recovering from a bad back after 2 years not playing. Did I mention how active Amir looked on D?

didn't see the game, may or may not watch it later. good news is we have 2 more times against cleveland to try to work some kinks out.

I will throw this game away but yes, we do have to wonder about our match ups with Cavs and Celtics. We don't score against either well. This was a back to back which is an excuse this time. But do we have enough offense with the Flip sets against the good teams--a recurring question?

Have to agree with Delfino and Lee: Dyss is not a good match up much of the time. Z can do what he wants with him. Sheed played poorly period. But he wasn't alone. Ratliff still looked uncertain out there but would like to see if he can body up Z.

Also agree, no reason we can't get a defense to stop the Cavs. Maxiel looked the best out there this game but had limited time.

I am watching the 12am re-bradcast here. Normally I would not check the score but things are not looking good at the half. Looking at the box it does not look like anything positive can be taken out of this game and it does not look like anything was accomplished either. Just heavy mins for the starters during a humiliating loss.

I am not going to worry about it too much since the odds are against us seeing them in the post-season. But yes 2 more games to get it right against this team for prides sake and the only silver lining is that the last 2 reg season matchups mean more than the 1st 2.

-Perhaps there is something to these Wed games?

I'll say. Next time around, I would use flat-out speed as a disruptive pattern against their tough defense. Case in point:

• Use Stuckey, Dixon and AA with at least two of them playing at the same time. They should play 75% of the game with this combination.
• Sheed stays in the paint with Ratliff. Both these big men can run. JMax substitutes for one them which means he should get at least 22-30 minutes of playing time. JMax must be able to move to be effective.
• Rip continues to run. He can run the whole game. When not, then Hayes or Amir subs. Tay and Dyess can fit in here.
• Tay plays one-quarter of entire game. Hayes and Amir spread his minutes between them . If Hayes is open, he will knock them down. This means those under the basket and in the paint, will get some rebounds on misses.

My emphasis would be to limit (severely) Dyess and Tay....slow, slow, slow.

Here is your breakout (with a -/+2 for each total) and Dyess/Tay are substitutions in the total point mix:

• Stuckey (10)
• Dixon (10)
• AA (6)
• Sheed (10)
• Ratliff (6)
• Amir (8)
• Hayes (12)
• Rip (18)
• CB (10)
• JMax (10)

You score between 85-100 Pt's and you beat Cleveland.

In short, because JD did not get his leader/slasher, one must substitute frenetic activity which will create distance on defensive pressure. This will only work if you run activity/athleticism for the whole game.

I can take the Pistons losing in this style, but not the way I saw tonight.

Nice recap Lee. I agree with your points.

I'd also add that, that attempt at playing zone in the 2nd half was absolutely ugly to watch.

Let me preface this post by saying i didn't watch the game. I tivo'ed it on the off chance we won, but was pretty sure of what would happen. It did. I watched the ESPN Box Score which was probably thouroughly more entertaining, and less frustrating that watching the actual game. I don't understand why we play the Cavs. Can't the networks just play Game 6 over an over again?. It's not like it would be much different.

I mentioned in another thread that this was going to be a playoff style game and we were going to see how much not playing AA or Amir extensively will bite us in the you know what. Theo should have only played when Z played. Dice should've played alot less. But apparently our coach doesn't notice that he can BARELY move. Big minutes for the starters.

CLE is slow as hell, and we didn't take advantage of it.

Every negative thought i have about Flip Saunders, his ability to make adjustments, find the right mix of players, and general coaching ability is always reiterated in games like these.

You could give MB d-league players that can play defense, and he would still use the same game plan, and we would still lose everytime.

Normally, i would torture myself and watch the game, but i've come to some sort of strange acceptance about this season. I just want it to be over so we can get rid of the

At least this year we won't lose to the Cavs. That is the only positive i can come up with.

FOX Sports on MSN - NBA - LeBron takes advantage of Pistons' passivity

Long article but worth he read

Why doesn't Stuckey get a longer leash to attack off pick and rolls? That is what we needed all game long, and we only saw it once or twice. His ability to penetrate will decide a series against these 2 teams if they should face each other. If Flip lets him go to work instead of constant iso's for 20 footers, we've got a shot. If not, their defense just owns us. No one else can break down their D, and it turns into a brick-fest.

I guess Flip will just cross his fingers and hope we don't face them.

With 7 free throws attempted and less than 40% shooting, we obviously do not play agressive against these guys. I still see the possibility of facing these guys in the playoffs. Hopefully, somebody decides to drive the lane and draw some fouls when that series is played. Well, at least we never get injured.