How good is Amare Staudemire's free throw form for a big man? He's up there with Yao Ming. It makes him incredibly dangerous because fouling him does no good whatsoever.

Amare's FT shooting really is impressive. He started out in the low 60s his rookie year, I think, but he's up to around 80% in the last couple of years. And he's basically Larry Bird against the Pistons; I think he was 26-28 in the two games against Detroit this year. I also saw that when they beat Houston the other day, he was 20-20!!

It's really good form too. I'm curious to know who was his shooting coach. Steve Nash maybe?

Exactly. Let's remember that one of the main bench concerns in the last few years has been the lack of an adequate backup for CB. Stuckey's come along pretty nicely, although he still has to be considered a wildcard for how well he'll do in big playoff games (not that I think he'll sit, or that I would advocate sitting him; just pointing out that we don't know how he'll react to the big situations). But CB's minutes have been down because of that, so the pressure on CB to come up big in the playoffs will be even bigger this time around, IMO.

Whether AA and/or Amir get to try to contribute depends largely on Flip, but the simple fact is that the support that CB has been lacking (a decent backup to reduce his minutes) has been (a) provided by Joe AND (b) properly integrated into the rotation by Flip. The rest is all on Smooth.

Stuckey has been a really nice story so far. Flip has been incredibly consistent with his minutes. Stuck started off a little rough, but had flashes of brilliance. Since then, he seems to have grown a lot more comfortable handling the ball, he's mixing up the jump shots and the drives more, and he has figured out how to play active defense without picking up touchy fouls.

That's how you develop a rook.

Watching Double A play last nite just reaffirms my beleif that he should be seeing some prime time. Him playing 5-10 minutes in each half and giving a different look as a defender can only help us. Besides the rest that Rip would get to be fresh for the stretch; he brings a different mentality to the team while he is on the floor. He is IMO the new and improved LH. He is quick but also stronger then Lins so he can play the bigger player. He needs to be used in the play offs to be a defensive stopper or at least as a different look to the opposition.

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Damn Right I Will!!!! - Joe Dumars

When Rip is on the floor; CB's job is to get him the ball in places to shoot. He is the leading scorer because of that. Rip spends the game criss crossing the lane off of double screens. We do not spread the floor on offense like some other teams. There aren't driving lanes for the guards unless a play breaks down and everyone breaks to the three point line looking for a shot.

Last nite we spread the floor a little more and it oopened up the driving lanes. Double A and Stuck don't have the ability to come off the screens and shoot like Rip so we were initiating the offense from the sides and working the ball inside out for the most part. When Rip plays; our offense changes.

Not saying that is a bad thing; it just does.

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Damn Right I Will!!!! - Joe Dumars

I agree. AA is like Lindsey... with benefits.

I didn't watch this game because I'm swamped with work, but I did see the highlights, and I have three observations:

1. Nash's "block" on Billups was definitely a hometown call. Mr. Magoo and Stevie Wonder combined could have figured out that was a charge on C-Note. But we'll take it.

2. Why can't PHX be in the Eastern Conference? Detroit can beat them (and lose to the freakin' Wizards)

3. Stuck froze up. He should have taken that last shot in regulation. Not Tay.

I do not share others excitement over this win. This was an entertaining game to watch, but seemed to highlight the "new" Pistons’ way.

When DET went up 8 in the 4th I wondered how long it would take them to give the lead back? Not long at all it turns out. Ditto when they went up 5 later in the 4th.

Phoenix has zero athleticism at the guard/wing positions, yet they abused DET all night long on screen/rolls. It is hard to figure out what they're even trying to do when they defend it. The screen gets set and they have a big show (as well as the player getting screened quitting). The screener then rolls which leads to DET's 2nd big rotating towards him. That was leaving either Amare or Shaq alone under the hoop. Amazingly, that appeared to be their strategy.

Their offense is equally perplexing. To call a play out of a timeout that ends with CB, Sheed and Tay standing within 1 foot of each other is a stroke of genius. If you could place bets on things like DET will shoot a contested, hurried jumper out of a timeout, then I would be retiring.

I can't put it into words what it is like watching them try to feed the post. I don't know of another team that takes 10-15 seconds to do this.

This is a team DET should dominate.

It must have killed Flip playing CB those minutes.

AA needs experience. DET was lucky to win with him moving his feet and staying in front of his man on D. Given some time, I’m sure he can learn to swing wildly and reach in for and 1’s.