I loved last night's game in every respect. Granted that Philly was tired, and may not be the highest level of competition, but Detroit showed flashes of absolute brilliance, that you might not expect at this point in the season with a new coach. As the ESPN crew said, even though Detroit was only maintaining a 10-point cushion, it felt like they had complete control to turn it on and off, when needed.

The strongest point I'd like to make about the 2005 Pistons Incarnation is in reference to something I posted this summer on the FP forum. I think that for this team to really be successful, they need to play targeted D, like San Antonio does so well. San Antonio has proven unequivocally that they can match offenses with any team in the league (witness their success against the Suns last year). But when the game is close or on the line, they can play D with the best. I think that yesterday's game against Philly displayed this for us for the first time. While our O was great, it was our ability to completely shut Philly down on D in the first quarter that gave us the DD lead. Our O simply helped them maintain it. I'd like to see this strategy in every game. Come out and strangle teams with D in the 1Q, then turn up the O in 2Q and 3Q, with full reserve participation to keep the lead. Finally, turn on the D again in the 4Q if necessary.

This approach leaves the players better rested and having more fun. Playing nose-crunching D the whole game is ok for a year or two, but your going to wear guys out. And in terms of FA pick-ups, you'll find that Detroit is a much better destination, when players feel they can fill it up. Not many players want to participate in a D-only system.

Kudos to Skip and staff. Simply awesome start.

It was fun being there even if I was up in the clouds behind the basket. I saw the action just fine though; brought the binocs.

I can't add much because the game is so well covered and I agree with about all of the points so far. It was fun seeing DMC take the board and the outlook pass that resulted in JMax's super dunk.

Another neat thing was that I knew Darko's basket was coming. When he threw the ball in under the bucket on my end, I saw Carlos Arroyo tell him something (apparently that he was getting the shot) because Darko went down and CA pulled everybody over to himself and dished off to DMC for shot. I was disappointed that DMC spent so much time on blocks that he did not get back up for a couple of ribbys and I for sure thought he had a couple of more blocks at the other end, but they apparently were just alterations. He seemed to block the shot but in both cases someone else got the ball and scored with it.

Anyway, good game although there was absolutely no suspense.

Rip is again the "energizer bunny". He just flat never stops.

After Big Ben flew by Hunter and dunked ferociously, Tolbert says, "He deserved two gongs for that one."

The game was fine etc etc, but there were still a few things of concern. First, I know people keep saying that there was no drought, but I am going to have to disagree with that. Around the 6 minute mark in the 3rd qtr where we had a chance to really put the 76ers away, the team went like 3-4 minutes without a bucket. Granted, the 76ers only pulled to withing 6, but to me that is the same type of thing that happeend all too much last year--when a team is on the ropes, we failed to capitalize. The game could have been a 25 pt lead going into the 4th, meaning JMax and the HVC's could have played many minutes. As for Darko, I think this was mentioned, but the kid is so gong ho at trying to block any shot that he gets elevated to much allowing o rebounds and dish off to the now open weak side big that HVC was suppose to cover. But, you have to appreciate the enthuism, he obviously was taught that D gets the minutes in the D.

I was very happy overall. The offense looked fluid--frankly, a lot more than I expected for the first game. Rip was unbelievable and the rest of the starters were solid. I thought both Chauncey and CA did a real nice job running the offense-18 assists to 2 TOs is something I'd take any night. Dyess still doesn't look 100% comfortable on offense, but he did a nice job on the boards. And Evans was solid.

There was a sequence in the third period when I thought we didn't execute well-a quick jumper by Rip and a hurried three by Chauncey, followed by Tay trying to do too much one-on-one, but other than that I thought I thought we played relatively disciplined ball. It was also fun to see the youngsters playing together those last few minutes.

I'm going to withhold judgement on the defense, because I was pretty unimpressed with the Sixers' O. I have so much admiration for the heart that Iverson plays with, but I can never tell if he's the problem or the solution. He does so much on his own that their offense always looks out of sorts and nobody else seems to know what they're supposed to do when they get the ball.

I would have liked to see a bit more of the bench when we got up by 15+ late in the third. I want to see if they're able to hold a lead, and I'd prefer to find out when we're up by a bunch than when we're only up by a few. I suspect Flip wanted to see the starters get some more reps in since his offense is new to them.

Hopefully we can grab these next couple eminently winnable games as well to get us some momentum as we get into the tough early-season part of the schedule.

I say that only happened because during that time a oot of our players missed shots they usually make especially Dice, good thing it only happened then. Tommorow we're at boston, even though it's a road game i expect a blowout for the pistons.

Good point, there were a few missed Dyess 15 footers he usually nails. Yet here is a question. Dyess didn't look good in preseason and still doesn't. I know it isn't his knees since he is rebounding maybe better than ever, but is it just a funk or system? It seems that the new offesne really de-emphasizes the low block, iso fadeaway that LB loved Dyess and Sheed to do. I only bring this up because some of his misses were not close, but almost airballs. I know Darko is coming on, but I am not ready to annoit him first Big off the bench yet--too raw and eager.

On a side note, wasnt it refreshing to see garbage time not taken for granted. Arroyo seemed possessed the last 4 minutes and I think he helped orchestrate like 6 straight field goals. also, when JMax was in there he was just Fighting for position, and even though he never was fed in the post kept getting position--I like to see that aggressivenss. I think he truly knows that minutes are earned and feeld he must live up to his first round pick, not Darko style where his first rd pick means the team owes him the chance. Delfino looked alright. Still don't trust hsi desire to play on the team.

Dice is a vet who needed to avoid injury during the pre-season. Wait until he gets a good 10 games under his belt and see how his shot is then.

He found a way to contribute when he was having an off shooting night. Same with Chauncey. That's what you would expect from them.

Arroyo- The only difference I see is that he looks more confident shooting the ball, and the D is having to respect him a little bit. It is opening up the court for his passing.

Can you say second chance opportunites?

Jeesh!

That one possession in the second half was bananas. I almost felt for Philly on that one.

Observations:

Improvement from last year; when playing a team that is somewhat inferior, the Pistons usually went trhough severe scoring droughts. That didn't happen last night by scoring in bunches.

This is only the second game of the season, the sixers played the Bucks
last night, however, welcome to the NBA and the beginning of the season, they shouldn't have experienced that much exhausation.

I think Ron Harper will consistently challenge the starters, motivate them with the rings

In Flip's offense, Rip may end up being in the top 5 in scoring leaders this season.