Darko....looks like A seven foot Eddie Munster

goodnighty, my prettys ...we're 3=0 and lovin it!!!!!Wooo!!

just went down to Philly at home.

1st half report

Most likely, our starters will come in and make this one a blowout in the 3rd quarter. Its an 18 point lead at the half, with the Pistons getting a run late to stretch the lead from 10.
Tay was on fire hitting for 13 in the 1st quarter with about one miss. This included a triple. Sheed did a bit of work inside and Rip hit some shots.

First off the bench was Dyess, then Evans, then Arroyo. Soon Darko and Delfino joined them. This unit held their own. But after Sheed joined them, things went downhill. No fault of Sheed. More like Toronto was bringing their starters in quicker than we were. The lead dropped a bit, our starters all came back in. Toronto kept up their comeback a little longer before the run.

Between Evans and Delfino, you simply don't have a good enough defensive player out there to cool off a hot shooting small forward. Delfino is not that good a defender, and Evans simply gives up too much height. I still say we got to find a better solution at backup small forward. And again, let Delfino and Evans fight it out for minutes behind Rip.

Darko finally missed a shot. Delfino hit a triple. Darko got a block. Arroyo pulled a Rip. Not a game ending winner, but still a nice bucket with .6 left. One nice thing to see is Arroyo hitting Dyess with a pass and Dyess actually hitting that jumper. But then Arroyo hit Dyess with a perfect pass for a layup and Dyess blew that.

Rose is Rose. Good one moment. Ill advised shots the next. MoPete looks good, as does Graham. And Bosh is still lighting it up pretty good. If they had a decent center, they would actually be a good team. I should qualify that. A good team offensively.

Game report

Well, it was over pretty quick with us getting a 27 point lead early in the 3rd. They did cut it to 20, but thats it. As has been Toronoto's thing previously, they tried to shoot their way back into the game. But the Pistons are some pretty darn good perimeter defenders so you knew that was not going to work.

Prince continued to hit his shots. Rip hit some more. One guy who ain't hitting his shots though is Billups. Dyess hit a jumper off a pass from CB.

The subs finished the games for us, but Toronto for some odd reason kept some of their starters in. And MoPete, who started the 2nd half. Arroyo had to be told by his coach to get some points for himself. And he did, both going in to the bucket and hitting his outside shots. Delfino did some pretty fancy scoring. Evans continues to nail those threes at a very impressive rate. Darko hit another outside shot.

Arroyo was particularly active tonight, and the announcers kept commenting on how much energy Arroyo was bringing to the game. Running breaks, getting rebounds, finding ways to get good passes to his teammates. And bothering the opponents dribbling.

Evans is still showing no signs of being a ball handler, but he can do two things quite well on offense. Make that three. One, hit spot up shots at a very good rate. Two, he can shake off his defender and use those good hops to raise up and nail a shot. Three, if inside, he can just go up and nail that short jumper. Pretty good stuff. On shooting guards, his defense is fine. On small forwards, he lacks height. Altogether, a fine player who fits right in as long as surrounded by guys who can do the chores on ball handling. I really like our 2nd unit for the most part except for a weakness in being able to guard hot shooting small forwards.

Maxiell got some time, looked nervous as can be expected. Maxiell still has not seen any real minutes with the score still mattering. He did get that drive in, but missed the and one.

We have now seen two Pistons really explode on offense in Tay and Rip. In just three games. We all know CB will come out of his funk. Maybe next game. GO PISTONS!!!!!

Thanks for the analysis. I only get to listen and read box scores.
Now let's see Dale Davis get some burn.

__________________

We have a huge opportunity right now. What looked at first like a killer early-season schedule is suddenly very manageable. We have road games against a Sacramento team that's off to a rough start, Phoenix minus Stoudamire, and a lousy Portland squad. Then later on we're at Houston, which just lost McGrady.

Let's hope we can take advantage.

During the first Piston broadcast, they mentioned that it was not planned for either Hunter nor Davis to get playing time in the first half of the season. Can't say if its true or not, but that is what was said.

All is well in Pistons' land tonight.

Detroit flows like it's 1982. Could have probably won by 50 if we wanted.

Pacers, Heat, and Spurs all go down.


As I have said before, Arroyo needs to be free with his own shot. He doesn't need a coach telling him to pass the ball, because that is what he enjoys the most. He needs a coach telling him to shoot it. He's a bit Nash-like when he is stroking those free-throw line J's. And man does he look like he owns the game.

Delfino is still feeling his way around, but looked good in spots.

Evans- What a great addition. Nuff said.

And Tay... 0 fouls and a masterpiece of an offensive game.

ESPN Box Score and AP Recap added to post #2 of this thread.

Thanks Lee356 for your breakdown of the game. I really appreciate it, as I don't have a television, and generally make do with boxscores. (Obviously, I'll have to find somewhere to watch the games come playoff time, but I'll worry about that when the time comes.)