from 'Sheed. Nice job Ben, as well, both defending Yao and on the boards.

Don't know what's up with Dyess but Darko played well enough to take a few minutes away from him.

These Rockets look like us from the RC years. Clearly the P's had more talent but Houston was able to keep it close by slowing the game down to a halt. Without McGrady and Yao at the end, though, they had no one to get them a basket when they needed one.

Let's see what happens tomorrow. 'Sheed will have to play Nowitzki the way he did last year to give us a good shot.

ben and sheed won the game for us in the 4th. i liked arroyo's rebounding and intensity of the bench, he earned us some tough points. we also missed 3 dunks and didn't shoot well from the line.

it was a slow game for sure, houston seemed content with turning it ugly ... but forgot the pistons know best how to win those. i really would have liked to see delfino get some minutes though, i think he could have added some intensity to the game.

and yao almost had a triple double, 20 points 11 boards and 9 turnovers!! heheh

I prefer Bang-A-Ben. It flows better. Hack-A-Shaq works, but I'm not feelin' Hack-A-Ben.

Other than that, nice recap.

Lee "I See What I Wanna See" 356. Arroyo didn't look all that good to me. He seems to play well every other game. Three assists and three points in 18 minutes. I hear ya that guys missed shots. Just means the point guard needs to penetrate and create more. In other words, put the team on his shoulders. Arroyo doesn't do that. Even Walton said something to the effect that Arroyo "dribbles too much."

I know its still early and I know Prince is still young, but I thought that the addition of Evans and a healthy Delfino were supposed to help with Prince's minutes this year?

This was the 4th straight game that Tayshaun has been over 40 minutes in the game.

CD didn't even hit the floor tonight.

8-0 is nice, but we need to give our bench more minutes to see what they can or can't bring. If they can't cut it, we need to bring someone in that can help us. Dice is a proven vet and I'm sure his shot will come around and we know what Hunter brings to the table. Davis will see spot minutes in the playoffs (EC reincarnated), but what about the rest??

Its way too early to hit the panic button, especially since we're undefeted, but I don't see much of a difference in the way our bench is used this year compared to last year?


I know people are talking about how much deeper this year's bench is, but I'm still not convinced. They're a bit too unseasoned for my liking.

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Now that Darko is off the cigs, he might be prone to needing more super size meals at fast food restaurants. That could lead to more body fat and depression as the season wears on. For you season ticket holders, keep a sharp eye on Darko during the games to see if he is eating a Big Mac.
- Don from the DetNews Forum

It seems this "Don" is a man of great introspection, his head planted well beyond his sigmoid flexure.

Citing Walton for your argument clinches the whole thing in my favor. No further response needed. I will give a more detailed account of what Arroyo did when I review the game again. Any guess at how many good passes I find Arroyo made. Hint: Guess real high.

Tonight, Darko got 6 good solid minutes right there in the first half of a game. Dyess only got 16 mintues. Neither Sheed nor Ben were injured. This type of thing is very valuable to Darko's development, and did not take place last year or the year before as it should have.

Evans himself is a young player with little NBA experience. This is just his 2nd full year of playing, and indeed he just passed 82 games for his NBA career. Tonight, he played 16 minutes or so. Would Brown have done that? Rip and Tay could have played more believe it or not.

And finally, partially due to foul trouble with CB, Arroyo got about 16 minutes too. Needed minutes. You got to appreciate what minutes the bench did get, rather than worry too much about how much more they could have gotten. Sure, I would like to see the bench play just a bit more. But no way I am going to complain as long as several players continue to get at least some real minutes on a regular basis.

does say a lot of stupid things, Lee. Almost as many as you. But he's right on about Arroyo dribbling too much. Walton has a little bit more NBA experience than you, I think. He's actually played the game rather than sitting in his house reviewing game tape after game tape coming up with phantom arguments to support your pet theories. I didn't dispute that Arroyo made some good passes. Fact is, if your team isn't shooting well, than you, as a point guard, figure out something else. You drive to the hoop and draw fouls. You figure out a way to get your team a few bunnies. Arroyo doesn't do that consistently. He's timid about taking the rock to the hole. He doesn't turn the ball over much and that's good, but the offense stalls very often when he comes in.

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"I don't believe there's any problem in this country, no matter how tough it is, that Americans, when they roll up their sleeves, can't completely ignore. - George Carlin