checking the boxscore that looks great 36 assists and how about dice and tays defense on melo. missed the game because i have just reached chicago, and the traffic was hard.

@TheeTFD

I just shook my head side to side at the defense until I realized I was watching the mid 80's Lakers wearing Pistons uniforms at which point I started bobbing my head like this guy...

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Thank you for another great season!

Before the year is done I would like to see a 69 pointer from the opponent. Dee check.

Micro, I share your passion for defense but if we can win with offense against most teams in the regular season, it is better because (A) the regular season is about offense and (2) we won't burn out as much because defense is harder to play. I don't know if we are the old Lakers (something special is there for sure with this team) but if we can score, when we do get into a defensive battle, we won't go through those droughts of the past. And, in any such battle, our guys are more athletic than anyone else--our defense is capable of making the big play over any defense in the league. As long is we don't shut down offensively, we will win most games and that includes SA. We may be in the middle of a special Pistons era.

Denver was a hot team coming in, having won their last 4. But it was a back to back for them too. One of the biggest changes of late for Denver is that they are playing Watson, a pretty darn good player.

But comparing backup points, I'll take Arroyo over Boykins or Watson any day. Arroyo flat out can play basketball. As he dribbles the ball down the court, he is looking at everything. And he makes a decision quick. And the right decision. Our offense with him in is dynamic, exciting to watch and just plain effective.

Flip Saunders said it quite well in the post game interview. Good dynamic offense leads right in to good defense. Stagnent offense on the other hand leads to poor defense. Tonight, with Billups having a fine floor game, and Arroyo following with a truely masterful floor game, it was a ton of fun to watch. Having midcourt seats helped too. I wish the crowd was making a bit more noise, but then again, with a blowout from nearly beginning to end, how excited can the fans get. And we did not score 120. Darn. Other than that, you can't complain about a thing about how things are going. But I will try anyway.

Darko saw no action when the game counted. But he got a good solid run in the 4th quarter in a game decided quite early. Arroyo, Evans, and Dyess totally destroyed Denver in the 2nd quarter, but still Flip brought in his starters to end the 2nd quarter. But hey, those subs stayed out there longer than usual by quite a bit. Progress. Plenty of bench play, scoring over 40. And pretty much deciding the game before the starters got back into the game.

We came out with an 8 point lead to start the 2nd quarter. Good job by CB and the starters to that point, with Dyess coming in very early and Evans also coming in well before the end of the quarter. Then Arroyo gets his turn to run the show. A 10-2 run makes them cry and call a timeout. Our subs stay out there as Denver brings all its starters back. Another run by our subs puts them away, makes them cry uncle, and call yet another timeout. And then our starters come back in for the last 3 or 4 minutes of the half. Then to start the 2nd, our starters put a 14-3 hurt to them to completely seal the deal.

Tay looked so good guarding Melo it was pretty pathetic to even try to compare a limited player like Melo to Tay at all. And Tay was scoring as he felt the mood. His triple ended all hopes of Denver making a game of it mid 3rd quarter.

Sheed hit a couple of triples, played his usual fine defense. But he did not go inside much. Against Denver, you think he would just go down there and set up a tent. Denver ain't got nothing inside. Camby can block some shots, but has zero in the beef department.

Dyess hit one outside shot. Still not hitting those outsiders. But tonight he as usual cleaned the boards, was good going for loose balls, played ok D, and took advantage of Denvers lack of an inside presence to make hay.

Darko and Delfino looked pretty darn good out there in garbage time. Rather than complain about them not playing, I will instead rejoice in the depth we got on this team. Maxiell can play too. So can Dale Davis. Etc. Man do we have talent on this team.

Ben is hitting some free throws this year, making others guard him, and hitting some inside shots if someone is not doing a real good job of guarding him. I don't like LB for some issues, but man what a good decision to get Ben involved in the offense. And oh, ho hum, tons of rebounds, shot blocks, intimidations, excellent floor coverage. Typical brilliance from Ben. (Much of which you must be at the Palace to grasp.)

Rip was just Rip. Run the defender to death off pick after pick. A lot more picks than last year. Way more. And Rip hits his shots after that marathon he just won. And Rip was working on his range too. One triple just barely missed or he would have had one great night shooting long range. Rip has been consistently knocking down shots just inside the line. I applaud his efforts to extend out his range just a foot or two more.

CB. 11 assists. Gettin to seem like its just not a fluke at all. And 16 points. A smooth jumper. Scores inside at will. Another circus shot made falling down. This one not quite as spectacular because it was right under the basket. But he was fouled good and hard and converted the 3 point play.

Evan continues to shoot great, get bounds, score inside. Still not a clue about ball handling, but I will certainly take what he has to offer.

Maxiell scored 6 in about 6 minutes. Its real. The guy has loads of talent. I am still patiently waiting for Flip to get him in to a first half of a game. All for now. GO PISTONS!!!!!

Nice recap Lee. It's always nice to get the perspective from fans that were at the game.

However I do have to disagree with you on one point. I use the past 2 seasons under LB and the 2 before that under Carlisle as exhibits 1 through 4. If those weren't stagnent offenses, I don't know what is. All the while we were setting records for our defence.

i don't know why people are disappointed with the defense tonight...it created a TON of our offense and easy baskets. 10 steals, 12 blocks, 49-37 edge in rebounds...yeah a few guys might have penetrated the paint early...but as the game went on all of those attempts were locked down by our athletic bigs.

tayshaun did a good job on carmelo but he also had a lot of help...carmelo is strong and was able to push tay back to the basket or along the baseline more than once - even tay said after the game that it wasn't him, it was the guys behind him putting on the clamps. how ' bout the rest? let's go down the list...

- sheed 3 straight 3-pointers pretty from the end of the 2nd to the 14-3 run in the 3rd pretty much sealed the game; also yes he played a lot up top but he had some brilliant passes from up top to give guys like tay easy layups
- ben was a monster, rip had his usual game, tay was solid w/shooting % and defense, mcdyess is improving and hustles as hard as anyone, chauncey was sweet
- darko forgot to bend his knees on free throws but played solid D, was aggressive, and got 3 blocks in 9 minutes (i only saw 2 but yeah)
- starters played limited minutes (tay 26, sheed 22, cb 28), while mcdyess, evans, and arroyo played 20+ each, and the bench unit scored 43, awesome job
- evans is a beast, getting boards, putbacks, hitting open jumpers - did i not say he would be a *steal* at $1.5 million?
- maxiel is NBA-ready no question. his offensive post game alone is smooth and mature, he can block, *grab* rebounds, bang around in the post, contest and alter shots, you name it. the kid looks great.
- finally outrebounded, everyone with an assists - woot!!
- we attacked the basket and therefore got the benefit of a ton of calls, and forcing denver to work harder on defense was obvious after the 1st quarter, as just about all of their shots were short, and they were tired
- can't think of anything else right now - go pistons!!

You guys have to be mindfull of not comparing the playoff Pistons of last year to the current early season Pistons. Last season at this time we were struggling to hold opponents under 100.

As things go on there will be more points overall but that does not mean the defense is worse. It means a faster tempo is being player, less shot clock means more shots.

Fair comparisons would be things like FG%, blocks, steals, TO's.

Like tonights game. Great defense but at a faster pace. Instead of 104-79 it was 114-89.

I saw a lot of good things return tonight after the team had a chance to rest. Rebounding advantage, nice TO ratio, assists up the kazoo. Pistons are the best passing team in the league according to the opponents coach.

Things just are not quite so simple. Were we really playing such great d Under Carlisle? NJ killed us in the playoffs. We played D to the point of insanity. We shot the ball, and all five Pistons streaked back on defense with zero effort to try for an offensive rebound. Thats not good D, thats just bad offense.

Brown played a game where you did not shoot the ball early in the clock. Longer posessions meant less ops for the other team to score. But Brown system also insisted that you try to force the ball inside at nearly all costs. This leads to less long rebounds, less fast breaks, better defense. But Brown's offensive scheme was a lot more dynamic than you think. And very organized. Shots went up with guards in position, offensive rebounders in position. We attacked the inside relentlessly. It may not have looked all that pretty, but Brown's system works. Even if just five seconds were on that clock, Brown taught the Pistons they still had time to get the ball inside for a high percentage shot. Stagnent? Sometimes. But very effective for the greatest part.

Let the baby bull looose, Bruddah Mikecro...I feel ya!!!