I think pinning this one on Flip and CA is pretty lame, to be honest with you. There are a lot of people who need to shoulder the blame (decidedly NOT Rasheed). Carlos actually did his job tonite, and Atkins was hitting some ridiculous shots.

I am also frankly a little frustrated with you only showing up when we lose, just so you can rag on Flip (without giving him any credit when we win). You didn't seem to be jumping on LB's case every time we lost last year. Don't get me wrong-I think you're a terrific poster and really add a lot. But that is getting to me a little.

FYI-Washington shot 36% tonite. I really don't think our defense was the problem. We gave up way too many offensive boards, which I think hurt us, especially in the OT periods.

couldn't see the game again,but as i can see we lost a heartbreaker in 2oT's at least san antonio lost too and we still have the best record i was expecting chauncey to mess up gilbert again, but it didn't happen. lets see if the pistons can make it up tommorow aganst milwaukee.

I think everyones emotions run high after a tough loss like this. Especially one in which we should have won. These things happen. I still challenge anyone to make a case how our defense is any worse than this exact same time last season. Records heck of a lot better anyway. If the Pistons cannot hold opponents under 100 in the playoffs and get knocked out early then I will doubt Flip.

Give this new system a chance.

I'll be interested on how they will ratchet up the defense. There's a lot of loose screws.

Ok, first of all, I hated to see all those threes go in from Chucky, but still I was glad to see him do well. 6 of 7 triples. Pretty darn good.

Next, Evans. Found a use for the guy. He did a fine job guarding Arenas. Against small forwards he is nowhere. But he guarded Arenas darn well, keeping Arenas from doing much for quite a stretch.

Arroyo was cooking in the 4th quarter. Looked like we were going to win this one easily in the end, but Atkins lit it up. Darn.

A twenty to 2 run mostly in the 1st quarter with our starters in got us in trouble. Don't blame this one on the bench guys. But an 8 man rotation sure does not work too well in a double overtime game. Can't see any excuse not to include Darko and Delfino in this game. None at all. We lost. So what. But we wiped our starters out. Big deal.

Rip was not getting even close to making his shots. And he could not hang onto the ball either. Except he did get a lot of rebounds.

CB continually drove on Atkins, making his shots at the line, and eventually fouling Atkins out, but too late to stop that 20 point game from Chucky. Maybe CB should have stayed in just a bit longer until Chucky was fouled out. Then let Arroyo do his thing. Just a thought. Hind sight is great ain't it.

Sheed was doing his damage from close in a whole lot. Not real close, but about close enough to call it inside play. Ben gave us way too little offense, and there were times we passed up wide open shots to go inside to him. Lacking confidence. Hey, shooters shoot.

Dyess just missed a double double. For sure, he got a whole lot of minutes in this one. The Wizards are a good team, despite that 5 game losing streak. Lets see what happens next. We have now lost 2 of 3. Bad trend. Time for Flip to change something. Get the bench more involved. Getting real late. It was 35 to 40 mph on the way home tonight. Man I'm tired. GO PISTONS!!!!!

with flip is that he won't sub out his starters when they are playing like crap. evans was doing a pretty good job on arenas why sub rip back in?? rip was stinking the gym up, not playing D, throwing the ball away and missing shots. arroyo was really outplaying cb so why not give him more minutes. tonights game was won by chucky atkins heroics.

so many people on this forum talk about earning it as to why the bench doesn't play. but tonight and many other nights the starters aren't earning it. i think flip needs to cut someone's minutes to get the point across to the starting 6. right now they feel thier minutes are a given and they don't have to give absolute 100% to get thier minutes.

i wonder if darko would have hit that free throw that ben missed???

i taped the game, only got to watch the 1st quarter, the end of regulation, and parts of the OTs. not gonna be too concerned over this game either - rip got 5 or 6 straight open looks in the 1st quarter, he just wasn't hitting his shot tonight. i wish they called the delfino free throw play though at the end of regulation...what a finish that would have been. the missed layup by mcdyess reminded me of the MSU game heh.

keep in mind the thread about people saying they'd be happy with an 8-5 november, and here we stand 9-2, losing in double OT to a respectable ball club that was absolutely DESPERATE for a win.

obviously our defense wasn't *that* bad if washington shot 36% - no starter for either team came close to 50% shooting.

Didn't get to see it but from the box score and comments: Way too many minutes for the starters. If you keep someone fresh for the end, the result may have changed. I have seen Rip in those missing modes. He should have been pulled. Can't comment on the rest--have to see it. What's double bad is now we are tired--all for a loss. When you play the regular season, you try and win games at the end and we usually do. Not this time. But 50 plus minutes for the starters--ouch! And a loss at home while we were rested. And why is the team coming out of the blocks so slowly after being rested?

You are welcome to think what you like. I just don't have to agree with you.

I show up to post when I see things that I feel like commenting on. When things are going extremely well, there's no need for me to detail that. I'm satisfied.

When things are not going well. I see things that should be corrected or done better or not done at all. I'm just as happy when we win as the rest of you. I just don't generally feel like coming in here to pour syrup all over the forum like the rest of the slappys do.

Arenas goes for 40 and Atkins even gets 20 and you don't think defense was an issue eh? We should have pounded these guys tonight, yet we take a double overtime loss at home in the middle of their 5 game skid.

Furthermore, I didn't have to jump on LB last year because I agreed with his coaching. Simple enough I think. IMO Arroyo only played on one end of the floor. I can't stand guys that do that. So what if he dished out 8 dimes if he gave it all back on the other end. Guys in here act like Chucky called the other four lions and formed Voltron before taking all his shots. I watched that guy suck in Detroit for much longer than I should have had to and him coming off the bench for the Wizards and dropping Andrew Jackson on us should have never even been part of the equation.

__________________

Last year at this time the Pistons were 5-6 and were letting in 97.5 PPG.