And he was scoring from there. In this game, NJ simply chose to give us the outside shots. So we took what was there, and won the game. Knowing Larry Brown, he would have lost this one, insisting we go inside despite other team playing for this totally. Why? Larry would figure the practice going inside was more important than a win tonight. And perhaps be right. Or perhaps not.

We still have issues here despite the best record in the league. Once again we are falling into the same situation as we did last year. 38+ minutes per game for all the starters, because the bench has not been able to produce and contribute yet.

We are curently 23rd in the league in rebounding and tonight were once again killed on the offensive boards 16 to 6. uch!! Tonight the 3's were fallin for us, but what happen to our inside game? Did you see the points in the paint? The Nets had 48 to our 22

Flip has to give the bench more minutes and that includes Delfino and JMax or they won't be ready at all when we get into those heated battles with the Spurs, Pacers, Cavs, Heat and ....Clippers

I wonder if he'll be able to go Friday, and if it would be so bad if he can't.

I don't know if anyone remembers, but last year Dyess got off to a rough start and then came out of it when he got a few starts. Somehow he seemed to find his comfort level, which he maintained even when he moved back to the bench.

Maybe something like that could repeat itself and could be better for us in the long run.

80-50 by Phoenix. I don't know how that team can be so good one day and so bad the next.

I agree with whoever it was that said that CB has surpassed JKidd; although JKidd still has his nights -- his amazing 35-8-12 the other night against the Lake Show at Staples -- he no longer seems able to bring it every game. I think CB is the best point guard in the league right now.

Rip had a great night, as pointed out by several of you. He took a pair of threes and made both. He scored 30 on only 14 shots! A model of efficiency, especially when compared to Kobe's fiasco last night (he needed 33 shots to score all of 25 points).

Our starting five really is fantastic isn't it? I hope we don't wear them out....

I will get my great win out of the way. Actually Nets are a dangerous team and the Pistons did not let them get out and run. Limited the TO's.

Going along with LASAm/DRE. Lots of positive things happening this season. Lot of new surprises with the offense.

But you should not have to give anything up that you had before. The one-one D is getting back to normal but what about rebounding? Its starting to become a serious issue and its going to bite us against some of the better teams. Nets took 16 more shots to only 3 extra free-throws for us. Pounded on the offensive glass 16-6. That has to stop.

I know Ben was hurt but he still had 8 boards. Even at 100% strength the Wallace's are going to provide roughly 40%-50% of the total rebounding for any game. One thing I miss about LB is how he used to challenge everyone to pound the glass. We had these same problems the last 2 seasons with everyone expecting Ben to do it all until LB challenged the whole team to chip in and do their part.

Flip has to demand the same because thats what really got us over the hump. Seem to be falling back into the Carlisle era of everyone standing around expecting Ben to do it all. Have to make sure we keep the Team Rebounding ingredient that LB added to this team.

One the bench - that will work itself out. If they do not step up then expect some trades. There has to be some reason why certain players are not playing.

Congratulations, but shouldn't your user name be... Bruddah HQ?

Max, if someone other than Ben challenged the boards more often, we would be going to the FT line more often. How many times in tight games that a foul is called going after loose balls and Ben "I hope I make this one" Wallace walks sheepishly to the FT line much to our chagrin.

The pistons are 8th in the league in FT shooting % despite Ben's woes. But the key stat here is FT attempts. They are 27th in the league in FT attempts. This may not worry some, but that means that we are not utilizing our inside game enough with Ben, Tay and Sheed and we are relying on the outside jumper to win games.

In the two games we lost, the Wizards made more FT's (38) than we attempted (34) . Same thing in the blow out loss to the Mavs, they made 27 FT's and we only attempted 19. We have to get the inside game going by attacking the rim, getting the foul and putting the opposing teams key or big men on the bench. We lost the Championship last season, because our key guys were on the bench and our scrubs could not win it for us....

LOL that's funny cause it's true.

the foot that been tweaked was the opposite one he did last time, so he gets a free pass for tonight. i didn't like arroyo's game as much in the 1st half, he dribbled in and took some ill-advised running jump shots without even passing, but he did okay overall.

evans was just non-existant and carter exposed him - while rip played good D on carter, and tay surprisingly played jefferson very very well - jefferson used to physically abuse tay in the past. attribute a part of that to tay being a lot more aggressive on offense. darko didn't look great, didn't look terrible...just held down the fort.

i'm not concerned about the outside shooting. NJ knew they were outmatched in the post so they stacked it and hoped their strength - the 3 guys on the perimeter - could do a decent enough defensive job to win them the game. it's the gameplan i'd use. but hey we hit the open shots, and if they're giving it to us, do it until it stops working (which it never stopped!!).

oh and krstic is terrible, yer right micro on the blown calls. krstic seriously travels EVERY time he tries to post up, while throwing countless elbows and fouling offensively. he's awful.

i would've loved to see delfino and jmax in the game - at this point i think their energy could spark that 2nd unit. they haven't been playing that great overall, but they haven't been terrible (just inconsistent), so i'm willing to pass it off as one of their worse games and be concerned but not panicking yet.

Good point.

Fortunately, Ben's FT% is up and IMO he looks far more comfortable at the line this year. Given that...I'd like to see Ben more aggressive around the hoop. He's become the offensive non-issue that he used to be a few years ago.

We DON'T take the ball inside enough and we definitely don't drive the hoop enough...and we don't have a willing slasher, short of Delfino (excuse me...I'm slapping myself cuz I never thought I'd admit he had ambition beyond thumbing his Playstation ).

So far this year we've been lucky. We have good outside shooters in CB, Tay, Sheed...and SURPRISE!...Rip's hittin the 3's! Ben's been relugated to picking over the trash in his usual spot. The Piston game has become outside-in instead of inside-out...IMO that ain't gonna work in the playoff run.

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