lol Jammer.

I didn't expect this. Uggh.

They got 60 in the first half where the game was lost. We actually played some ball in the 2nd half. Trouble is we squander opportunities to take over with wild fast breaks and over-doing the three when the lead is in our hands. Sheed's shot near the end was made much harder as he too, put a little too much "show" in it.

We are getting nothing much from the bench. The team has been put together on the cheap and we really do not have top notch talent or much youth on that unit. Even Maxiell was abused defensively in his short stint. And we never seem to have players playing for the right reasons as was pointed out.

The 3's were nothing new since Flip Saunders joined us. And he did not play the right subs. He should have tried playing Amir tonight. Instead he ride on the starters. Maybe he does not know what 'matchups' means.

We might lose more than 40 games this season and still would not have develop the bench.

And that, my fellow forumites, is SAD!!!

I see two bench-related problems.

One, the current secondary players are not used in roles that play to their strengths. For example, Murray is a scorer and not a point. Hunter can only be on the floor in a defensive situation, etc. Here the issue may be coaching

The second problem is that we have skimped on paying talent since the championship. I am not sure that our talent on the bench is all that outstanding. They had chances tonight and did nothing. Maxiell, Dyss, Hunter and Delfino and Flip. Here the issue may be management (dollars).

We also seem to need a live, young big. Sheed is being asked to do everything down low. Joe will notice this I am sure.

Finally, when are we going to get a back-up point and or some bonafide scoring off of the bench?

Why would a power forward take a 3 pointer with 20 seconds left in a tie game, when all it takes is getting fouled to win the game?

That question should be pasted on Sheed's locker when he opens it tomorrow. Joe should be asking Flip why that play was called and asking CB why he passed it to him that far out. Where was Rip and Ty during this time frame? And don't forget about the sequence in the 3rd quarter when the Pistons shot 5 threes in a row?? The first one by CB tied the game and the second one put them up by three. Then instead of going to the inside game for some potential and one situations, they jack up 3 more threes that miss and then the Hornets regain their composure and extend the lead back to five to end the qtr. They just don't play smart and Flip has no control over these guys.

LA Dre,

I also saw the third quarter that way. We had them on the ropes...

LA Piston...did you go to last Fridays game at Staples? Supposedly it was Deja Vu and they looked like the 2004 playoff championship team that dominated the Lakers then too.

i'm pretty sure sheed had a brain fart and thought he could still get the 2-for-1 if he tried that shot (but guess what, 3-pointers take awhile in the air and the rebounds are long, which killed the 2-for-1 idea). secondly, we never exploited our extreme size advantage. third, it's 3 seconds left and all you need is a rebound / full timeout after a missed free throw so you can inbound at halfcourt. what does flip do? leave his short guys in, and chauncey promptly gives up the offensive rebound for the game. what the hell kind of coaching is that?

we played well in the 2nd half and our starters had decent games, but why did delfino only get 9 minutes and maxiell only get 6? i'm all for playing amir johnson at this point ... he's quick enough to defend whatever guy blows past chauncey / flip.

like i said in the previous game wrap-up, these kind of games need to happen. had we won, chauncey woulda been back to his 'we do what we do' speeches, etc. we gotta get our @$$ kicked a few more times to realize the playoffs aren't a guarantee this year and the team has a LOT of work to do.

Guess he did not think of it. They probably would have tried to run it up the court instead of calling a TO anyway like in the Utah game. I think we had a small lineup in that game also.