Max, I am definitely happy to get a win. At the end of the season, when they determine seedings and division champs, they all count the same.

But this was half an NBA team for the love of Pete. Hunter has been pushing Dalembert for minutes, and they are missing a 30PPG scorer, and double double power forward.

The Pistons were lucky tonight. You can't have only shot 6 FTs by halftime in the NEW NBA.

only got to watch a stretch of the 2nd quarter where we built a lead by playing extremely good defense. i don't mind giving dale some burn. sheed is quietly having a nice season, we held them to their lowest FG% of the season, and had 26 assists on 35 baskets.

Ros - 2 weeks ago I wondering if we were even going to make the playoffs. Sheed looking like he was going to miss half the season on techs and the team was struggling to find an identity without Ben. They are finally starting to not play like the Pistons minus Ben Wallace.

I don't care who they were missing. Who were the Hornets missing when they beat us at the Palace last week? Any win on the road is going to be a challenge. They got a career night out of Willie Green and it was a 10 point win.

Every game is going to be different. When the Pistons rebound well no one comments. They have been rebounding well in most games. Won the paint war tonight - no comment. Had a huge advantage in FG% differential - no comment. Sheed had a double/double and has not added to his tech total for a couple of weeks - no comment. Hunter has been playing great - no comment. Billups is picking back up his great assist/to ratio - no comment. Rip is having a career season, Tay has been looking like an all-star, got solid mins from Mohammed - no comment.

We only see what we want to see. Bench not playing enough, this or that was not present this game even though it was in prior ones.

19:58:47 roscoe36 - sheed 10 points

19:58:51 roscoe36 - sheed is HOT
 

20:07:32 roscoe36 - sheed has been getting a lot of blocks
 

21:01:10 roscoe36 - Sheed, Tay and Rip leading the scoring

21:01:16 roscoe36 - that the way it should be

21:02:06 roscoe36 - Sheed, another block
 

21:05:11 roscoe36 - 14 turns = 22 piston points

21:05:34 roscoe36 - prince 21 points

21:05:38 roscoe36 - sheed 16 + 10

21:06:09 roscoe36 - pistons winning PIP

21:06:39 roscoe36 - Hunter made the pass that lead to the assist

21:07:36 roscoe36 - Hunter has 2 ast, 2 stl and 1-2 for 3 points

Max,

The team is playing way better than at the start. Which is why it is important to notice what is missing--since thinking about a real run for a ship is not a pipe dream any longer.

Tay indeed has been playing like an all-star--I am on his bandwagon. And I call for help down low for Sheed because he has been playing as one of the premier defensive players down low in the league. That is a lot of kudos for those two players...

It really is hard to get excited about this since the team we played against was a one-man team without that one-man. We didn't exactly blow them out. They were hanging around most of the game at about 5-7 points down. Still, several players looked good... as they should have considering 3 of them are all stars.

And thinking about Sheed's play tonight-
Does anybody here feel like the no whining rule is sort of working? Sheed expresses a little dismay, talks to the ref calmly, and then seems to move on. I almost feel like getting T's is losing its novelty for him since everyone else has been getting them.

__________________
"Defense fuels your offense. No mystery about that." AA

The only thing I am excited about is the Pistons are finally back above .500 at 6-5. Going into tonight I did not care how they won as long as they won.

Now lets see if they can get the back-back against the hot Hawks later tonight.

LaPiston - it really is amazing how much progress they have made since the 70 paint loss against the Bucks. It was only what 3 weeks ago?

Well they are trying to play with out Big Ben, and they have not fully learned to play that way yet either. I see some struggles in the future as well but it's getting better.

Max, you make some good points. I think Sheed's improved play has been the key. When he has a really productive game, they win just about every time, the only exception so far this season being the Utah game (and maybe the Hornets game). Now, he's playing well, so they're winning. I guess the lingering frustration for some of us here is because of things that don't look like they're going to be addressed, like getting some run for J-Max and some rest for the 4 main starters.

TaShawn, you might be right about the zero-tolerance rule. Like all the complaints about the new ball, it might turn out to be more smoke than fire. Maybe the refs are chilling out a bit as well, but Sheed in particular has clearly dialed back the histrionics, and he's playing well anyway, in spite of not being able to "show emotion" or whatever.