Rip will eat up a lot of those minutes including some of the 40 plus that Tay logged tonight because Hayes won't have to play the #2 when Rip returns like he did tonight.

When Hot Rod returns the minutes will flatten out among the rotation players and Tay probably won't play much if any point guard like he did tonight.

I hope I am wrong but I believe that AJ will be a non factor for quite a while this year and maybe the whole year.

He really did look bad tonight. Aside from one stretch in the 3rd quarter where he strung a few baskets together, he was completely ineffective. I think he can still be good on occasion when Wade is in there to draw most of the defense's attention, but maybe not. We know that Shaq certainly doesn't get better these days as the season goes on and he gets more worn down.

Thanks for the recap lee.

Loved the shot clock violation out of the timeout. Good thing we have such an offensively gifted coach.

It amazes me how few times DET goes into the post during a sequence. They have players in the block too.

43, 38-39 and 37 miuntes for Tay, CB and Sheed. It's a new year, but I guess you can't change the stripes on a cat.

I think Jim Abbott has a better pair of hands than Dysse. I wonder if Nazr makes fun of him for those things?

It did seem like they switched their O up a bit, especially in the 1st half.

We had 2/3 or our guard rotation out what would you expect.

As far as Sheed goes I agree he will probably get more minutes this year, but that might only be in selected situations, like tonight against Shaq. Sheed did a good job on him.

P.S. Durant is filling it up tonight.

The boyz looked a little razzled there in the 3rd quarter, but overall they played like a team missing their leading scorer (Rip). Tay stepped up big, but we are going to need more production out of Sheed and Dice in the starting lineup if we expect to stay competitive and build any leads in the first qtr.

The extra minutes may be affecting Dices's defense too. I am wondering if we should go with JMAX starting or even dare I say, Nazmo, so that Dice can play with Alf, Hayes and Flip jr. in the second unit and maybe he's a little fresher... Then again other than SHeed being out there, the whole interior defense is suspect and we still don't know what Amir will deliver on the defense....

Nice road win vs a struggling team. Worst thing would be to lose to a Heat team with out wade and an over the hill Shaq and Zo...Let's see if they can do the Florida two step and take out the Magic tomorrow.

ArmyGirl will be in the house so that gives the Pistons some Karma.

Go Pistons and Army!!

Saw the game. And probably one of the few Pistons games I'll see over here.

Observations:

1. Hayes IS a good pickup for even just his offense. If he plays with hustle and some decent D he would be the pickup of the year for me other than Boston's kidnapping of KG.

2. Billups. When he's aggressive, he rules. He was the captain of the ship tonight.

3. Prince. What can we say? Those 34 points 12 rebs say it all. He can turn it on when he's in a rhythm and when he needs to.

4. Rip and Stuckey. Were missed. The offense looked a bit weird without the masked guy and Stuck would have shredded the Heat defense and given Wade a mirror.

5. Dice. Should be back to the bench

6. JMax. Should be starting. He looked good beyond what showed up on the boxscore and missed some dunks by looking to eager to ram it through. Did a good job with the time he guarded Shaq.

7. Afflalo. Good pick. Good player. Good defense. That three looked good with a hand in his face to boot.

8. Nazr. Looked awful to me, but looked better than Dice. Travelled. Got blocked by Mourning. But made that shot over Zo as well.

9. Murray. Forgettable. Ok, I think.

Overall, good win.

Go DETROIT!!!!

Buddahfan, I'm afraid that Rip being back would only cut into the bench minutes. I don't think it would impact Rip and CB much. We've seen the same thing for 2 years.

I know Dysse will come around. This is how he starts out. It just gets frustrating to watch DET play good D or make a steal only to see early season Dysse come bounding in and watch the ball go of his hands while he makes the Dysse face. The only thing missing is a thought bubble saying, 'Did I do that?'

I really think DET could improve a lot if they simply threw the ball into the post during their sets. It doesn't mean they have to shoot from there.

Hope this is a break-out year for Tay that we all have been waiting for.

Dice just looked overmatched. We still have a problem at center.

G Hill is starting and logging on the most minutes for the Suns now...