I told Mahorn on Sirius that I was worried about losing this one. Take just 4 or 5 Offensive Rebounds away from them and it's a win.

so many good, insightful posts about the game last night. so much more creative thinking among the fans here than we are seeing from the coaching staff or players. so kudos to you all. i think most of what i have to say just recapitulates others' points and i'll probably overstate things and get some things wrong.

i'm now convinced that rip should come off the bench. i think the four starters have played together for so long that they are in a rut and flip s doesn't have the guts to shake anything up. tay is a far more creative and versatile and so dangerous scoring threat than rip and because of that everything opens up for others when tay is the scoring option.

major props to sheed for taking his game inside. he showed last night what a monstrous talent he is. sure he missed a couple of those post-ups at the end, but we wouldn't have even been close without his beastly game last night. and if there is a money play for the pistons right now it is sheed on the block. tay, sheed, and chauncey -- in that order. rip come off the bench and get starters minutes but give him a different function.

dyess, don't get me started. jmax or aj should be starting there and then, fine give dyess and whichever of jmax and aj aren't starting the back up minutes. its infuriating to watch dudes like thomas bouncing around like pogo sticks while we watch put backs, back doors, and pick and roll cut dunks and lay ups.


if boston looks so good it's partly because they haven't been playing together so long maybe. there's a zen saying: in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few. it's a caution against the narrow thinking that can come from experience. kg, allen and pierce: everything is new, everythign is possible, they are really gorgeous to watch because it is all inventive. the pistons: everything is predictable right now. but it doesn't have to be. they have four major offensive threats, they just need to open their minds and start exploring other ways to exploit those threats; other functions for their guys (e.g. tay as a first option, sheed, like last night, mixing up the post-ups with the spot-ups; rip coming off the bench maybe for some instant offense).

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All things difficult are as excellent as they are rare.

kinda glad i didn't watch much of the game, although i taped it and will watch it later. sounds like everyone pretty much covered it though. leave it to the pistons to give the bulls life and confidence, rather than go into their building and make them 0-5 on the year.

against a guy like thomas i think it's clear that AJ could help more than JMax in fighting for boards and going athlete vs. athlete. hopefully he gets burn tomorrow night against the extremely slow clippers frontcourt, especially with sheed playing so many minutes last night.

We don't need to change the starters or Rip comin off the bench. Have not read the 'Rotations' thread yet but maybe we should try subbing either CBill or Rip after 6 minutes of the 1st quarter. Think we should try changing the rotations pattern first then makin changes to the starting line up. 2 of our starters should be playing with the 2nd unit. Until Hot Rod plays, our PG should be CBill and Tay at all times. I don't see any harm in trying the substitution pattern before makin any drastic changes to the starting line up.

Agreed with you on the Mavs makin JT comin off the bench. This guy sure is lightning them up recently. 20+ points average with top 10 in FG% and 3FG%. Maybe Rip could shoot better percentages if he can plays with the 2nd unit more. Doesn't mean that Rip should come off the bench but he could sub out much earlier in the 1st quarter than playing the entire 1st quarter.

Well, once again, it's down to our 'Genius' coach to do all the necessary adjustments.

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DETROIT BASKETBALL

ESPN - Daily Dime: The Bulls get on the board - NBA

Quote:

By David Thorpe Scouts Inc. CHICAGO -- Here's what I liked (and disliked) about the Detroit Pistons after watching their game with Chicago ... LIKED: They have so many offensive weapons, no less than six guys who can post, and they all look for those opportunites. Thursday, they went after Ben Gordon right away, getting two quick fouls on him. This team really impressed me as more cohesive. Seemed more focused, recognizing to a man that they could be special. Love their bench. I think Rodney Stuckey's going to be a rotation player when healthy. Amir Johnson's going to help -- only real athlete right now on the front line is Jason Maxiell. Next time Maxiell could play more on Tyrus Thomas. When I look at this roster, it's as deep as you'll find in the league. DISLIKED: For them to be very good, they just have to roll out of bed and show up. For them to be special, Rasheed Wallace is the the X-factor, which is something I couldn't trust. It would be great if he stays on his best behavior. The Pistons could beat the Spurs, Suns, Mavs if he's right. And I'm not saying it won't happen. Maybe other players and the organization have convinced him to change his ways. When he missed two shots late, he didn't blame anyone, or look at the referees. That's a good sign. He's better when he doesn't project his feelings of frustration on the people around him -- just tell it to the headband.

Good summary insight to all previous posts professor. As I posted earlier, Rip to the bench as the six man would make the most since here, but Joe will have to take that decision out of Flips hands and make the call. Anybody got his e-mail adress so we can send him a message via his Blackberry? Nothing will change lineup wise until the Pistons come back from the west coast trip. If we are 3 and 7 then, well the most obvious change should be Flip Sr being benched permanently

Flip Murray is great against garbage teams and not so good in playoff type games.

So, just play him against easy opponents to steal wins without taxing Chauncey as much.

If a deal comes along, great. But no need to give him away.

And again, if Billups gets injured and has to miss a month or more in the regular season, Murray will be a huge asset. Otherwise we'd be looking at a rookie starter with Hunter as the primary backup.


I'm still a little stressed out over that game. I felt like we were terrorized on the boards and loose balls.

However, with Ben Wallace + Tyrus Thomas + Joakim Noah, that should be the Bulls' strength.

What should not have happened was all the scoring in the paint by them.

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

Everyone, just get off Flip's behind. He did all he could, it wasn't his fault.

Flip:

CHICAGO 97, DETROIT 93: SHORTCHANGED: Loss spoils 'Sheed's 36-point night, tops as a Piston

(not blaming Flip) but it's not like those were unforced turnovers. The Bulls were very reachy and pokey. Our bench looked like they were in shock at the aggressiveness.

If you get a chance, watch the replay of the last shot that Rip took. Chris Duhon boxes Tay out and completely dominates him. Tay gets pushed around like a girl.