Jeez lin, next time you have a birthday just ask for a Championship will you?

Saw the game, and well:

1) Loved the first and mayb 3/4 of the 2nd quarter and the endgame. Great shooting in the first, guys going for rebounds, aggressive, hustling to loose balls, playing great D. Same for 3/4 of the 2nd quarter but let up near the half allowing Seattle to come back with our subs in.

Can you say MELTDOWN? 3rd and 3/4 of the fourth. Aaaaaggghh. Constricting chest pain.....

Thank you for Rip's ball movement and jumper. Instant offense. I know, I know, another jumpshot but hey, Rip's midrange J, I'd take over Kevin Durant's any day.

2) Billups and Tay deferred too much and ended up setting the tone for their games for the night. Quiet. And there goes Billups again barrelling into the lane without a plan, and was called for a charge on Thomas. I've never really liked that play....

3) Rip = offense. Had some difficulty guarding Wilkins IMO. Got posted on often, but abuses him on the other side as well.

4) Sheed and Dice. Great game for both with good production and rebounds.

5) AJ. Looked active and well, new. But considering the time he's getting I'd say he looked really good. Not trying to force the game. Loved that rebound over Green, if I'm not mistaken. And the hustle. Nice work kid.

6) Nazr. You gotta give it to the guy. He is trying really hard. He's doing ok IMO, serviceable as a backup big man. We will need a center come playoff time.

7) JMax. Hang in there Brahma. The game will come to you. Take a page out of AJ's book. He should learn to shoot. But love the hustle.

1 part great, 1 part ugly.

But a Win, nonetheless.

GO DETROIT!

Afflalo did not play. And we barely won. Six games so far. In the 3 games that Afflalo was in the rotation significantly, we won easily. In the other three, we lost one, and just barely squeaked by in the other two. Afflalo will not lose games for us. He is a good solid player.


Yes, Amir did get to play, but Mr. Sneaky, us fans did not fail to notice that you left Afflalo out of the game. Get it right, play both. And that goes for all three when Stuckey gets back. Further, like someone mentioned in an earlier post, just what the heck is this not playing Maxiell more in the first half. The starters need that kind of energy in the game. (Like the energy he was providing much of the 4th quarter, getting multiple offensive rebounds.) Can't an NBA coach understand why the starters would do so bad in a third quarter - they were tired.


Enough ranting, for now. We won and are 5-1 in this young season. A future star of our team got to play, in the first half when the game still counted, and heck, we won. Still no evidence that playing young guys loses games. Amir scored a few points, making one of two free throws and getting an offensive rebound putback. The foul that sent him to the line was a shove as he was trying to secure another offensive rebound. About half his time was as a small forward, with the starters on the floor otherwise. (Tay was the only starter sitting. But Tay did come in for the last minute, making Amir a power forward. And the first minute he was paired up with Hayes. For that minute, you could argue that either was the small vs. power forward.)


Mohammed got to play a good stretch of the 2nd quarter, and had one decent play. Flip Murray got significant minutes both halves, did not do much except a few times he got to the basket, resulting in 2-3 at the line and one bucket. Considering nobody else seemed to want to go to the basket at the time this was very helpful.


Dyess had a good game. 15 and 15. A lot of his points were around the basket, exactly where he should be playing. His points chiefly came on end of plays where he ended up with the ball at the basket, or on offensive rebound putbacks. Not really any posting up from him and just a couple of outside shots made.


JMAX barely played in the 1st half. Tricky is using his old trick of pulling someone who has a 2nd foul, for the remainder of the half. He has done this to JMAX two straight games now. Which means he has only gotten to play after sitting most of a half and half time, plus most of the 3rd quarter. Probably a blatant attempt to ice the guy.


Hayes was a scoring hero, getting 14 in 18 minutes. And a lot of that was around the basket. He did bury a couple of outside jumpers, but scored on cuts to the basket and from posting up. That I like.


Now, for the bench as a whole. Sorry, not so good. None of the bench guys did that poorly as individuals, but collectively, there is just too little defense being played when Dyess remains out their with the likes of Hayes, Murray, and Mohammed. No footspeed for three of them, and no ability for the fourth.


Tay took too many outside shots, and missed way too many. However, even though I do not like this much, in game practice always helps. Watch him hit a bunch of shots next game. Prince was playing backup point again. Meanwhile, we won this game anyway so all that outside shooting did not hurt us. Billups set the tone early with outside shooting. Very little driving inside. Sheed hit a couple of threes, and spent almost no time around the basket for the game, though he did provide a huge hoop in the last minute working at the basket. One of his simple face up jumpers that goes way over the crowd. It just seemed like things were going too easy at first, and the Pistons decided they did not need to bring their A game. (Which is getting the ball inside.)


Got to harp on the substitution patterns a bit. Detroit was running and gunning some with Seattle, and slaughtering Seattle while doing so. But Flip should have recognized that he needed to sub early to keep that kind of effort up. Instead, we got the same old same old, leaving all the starters in most of the 1st quarter. (Seattle had two early subs, and kept their energy up.)


Rip was the big scoring star, hitting 3 triples and lots of midrangers. And one of them put us up for with little time left in the game. Love that clutch shooting. But he played over 40 minutes. He did not come off the floor for any rest until well into the 2nd quarter. (It amazed me that Flip at least did not bring Rip (nor Billups) back until 5 minutes left in this close game. At least he realized just how tired these guys were.) All of our starters played heavy minutes, even Dyess who supposedly is not suppose to getting so many minutes just because he is starting. Get a clue Flip. Dyess has not played heavy minutes in years, do you really want him pushing his luck like that?


Look, we are 5-1, and considering the competition we are about to face, or I should say, lack of competition, we are probably going to be 9-1 at the end of this long west trip. Would playing more young guys lose games? Maybe. I doubt it. But not playing them is a loser route for sure, for our starters will be burnt out, injured, at playoff time. The time to stop the non-sense is the very next game. Play Afflalo, JMAX, and Amir significant minutes, all in the same game, and no, garbage time does not count.


GO PISTONS!!!!!
Prince was playing backup point again.

I think Lee had hit on all the points and I concur. I would ask Flip this: when are starters' minutes going to be reduced?

Tay 35
Dyess 33
Hamilton 41
Wallace 36
Billups 34

I am not worried about Hamilton's minutes as much because of his conditioning, but the rest of the guys should sit a bit more. The problem with Rip's minutes is that Afflalo didn't get any. I think 35 would've been enough for Rip providing 5-6 min for the youngster. I wonder what's going to happen when Stuckey comes back.

__________________
I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization. - C.Barkley

DET played offense like they had one of those fences around the paint that shocks you if you cross a certain point.

I think Daddy should have brought 'Lil Flip in with about 3 to go in the 3rd. He was the only one getting near the rim against the zone. Daddy probably didn't want to interupt the 3 pt contest that had broken out.

Out of all the things I dislike about about Big Flip, bringing a starter back with 4 minutes in a quarter tops the list. He is just bizzare.

You guys thought they played too much? Bostons "big 3" have all been playing around 40.

What is tough is letting other teams back in the game and having to play the 4th quarter right down to the wire. If it happened because they were tired in the 3rd, may as well just throw in the towell on the season if they can't handle 35 MPG. Get those guys in the weight room.

Anyway, Seattle is going to have a good team someday with this core. Just not this year and this night. Nice win to start the long road trip.

Why can't Dyess play like that more often?

Dyess is just getting going.
As far as minutes go, how many games have Boston's big 3 played over the past 5-6 years? Compare it to the number of games Pistons players played. That's where those minutes come into play.

Some interesting info from McCroskey:

- Tay was playing with an aggravating pain in his toe
- Flip did say that team took too many 3-pointers
- He also said that Pistons struggled against zone when Sheed was out
- Rip said that it is too early in the season and difficult to put 48 minutes together

Well, if it is correct, then this is what I've gotta say:
- if Tay has an injury his minutes should come down, I'd think.
- If team takes too many 3-pointers it is up to coach to stop - you put in Maxiell and Afflalo and those will stop
- Pistons need to figure out other offensive schemes against zone because if they are incapable against it they'll see it often and continue struggling
- If the players are not producing, sit them, whether starters or not


Detroit overcomes cold spell in Seattle

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I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization. - C.Barkley

We might lead the league with the most different players scoring over 30 points in a game by year end.

Tay, Sheed, Rip, and you know CB will have his day.


West coast road wins are not something to take for granted. We flipped the switch at the end and the lights turned off in Seattle.


A very strange +/- stat tonight. Sheed was +25 in the game, and no other Pistons were even close to that. Since his stats weren't overly gaudy, he must have been doing something to add a lot of value... like protect the paint.

Now that you've said it, I wonder if Hayes and Dyess will get a crack at 30. Also, Flip said that Sheed's Pistons most effective player against zone defense. That's why he's so high on +/-.

Is it close enough for you? Think you have almost everything you wanted to see in this game. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINWOOD!!!