That's the point- I don't think Flip mixes the 2nd unit enough with the starters. AJ for instance would definetely benefit alot from playing along CB and not FlipM. JMax and Sheed or with Samb could be decent, if they play enough along each other. And so on. FlipS would probably be a better icehockey- coach the way he rotates at times

got to the game early to make sure i got the automotion calendar, and was extremely disappointed. after all the complaining the swimsuit calendar, the last 2 years have been subpar - this year it they did all the hair and makeup like it was the 20s or 50s or something old. not impressed.

anyway, the knicks suck. this game was never in doubt, but flip again tried to make it interesting by putting the whole bench unit in at once in the 2nd quarter. that's the 2nd game in a row where we've blown a comfortable lead because of this. note to flip: this isn't the preseason anymore, start subbing out your starters in the 1st quarter and always make sure you have a couple on the floor with the younger guys.

flip was interviewed after the game and was asked about this. he said he kept all 5 starters in because they were building a lead (again i don't see how subbing out one at a time in the 1st would hurt that). then he said he may have to always have a couple starters on the floor with the young guys. gee...ya think? at least he recognized it.

i saw rip with 6 TOs but watching the game live it didn't feel like he was responsible for that many. i'm also disappointed that neither nba.com or espn.com's recap of the game featured maxiell's dunk...did anyone save it by chance? maybe it wasn't as impressive on TV but it sure was impressive live...i thought it was going to contend for dunk of the night.

not much else to say except good job nazr, and we really, really need stuckey back and playing over murray. new york hardly has quick guards except for robinson, who even afflalo had trouble staying in front of, but man flip was getting burned and seems to get attacked every game when he first comes in. he looked awful.

hopefully stuckey is dynamic enough of a guard and is good enough to both attack the basket and distribute the ball that our second unit come have some firepower and a true playmaker that can prevent our offense from stagnating when chauncey is not on the floor.

also, good job to the pistons, assisting on 15 of the 16 made shots in the 1st quarter.

By the way, CB had 10 (!!!) assists in that first quarter- ain't that a new record?

isiah's record on the pistons is 11.

Agree. Given the way the offense has failed to click without CB on the floor - other than the first couple of games when Prince ran the point some - Stuckey is going to have to be pretty impressive when he gets back. Talk about a trial by fire.

I doubt that there will be a trial by fire or anything else that smacks of Hollywood.

Hot Rod will play like a rookie when he is activated. Nothing more and nothing less.

How good a rookie? Only time will tell.

Can't undo the draft.

Its just that it seems as if we're getting farther and farther from that championship contending atmosphere so more and more gets piled on Stuckey to be some kind of catalyst. Like you say, he is a rookie...will probably be good. But will he be able to impact this team this year...it doesn't seem like there's anything else left to look forward to.

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Didn't see the came but good points by all. The mixing of the rotations is the big issue. Playing the starters for 9-12 minutes and then throwing in the bench is not going to work vs good teams. (it didn't work vs some of the bad teams out west either).

flip has to learn how to play at least 2 bench players with the starters and bring them in at the 7 to 8 minute mark and stop relying them to get the big lead and then seeing it evaporate with his bench playing in there all at once.

one positive was that they finally stop that streak of allowing teams to score over 100 pts...of course it was the knicks though.... What's with red uniforms for six straight games??? did they lose the others??

One more thing. It would be better still if it were Stuckey, Afflalo, Mejia, JMAX, Amir. Mejia would give the unit more rebounding, far better defense, and an extra ball handler.

I don't see this as an issue. I believe its more who you play, not whether you mix & match or not. For some reason (like wanting to showcase Flip Murray) the Pistons went completely away from playing Prince at point after proving it works for a few games. I believe a unit of Prince at point, Afflalo, Hayes, JMAX, and Amir would work just fine. When Stuckey gets back in two weeks, again, this same unit will do just fine with Stuckey replacing Prince. PS, Amir could play some small forward early in the first quarter to allow Prince to play point with the 2nd unit.

Hog, you're probably too young to appreciate the nostalgia of pin up girls.

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To all of my friends, comrades and companions at PF.com

Thank you for another great season!