Thansk for the leecap Mr. 357. I am now glad I didn't have to witness the second half...41 points in second half and OT reminded me of the last six games the Pistons played vs the Cavs..

Time to push Dupree to end of the bench or waive him and give Meija some runtime. if Nazr is hurt for a couple days, give Samb some burn.

Thanks for recap...Dupre in any italian team not even play one minutes..i agree JM and Sheed togheter on starting five

ciao great friend Roscoeand hello to all


PISTONS FOREVER

Sorry for my english

From the boxscore of the 2 pre season games so far, Sheed is a fouling machine with limited minutes. Is the 'center' position hurting him more? 2 games, 10 fouls and 1 ejection. Wonder what will happen when the actual season starts. Hope the coaches and JD realize this.

I'm trying not to be pessimistic as i know it's only preseason, but these are precisely the things that will make it so we never get anywhere (and why Flip is incompetant). It's not the personal that's the problem. Our coach doesn't value defense and can't (or won't) stop riding the starters. I feel like i'm having deja vu every postseason.

Great Recap BTW.

It is dissapointing but its only a pre-season game. Pistons had 3 players with 5 fouls in limited mins Sheed, Maxiel, Hayes. Second game in which Sheed had 5 fouls. Even Lebran James would have had foul trouble if this was a real game with 3 in 25 mins. Refs seem to be calling everything on everyone. Not sure if they are trying to feel it out after the ref scandle.

Stucky and Afflalo had 5 and 4 Turnovers respectivly. Thats nearly as much as the Pistons avg for an entire game. In the 1st half the Pistons enjoyed a huge TO margin which they converted into 18 extra points. One of the differences between the halfs. Pistons also could not hit a shot from the mid 3rd to about the mid 4th quarter.

Cavs Daniel Gibson who had that miracle game 6 against us had 7 turns to 3 assists and only scored 6.

NBA.com: Pistons at Cavaliers Boxscore

well, if you were to judge how our new guys will play this season based on a single game, then monday and yesterday would lead you to two completely different conclusions.

afflalo and stuckey had their moments, but also their fair share of mistakes. they didn't play poorly, especially for their 1st taste on the road, and there were flashes of excellence along the way. but more often than not, they forced situations that weren't favorable.

afflalo still played hard, although without as many sharp cuts on offense, and was doing well with on-ball defending. however he tried to force himself in the lane a few times and turned it over.

i can basically say the same about stuckey - i think he learned tonight that you can't always blindly drive the lane, because the NBA does have guys who are tall and can block your shot. but to his credit he didn't give up on his game or let that prevent him from doing it later in the game and succeeding. he'll have to learn to take care of the ball better. he also dribbled a little too much in place, but at the same time no one on offense was moving around all that well.

maxiell didn't have a great game. he missed his jumpers, wasn't in position for rebounds, and tried to go for too many blocks on defense instead of playing more solid D. at the end of regulation his man was the one who beat him with a cut to the basket, forcing max to foul, which sent the game to overtime. now, it did look like a clean block instead of a foul, but he shouldn't have gotten beat like that in the 1st place.

dupree is just never going to make it on this team. he can't shoot, and hayes gives us everything dupree can, and everything he can't. speaking of hayes, he had a decent game, including a very nice block on lebron. he's a physical guy who again isn't afraid to post up, get down low, and go for rebounds. he still took a couple ill-advised shots, but i think his defense is fine and he'll be able to back up tay. he also had 2-3 shots that were basically down and then popped back out.

nazr played well. he had a couple turnovers, but made the shots he was supposed to make, had a couple blocks, a steal, and even a nice no-look pass in the post to get hayes an easy basket.

the rest of the starters were fine; mcdyess didn't have a great game, but he wasn't terrible either. he only grabbed a couple boards and missed some shots, but played good D and didn't hurt the team when he was on the court.

so overall, this game was a learning experience for the rookies. they played well and helped build a lead in the 1st half, and showed flashes of brilliance. they made mistakes that are good to learn now. they're smart players and should figure it out quickly.

Interesting observation. These are not heavily contested games either.

I don't think anyone was judging the rookies from this one game. Just writting down what was observed.

There are too many games ahead to make any kind of judgement.

max if you were referring to me, i didn't say you or anyone else was judging the rooks, that was just a lead-in to my post i was simply saying that if someone *was* going to judge based on a game, then watching monday vs. thursday would bring you to completely different conclusions.

i forgot to mention that stuckey had a nice move early in the game that demonstrated he can adjust and learn. he drove to the basket hard and got blocked at the end of the 1st quarter, so the next time he drove, he drew both defenders and dished it off to maxiell for an easy slam.