Originally Posted by puertoricanballer

Let me first say that I din't get to see the game. I don't know what your expectations of CA, but according to the boxscore he made 8 pts (2-5, 4-4), 4 assists and 2 TO in 21 min. I don't know about you but this aren't bad numbers for a reserve, specially one that is suposse to pass the ball and not been one of the primary Offensive options. I want to know from you guys how many of his passes were indeed converted into points. I bet some of those Dice's J came from pases made by Arroyo. How many times he left his defender watching the back of his shirt and went to the inside the defensive area.

Seems to me that many of you guys just have your notebook open to pinpoint every meaningless "mistake" CA does, but how about this: after the last game a lot of you were saying he only scored and didn't pass. Now he put the same number of points PLUS 4 assists and he played "mediocre". What are you guys expecting 24 pts 7 assists and 4 rebs, like he did against Team USA in the Olympics? If he was asked to score, I don't doubt he could put some numbers. Keep in mind, though, that in this team he's not one of the primary scoring options and he still put some decent numbers. OK, enough for now. I'm sure you guys will have something to say, but I'll wait to read that in the morning. Good nite.

Originally Posted by DarthTater

But it's not the messengers fault. I believe they are reporting what they see and neither looking for negatives nor ignoring them.

Originally Posted by iamme

it's not that i think Arroyo sucks. i just think he can play better. i think he needs to stop looking to make the spectacular pass and work on moving the ball around.

Originally Posted by LanierFan

FINAL: Detroit 91, Minnesota 80.

First off, Minnesota is Kevin Garnett and a bunch of chuckers. When he was in (guess about 20 minutes), they had an inside presence and a force on the boards. Otherwise, nothing. Trenton Hassell shot well and McCants could repeat Ben Gordon's feat last year, but the rest of the team really doesn't like going into the lane. Heck Richie Frahm played like one of their toughest guys.

This turned out to be good, because the game was more of a struggle than the score indicates.

The Piston starters started slow, seeming to fight Flip's offensive and defensive schemes more in this game than in the first couple ... lots of missed defensive assignments and some half-hearted matchup zones from the looks of it, and Minnesota applied backcourt pressure with some success. It was 10-6 Wolves at the first TO and the Pistons were down as much as 10, but Sheed really came on hard (fired up by, you guessed it, a dramatic technical foul after being called for an illegal screen on ... well, nobody) and sparked the team to a closing 9-0 run at the end of the first while Garnett sat on the bench resting his knee.

Prince, who again missed some makeables, came out for Delfino, who actually made a couple of nice defensive plays (a steal and deflection) to get the break started. Dupree came in as well and played like a house afire ... fighting for his own offensive boards, dunking, even popping the J. Then Delfino scored on a spectacular double-clutching scoop from that big paw of his as the quarter ended, and the Pistons had stolen the lead in a subpar quarter, 25 to 23.

Dupree (4 out of 5, 8 pts by halftime) and Delfino continued to star in the second with Arroyo, Dice and Darko rounding out the mix. Delfino was super aggressive, driving hard to the hoop and picking up fouls. He's good in this offense because he likes to drive the middle of the lane, which opens up space on the wings. Dice was better integrated in the offense this game, popping jumpers off a couple of nice flairs with Arroyo, who seems to have his best chemistry with Antonio. Carlos cito shot well in the quarter but again insisted on making some easy passes into the extra crispy variety, too hot to handle for anyone but the first row patrons. Still the overall defense was pretty good for the unit.

Darko was the poorest player in the second, looking disinterested and losing some rebounds out of play. He lofted two really bad looking jumpers that would have put him on Devil's Island under Larry. A highlight was a brief chance to defend Garnett, and he did pretty well. On the first exchange KG got to the middle and banked in a six footer under good pressure from Darko; on the second, Darko poked the ball away from KG when he held it overhead on the left wing, breaking the play up and forcing a later jumper that missed. Darko's only real highlights came when he blocked Eddie Griffin's deep jumper on a great closeout, plus a couple more blocks against Madsen and some other stiff that forced a 24-sec violation.

Both teams were in the low 40s just before the half, when I gave in to my wife and went to dinner. (The rogon josh was very good.)

In the third, Detroit pulled ahead to a 67-59 lead. Chauncey really played pretty blah, jacking up some ill advised long shots before the team had gotten set. Rip Hamilton continued to carry out his game-long mission of making every pass an alley-oop to Ben, no matter how many guys Ben had to jump over even to touch the ball. It worked two or three times, giving Ben a pretty good offensive game when added to a nice mid-lane jumper and a very nice fallaway earlier in the first.

Anyway, the Pistons had more interest in rebounding and defense than the Wolves, leading to a 16-5 run or so marked by some effective full court pressure.

The fourth quarter was ... THE DARKO SHOW! Maybe somebody lit into him about his crappy play earlier, or maybe they simply decided to emphasize the low block more, but Darko scored all 10 of his points in the fourth and I think they all came on free throws. He started taking the ball to the hole, spinning way faster than Eddie Griffin was prepared to move without a personal firearm, and also grabbing some offensive boards with considerable zest. Soon the T-Wolves were in the penalty and Darko kept marching to the line, where I believe he was 10 of 11 or 12. Meanwhile he was swatting shots -- another from Eddie Griffin (who returned the favor later), and yet another in a very heady sequence where he put a block and a steal back to back. His line for the evening: 10 points, 6 rebounds, five blocks.

Meanwhile Delfino was seriously balling ... a spin move for a layup, a feather-light bounce for a Dice basket. Dupree was still bouncing around like a pogo stick on speed, and Arroyo took advantage of his defenders with regularity. Minnesota, in contrast, just kept taking longer and longer jumpers while falling further and further behind.

Eventually, with 2:45 left, four new Human Victory Cigars were lit in the form of Maxiell, Acker, Johnson and Glynidiakis. Maxiell scored on his first shot, a Dice-like wing jumper and added a free throw. AJ and Glyni both got rebounds. (Andreas really isn't that bad a mover, though it looks awful. He plays with some aggression and seems to get frustrated with himself, sort of like Memo did.)

Near the visitors bench, Kevin McHale shuffled around with his weird shoulders and thickened body, looking strangely like Andre the Giant in an Old Navy cable knit pullover. He appeared wan and tired, probably because his team is even more of a soft-centered donut than they were last year. McCants looks awfully quick and dangerous anywhere on the court, but this team really needs inside players in the worst way. Which is the kind they currently have.