In the first quarter, the story was Sheed versus Dirk. Last year Sheed gave Dirk a mild diss after locking him up in an early season game, saying that he was a good offensive player. Both guys still seemed to have that in their minds.

Choppy play early, with both teams going 1 for 11 in the first three minutes. Then Dallas began to relax on defense and Detroit got a couple of turnovers off backcourt traps for easy buckets. After the TO Dirk and Sheed both started raining long jumpers, while Ben was slapping Eric Dampier around with blocks, tip-ins and a pretty 1-handed reverse dunk off a Chauncey pass. (The Wallaces scored 15 of Detroit's first 17.) Rip was making nice cuts and starting to look more in sync with the O, while CBill was drawing Jason Terry blocking fouls pretty much at will. Tay looked better, though still not great; he had a tough matchup with Josh Howard and Howard was the more active player throughout. Detroit lead peaks at 8, ends the quarter at 24-22.

Bench in to start the second, Dice missing a couple of jumpers. Devin Harris looking VERY good for the Mavs, shaking loose for some pretty drives lofted over Darko. You could tell the Mavs were looking for him, but they managed to avoid challenging him directly until Harris took off for a posterizing attempt from WAY out. Darko contested, but the dunk was about a foot short and scraped front rim.

Darko's first score was a left wing pick & fade jumper off a pretty behind-the-back feed by Arroyo. Carlos can really play the two-man game. The second unit (Delfino, Dice, Darko, Arroyo, Delfino) showed nice continuity; they're starting to play as a unit, and overall Arroyo ran the show effectively. He shot well and made a nice layup off a Darko pass. Pistons showed some zone. On offense Dallas reverted to its lax interior defense and Detroit started dribble-penetrating effectively-- particularly Delfino, who made a pretty scoop and some nice kickout passes. Dirk was in but really just settled for the occasional fallaway or turnaround.

Okay, about DARKO'S POSTERIZING DUNK ...

The Mavs have Diop in, a 7 foot shot blocker who is about 270 and not the most agile guy going. He comes out to the foul line as Darko takes a pass and makes a small fake. Diop bites and raises up, giving Darko room to dribble past him down the right side of the paint. You could see a really determined look on our boy's puss as he low-dribbled past a help defender right-handed, switched back to the left hand with Diop on his inside hip and DUNKED THE BALL THROUGH DIOP'S REACH.

Crowd goes nuts. I go nuts. You'll go nuts when you see it later.

After a while Dallas put four starters in, Dirk included. At that point Darko got in foul trouble, mostly aggressive stuff with him trying to swat shots. He drew his fourth for the quarter when Nowitzki attacked him before Detroit could substitute Ben Wallace. But Detroit actually held its own with Ben and four bench guys against four Dallas starters. Detroit ended the second quarter ahead 47-45, thanks to Sheed's nine points and a 22-15 edge in bench scoring. Pistons shot 60% on field goal attempts for the half, but had 11 turnovers.

Third quarter started with a camera shot of Darko actually smiling and kidding around on the bench, though he was still kind of tentative about it. Meanwhile Sheed picked up where he left off in the first quarter ... breaking scoring droughts with a tough inside leaner plus the foul for a 3 point play, as well as a pretty backdoor pass to Rip. He is our most valuable player right now, folks. Anyone who wants to trade him is saying they'd be happy winning 47 games this year.

Dallas was jacking up 3s, notably Jason Terry who scored 8 of the first 10 Mavs points. At one point they were 6 of 10 from downtown, which kept them in the game. Meanwhile the Pistons continued to bully Dallas in the paint, and Ben was relentless in bullying Dampier despite giving up four inches and 30 pounds. Eric finally scored 29 minutes into the game.

Interesting thing: With three minutes left in the third Flip changed his pattern, mixing studs 'n scrubs. Arroyo and Darko came in for CBill and Sheed, and the unit actually played pretty well. Darko fumbled some passes and rebounds; it wasn't his best game. But he did fight for an offensive rebound and trickle in a putback over a couple guys, as well as joining Ben in a double team block on the beleaguered Eric Dampier. His defense on switches was very quick and sure, showing hard on the guard and often forcing a pass away from the point of attack. Team defense was especially good, and Detroit led 67-66 at the quarter.

So, how did they lose in the fourth? The short answer was Devin Harris, who kept penetrating and scoring at will. Man, he was tough. If the first half was highlighted by Detroit's big men dominating, the second underscored just how many good swing players Dallas has ... Harris, Howard and Marquis Daniels all scored effectively, often off (yes, here it comes) dribble penetration. They got into the lane for leaners and floaters without getting too close to our shot blockers. Both Billups and Hamilton got toasted on occasion by the former Wisconsin Badger, and Jason Terry got off a lot of open threes. Not a great defensive night for our backcourt.

Back to the fourth, we had a new lineup: Billups, Evans, Delfino, Darko, Dice. Billups didn't do very well, making some poor decisions and turnovers. Evans also had an absolutely hideous possession where he tried to go one on one in a play that seemed to last five minutes, culminating in a clanked jumper. Evans must have been in Chicago recently, because he got that disease Ronald Dupree suffered from after playing for the Bulls ... a role player who forgot his role.

Long story short, Detroit had a drought. An 0 for 12 drought, and even when Chauncey made a couple of threes it didn't improve the offense. He really didn't work very hard at running the team, I thought. Guys started overpassing - foregoing good shots, freelancing, throwing the ball to guys who weren't expecting it. Meanwhile Harris & the Mavs went on a 13-1 run. Our shooting went from 60% in the first half to like 35% in the second. Ugh.

Still, there were highlights. Delfino threw a gorgeous halfcourt alley oop to Evans, and the scrub lineup actually made a comeback after Dice and Billups sat down around the four minute mark. Maxiell came in and started fighting for offensive boards, getting a free throw and a foul line jumper from a set play. And Darko provided a tantalizing sense that he might actually be a good clutch player, with a steal, block, free throw and then a 20 foot J from a couple steps inside the arc to pull the team to within 2.

Unfortunately, the Pistons lost their chance to tie when they couldn't recover a loose ball poked away under defensive pressure. Three Pistons hit the floor for it, including Darko, but it rolled out of bounds and Dallas converted the second chance. Hometown boy Rawle Marshall converted four free throws, and we tried a lot of foul/time out tactics to no avail. But it gave the young guys good pressure experience, and the veterans were not troubled by the loss ... if one can judge by the way guys were amusing themselves piling stuff on Chauncey Billups' head when he wasn't looking.

Darko line: 9 points on 4/7 shooting, two blocks ... and one very loud posterizing dunk over Diop, who may never live it down.

Just saw the dunk on ESPN news, the dunk wasnt that impressive, what was, was that he got the ball at the top of the key, Diop to his left, and another guy to his right, Darko dribbles BETWEEN both guys with his RIGHT hand (the guy is a lefty), and then switches to his left for the dunk. Dont want to get all hyperbole and stuff, but there arent a lot of centers in the NBA capable of driving between 2 players, with their off hand, from the top of the key, and finishing with a dunk.

thanks muchly for the 'lancap'.

can't wait to see the new darko in action.

OK. It looks like Evans can play perimeter defense (Wade?). Thank you, Joe. His offense is mediocre however. Darko can/will be valuable this year as a shot blocker. An interesting sequence when he and Ben were on the floor. Two roaming shot-blockers. Now that group would not have much offense but some interesting possibilities. Darko's game is not offense at this point in my view. We need to give Delfino the ball at the top, side, wherever and let him create. I am very impressed with this guy.

I want to know why isn't anybody bashing on CA tonight. He only made 9 pts, 2 assts, 2 steals in 18 min. He went from 4 assts to 2!!!! No "he's dribbling too much" or " he pass the ball to the people on the first row" or "he's making a single pass more difficult by looking for the fancy pass". I guess he's a fast learner. Perhaps he learned how to run the system since last game

one thing that stood out for me was that the pistons didn't play well with starters and 2nd unit players mixed together. the 5 man platoon system seems to work better at this early point in the season. the 2nd unit was starting to develop a chemistry and thier own style of play.

also liked the revenge of darko against diop. there was lots of talk of darko not taking it to the guy before. now diop is forever posterized by young darko.

Got to watch the game on Directv tonight. While others have covered the game very well, I have to add how impressive Delfino was. He looks polished and ready to contribute. His ball handling looks much improved. The Ginobili-esque cross over he pulled on Dirk (OK it was Dirk) looked just like the one Manu did to Shaq a couple of years ago. Even if Darko was not improving right before our eyes, the play of Delfino would be enough to add to the excitement for this season. Plus he has really nice court vision. Several times his smart passing led to buckets that he didn't get credit for in the stat sheet, but I am sure that Flip is taking note.

I think that any question about Ben being slowed by those foot problems have been answered in the last couple of games. His quickness is back. He looks like the Ben from 2002/2003. It could just be me, but he looked a little "thinner" out there last year - I know that's relative only to Ben himself. But he looks like he has added back that 10 lbs of muscle in his arms/shoulders.

LanierFan...that "Andre the Giant in a cable knit sweater" comment the other night was classic. I will never look at McHale the same again...

I'm out for tonight. My last post seems to have an adverse reaction and nobody posted afterwards. Go back to post, but remember, I'll be reading your comments in the morning...

I am not going to bash a vet 4 games into the post-season as they are still getting warmed up. Plus he has to adjust to new players.

Arroyo did take advantage of the Mavs swiss-cheese interior defense like a lot of the other players going in for easy layups.

Part of the reason for the 2 assists are the 3 To's which were made by attempting difficult passes.
Overall Arroyo is just not seeing the open players. One play while Arroyo was dribbling around with the ball Darko was wide-open and had a mismatch but Arroyo just did not look in that direction.

Give it time.

Just so puertoricanballer doesn't cry any more about the lack of Arroyo attention, I'll mention that Carlos' playing time last night might have been limited because he rolled his ankle while bringing the ball upcourt (third quarter, I think). Looked painful but not too serious -- he was just walking the ball upcourt and sort of tripped over the halfcourt line. Before that he did a nice job running the O and actually finished a couple of backdoor plays by moving without the ball and taking the return pass for a layup. He actually finishes pretty well for a little guy who can't jump. But yes, he did mess up a couple of fast breaks by trying to force a pass in traffic when the play really wasn't there.

bballjay, a couple of the mixed starter & scrub lineups worked well ... for example, putting Ben or Darko/Delfino in with the other units, probably because they're all familiar with each other. But you're right, some ugly stuff was going on out there.

In time some of it will get ironed out as the guys play together, but the real lesson is what Flip mentioned before pre-season: This offense really turns on Sheed. His size, versatility and shooting touch inside/outside make it go, and when he went to the bench early the Pistons struggled.