Great job again my friend.

Sorry to hear this is your last "lancast".

If you could give the players a scorecard for the game what would it be?

Darko - B?
Sheed - A?

You're very welcome.

Top of the Class:
Sheed: A. Making very few mistakes while shooting a high percentage and racking up pretty assists. Defense at a high level for preseason.

Ben: A-. Really beat up Dampier last night while clawing for every rebound. Why opponents don't expect him to go hard in preseason is a mystery. Falling in love with that fadeaway jumper, though, with ugly results. The other guys are going to kill him with all these alley-oops.

Rip: B. I think he's figuring the offense out, and he's done a nice job of letting it come to him. Works well with Sheed. Defense not very good against the Dallas backcourt.

Tay: B-. A little more active and got his points, but Josh Howard had the better of it. Maybe it's the knee. Not getting his post ups and isn't driving or running the break with his usual authority.

Chauncey: C+. Jason Terry couldn't handle him at all, but he also let Terry get off a lot of open threes. Played sloppy on offense in the second half, despite the late 3s. Didn't assert much leadership or structure for the second unit.

Dice: C. Missed some shots, didn't seem to do much but not a liability.

Delfino: B+/A-. Really shredded the porous Dallas interior with drives and made some excellent passes. Outside shooting was mixed.

Evans: C+. I noticed AS Blakely said last night he didn't seem sure of his role, like Dupree when he came back from Chicago. Agree. Didn't stand out on the boards or defensively, and went 1 on 1 in bad spots.

Arroyo: B+. Ran the offense better, shot well and actually got some layups by letting other guys handle the ball. Forced several bad passes on the break. Didn't feed the post. Played smoothly with the starters.

Darko: B-. Not a great game despite the flashy plays. Had the butterfingers on rebounds and passes, leading to second chance points for Dallas. Got in foul trouble really fast. Interesting that in the two crunch time situations where he's played, he's made tough shots to protect a lead or pull the team close.

Maxiell: B. A bull on the boards who immediately began slugging for rebounds the second he came in. Team played well when he was out there. Haven't seen the shot blocking from him that I might have expected, but it's early.

Acker: C. Handles the ball well but hasn't shown the deep shot we saw in summer league. Put on some nice trapping pressure in comeback effort. Defense hasn't been anything special.

Things that were good today: Darko posterizing Desagna Diop, our bench keeping the lead against Dallas's starters, bench showed they are good offensively even down the stretch with Darko, and Maxiell hitting big baskets in the last minute to get us within 2. We had 2 stops, and we were very close both times in tying the game, too bad we came up short.

Bad Things: I know we'll be fine in this area quickly, but we didn't rebound good. Turnovers, and rebounding were the only reason Dallas stayed in that game. The beginning of the 4th was horrible, too many fastbreak oppurtunities. I believe this happened because Darko was in big foul trouble , and he couldn't be as aggresive offensively, but most importantly defensively. Hope we improve today at Milwaukee.

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"That's the end, man." Rasheed Wallace

LOL.

They need to install a sign at halfcourt for Carlos -------->

Yes, the halfcourt line CAN be hazardous. Sometimes it just jumps up and bites you out of the blue.

As per usual LanierFan did a great Job. Actually had a chance to attend the ga,e last night and my 'Diva' girlfriend complained that we were not courtside, she doesn't understand that you actually have to be above the floor to really see the play on the court and study. Sh'e there for entertainment, I'm there analysis.

#1) I was pleased with Darko again, he's going to be good in this league. He can do things on the court that his peers (D Howard, AL Jefferson, Tyson Chandler, Okafor, Curry, and so on) just can't do, but the reverse of that is also true. I wish Darko would go after the boards with more intensity, and work on his hands. For the most part Darko is making the normal mistakes a player of his age and experience should make, he's finally on par.

#2) Sheed is a monster, HE DOES/DID EVERYTHING!!!! He's finally showing what everyone knew, he's the best player on the team. He and Darko seem to be 2 players that can score from everywhere on the floor. If you look at their shot charts they've got makes from everywhere.

#3) Delfino looks GOOOOOD, not a stopper on D, but no longer a liability. Great court vision, great penetrator, jumper looks sweet- but never really goes in with any consistency.

#4) I love MoEvans, nothing impressive last night, but he's tough as hell, he'll fight till the end. A few nice dunks as a result of being able to get out on the break. Right now he's the only wing player on this team running the floor well, save Dupree.

#5) Dyess, has me worried, he's seems a little out of sync with the 2nd unit. He seems content to be a role player with the 2nd unit and blend in when we really need him to be a leader and contend for the 6th man of the year award, but it's just pre-season.

#6) I HATE DEVIN HARRIS!!!!!!! No seriously, I have never went to a game where he was playing and seen him lose. Dude looks like he should be playing 14 and under AAU, and he comes out and quietly just kills my teams again and again. He totally used to come into Crisler and quietly put up about 21 and win, while I'd be screaming, "HOW AND THE FRICK IS THIS LITTLE SKINNY BABY FACED TWERP BEATING YOU GUYS!!!!!" And he did it again last night.

Also, we need to toughen up on the our defensive glass and take better care of the ball. Our perimeter players have got to start helping our bigs on the glass.

This suprises me. With Dice's jump shot (water) I would think that he and Rip would be excelling in this offense.

Darko Video of Dunk with instant replays.

Thank Fresh Prince 22 (aka BDM22).

You might need the divx plugin to watch this video.

Attached Files

Darko-vs-Diop_Fresh-Prince22.avi (9.72 MB, 43 views)

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They are the archetype for dominance. They are the gatekeepers of the conference. They are the Detroit Pistons.

I fell asleep randomly yesterday so here's my delayed comments. I also watched a little bit on TV when they replayed it, and you get a much different feel from actually being at the game heh.

Some quick notes...

Dice missed some open shots today but they weren't from his usual spot on the baseline. He got open jumpers on the corners of the paint by the free throw line, and that just isn't his shot. Not worried about him though.

I felt this was one of Arroyo's better games. Yes, he (and the rest of the offense) were guilty of trying too hard pushing the ball up the court for quick baskets, which instead resulted in turnovers at halfcourt. However, he ran the offense much better moving the ball around, and did especially well when he was put in with the other 4 starters.

Darko played well despite the foul trouble - some of which I thought were bogus. Igor Kokoskov was interviewed after the game and said he might be *too* aggressive trying to constantly block shots now that he's seen he is leading the league. He also said he believes that Darko is the Pistons' best pick-and-roll defender (including the starters) because of his length and quickness.

I was not happy with Mo Evans today, because he was trying too hard to score. It's not that he missed a ton of shots that bothered me, it's that he took them playing 1 on 1, or early in the shot clock, or when not receiving a pass from another teammate...just dribbling himself and shooting. He had a Chauncey moment (pull up a J on a fast break when no one else is around) that was completely unnecessary. That said, he was still solid on D and finished a few fast breaks.

Delfino continues to impress, not only with his ability to slash and finish around the basket, but also with his excellent court vision and passing ability. He was comfortable running the point. Sheed was excellent again, and Ben generated a lot of offense purely from his defense. Acker...well again his minutes were limited, but I haven't seen anything from him that stands out. Unless he starts raining 3s constantly, there's NO way he'll overtake Hunter this year.

And finally, it was fun to have a preseason game come down to the wire for once. What was impressive was how well the 2nd unit handled themselves. You might expect them to make mistakes or try to do too much down by 6 with 1:30 left, but they were composed and forced Dallas into mistakes. Darko and Maxiell got to the line which stopped the clock, and the team got 2 steals in the final minute to come very close to victory. Well done.

This is really funny . I can see the halfcourt line tripping CA on purpose.

Lanierfan, Thanks for your leecap... I meant to say recap. I feel better now you took the time to talk about CA. My blood pressure is back to normal and I just threw away the towel i used to wipe my tears.