http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/DET_3079.gif http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/at.gif http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/GS_447.gif
Dec 9th @ "The Arena"
10:30pm EST

TV: FSN Detroit
Radio:WDFN-AM 1130

http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/ben_wallace.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/rasheed_wallace.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/tayshaun_prince.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/richard_hamilton.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/pistons/chauncey_billups.jpg
VS
http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/warriors/adonal_foyle.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/warriors/troy_murphy.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/warriors/mike_dunleavy.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/warriors/jason_richardson.jpg http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/warriors/baron_davis.jpg

http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/gs12905-1.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/gs12905-2.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/gs12905-3.png

Injuries: Detroit -- G Lindsey Hunter (ankle), out. Golden State -- F Troy Murphy (flu), questionable; F Mickael Pietrus (knee), out

Comments on this game?

this is going to be a greta back-court matchup, but our frontcourt will dominate them.

I'm expecting Tayshawn to bring it. Can Dunleavy contain him. Will the pistons be able to stop Troy Murphy or will he have the usual big night againts our front line?

Sorry fellas that I have been M.I.A., but a brotha been trying to maintain and my internet has been down! Anyway, this is probably the most intriging matchup that they have had all yr. thus far. In past yrs, the DP's have always had trouble w/ BD, especially on the road. J-Rich is having a good yr. as well so far, but they still don't have enough to handle the DP's!! It also is a tricky game because they will be fresh off of all of that rest and sometimes that can work against you. This is not the same GS team of previous yrs. They gone bring and our boys will be ready for the challenge. Let me know what you guys think!!!

I'LL HOLLA!!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely need another strong game from Sheed. Tay vs Dunleavy will be a good matchup, each trying to proof their worth after signing a big contract this season. Billups vs Baron will be another good matchup, each trying to proof they are worth an all star outing this year. As Rip and Ben, they should have a better matchup. PISTONS should win this game.

Tay will be more aggressive than usual and walk all over Dunleavy, because he's much better and wants to show it. That contract thing really seems to have stuck with both of them. Davis will actually try to penetrate for a change and remind people how much of his talent is wasted behind the arc.

Expect a rugged game. GS seems to get up for Detroit and played us tough in their place last year.

Ben on WDFN at 5:20 today.

Ben on WDFN at 5:20 today.

thanks for the info. player of the game will either be tay, or ben he;ll finally have a good foot by that time.

Our perimeter dee better be up because these guys will bomb without conscience.

keep the pace at a good level. run for easy baskets, but don't let the warriors run. good test for the pistns, and the warriors lets see if this start is for real or just a fluke.

Flip on WDFN at 4:35 today

if us as fans are getting antsy waiting for them to play again just imagine how the players feel id quote the thread with billups saying he hates the long layoffs but im lazy. All the rest for the guys better not make them come out slow goldenstate likes to run if they can. on a side note i think tay will crush dunleavy on offense and help hold j rich in check on d.

according to the boxscore i saw a couple days ago the last time we played the warriors last season tay held j-rich to 6-17 shooting even with baron davis on the team. hope we see the same thing today. dunleavey has sucked all season long so unless he somehow starts doing good rip will easily handle him.

troy murphy and Ike digou will hurt our team more than usual. We need to learn how to shut down middling bigs. Opposing front lines have had too much success against us.

BUT, it was probably good for Ben's foot. Now that Darko has apparently played his way out of PT (I am probably more disappointed than anyone on here), Dale does not do much either, so Ben will be needed all the more. Shades of last year :doh: .

BUT, maybe our middlin' big will show up and play well against their middlin' big and save the day :pound: :thumb: :horn: :welcome: :first: !!!

At least, now I am convinced that Flip is fair and that is all we could have asked for, besides the g-r-e-a-t start, that is.

Nobody out here called that, as I recall. A lot of us would have been happy with 8-5, with all the western conference teams and a couple of mean back to backs.

Lookin' good!!!

Troy Murphy is questionable: flu.

Murphy is looking fine.

Warriors scored 19 points in just the first 7 minutes. This isn't a Pistons-type pace. Is the Detroit defense still on vacation?

Chat is open, we have a small group following the game. Feel free to join us.

At least, now I am convinced that Flip is fair and that is all we could have asked for, besides the g-r-e-a-t start, that is.



Flip may be fair, but he seems to have zero trust in ANYONE on the bench, except for Evans, Dice, and Arroyo. Dice and Arroyo, I can understand. Not playing Darko after his recent bombs, I can understand. But, Delfino has proven he can play, and if he aint gonna play Darko, then were is Davis? We need bench play, soon. No way we go the season without injury, unless that's Flip's idea to start playing people.

Seems like the man is coaching scared, he's afraid, not just of losing, but of even falling behind.

good game here.

Pistons by 2 late in the 4th....

Golden State gave it their best shot, as everone does against the Pistons anymore. I am not sure I have ever seen a team look more confident in the last 4 minutes of a tight game on the road.

Maybe more impressive than the 9-1 road record is the 7-0 mark against Western Conference teams.

Golden State gave it their best shot, as everone does against the Pistons anymore. I am not sure I have ever seen a team look more confident in the last 4 minutes of a tight game on the road.

Maybe more impressive than the 9-1 road record is the 7-0 mark against Western Conference teams.

Isn't Dallas a western conference team?

Player of the Game: Rasheed Wallace. In the third and fourth Rasheed really gave us a focus on the offensive end, and he kept coming up money over and over again. Anyone who says he never posts up or can't do it should be forced to watch a tape of this game. Nice decision to throw a long bomb to Ben off the final inbound, too, while the Warriors were trying to deny Rip and Chauncey. Once he started taunting Adonal Foyle (extending the ball behind Foyle's head was a highlight) and getting into it with the GS fans, you knew Sheed was into it ... and when he is, he's the one Piston who comes close to being unstoppable.

Credit to Golden State, which is really putting together a scary team. Great game by Richardson hitting all sorts of impossible shots and Davis played under control all game long. They just give up too much down low, but if they had a center it'd be really tough.

Terrible game by Mo Evans, who had me screaming at the TV. I really need to know what Delfino's done wrong, because Evans just won't play to his role. Arroyo played absolutely awful defense on Fisher in the first half but ran the offense well in guiding the Pistons comeback late.

Best game Ive seen in awhile, definitely worth staying up late for! GS looks like a team that works hard, if I lived in Cali I could definitely enjoy watching them play every night. Go Pistons!

14-2. Best start in franchise history. Congrats Flip Saunders.

Sheed has really. I mean really. Really stepped up his post up game this year. And his 3 point shooting is off the charts compared to his previous career numbers. And did I mention he is confindently knocking down those free throws better than ever too. Man is Sheed serious about erasing the stink from how last season ended.

GS played GreenLight. Why? The guy did hit some shots, but Dunleavy made the Pistons eyes light up anytime they saw him defending. This guy is no way worth good money. No way he should be on the court, at least in any tight games. And if you can't be on the floor at the end of the game, should you even be a starter? Well, Tay did get his when he chose, and CB was scoring, Rip was scoring. A whole lot of good O. But some of it was just poor D by GS too.

Tay got all his pretty much inside. Or at least close in. His shot over Dunleavy in the last minute or so was crucial in winning this one. Great to see Tay doing that clutch shooting. These days, we got 4 guys who we can count on to take that clutch shot. Four is a lot.

Ok, now for the bench. Dyess hit a shot. One shot. I am talking about outside shots. Still a pattern of no multiple outside shots made in a game. Happened only one time the last month. But Dyess played enough in this game to give Ben a good long spell in both halves, Sheed a long spell in the first half, and then at least another short rest for Sheed in the 2nd half. Now, in the 2nd half, 4th quarter especially, Sheed was our hero. We could not keep him out of the game too long. But Dyess did what a bench player needs to do, spell the starters.

Evans played the most off the bench. He hit one jumper, a midranger on an assist from Arroyo. Evans was completely open for this shot. So it looks like maybe he can hit a midranger afterall, as long as the shot is completely unchallenged. Still would like to see him be able to rise over people and hit a midranger. He has the ups for it, just has not shown the ability to hit those yet. Thats it for Evans shooting. His 3 shot was off badly the one time he got set. Another time he hurried one and that missed bad too. Evans did get a couple of assists by passing the ball out from the post.

On defense, Evans guarded Baron Davis extensively. Now, Baron Davis never scored at all before Evans started guarding him in the first half, so you got to wonder what is going on there. Evans was in guarding a guard, but providing no ball handlng for our team. GS was going small, playing both Baron Davis and Fischer at the same time, allowing us to go small like this.

In the 2nd half, Evans again guarded Davis, but GS scored every single time down at the end of the 3rd quarter with Evans on Davis. Not doing so well for us. GS started off badly offensively in that quarter, but ended up scoring 29 points in that quarter with a very poor defensive finish by us.

Evans though redeemed himself on this account by being part of the first half of the 4th quarter, where GS did not score at all. We had Arroyo, Evans, Tay, Dyess, and Sheed out there. (I think actually it was half and half between Tay and Rip.) Good defensive stint by our subs there.

Arroyo, as usual, ran our offense very well. In both halves. Indeed, he took a slight deficit and handed off a slight lead to Billups when Billups came back into the game. Coincidentally, as soon as Billups came back in, GS scored two straight times after going scoreless for the quarter up until then. Arroyo hit the only shot he took, a well, er, about 19 feet, right? For the game, the Pistons had very, very low turns. Great job cherishing each posession.

On defense, Fischer scored on Arroyo a couple of times, but then Arroyo simply started forcing the ball out of Fischer's hands by guarding him starting just after the halfcourt line. In the 2nd half, Arroyo used the tactic of getting under Fischer's legs. Altogether, a rather effective defensive effort on Fishcer after a shaky start. Arroyo guarding Davis did not happen much, and I doubt that looks like a good matchup for us their. Indeed, even though on the face of it Evans did not do much, the fact that he spent a lot of energy guarding Davis meant he was at least contributing that energy.

Arroyo had quite a rebounding game. And he was very effective at triggering some fast breaking. Darn good game altogether for Arroyo except for Fischer burning him a couple of times early.

Again, great start for the Pistons. And for this road trip, not a bad start at all as far as keeping the starters well rested. All three of our subs that did play each played significant minutes. And we won. Man, 14-2 GO PISTONS!!!!!

Nice job Lee. I agree with you 100% on Evans and Arroyo. CA played really well tonight. I liked his energy on D. I also liked the fact that he didn't hesitate at all on that shot and looked very confident stroking it.

Evans still needs to find his role on this team. I've been disappointed with his defensive game so far.

Hard to complain about 14-2 though!

Excerpts from our first game chat tonight.

micro i feel sorry for JMax
linwood As the Vice Admiral of the Jmax genius club, I hope they play this guy.
linwood start making the crash helmets.
explosivity i hate tim legler, i can't stand him
explosivity he hates on us all the time on shootaround
ggazoo69 Legler. We should start a thread of most hated sportscasters.
explosivity why does he hate us so much
linwood I think the D tends to show up early in the 3rd and back again in the 4th. The starters seem to D up in the second half.
linwood I have no statistics to quantify this statement. Just a gut feeling.
Good call linwood.
webz carparkaba for darko anyone?
micro ANYONE FOR DARKO at this point
linwood I have to agree with that.
linwood I feel sorry for the millionaire kid.
G-man Aye but he has great hair
later...
jzchen y delfino is not in d game?
iamme he's doing his hair
iamme with Darko
iamme sharing gel
jzchen hahaha...
later...
micro how does that work? Delfino's hair gets worse, and Darko's gets better
micro nevermind
iamme lol
micro they both have bad hair
Abe Froemen so you want delfino with cornrows?
iamme Delfin-Rows? :P
linwood You can see that haircut anywhere in Hamtramck that the elderly frequent.
Needless to say, we have some pretty funny people on this forum and the chat was a good time. Make sure you come hang with us next game to get more hairstyling advice from the experts, and please bring your FREE THE BRAHMA crash helmets...

Not a great defensive effort by any means. Intensity was around 80% except for a few short spurts when they cranked it up to 95%. GS seemed to rotate quicker and more effectively. Their big white guys got some stuf%%%es on Mo and Sheed.

Both teams were in rhythm in the first quarter with Rip curling for jumpers (mostly) and layups (occasionally). On the other side, J-rich and davis were putting on a guard clinic. They hit some tough shots. Detroit got a hand up and contested most shots but they were in rhythm every time.

Arroyo was outclassed by Davis and Fisher. The biggest thing to me was that he gets picked something fierce...like he's unable to slip screens. But like Lee said he ran the offense. I don't know what all this overdribbling talk is about but Billups and arroyo dribble about the same while the play unfolds. Arroyo fires excellent passes and the team's offense runs smooth with him. Right now, we act like an offensive ball club. People might cry for Mike James but what will that buy you? One guy D'ing up while the rest of the team mails it in. James was perfect for Browns system. I think Arroyo fits better with Flip.

Arroyo tried hard though. One time he got juked and stumbled while Davis (? I was up in the nose bleed section.) sunk a 3-ball.

I was expecting Tay to light it up on Dunleavy but GS was cheating off their guy to provide quick help. Detroit went to whoever Dunleavy was guarding with a good amount of success. But there was usually the weakside cheating over.

I was unimpressed with Evans. No handle. He did provided athletic defense against GS's backcourt. And spotty shooting until it was time to stand in line for hotdogs.

At least two times Dunleavy was left so wide open you could hear Gold leader chanting "stay on target...(nobody's guarding me)...Stay on target...(still yet!)...Stay on target" Obi-wan must have told him to use the force cuz they went in.

I thought billups forced a few shots. More than once detroit and GS traded 3's.
Rip got cold late in the 2nd or early in the third but found his stroke again. Sheed was big with his face to the basket low post action. Wow. Solid. GS had no answer for sheed. All they had was J-rich.

Both teams were clutch down the stretch. Detroit got two key stops at different times and sunk their free throws to squeak by.

Looked to me like the Pistons were pacing themselves for a long trip. Little intensity...cranked it up to some intensity. Just enough effort to get a W and move on. In the pregame, it looked like both Darko and Delfino knew they weren't going to play. Darko spent an inordinate amount of time on the GS side. To talk to Cabarkapa. I thought he was trying to get onto the warriors roster. They didn't play darko either. The plane ride will wear the pistons out more than this game.

Watching the game, we settled for a lot of midrange jumpers and long bombs. We get open looks but their team is in place to rebound the miss. For our part, our guys are curling off screens set by our bigs. That means they aren't in any position to crash the boards on the offensive end. Things change when Tay or Sheed get down low and force the other team to rotate but more often than not its a mid range jumper with our big guys no where near the basket.

On the other side, I am wondering if we are over rotating. We get 3 guys collapsing on a penetrator and then its a follow up jam by their unguarded big. Better basketball minds than mine can dissect this more effectively I guess.

Overall it was a fun time being there. The crowd was mellow. I think the most the arena was able to do was Moooooo when a freethrow was being shot.

Darko spent an inordinate amount of time on the GS side. To talk to Cabarkapa. I thought he was trying to get onto the warriors roster. They didn't play darko either.
:laugh:
*sigh*
He just isn't working out, is he? :ohwell:

But it's Delfino that's especially confusing me these days. Did he run over Flip's dog? What's the problem here? He seems capable from afar....

From a fan standpoint, it was a good game to watch. I was pumping my fist in the air at a local eatery while watching.

This is just my third game and again, Detroit is 3-0 when I get to watch the Pistons play! Wohooo! yeah yeah, they're 11-2 when I don't.

From what I saw, well, the bench has got to give something. We got blown up by the Warriors' bench. Yeah it's hard to complain at 14-2, best start, but you gotta wonder what roles the bench could give our starters already.

Arroyo played ok, Evans had a bunch of blown opportunities, Darko isn't getting time, Dyess isn't like last year (if he wants some time on the block to get himself acclimated to the game, then run a couple of plays down there for the guy!), JMax isn't getting his shot yet, Lindsey still injured, Delfino is secretly asking for a trade somewhere, Davis is just for foul insurance, Amir and Acker are still on the IL. Where will the support for the FAB FIVE come from?

C'mon Detroit, Bench, let's get it going.:nod:

Yeah it was exciting...especially when J=rich hits that 3 at the end and the whole crowd errupts. I was in the 'pistons section' and we had mini ben wallace giving high fives and representin' the fro for the big fella.

I thought the bench played ok. They maintained until the starters rotated back in. I really wanted to see Delfino but GS fielded some athletic guards. The Gs backcourt is scary. Theys got quicks and ups...its tough to stop. So I think Flip wanted more athleticism from Mo than penetration from Delfino.

It didn't matter because they both lit it up no matter who was guarding them. The most effective guy was Hamilton who managed to get in the other guys grille before they got their shot off. Everyone else contested the shot but by then its too late.

It was a war of attrition without wild swings like in Chicago, but it wasn't a knock down drag out fight either...more like a chess match, with dunks...and jumpshots.

I'm looking for unbiased opinions.

Does anyone think Ben traveled on his way to the dunk after catching the bomb at the end of the game?

To me, it kinda looked like a shuffle and a two-step by him after he realized he was holding the ball and didn't want to get fouled.

In the pregame, it looked like both Darko and Delfino knew they weren't going to play. Darko spent an inordinate amount of time on the GS side. To talk to Cabarkapa. I thought he was trying to get onto the warriors roster. The plane ride will wear the pistons out more than this game.

LMAO :pound:

I'm looking for unbiased opinions.

Does anyone think Ben traveled on his way to the dunk after catching the bomb at the end of the game?

To me, it kinda looked like a shuffle and a two-step by him after he realized he was holding the ball and didn't want to get fouled.

I didn't think so but I didn't have luxury of instant replay. There were a bunch of uncalled travels by both teams...I think in the 4th. A lot of uncalled carries...by both teams. So it seemed that even if it was a questionable travel...they weren't going to call it cuz that's how they were officiating the whole time.

Ben actually was free the possession before...but he was sprinting from the middle of the court. It seemed a little too risky with (the lack of) that angle. But he tried it again from the side and Sheed seemed more ready for it.

I'm looking for unbiased opinions.

Does anyone think Ben traveled on his way to the dunk after catching the bomb at the end of the game?

To me, it kinda looked like a shuffle and a two-step by him after he realized he was holding the ball and didn't want to get fouled.

definitely...looked like he traveled his %%%%% off to me...i was shocked that the GSW home announcers didn't say anything about this during the game, that's the first thought i had when i saw it.

overall i thought the officiating was sloppy and somewhat inconsistent - but it was a heck of a game despite that (or maybe because of it?)

bench played well tonight. guys like evans and arroyo had to defend GS's starting guards who are ridiculously talented...for those who want to complain about the bench defense, GS's guards didn't have much problem scoring on our starters either...

btw, davis didn't score much in the first half true, but he was busy getting 14 assists for the night. i'm amazed at people continually skewing stats (like lee talking about evans on davis) to suit their personal opinion of a player.

evans wasn't awesome but he did his job, mcdyess did his, and arroyo played really well - although against davis he probably could have played a step off rather than up close, which davis was able to drive around.

good game all around, sheed won us another game, and we're 14-2.

Excerpts from our first game chat tonight.




Good call linwood.

Needless to say, we have some pretty funny people on this forum and the chat was a good time. Make sure you come hang with us next game to get more hairstyling advice from the experts, and please bring your FREE THE BRAHMA crash helmets...

flip said on thursday on am 1130 that he plays the bench according to what he needs and that he would not be surprised if he plays J Max on this west coast trip.

I thought Ben travelled too... but on the other hand, I haven't seen anyone take such a hard charge and not get the call. That was the worst call of the year so far.

All in all, that game was spectacular from both sides. GS was hitting very difficult shots that were well defended. I don't agree with those that said that Detroit was pacing themselves for the road trip. To me, it looked like Detroit realized that they were up against a hot shooting team, and that they would lose if they didn't play post season-like defense.

Rip and Arroyo were unusually active on the defensive end. And the main thing was that Sheed felt like the game was important enough to dominate in the post. This was the best game he has had in quite some time. He didn't hit the 3's, but he did what he specializes in... and played great D too.

Anyone notice how the Pistons don't get in foul trouble as much as they did in the past 2 years? Maybe they are just smarter defenders now... or maybe that are starting to get that RESPECT that they deserve. One other thing that I'm noticing is that the Pistons are not getting hung up on bad calls like they used to. Maybe that has something to do with their freedom on offense and knowing that they can just go and erase it.

As far as the bench goes, I'd like to see Darko get some time, but not in a game like that one. The intensity was something that I'm not sure he is capable of. This may have been a game for JMax if we could have built a lead. Delfino probably sat out because we were scoring at will, but couldn't stop GS. CD would have been overkill on offense and a weak link on defense.

Excerpts from our first game chat tonight.




Good call linwood.

Needless to say, we have some pretty funny people on this forum and the chat was a good time. Make sure you come hang with us next game to get more hairstyling advice from the experts, and please bring your FREE THE BRAHMA crash helmets...
see ya next game, my bruddahs!

bench played well tonight. guys like evans and arroyo had to defend GS's starting guards who are ridiculously talented...for those who want to complain about the bench defense, GS's guards didn't have much problem scoring on our starters either...

btw, davis didn't score much in the first half true, but he was busy getting 14 assists for the night. i'm amazed at people continually skewing stats (like lee talking about evans on davis) to suit their personal opinion of a player.

evans wasn't awesome but he did his job, mcdyess did his, and arroyo played really well - although against davis he probably could have played a step off rather than up close, which davis was able to drive around.

good game all around, sheed won us another game, and we're 14-2.

Gee, I did mention Evans was providing energy to the team by guarding Davis. By the way, he was plus 5 for the game too. Lots of people said Evans had a bad game last night. I am not one of them. I only pointed out that what Evans was not doing is guarding any small forwards.

Anyone notice how the Pistons don't get in foul trouble as much as they did in the past 2 years? Maybe they are just smarter defenders now... or maybe that are starting to get that RESPECT that they deserve. One other thing that I'm noticing is that the Pistons are not getting hung up on bad calls like they used to. Maybe that has something to do with their freedom on offense and knowing that they can just go and erase it.



Very interesting questions. :noidea:

very good point. tay got a huge call down the stretch where he charged , but they called a blocking foul. although the same thing happened with fisher, but that wasn't as huge since it wasn't in the 4th quarter. is it me or was chauncey's 29 points quiet it seemed as if rasheed had 29 and not 22.

RaSheed got his when we went to him, so all the attention was drawn to him. Chauncey did a good job of scoring toward the end of the shot clock and on fast breaks. I realized what a job CBill was doing, because I was watching on league pass and listening to the GS announcers. Every time he would shoot the ball, they would comment on how automatic he is. Also, they talked alot about Ben Wallace and his status as the 3 time DPOY and how the GS big men were doing a good job of not being intimidated by him. And my favorite was when Tay hit the big shot at the end, one of the announcers asked "how many weapons can they draw on in the clutch?"

What a great distribution between Rip, Chauncey, Tay, and Sheed of shot attempts, rebounds, assists, and free throws. We are the 5 headed dragon.

yeah chauncey's 29 points was quiet for some reason. don't forget about ben too he along with sheed helped the warriors stay out of the paint in the second half. both teams sucked from 3 Detroit (5-17) and GS (4-18). unlike the warriors though we went inside also while they would take long 2's if they couldn't get a 3.

Yes, we do have an offensive team. Sounds strange. I squirm a little on the limited defense. But this is the regular season which is the time for offense. I am amazed at how much offense we have even though I have been harping that we should have had more last year so something was wrong with our set-up. It is strange to see us win with offense. But no 14-2 with defense--not in the regular season grind. Defense is much more work on the day to day. Then, on the days you don't bring it, you lose.

The lack of defense is compensated for by the clutch plays the starters make down the stretch.

The record is gaudy, but then we haven't played more than one elite team (Dallas). And when we played that elite team, they out executed our "O" and exploited our poor "D".

I'm happy for the fast start, but it is a long season and we are relying very heavily on the starters. The bench guys have been very, very inconsistent.

In a game this close, you have to wonder if we would have won with Pietrus playing and Murphy not under the effects of the flu.

Sometimes it is good to be lucky. It's always better to be good. I'm still waiting for that San Antonio game (and hoping their roster is healthy) so that we can get a true gauge of where this team is at. One thing is for sure, the rebounding worries me more than the spotty "D". Common basketball knowledge dictates that the team who wins the battle on the boards gives themselves a chance to win. If the other team is out-rebounding the Pistons, then they are also being given that chance...

one reason why tams are outrebounding us is that ben has been injured for a little bit, and that some teams shoot a lot of jumpers and those long boards come back to them. as for the bench lb would have never put more than dice in a 4th quarter flip trusts arroyo, evans, and dice. soon enough he'll trust more players.

The lack of defense is compensated for by the clutch plays the starters make down the stretch.

The record is gaudy, but then we haven't played more than one elite team (Dallas). And when we played that elite team, they out executed our "O" and exploited our poor "D".

I'm happy for the fast start, but it is a long season and we are relying very heavily on the starters. The bench guys have been very, very inconsistent.

In a game this close, you have to wonder if we would have won with Biedrins playing and Murphy not under the effects of the flu.

Sometimes it is good to be lucky. It's always better to be good. I'm still waiting for that San Antonio game (and hoping their roster is healthy) so that we can get a true gauge of where this team is at. One thing is for sure, the rebounding worries me more than the spotty "D". Common basketball knowledge dictates that the team who wins the battle on the boards gives themselves a chance to win. If the other team is out-rebounding the Pistons, then they are also being given that chance...

True enough, we haven't played the Spurs yet, but look at Detroit's road record. Most teams play better at home, so beating a decent team on the road is kind of like beating a good team at home.
:flame:The Pistons rock!!!!!! 14-2. What better gauge do you want? Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

True enough, we haven't played the Spurs yet, but look at Detroit's road record. Most teams play better at home, so beating a decent team on the road is kind of like beating a good team at home.
:flame:The Pistons rock!!!!!! 14-2. What better gauge do you want? Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMHO, you guys are both right... I share all of Micro's concerns... it is amazing the lack of quality opponents to this point (also considering their health).... but we shouldn't underestimate the knowledge of knowing what to do at games end.
There is no perfect team... even the Spurs have weaknesses... Rasho's defense... Parker light in the pants etc.
I still fear a healthy Heat team (sure don't want to face them in the first round)... and a motivated Pacers group... at this point the pressure is on them to make up ground... we CAN get better.

I missed most of the game. Only caught the last half of the 3rd and the 4th and of course thats Piston time.

That was amazing watching Sheed school Dunleavy and Diogu down the stretch. I tuned in when Billups was exchanging 3's with Dunleavy and thought man we are going to lose this game like this. Then the Piston D tightened down and Sheed started taking it to Dunleavy and Diogu, especially Dunleavy. Really entertaining watching him try to post Sheed and trying to stop Sheed as he took it to them. Other GS players tried taking it in only to get stripped or swatted by one of the Wallace's.

On the 4th quarter D. The GS players looked surprised when the Pistons tightened things down. Which tells me that they must have been successfull with those types of plays earlier in the game.

Saw we got out-rebounded yet again. Only by 1 this time. Kind of looking like Ben Wallace has to get double digit rebounds in order to give us an edge there. Dyess was not much help. We really do need a 4th big who can contribute. Dale Davis makes his living banging around down low. We could really use a guy like that.

Not that I wouldn't have liked to see Sheed paired up with Dunleavy, Max, but that was actually Troy Murphy.

Murphy's a good player, but that game really demonstrates the Warriors' problem. They just give away too much at the power positions. Diogu could be a nice Carlos Boozer type, but they've gotta get a real 5 man.

Not that I wouldn't have liked to see Sheed paired up with Dunleavy, Max, but that was actually Troy Murphy.

Murphy's a good player, but that game really demonstrates the Warriors' problem. They just give away too much at the power positions. Diogu could be a nice Carlos Boozer type, but they've gotta get a real 5 man.

There were a couple of plays when Dunleavy tried taking Sheed.

Gee, I did mention Evans was providing energy to the team by guarding Davis. By the way, he was plus 5 for the game too. Lots of people said Evans had a bad game last night. I am not one of them. I only pointed out that what Evans was not doing is guarding any small forwards.

The 3rd time I rewatched the game, I concentrated on exactly what Evans was doing on defense. The only thing he had success with was guarding Dunleavy. And his plus 5, that came specifically when Davis sat out and Evans guarded Dunleavy early in the 4th quarter. Otherwise, Evans was not doing well in this game as far as plus minus goes.

As for Evans guarding Baron Davis, this was an utter disaster for us. First of all, Evans never got up on Davis enough to slow down his dribble. Never. Next, Davis could juke Evans out at will and drive by him. Never took a whole second for Davis to shake Evans as he chose.

This may sound harsh, but hey, I am just telling you what I saw. Almost wished I had not looked closely at this. For this game, Evans gave us nothing on defense, precious little on offense himself, and surely not enough ball handling.

The one aspect of Evans game I liked for this game is that he several times passed the ball into Sheed in the post. Once for an assist. Now, I am not saying this showed a bunch of talent. Its not like Evans actually handled the ball and then made a pass. He was just passing the ball on to the next guy. But at least he did that right.

i knew that was coming, and you still don't get it.

Did you know that of the starting 5, Golden State's oldest starter is 30?

Foyle - 30
Davis - 26
Almost everyone else on the team excepting DFish and Cheaney are under 25.

This is the team to watch 2 years from now.

bench played well tonight. guys like evans and arroyo had to defend GS's starting guards who are ridiculously talented...for those who want to complain about the bench defense, GS's guards didn't have much problem scoring on our starters either...

btw, davis didn't score much in the first half true, but he was busy getting 14 assists for the night. i'm amazed at people continually skewing stats (like lee talking about evans on davis) to suit their personal opinion of a player.

evans wasn't awesome but he did his job, mcdyess did his, and arroyo played really well - although against davis he probably could have played a step off rather than up close, which davis was able to drive around.

good game all around, sheed won us another game, and we're 14-2.

Sure, Evans did his job. When he guarded Dunleavy, a guy any of several Pistons gaurded easily in the game. When Evans guarded anyone else, GS scored. I too, at first glance, thought Evans did ok for that game. Until I looked a bit more carefully.

You say that the starters did poorly too. But that is not entirely true. The starters had a fine defensive 3rd quarter going. A third quarter that saw GS get 29 points, a whole bunch of which happened after Evans came in.

Now, I ask you, if Evans can't defend, and he can't shoot well, at least of late, and he can't handle the ball, then why is he out there.

Sure, Evans did his job. When he guarded Dunleavy, a guy any of several Pistons gaurded easily in the game. When Evans guarded anyone else, GS scored. I too, at first glance, thought Evans did ok for that game. Until I looked a bit more carefully.

You say that the starters did poorly too. But that is not entirely true. The starters had a fine defensive 3rd quarter going. A third quarter that saw GS get 29 points, a whole bunch of which happened after Evans came in.

Now, I ask you, if Evans can't defend, and he can't shoot well, at least of late, and he can't handle the ball, then why is he out there.

Why? Because Flip is really a spy for one of our rivals. He knows our other bench players are much better than Evans, but Flip is slickly slipping in guys that he figures will lose the game for us.

Good job helping us see the Light Lee. Thank goodness you watch each game at least 5 times so you can catch these little subtleties the normal...err ...average basketball fan would miss.

As usual, you bash Evans without providing the advantages of the guy you want to take his PT.

What do you want to see from the bench besides seeing Mo off of it?

As usual, you bash Evans without providing the advantages of the guy you want to take his PT.

What do you want to see from the bench besides seeing Mo off of it?

I have covered this subject there, proposing several rotations without Evans. But since you brought it up, lets talk about how Carlos Delfino would have done in this game.

Carlos Delfino might have fared no better guarding Richardson or Davis in this game. But then again, all Defino would have had to do is just one time help keep GS from scoring while guarding these guys and he would have beaten out Evans in this regard. Now, to be fair, GS did fail to score one time, as their center blew an uncontested dunk off one play.

Yes, GS scored every single time other than that blown dunk if Evans was guarding Davis or Richardson. Know who Evans did guard ok? Cheany and Dunleavy.

Now, I submit to you, Delfino could have guarded Cheany and Dunleavy just fine. And contributed points and ball handling.

Other guys I could see taking Evans minutes are Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Arroyo playing more than he does, Darko indirectly by sliding Sheed over to small forward some. From what I can see, Evans is providing nothing non-replaceable out there. Of late, I remember he did guard Gilbert Arenas well in the Washington game. So I can see that there will be an occasional matchup where Evans can be useful. But not as a regular rotation player.

Why? Because Flip is really a spy for one of our rivals. He knows our other bench players are much better than Evans, but Flip is slickly slipping in guys that he figures will lose the game for us.

Good job helping us see the Light Lee. Thank goodness you watch each game at least 5 times so you can catch these little subtleties the normal...err ...average basketball fan would miss.

I guess everybody was right... He's been trying to lose games since he got here and just can't get the job done... thanks to the basketballs gods for letting me know what the coach is up too.... and we can't even help out a new coach by getting what he wants...... :doh: (just to clarify this is making fun of the post i replied to but others if its not clear)

GRIN.... i sure wonder what this place is going to be like when god forbid we finally do end this up side run and do the rebuild thing that all teams do sooner or later

Other guys I could see taking Evans minutes are Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Arroyo playing more than he does, Darko indirectly by sliding Sheed over to small forward some. From what I can see, Evans is providing nothing non-replaceable out there. Of late, I remember he did guard Gilbert Arenas well in the Washington game. So I can see that there will be an occasional matchup where Evans can be useful. But not as a regular rotation player.

LOL!!

I knew you'd find a way to slip Darko in there!

I guess everybody was right... He's been trying to lose games since he got here and just can't get the job done... thanks to the basketballs gods for letting me know what the coach is up too.... and we can't even help out a new coach by getting what he wants...... :doh: (just to clarify this is making fun of the post i replied to but others if its not clear)

GRIN.... i sure wonder what this place is going to be like when god forbid we finally do end this up side run and do the rebuild thing that all teams do sooner or later
uggggg i needed a longer nap...... i meant in my previous post... i wasn't having a go at the post i was replying too... my apologies.....