http://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/DET_3079.gifhttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/vs.gifhttp://www.pistonsforum.com/img/resources/team/CHI_426.gif

Pistons vs Bulls
October 11th, 2005 ~ 7:00 pm
Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI
TV: FSN Detroit
Radio: WDFN

This is the official game thread and log! Discuss this game here!

Box Score (http://www.nba.com/games/20051011/CHIDET/boxscore.html)

Detroit 87, Chicago 76
Pistons Repel Bulls in Preseason Opener

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Oct. 11 (Ticker) -- The Detroit Pistons did not lose their defensive intensity under new coach Flip Saunders.

Rasheed Wallace had 15 points to pace the Pistons to an 87-76 triumph over the Chicago Bulls in the preseason opener for both teams.

Offseason acquisition Maurice Evans scored 12 points and Ben Wallace added 11 for Detroit, which was playing its first game under Saunders.

The Pistons reached the NBA Finals each of the last two seasons, winning in 2003-04 under Larry Brown, who agreed to a buyout and now is coaching the New York Knicks.

Michael Sweetney, whom the Bulls acquired from the Knicks in a deal for center Eddy Curry, scored 17 points to pace Chicago.

Jannero Pargo, who re-signed with Chicago on Monday, added 11 points and Tyson Chandler contributed eight and 14 rebounds.

The Pistons closed the first quarter on a 15-4 run to take a 27-17 advantage and led thereafter.

Chicago Sun Times Article on this game. (http://www.suntimes.com/output/bulls/cst-spt-bull12.html)
-

Well it's cool as hell (oxymoron:) ) jumping in on the first game thread of the year for the Pistons at PF.COM.... even if it is just preseason.

Looks like these early games will be all about critiquing the young players. Most likely just some simple sets with a splash of Zone concepts.

There could be some interesting match ups in this game:

Jmax & A.J. vs Sweetney, Deng, Malik Allen?

Mo Evan & Delfino vs Deng & Tim Thomas?

Acker vs Ben Gordon?

Darko vs Othella Harrington (their biggest center besides Chandler is 6' 9")

Looking for answers:

Does Jmax play any SF?

Same for A.J.?

Acker mostly playing at PG?... can he stay in front of Gordon?

Is Mo Evans tall enough to guard these SF's 3-5" bigger?
(Hammond thought Evans might be our backup SF)

Has Delfino's lateral movement improved on "D"?

The obvious interest in Darko's progress.

Flips new stuff (especially on offense)

Let the games begin! :rockon:

Jmax & A.J. vs Sweetney, Deng, Malik Allen?
Sweetney, Deng, Malik Allen

Mo Evan & Delfino vs Deng & Tim Thomas?
Mo Evan & Delfino

Acker vs Ben Gordon?
Ben Gordon

Darko vs Othella Harrington (their biggest center besides Chandler is 6' 9")
Daaaarkooooo

Looking for answers:

Does Jmax play any SF?
My guess is yes. I could see Flip expirementing with a BIG lineup with Jmax and small.

Same for A.J.?
My guess is no. They will be trying lots of players at the 3, he won't be one of them.

Acker mostly playing at PG?... can he stay in front of Gordon?
Yes, to PG...NO, to staying in front of Gordon.

Is Mo Evans tall enough to guard these SF's 3-5" bigger?
(Hammond thought Evans might be our backup SF)
Yes, his physical conditioning appears to be very impressive at this point.

Has Delfino's lateral movement improved on "D"?
Yes, nowhere to go but up! :laugh:

The obvious interest in Darko's progress.
Darko will have a strong game and the Pistons fanbase will be talking about this for days. :)

Flips new stuff (especially on offense)
Offense will look sluggish originally, but defense will carry the team to a victory.

FINALLY.

the Pistons are ready to surprise the NBA again.

Jmax & A.J. vs Sweetney, Deng, Malik Allen?
Sweetney, Deng, Malik Allen

Mo Evan & Delfino vs Deng & Tim Thomas?
Mo Evan & Delfino

Acker vs Ben Gordon?
Ben Gordon

Darko vs Othella Harrington (their biggest center besides Chandler is 6' 9")
Daaaarkooooo

Looking for answers:

Does Jmax play any SF?
My guess is yes. I could see Flip expirementing with a BIG lineup with Jmax and small.

Same for A.J.?
My guess is no. They will be trying lots of players at the 3, he won't be one of them.

Acker mostly playing at PG?... can he stay in front of Gordon?
Yes, to PG...NO, to staying in front of Gordon.

Is Mo Evans tall enough to guard these SF's 3-5" bigger?
(Hammond thought Evans might be our backup SF)
Yes, his physical conditioning appears to be very impressive at this point.

Has Delfino's lateral movement improved on "D"?
Yes, nowhere to go but up! :laugh:

The obvious interest in Darko's progress.
Darko will have a strong game and the Pistons fanbase will be talking about this for days. :)

Flips new stuff (especially on offense)
Offense will look sluggish originally, but defense will carry the team to a victory.

Agree with everything except for Sweetney, Deng, and Malik doing better than Maxiell, and AJ. Maxiell is going to bully those guys around.:boxing:

Hmm...I thought someone said that this game would be on NBA TV. I looked at the schedule on NBA.com and my local cable company and that does not appear to be the case. :doh: This really sucks.

I guess I will have to depend on the coverage you guys deliver tonight/tommorrow morning.

dang it! dang it! dang it!

Players haven't put blowout out of mind

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-051010bullsbits,1,6060661.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Looks like Chicago is trying to get up for this game. They are looking to set the tone for the season tonight so this should be a great test for our young players.

Players haven't put blowout out of mind

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-051010bullsbits,1,6060661.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

Looks like Chicago is trying to get up for this game. They are looking to set the tone for the season tonight so this should be a great test for our young players.
I think it will also be a good reminder for the veterans before the regular season starts that teams are going to play their best against the E.C. champs. :fencing:

Cool I can hear it online!

Quick thoughts after 8 minutes.

- Tayshaun...still content to be the most invisible starter. NEEDS to break free of this syndrome.

- Wow. Chandler looks great so far.

- Where's Rip's mask? C'mon Rip, gotta protect that nose.

Very impressed with Darko, Delfino and Evans. Arroyo played the point well. The starters did not lose anything on D and played more freely and productive on the offensive end.

Only negative thing were all the offensive boards by Chandler. Its still the pre-season.

Chandler is a rebounding machine!

Darko 4 blocks in the first half, off of the bench. Looks like some of what he was doing in Serbia carried back over.

***Jealous***:violin: I wish I could see it.

DT

You can get it at NBA.com. I think they do streaming audio of the preseason games for free!

I don't get it on the boob tube either. I'm listening to WDFN and watching the Rockets/Sixers game.

DT

You can get it at NBA.com. I think they do streaming audio of the preseason games for free!

I don't get it on the boob tube either. I'm listening to WDFN and watching the Rockets/Sixers game.

ok, thanks. I'll try.

I saw the game on NBAtv, courtesy of Dish Network. Sometimes you have to check at game time even if there are no indications that they'll be televising.

Solid effort all around. Chicago came out intense and gave the Pistons a good battle, but the Bulls backcourt wasn't very effective on offense and Detroit built their lead with the starters in the first and third quarters. The second unit held its own or built the lead the remainder of the time. Sheed was excellent on offense, Rip was in midseason form, Chauncey was content to control things, Ben got fiesty early and had a gorgeous alley-oop from Rip over Tyson Chandler, who was superb at the start of the game. Tay stayed in the background and didn't hit a lot of shots. Overall the starters were very precise and blended well with substitutes at the end of quarters.

Delfino looked GREAT. Much improved over summer league, very effective at pushing the ball up the court and passing or finishing. He looks like he's put the knee injury behind him. Darko had some terrific moments but struggled a bit after the second quarter. He had a block and a beautiful backdoor pass to Sheed in the last few seconds of the first, a good strong dunk after pinning his man on the baseline and a terrific catch-and-shoot J that iced the game once the Bulls got within six. He fumbled some rebounds but did look a good deal more aggressive. Still struggles with smaller widebodies in the post, though--Sweetney scored on him several times and got him in foul trouble.

Arroyo looked comfortable with his shot, but a step slow with the groin injury. He's still feeling his way with Flip's offense, often overpenetrating and ending up with nowhere to go. Evans looked very good on the boards and scored from the perimeter, while Dupree seemed a little tight and missed some early shots. Converted a nice three-point play on the break from Delfino, though. McDyess didn't do very much, but seemed content to keep things flowing. The second unit will have to put some time in getting him his pet shots.

Refs mostly swallowed their whistles, the Pistons smothered a bunch of shots early and kept their own turnovers to a minimum. Chicago looks like it will have a big season from Chandler, but their bench looks a lot thinner now than it did last year.

I saw the game on NBAtv, courtesy of Dish Network. Sometimes you have to check at game time even if there are no indications that they'll be televising.

Solid effort all around. Chicago came out intense and gave the Pistons a good battle, but the Bulls backcourt wasn't very effective on offense and Detroit built their lead with the starters in the first and third quarters. The second unit held its own or built the lead the remainder of the time. Sheed was excellent on offense, Rip was in midseason form, Chauncey was content to control things, Ben got fiesty early and had a gorgeous alley-oop from Rip over Tyson Chandler, who was superb at the start of the game. Tay stayed in the background and didn't hit a lot of shots. Overall the starters were very precise and blended well with substitutes at the end of quarters.

Delfino looked GREAT. Much improved over summer league, very effective at pushing the ball up the court and passing or finishing. He looks like he's put the knee injury behind him. Darko had some terrific moments but struggled a bit after the second quarter. He had a block and a beautiful backdoor pass to Sheed in the last few seconds of the first, a good strong dunk after pinning his man on the baseline and a terrific catch-and-shoot J that iced the game once the Bulls got within six. He fumbled some rebounds but did look a good deal more aggressive. Still struggles with smaller widebodies in the post, though--Sweetney scored on him several times and got him in foul trouble.

Arroyo looked comfortable with his shot, but a step slow with the groin injury. He's still feeling his way with Flip's offense, often overpenetrating and ending up with nowhere to go. Evans looked very good on the boards and scored from the perimeter, while Dupree seemed a little tight and missed some early shots. Converted a nice three-point play on the break from Delfino, though. McDyess didn't do very much, but seemed content to keep things flowing. The second unit will have to put some time in getting him his pet shots.

Refs mostly swallowed their whistles, the Pistons smothered a bunch of shots early and kept their own turnovers to a minimum. Chicago looks like it will have a big season from Chandler, but their bench looks a lot thinner now than it did last year.

great analysis!

Thanks!

I saw that he scored 12 points tonight. Now that's what I call bench production. Yahtzee!

great analysis!

Thanks!

Yes, thank you!!!!

You're welcome. Here's a recap:

Pistons 87, Bulls 76

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Rasheed Wallace scored 15 points and hauled down eight rebounds while Maurice Evans had 12 points to lead the Detroit Pistons past the Chicago Bulls 87-76 Tuesday night in the NBA preseason opener for both teams.

...

Michael Sweetney had 17 points and Tyson Chandler had 14 rebounds for Chicago, which is coming off its first playoff appearance in seven years.

With the Pistons leading 45-37 at halftime, Wallace scored 10 of his points in the third quarter, boosting Detroit's lead to 67-53. Ronald Dupree's field goal and free throw early in the fourth quarter gave the Pistons a 74-57 lead.

Chicago cut it to 78-71 late in the game but a layin by Darko Milicic and three-pointer by Evans iced the Pistons victory.

The Bulls' only lead of the game was 13-12 midway in the first quarter after a jumper by Ben Gordon. Wallace's slam dunk late in the first quarter gave the Pistons a 27-17 lead.

Reserve guard Carlos Delfino scored four consecutive points and Maurice Evans followed with a free throw midway in the second quarter to give Detroit its largest lead of the half, 45-29.

Ben Wallace had 11 points and seven rebounds for Detroit.

@ Notes: The Pistons start a three-game preseason swing at The Palace of Auburn Hills, playing Milwaukee on Thursday, Minnesota on Sunday and Dallas on Tuesday. ... A crowd of 11,130 at Van Andel Arena watched Tuesday's game. ... The Bulls are at Memphis Wednesday and play at home Saturday against Boston and Monday against Minnesota. ... Out with injuries were Detroit's Lindsey Hunter, from arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle, and Chicago's Chris Duhon with a right groin strain, Eric Platkowski with a sore left knee and Darius Songaila with a right shoulder strain.

Michael Sweetney had 17 points and Tyson Chandler had 14 rebounds for Chicago, which is coming off its first playoff appearance in seven years.

I still predict that Sweetney will have a better season than Curry. Just my opinion. ;)

Arroyo looked comfortable with his shot, but a step slow with the groin injury. He's still feeling his way with Flip's offense, often overpenetrating and ending up with nowhere to go.

Nice job LanierFan.

I agree with you about Arroyo overpenetrating. That's been his biggest weakness, along with his D, since arriving.

I'm sure as he gets more comfortable with Flip's offense, he'll improve.

i wish i could watch every piston game this year...any suggestions, my bruddas??:eyebrows:

Delfino can actually play. Surprise to me. Arroyo the same as in the playoffs--penetrates only to keep the ball and get stuck. Darko can block shots but the other areas of his game are still iffy. He just doesn't rebound well. His usefullness overall to the team's purpose is an open question. Evans can shoot but we really need him for the D. Couldn't gauge his D.

i wish i could watch every piston game this year...any suggestions, my bruddas??:eyebrows:

NBA League Pass + NBAtv + Tivo = every piston game.

:peace:Just want to take this opportunity to congratulate Flip on his first NBA Championship. Our boys looked good tonight. There's a lot of talent on that team.

Sheed looks like a teenager out there. Guess what? Delfino has Piston DNA. He'll be a baller this year. Maurice Evans is a Christmas present come early. Darko will be playing a lot of minutes this year, especially at the end. He's got it, guys. Still getting the emotional side down. Bosh who? Chauncey, Ben, Tay, Dice. God, I'm feelin' good.

Glad channel 20 didn't televise this thing. They probably would have trained the camera on the hot dog vendor.

I'm very disappointed in this offense. It looks eerily like the Cola's gameplan of having everyone scattered around the perimeter and having Ben as the only one near the basket. We are going to get killed on the boards. Chandler had a field day. Ben will probably go back to leading the league in rebounding, but we will be one of the worst as a team.

Everything was jumpshot after jumpshot after jumpshot. We got hardly anything in the paint all night. If this is going to be our season, it can't continue like this. We HAVE to get points in the paint. If we fail to do that in the playoffs, we are toast. Ben - 1 Post Up; Sheed - maybe 2; Prince - 0 Post ups; Dice - 0 Post Ups; Darko - 1 Post Up & one pass received for a dunk. That's unacceptable. Preseason or not, this is when they are supposed to be working in the things they will be doing on a regular basis.

Sheed and Ben looked good tonight. Chauncey was shooting the ball well. Rip seemed to be moving well. Delfino was 20 times more active than anything he showed during summer league. Darko held his ground well. Evans was unimpressive and Dupree was almost invisible. I also thought Arroyo spent too much time dribbling all over the place
(shocker:scared:).

Well, at any rate, there really needs to be more focus on getting points in the paint. After listening to Fred and Greg call the offense crisp with a startling 87 points, I almost fell off the couch. Oh well, I guess I'll just drink more beer during games.:noidea:

:peace:Just want to take this opportunity to congratulate Flip on his first NBA Championship. Our boys looked good tonight. There's a lot of talent on that team.

Sheed looks like a teenager out there. Guess what? Delfino has Piston DNA. He'll be a baller this year. Maurice Evans is a Christmas present come early. Darko will be playing a lot of minutes this year, especially at the end. He's got it, guys. Still getting the emotional side down. Bosh who? Chauncey, Ben, Tay, Dice. God, I'm feelin' good.

Glad channel 20 didn't televise this thing. They probably would have trained the camera on the hot dog vendor.



Whoooooaa there big feller!

It's just a pre-season. Long way to go...

PS: Baron Bowen failed to say the metaphysician FINDS the cat AT midnight in a brightly-lit cellar that is not there ;)

I'm very disappointed in this offense.

Everything was jumpshot after jumpshot after jumpshot. We got hardly anything in the paint all night. If this is going to be our season, it can't continue like this. We HAVE to get points in the paint. If we fail to do that in the playoffs, we are toast. Ben - 1 Post Up; Sheed - maybe 2; Prince - 0 Post ups; Dice - 0 Post Ups; Darko - 1 Post Up & one pass received for a dunk. That's unacceptable.

Perspective 4tW.

Spacing wasn't great on the offensive end, but for a first game with a new system it was encouraging. (Add a beautiful Hamilton layup off a give&go from Sheed to Low's list, BTW.) The team did score a lot of easy points on the break, generally took care of the ball and made sound decisions.

Here is what McCosky had to say:

http://www.detnews.com/2005/pistons/0510/12/D01-346297.htm


Krista Latham:

http://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/pistons12e_20051012.htm

hmm...

wonder why the rooks didn't get any burn?

Solid defense last night. Sheed is in mid season form and very active. For those looking for more Sheed inside fuhgedaboutit in this offense. This is not a post up offense by any means, it relies on alot of jumpers. As The Low said earlier, not alot of scoring going to the basket in the paint. Darko held his own, good interior defense, and he's playing alot stronger and confident.

Delfino is a playmaker on defense, but still lacks lateral foot speed to keep HIS man in front of him. Delfino has huge hands that are very quick, he plays passing lanes very well. He reminds me of a corner that gets alot of interceptions, but gets beat alot also.

Maurice Evans is going to be a nice fit, tough as frikkin nails, doesn't get alot of love from the zebras though. Dude plays the interior like he's 6'8" for real. Imagine a Darvin w/out the butterfingers, and a respectable shot from outside, that can handle the rock a little.

Again I wasn't really impressed by Darko, but I was satisfied and happy for the kid, he's better, he looks like he's ready to contribute, learn and work in this league. Once DMC gets a better rhythm his J will start falling alot more, that said he didn't seem like he was in love with the perimeter, he constantly hit the block to post up and called for the ball. Good job DMC.

This is not a post up offense by any means, it relies on alot of jumpers.

Hmmm ... I'm worried about this. We were all screaming for Sheed to post up more last season. Are we gonna lose C-Note's post-up ability, too, when he has a mismatch? The NBA has turned to the vomit offense in recent years (just throw it up there). Not sure that's good for the Pistons.

Well, at any rate, there really needs to be more focus on getting points in the paint. After listening to Fred and Greg call the offense crisp with a startling 87 points, I almost fell off the couch. Oh well, I guess I'll just drink more beer during games.:noidea:


I second that. We saw too many jump shots. It is the first preseason game though so I am going to hold back judgement right now until I see a more polished product.

Whoooooaa there big feller!

It's just a pre-season. Long way to go...

PS: Baron Bowen failed to say the metaphysician FINDS the cat AT midnight in a brightly-lit cellar that is not there ;)

Really, I don't live that far from downtown Detroit, and I could have sworn I saw the preparations for a parade.

Re: Your metaphysician. Are you sure that was a cat he found in the cellar that was not there, and not WMD? :confused:

I'm very disappointed in this offense. It looks eerily like the Cola's gameplan of having everyone scattered around the perimeter and having Ben as the only one near the basket. We are going to get killed on the boards. Chandler had a field day. Ben will probably go back to leading the league in rebounding, but we will be one of the worst as a team.

FWIW, it was the 1st game, and we were playing against a team with a very good defensive system. Also, we were always a jumpshooting team before. Except this time the shots will actually be open, and we will get a lot more fast break buckets.

As the season wears on I'm sure Flip will see things that work well and use them (ie. Chauncey posting up, Sheed posting up, etc). As it sits, 27 assists and 13 TOs is pretty impressive for Game 1 with bench players playing most of the minutes (compare that to Chicago's 13 assists, 16 TOs). And look at the assist distribution:

Sheed- 3
Tayshaun- 2
Ben- 2
Rip- 3
Chauncey- 3
Arroyo- 3
Delfino- 3
Dice- 5
Darko- 2
Dupree- 1

So, everyone is sharing the ball well, and hitting the open man. And as Flip said, they are working on the rebounding today in practice. It's not like this is a finished product we're looking at. It should be good news that the coach sees the same problems we do.

Last night was a pre-season game and the main thing that I wanted to see was the PISTONS not the Detroit Timberwolves. LB may be gone but his teaching remains. This team still thinks defense first, and unselfish basketball. Rip is still moving, Chauncey is still Conducting, Ben is still thinking enough offense to make defenses honest, Sheed....oh Sheed looks MORE focused, Tay.......

We all dscussed how Flip would effect Sheed, would he get lazy and slack off??? We discussed Chauncey, will he become a shoot first PG at the sake of the team?? I think we saw the answers to those 2 ponderances, but the question nobody asked is......Would Tay revert back to being tenative without LB screaming for him to be more aggrresive?? if last night was an indication......well I don't want to go there.

Too late, you've already been there twice. I get the feeling that the Passive Tay issue is rising to the top of your chart, with a bullet.

Maybe Tay has $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on his mind right now. Know what I mean. :eyebrows:

After the contract gets inked I bet he starts tearing up some A..

I hope it's just a security thing.

Solid defense last night. Sheed is in mid season form and very active. For those looking for more Sheed inside fuhgedaboutit in this offense. This is not a post up offense by any means, it relies on alot of jumpers. As The Low said earlier, not alot of scoring going to the basket in the paint. Darko held his own, good interior defense, and he's playing alot stronger and confident.

Delfino is a playmaker on defense, but still lacks lateral foot speed to keep HIS man in front of him. Delfino has huge hands that are very quick, he plays passing lanes very well. He reminds me of a corner that gets alot of interceptions, but gets beat alot also.

Maurice Evans is going to be a nice fit, tough as frikkin nails, doesn't get alot of love from the zebras though. Dude plays the interior like he's 6'8" for real. Imagine a Darvin w/out the butterfingers, and a respectable shot from outside, that can handle the rock a little.

Again I wasn't really impressed by Darko, but I was satisfied and happy for the kid, he's better, he looks like he's ready to contribute, learn and work in this league. Once DMC gets a better rhythm his J will start falling alot more, that said he didn't seem like he was in love with the perimeter, he constantly hit the block to post up and called for the ball. Good job DMC.

I agree in a way, and disagree. When LB was here we basically always tried to post up with flip it will be both posting up, and moving the basketball for good jumpshots. i like it the way flips running it because we have some of the best overall shooters in tay, and Billups, one of the best jump shooting big man in the game in Sheed, and we have the best mid-range shooter in Rip. Also with flip having a variety of plays it will make this team a lot better offensively, and flip is helping us on the break off defensive stops. Which we have a lot of, and which means we'll have a lot of easy points. hope we play great against Milwaukee tommorow.
Oh yeah after the game flip said he liked almost everything he saw except for rebounding so he said he was going to do some rebounding drills in practice. I'm liking him already!

Too late, you've already been there twice. I get the feeling that the Passive Tay issue is rising to the top of your chart, with a bullet.

Yup.....just kind of caught me off guard last night, Tay having a regression never crossed my mind with the coaching change. I pray you're right because we need the Tay that avg's 15-16 and goes off for 20-25. Not the Tay that avg's under 10ppg and goes off for 15-16pts.

We can't use yesterdays game as a "proven" example. A lot of our starters were very passive especially Chauncey. Tay was a tiny bit aggresive I think he took a guy to the rim, and did his hook/floater shot. After I saw Ben used in the offense a lot yeaterday even with flip here I'm sure he's going to want plays for Tay. lets hope I'm not wrong.

Thanks for the info.....I think I'll get League pas ...$169 down neya in H-town....
By the way-
I hate cities that make up nicknames for themselves, like H-town, The Nat, The Ville, etc....i believe there are only 5 real nicknames and we have the bet:
MOTOWN
Chitown
The Big apple
The city of Brothrly Love
The big Easy
some love goes to:
Beantown
La-La
The emerald City

...my bruddas!:nod:

:yo: