New Jersey Nets 7:30PM
TV - FSN (Local) NBALP


The Pistons go for their 5th win in a row, to make it 7 wins out of the last 8 games.

The Nets come to the Palace after losing their only inside presence (Kristic) to a season ending injury. The Pistons should pound the ball inside to Sheed, J-Max, or whosoever chooses to go in the paint because the Nets interior defense will be nonexistent.

Look for Kidd, Jefferson and Vinsanity to cocme out very agressive against Detroit.

The Nets are team that will not give up and the Pistons should expect a hard fought game.

Better beat them by 15 just to be safe.

No Nenad in this game. This guy always seems to play well against us. Without him, there is no reason for us not to win. No Uncle Cliffy either. With our bigs playing so well recently, we should kill them in the paint. Collins & Moore should foul out midway thru the 4th unless Flip decided to play 'small ball' with them.

Flip has the team play smart basketball, we should win the game without any problem.

GO PISTONS!

Can't overlook the revenge factor in this game though JZ. I'm sure the Nets won't let Maxiell have his way so easily this time.

Looks like I'm on recap duty again. Time to sharpen some pencils! :D

Watch out for Eddie House!

Watch out for Eddie House!


word. he started for the nets last time out and had a very productive game including 5 triples. small ball will be in full effect.
still i'd like to see part 2 of the max-DD lock down D, Net smashing tandem.

but remember roscoe, any time the nets play in the palace now its revenge time for us in case anyone forgot that 3OT thriller in the 04 semis.

oh, and also any time we play scalabrine the celtic, the swine! :gun1:

My only concern is that Flip gets away from grind it out ball and tries to play cute by matching up with a small ball lineup.

I'd like to see Blalock get his 15 minutes. The Goon Squad get some substantial minutes. And I'd like to see Nazr take advantage of Mikki Moore and Jason Collins.

Delfino could be huge in this game if we need to matchup defense against their small ball offense. His rebounding and length are factors the Nets have no answer for.

Pistons -8, 10 bucks.

Three days til the return of the Old Skool..................

Hey guys, my TV guide says I get the game, but the menu on my cable box says they are showing the Memphis game.

We might need an emergency re-capper or two. If you can provide a synopsis or some observations for the folks who don't get the game, that would be a plus! Thanks!

Chat is open.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/misc.php?do=flashchat

See you around 7:30!

Yep, I got the darn Grizzlies on THREE CHANNELS and no Pistons/Nets at all.

Ho Ho Ho.

word.

but remember roscoe, any time the nets play in the palace now its revenge time for us in case anyone forgot that 3OT thriller in the 04 semis.

oh, and also any time we play scalabrine the celtic, the swine! :gun1:
I was never so mad at Larry Brown as I was that game, refusing to put Memo in and letting Scalabrine beat us.

TT let's not revisit that game.

Hey guys, my TV guide says I get the game, but the menu on my cable box says they are showing the Memphis game.

We might need an emergency re-capper or two. If you can provide a synopsis or some observations for the folks who don't get the game, that would be a plus! Thanks!

Yes please. I am out of town with no NBALP! I need a good recap of the game. I will drop into chat for a minute, then going to the movies to check out the new Mel Gibson movie.

I was never so mad at Larry Brown as I was that game, refusing to put Memo in and letting Scalabrine beat us.

I watched that game at Harry's during playoff madness. I still remember almost every gripping second. One for the books!

Pistons win by 1, (92-91) but it should not have been this close with Kristic MIA. They beat us in the paint 36-28 and this was so close we could have lost this one by those 3 tech fouls called.

Good no call by the refs in the closing seconds. Frank was upset, but they could have called one earlier in that sequence when Mikki Moore tripped Tay.

CB was 1-10 tonight so he could have been the goat...too many jumpers and 21 three ball attempts.....

Oh well we beat a team that we were suppose to beat and extend our lead over the Bulls who came back from 25 down to tie their game with the Twolves with 7 seconds left but lost it with less than 2 seconds on a winning bankshot by Randy Foye.

We got a back to back situation that we normally take care of playing at the Garden tomorrow night vs the Knicks. My only regret is that with the NBA League pass, I will be forced to listen to Mr. Articulate>>Walt Frazier do the color commentary :lecturer:

Pistons started strong and it was looking like a blowout until the Nets got back in it. Mainly when the Piston reserves came in, not much at all from them all game.

Kind of a choppy game. Lot of fouls called, they were calling everything but it seemed to go both ways. Nets got to the line more since Carter knew how to work the refs. It was very inconsistant though, what was an offensive foul a couple of plays ago was whistled for a defensive foul.

Couple of Pistons had some good games. Sheed carried the team early with his marksmanship 3-pt shooting. Rip/Tay were consistant. Rip really had to play through some foul trouble there. Not much from the bench tonight.

Most entertaining part of the game was in the final minute. On que the game was decided on a call on our end and Billups hit both his FT's and then a non-call on Carter to end the game. Laurence Frank went nuclear on the non-call but he should have known that anything short of murder will not be given to the road team on the final possetion in a 1-pt game.

Good thing of the game - another strong performance from Mohammed. Couple more games like that and I may have to change my opinion of him.

Nice to get the win.

I only saw the last 7 or 8 minutes of this game, which were back and forth all the way down the stretch. Pistons were lucky not to have a foul called on Sheed when he flopped Varejao-style in the last 10 seconds, and then Vince missed a wide open J. The Nets probably have a legitimate beef with no foul being called there, but they also got VERY lucky on two Pistons possessions in the last two minutes, as both CB and Sheed missed good shots (and CB's was a 3) that looked good all the way before going in and out.

One unusual thing was that Nazr played almost all the way through crunch time, a rare occurrence this season, if indeed it's happened at all in any of the close games that the Pistons have had. But there was a weird move in the final seconds when Flip pulled Nazr for a defensive switch, bringing in...Dupree (!?) to replace him. If it was small-ball defense, why not Delfino? Strange move. Thankfully, it didn't end up mattering at all.

Not impressive but impressive. Chauncey sucks tonight, we shot way too many trey's, and no production from the bench (all of them sucked, sans Davis, he earned his check); but we still found a way to win. Great teams find ways to win when it's not their night. Should feel good about tomorrow night, Chuancey owes us one, and the bench does too.

Good no call by the refs in the closing seconds. Frank was upset, but they could have called one earlier in that sequence when Mikki Moore tripped Tay.

CB was 1-10 tonight so he could have been the goat...too many jumpers and 21 three ball attempts.....
Right on DRE... the Nets have no interior defense and what do we do?... jack up trey all game.... Sheed shot 7 threes ourt of 12 shots... he hit most but this coud be the worst thing that could happen if he becomes more 3 happy now (Chauncey too)... it's a beautiful thing when Sheed takes his man down low.... To his credit he rebounded in traffice and was solid of his decision making.
The refs blew the call at the end...Sheed bumped him then jumped back... honestly we didn't deserve this W... but how many times have we be on the other side of the calls.

So much for Nazr never helping off his man or playing in the 4th... where's Rodney White when you need him?

oh yeah... Fire up CMU Chips! ... nice recovery from being pond scum for so many years... Mac Champs & Motor City Bowl winners!

nets playing up the no-call big time.
kidd said the refs screwed them over at least 3 times in the locker room. went on to say that if they're going to be so inconsistent they may as well not even turn up to play.
singled out tom washington by name a couple of times. fines coming up?

lawrence frank griped numerous times without using words such as 'screwed over'.

carter didnt have much to say about it but was obviously disappointed.

even if the call was made we still would have had 3 or 4 seconds to win the game and there's no guarantee vince hits the free throws, so i don't see how the nets can act like they were completely screwed out of a win.

Recap:

NBA.com Billups Helps Pistons Edge Nets (http://www.nba.com/games/20061226/NJNDET/recap.html)

Read the Notes at the bottom.:)

That's hilarious Himat. And some people think that the opinions of the fans don't work their way through to the players, coaches and front office.

Flip's starting to crack!

Read the Notes at the bottom.:)

HAHAHAHA

Someone needs to bring a sign to the next home game that reads:

Flip, free coaching advice at pistonsforum.com

:stirthepot:

Didn`t get to see the game, so I am making my comments based on the comments and recaps I am reading.

Frank, and Kidd were upset about the no-call huh, that`s too freaking bad. As Merc mentioned, we have been on the other side of those calls for so long it feels good on this side.

I honestly don`t understand all the 3`s being jacked up against a team like NJ. To me, it indicates laziness, and an undisciplined offense. Is this what Flip really wants from his offense?

Maybe, being the first Christmas in two years the team had off, negatively affected their focus and attention to detail in the game plan, if there was one.

Irregardless, it was a win! That`s all that counts. Abad game and a win happens.........Go Pistons!

Saw the last half of the 3rd and on, Nets moved the ball around well and flat out hustled. They rotated quickly on D.
I think this was a look-ahead game. Got the ruff and tumble Zekes tomorrow.

Right on DRE... the Nets have no interior defense and what do we do?... jack up trey all game.... Sheed shot 7 threes ourt of 12 shots... he hit most but this coud be the worst thing that could happen if he becomes more 3 happy now (Chauncey too)... it's a beautiful thing when Sheed takes his man down low.... To his credit he rebounded in traffice and was solid of his decision making.
Merc, you gotta ride CBill a little bit here man. Sheed nails 4-7 treys which was more FGs than CBill made all night (1-10, 0-5 from 3).

Billups played an absolute stinker. You know the guy. Our soon to be max player 32 year old PG on a 4 year deal.

4 FTs, and one made 2 point jumpshot.

Sheed in the paint is the least of our problems, believe me! Where is Tay in the paint? Suddenly he thinks he is a catch and release shooter like Rip. Delfino couldn't catch a cold let alone hit a J right now, and Dice is giving us just slightly more than nothing (3 turns and 4 fouls in 9 minutes).

I know you worry about Sheed jacking the trey bomb, but I just see it as giving Nazr the room to grow and blossom into the 5th All-Star starter.

I know you worry about Sheed jacking the trey bomb, but I just see it as giving Nazr the room to grow and blossom into the 5th All-Star starter.

OK, that was a serious post until you threw that in at the end. I'm getting whiplash over here. :pound:

3 to 1 the heckler was MH.

Merc, you gotta ride CBill a little bit here man. Sheed nails 4-7 treys which was more FGs than CBill made all night (1-10, 0-5 from 3).
Billups played an absolute stinker. You know the guy. Our soon to be max player 32 year old PG on a 4 year deal. No bout a dought it... stink, stank & stunk.. we need more from our floor leader.



Sheed in the paint is the least of our problems, believe me!
Sorry, but our most capable post player rarely even trying to get inside is one of our biggest concerns


Where is Tay in the paint? Suddenly he thinks he is a catch and release shooter like Rip. Delfino couldn't catch a cold let alone hit a J right now, and Dice is giving us just slightly more than nothing (3 turns and 4 fouls in 9 minutes).

I saw Tay make a few post moves (and some successful)...
Rip is our unsung hero, game in and game out...
Delfino? ok...
Jmax?... most of his games he has made positive contributions.... we'll see if he can bounce back...
Dice? yeah he's on a roll (from the top of a landfill).
I'll put some blame on Flip for the lack of inside attempts... if you've got a clear advantage you should make yourself loud and clear.

We usually pull out 8 to 10 ugly games a year... this one made Rosanne Barr look like miss USA.

No comment on Nasty Naz making the All-Star game hunh?

Nazr: I hope I can get tickets to the All-Star Game.

Rasheed: No problem Naz. I will let you do everything Ben did, and you can be IN the game!

Nazr: Alright. I'll get all the rebounds, make all the hustle plays and get all the blocks. That should do it.

Rasheed: Have you ever considered growing an afro?

How bout an allstar tag team... The Naz/Taz duo (insert good wrestling nick)... Sheed can supply the Taser

More impressive play from our 2-headed Center Nazle Mohavis.

This monstrosity combined for:
39 minutes
17 points (on 50%+ shooting)
14 boards (6 offensive)
0 assists
1 steal
1 block
2 turns
5 fouls.

DOUBLE DOUBLE and then some. And the imaginary beast did not foul out.

Refs-
As long as there is all this complaining from the Nets side, I would like to draw attention to the worst call of the year so far... the charge taken by Carlos Delfino. If he were standing there any longer, he would have been called for a 3-second violation... and it was a fast break. Also, he seemed to freeze up like a board before he got hit by an out of control moron. The JMax call was iffy, but this one was an unprecedented botch job. I want to see Ronnie Nunn analyze this on "you make the call".

And on the final play of the game, Tay got tripped by Mikki Moore. Since Tay was taken out of the play (no call), Sheed had to help out. He may have fouled VC, but then he fell to the ground and Carter elected to back up and shoot a terrible jump shot under the circumstances. He was playing inside all night and suddenly he lost his nerve. It was a shot that he should have made and he just flat out choked.

Chauncey:
He had a bad game. He also won the game for us by drawing a tough foul and calmly draining the FTs.

It was fun watching a game come down to the wire.

And that is what I mean by throwing Dupree a bone once in a while. Make him feel like he's useful.

Sheed in the paint is the least of our problems, believe me! Where is Tay in the paint? Suddenly he thinks he is a catch and release shooter like Rip. Delfino couldn't catch a cold let alone hit a J right now, and Dice is giving us just slightly more than nothing (3 turns and 4 fouls in 9 minutes).


Roscoe, agree that these three have to step it up despite the 5 game winnins streak. No way we should have just stolen a game on our home court in the last 7 seconds vs the Nets >who find ways to lose with their anemic offense....especially with their main interior man Kristic on the shelf. Looks like some players had too much to eat during the holidays and came out in the second half a little to lazy.......:chef2:

Frank, and Kidd were upset about the no-call huh, that`s too freaking bad. As Merc mentioned, we have been on the other side of those calls for so long it feels good on this side.



The game that quickly comes to mind was in Utah, when Okur clearly walked, but but made the shot and got an and one that killed us.

The game that quickly comes to mind was in Utah, when Okur clearly walked, but but made the shot and got an and one that killed us.

No doubt. That was clearly a non-call in that situation. But I am glad the Nets are making a big deal of it because that ref crew should be in the D-league. Especially that short older grey haired ref. He should not be reffing NBA games.

On the game, inside game lack of it or whatever. I agree that game was not exactly a signature game of how you want to play but a win is a win. Take it and get ready for the next game. Would have really sucked if we would have lost that.

Five in a row. Just 3 losses in like a month of basketball. The Pistons are doing pretty darn good of late. And yet, there are still problems.

Sheed canned 4 triples in the first quarter and we finished the 1st with a 10 point lead. But where is the post play? Sheed ended up with 21 points and player of the game honors, ending up 4-7 from 3 point land and making a few shots from the post as well. Rip scored mostly inside, but had a triple also, to add his 21. Mohammed scored quite a bit, mostly on short jumpers, good game for him, although he got pulled at one point after NJ went into layup drill mode early 3rd quarter. CB did not do a bunch, but he made the 2 free throws at the end to put us up one and we held on to make that lead stick.

Tay was pretty huge in the scoring department. I think the story with Tay is his outside shot getting steadier. Whether it be a pullup from fairly long range or a triple try with someone flying out at him, Tay is simply making more of of his outside shots. Not that he does not go inside plenty too. Tay's increase in scoring this year is very significant, and he just might be getting started.

NJ still had their big 3, and they had a young fella just waiting to get some minutes with Krstic being out, Boone. It was a close game. The lead went back and forth again and again for the last several minutes of the game. And here is a big story, Mohammed played those last four minutes. Thats a first. He had been taken out early in the 3rd so had all kinds of rest. Did ok there.

Delfino had a bad game. A couple of turns. A missed layup. A charging call he wanted but did not get. Still, he contributed some good D for a bit. He did not play in the 4th quarter. Murray did, although Murray certainly did not have a good game either. I still object strongly to Murray being in the game when Maxiell is, because I believe we should go into the post to Maxiell when Maxiell is in the game. Having Murray in there does not help make this happen.

Maxiell had a good moment or two, just before Flip pulled him from the game. Maxiell hit a jumper from just beyound the foul line, made a couple of free throws, and then had a knock-a-way just before he got pulled from the game in the 4th. Still nice to see him get that valuable crunch time experience. (Even though there was 8 minutes to go in the game, this was vs. NJ in the 4th quarter.

Dyess did pretty much nothing. Blalock looked fine, did nothing spectacular, but did not hurt us either. Altogether, our bench was ineffective, and our starters played way too much considering there is a game yet tomorro night.

Of note, they put in Dupree for the last play to hold that 1 point lead. Thats about it. GO PISTONS!!!!!

I forgot to mention Dale Davis. He played most of the 3rd quarter and played solidly. He got a dunk off of one of his 3 offensive rebounds. Looking at the boxscore, I see that the 4 points from JMAX was high for our bench. Our stars ranged from 36 minutes to 42 minutes.

I hope Flip won't return to his ol' bad habits because of the poor bench performance...freep.com writes
The Pistons' bench, so strong lately, had a flat night on Tuesday against New Jersey, especially in the second quarter. That's when they turned the ball over four times and let an 11-point lead disappear.
During that time, a fan yelled for Pistons coach Flip Saunders to bench Carlos Delfino, who had three turnovers in five minutes.
Saunders turned, during the game, and asked the fan if he wanted to coach. The fan replied that he did, and Saunders said, "You guys complain when we don't play the bench, and then you complain when we do" before turning his attention back.
It still was on his mind after the game.
"We made decisions early in the year that we weren't going to" overplay starters, Saunders said, even if they start hot, as Rasheed Wallace did Tuesday, scoring 16 points in the first quarter. "... It's one of those things, no matter what you do, you're never right."
By the end of the second quarter, the starters returned, and the Pistons closed the half on an 8-1 run.
That eight-point halftime lead disappeared in the third quarter, when the Pistons missed 13 of 19 shots and grew frustrated enough to earn two technical fouls.
Wallace earned his eighth of the season for asking the officials when his team would get some calls.

Got the chance to catch the game on the internet but the connection thru out the whole city got screwed up. Can't even log onto the chat. Really sucks. However, I managed to watch the last 3 minutes of the game. Was really surprised that the last Net's play was not called a foul since the refs has been calling fouls pretty much on every play the last 3 minutes. Thru forumite's recaps and the boxscore, CB should do better on the 'asst numbers' if he shot terribly thru out the game. He should have at least 10 assts to make up for the bad shooting nite.

Seems like I'll be able to catch most of the Net's games live on the internet as well as Knick's games. At this moment, the connection is still not at 100%. Hopefully things can get better.

Lucky win. Peace out.

PopcornMachine's GameFlow - New Jersey @ Detroit (http://www.popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20061226&game=NJNDET)

Nazr was the +/- stud for once! If he can find a way to play like this 50% of the time, then we are looking good.

Got the chance to catch the game on the internet but the connection thru out the whole city got screwed up. Can't even log onto the chat. Really sucks. However, I managed to watch the last 3 minutes of the game. Was really surprised that the last Net's play was not called a foul since the refs has been calling fouls pretty much on every play the last 3 minutes. Thru forumite's recaps and the boxscore, CB should do better on the 'asst numbers' if he shot terribly thru out the game. He should have at least 10 assts to make up for the bad shooting nite.

Seems like I'll be able to catch most of the Net's games live on the internet as well as Knick's games. At this moment, the connection is still not at 100%. Hopefully things can get better.

Lucky win. Peace out.

Seems like the earthquake in Taiwan (2 earthquakes) has caused the connection to be disrupted at some parts of Asia. It could take weeks before it can be back to 100%. Really sux....

random observations and opinions from what I saw (midway through the 2nd on):

maybe the worst thing that happened was sheed going off from the perimeter in the first quarter...because from then on we -- and not just sheed -- seemed to settle for jumpers, as though this was going to be an easy night.

the pistons seem to require a very precise amount of rest and i'm trying to figure out just how much that it is. we've heard endlessly about the starters being worn out. but here they get two nights off and rip is telling the reporter after the game that this affected his jumper. it must be hard to be an NBA player, you know, getting paid millions of dollars to do nothing but be fit and skilled whether you just played the night before or have had several nights off. i don't know about the rest of you, but it would be really hard for me to focus and do my job for only 8 million dollars a year.

i thought nazr looked pretty good, even rotated to draw a legit charge on one defensive play, hit some big buckets. dale also looked good, but the rest of the bench looked pretty lost out there and were certainly ineffective. chauncey too, as everyone has pointed out.

however, it appeared to me toward the end of the game that the pistons realized they needed to play defense and go to the hole more and when they did that, they closed the gap and took the lead (exceptions: cbill just missing a triple try, and rip making one, but they were both good shots I'd say). in this, the team looked remarkably like pistons of the past two seasons: playing to the level of the competition, looking for the path of least resistance until it becomes evident that they actually have to show up.

still, i'd rather them have won this game than lost it, because nj didn't particularly deserve the win either.

Great re-cap, prof!

it must be hard to be an NBA player, you know, getting paid millions of dollars to do nothing but be fit and skilled whether you just played the night before or have had several nights off. i don't know about the rest of you, but it would be really hard for me to focus and do my job for only 8 million dollars a year.

Don't you know that it's hard out there for a pimp? Why you gotta hate?:violin:

Besides, I think Rip's salary is more like the 9-10 million range for the next few years. :laugh:

Seems like the earthquake in Taiwan (2 earthquakes) has caused the connection to be disrupted at some parts of Asia. It could take weeks before it can be back to 100%. Really sux....

I did not even realize where you were clicking in from until your last posts. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

Another good thing about that game. The Nets left pissed off again, its always good to frusterate Kidd and crew.

After the way CB has outplayed Kidd the last 3 years I think Kidd tried to get some respect back. This is the first time in years Kidds' team has even showed up against Pistons. No excuses.

Merc, you gotta ride CBill a little bit here man.
Billups played an absolute stinker. You know the guy. Our soon to be max player 32 year old PG on a 4 year deal.
Just wanted to see this again :detective: