tv: FSN

Notes: Suns come in as one of the hottest NBA teams for the 2nd game of their 5 games in 7 days East Coast trip. At the time of this writting the Suns are boasting an impressive 9-1 record against Easten Div teams and an 8-4 road record.

the 29th is against indiana at 8 PM. the phoenix game is the 31st at 4 PM (which btw i might be selling 2 tickets if someone has interest...)

Anyone remember what a great job Maxiell did on Amare during the pre-season?

I know it's "pre-season" and Amare wasn't Amare then. But i'm curious to see how he plays him (if Flip goes that route). Outside of DD, he did the best job on J'Oneal, and Sheed is just useless these days. His lateral movement is just not there with the sore ankles.

Edited to add;
Amare picks up alot of fouls, and if i recall Maxiell actually got him to foul out in that game.

The Pistons have been dodging the injury bug for about 2-3 years now and the other night it finally bit them right in the a__!!

I am very anxious to see how this team responds with CB out for a while, and it couldn`t have happened at a better time. The talented Suns come to town; they are deep and love to run.

Flip will be forced to go to his bench in this one, for several reasons.

One thing is certain, the rest of the league will show no pity on the Pistons injury woes.


I will have the DVR rolling on this one.........Pistons 108 Suns 104

The Suns aren't that deep: there are only 7 players on their roster who average more than 15 MPG, along with Jumaine Jones, who played well against Dallas on Thursday. There are a couple more good shooters on the bench (James Jones, Jalen, Pike), but D'Antoni doesn't trust them.

If Rasheed's ankles are still sore, I'd like to see Maxiell get the start against Amare, with Tayshaun on Diaw and Nazr on Marion. Blalock should get his chance - he won't be worse defensively than anyone else against Nash, and he should be able to get wherever he wants on the other end.

Rebounding's important; the Suns are actually a decent defensive team on the first shot but with their size and leaky boxouts are vulnerable to second shots.

I wouldn`t say D`Antoni doesn`t trust them. They have been very successful playing with whoever is on the floor. Whenever someone on the bench is called upon they contribute, that`s what I mean by being deep.

Nazr on Marion. You can`t be serious...........

Rebounding's important; the Suns are actually a decent defensive team on the first shot but with their size and leaky boxouts are vulnerable to second shots.
Likewise, Amare, Diaw and Marion all crash the offensive boards. If we can't control the glass, this could get ugly fast.

Let's see what game plan adjustment will be made, just cross my finger and wish that Flip S. is ready but I doubt. This man brought a Mineiapolis phone book to Detroit.

Actually it was Check Sum on Amare most of the game. CS kinda got in Amare's head as he was off his game that nite. Amare muscled CS once but that was it. CS altered a lot of his shots.

This man brought a Mineiapolis phone book to Detroit.
This is a great line. I love it.

I want this victory. Pistons better handle these cats. This is our house...rally around the family.

rally around the family.
... with a pocket full of shells

Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Bulls-On-Parade-lyrics-Rage-Against-The-Machine/80C80C8BAB2ED29F482568A5001351DF)

taking my camera with me!! oh my!!

Chat is open.

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

I'm recapping the game so I may not be around. Have fun and stay friendly!

Flip Jr. is starting today in place of Chauncey.

Can't log on to chat. What a way to start the new year. Kinda sux. Looking at the boxscore, Sheed is jacking up 3s like there's no 2007. WTF???

Murray: surprised me. Good offensive game: slow decision-making, occasionally bad decision making, but productive. Passed more and more willingly than usual. Stupid defense, but that's to be expected. Rebounded well.
Hamilton: 6 turnovers, otherwise excellent. Showed initiative to get Bell ejected.
Prince: invisible for the most part. Made a few good decisions and a few bad ones. Defense okay to bad.
R. Wallace: chucked like a madman. Played about 10 minutes of good defense, otherwise slow.
Mohammed: totally invisible; limited to short minutes.
Delfino: took three bad jumpers, including one which triggered a fast-break 3-point play that sealed the game inside a minute left. Two stupid bad pass TOs. Bad defense. Rebounded okay.
Maxiell: decent offense, decent rebounding, nice shotblocking. Didn't get nearly enough touches.
McDyess: rebounded and hit some shots. Showed reluctance to shoot when open occasionally. Slow defense.
Blalock: his worst game as a pro. Invisible. Got one very bad call that accounted for his turnover in short minutes.

If Detroit had played some tougher D they could have won this game. Nash is a MVP for a reason he just does everything he needs to do to win. At least Flip Murray got his offensive game going and that's a positive. Rip was ridden way too hard tonight (44 minutes) and 6 turnovers shows that he's tired. Flip activated Amir Johnson and maybe he should get a few minutes of playing time instead of Sheed. I think our best 5 players right now on the floor are Tay, Maxiell, Flip, Delfino and Dice. Not happy with a 3 game losing streak but every team goes through a bad patch and I'm glad the Pistons are having theirs now and not a week before the playoffs start (crosses my fingers on that one).

Pistons couldn't quite get over the hump at the end. They got some stops late in the game and had a chance to tie with under a minute left, but Delfino missed a 3 and Nash scored on the break, with and one on a dumb foul by Flip. Sheed was the escape goat in this game, 4-17 from the floor and 0-7 on threes. Rip was huge, Delfino had 11 pts and 7 boards off the bench, Dice had a nice game, and Jmax made some good plays as well. Nash and Amare combined for 66 points, on 23-34 shooting between them.

Flip Jr. had a terrible first half, but he had a really nice second half, finishing 9-14 from the floor, with 7 assists and only 2 turnovers. His defense is still awful; hopefully it won't hurt the Pistons as much against teams that don't have Steve Nash.

Not a bad effort for the Pistons in their first game in years without Chauncey. If Sheed can show up AT ALL, Flip Jr. can be productive in big minutes, and the bench keeps producing, the next couple of weeks might not be so bad.

There are only a couple things that I didn't like, other than that it was a good effort. You're facing the MVP without one of the few guys that gives him a lot of problems.

I thought we'd win that game after Bell went out. We stopped giving the ball to Rip, he was hot with their best defender on him. Should of took advantage of a weaker defender.

Flip may have just created trade value for a team like Houston, Portland, maybe New Orleans.

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/DTP10212312233_sp.jpeghttp://www.nba.com/media/pistons/PHODET_060402_010.jpg

Sheed needs to show up or sit a few games out. He is making this team much worse right now. We win this one if Max eats all of his minutes. Hell, we win this one if we just throw someone in who won't shoot.

A PF that shoots about 43% from the field is sad.

This was our third exciting loss in a row!:)

With the Suns coming in as one of the leagues hottest teams and the Pistons w/o Billups, most of us probably would admit that if we won we'd be surprised. Well the boys did not roll over. They survived several Nash to Amare runs to even take the lead with less than 5 mins left and were within 2 with less than a minutes left after trailing most of the game by 6+points.

Flip Jr's line of 18 pts ,7 assists, 2 turns pretty much matched CB's average stats, but most of that came in the 4th qtr. Still if he can get his teammates involved in both halves, then I like our chances in the next three upcoming games without Mr. Bigshot. Jr needs to improve his defense though and hopefully he doesn't face anymore guards like Nash.

Still not certain if Sheed was back to 100% or not. 36 mins 4-17 shooting including 0-7 from beyond the arc. JMAX. 18 mins 2-2 shooting and two blocks!! If the guy is not 100%, give him some rest. Counter the athleticism of Amare with the youth of the Brahma!!

Rip had a good game with the exception of the 6 TO's and Dice was productive in 17 minutes which could have been extended also. I guess the game was just too fast for Nazr.

The positive is that we fought back and didn't give up and surpisingly even out scored the Suns in the paint 50-42. Just couldn't stop the Nash & Stoudemire combo. Second time in three games we allow two players on the opposing team to score 30+points. Should have been able to stop at least one of them.....Nash was left open long enough to shoot 11 treys and buried 6 of them. That was the difference in the game IMO.

Tough loss, but we didn't quit.

Blaylock was out of his league, but have to remember the kid is still just a rook.
Tay nothing special.
Rip played great, but lost his shot as the game went on. First time I've seen Rip tired.
JMax good D, a monster block, still a black hole, but he made most of his shots.
McDyess, starting to look better.
Delfino, agressive, bs carry called on him, even bigger bs block that should have been a charge. Didn't get credit for all of his steals and rebounds in the game. Decent shooting, needs more minutes.

Murray, trade him now. Zero D. Horrible O first half, made his shots in the 2nd, and actually decided to pass a little in the 2nd, but he still over dribbled, and made some lucky shots. Only thing worse than taking a bad shot, is making it-positive reinforcement to a negative act.

Flip Saunders, bad game, 44 minutes for Rip? 38 minutes for Murray? Flip is a lot like LB in that he believes players can play a spot up, but not a spot down. So Delfino, a natural 2, can play the 3, but not the 1. Murray is a natural 1, but wants to be a 2. No reason Delfino shouldn't have been give a shot a Nash, it's not like he could have done a worse job than Murray. Some free advice, start Delfino at the point, sub JMax, Blaylock, Dice, and Murray. ONLY bring in Murray if he doesn't have to cover anyone.

microcap

This was a horrible game from the Pistons. I don't care how you slice it, there are no awards for playing close without Chauncey Billups.

We started off at our pace with a 6-0 lead but anyone who has watched the Suns knows they are a team of runs and droughts. They can go scoreless for 5 minutes and still finish with 30 in a quarter. Well the Suns had 29 in the first quarter. No surprise there for me.

The Suns are a unique team, one that plays little defense, that relies heavily on speed and athleticism to create scoring opportunities. It would have been the perfect opportunity to play Delfino at the point, heck, play him more than 19 minutes! Get Dupree a few minutes, let Will Blalock continue to play beyond 9 minutes argh! The rotations and personnel decisions by the Pistons were terrible and Flip Saunders is absolutely horrendous.

Delfino - 19 minutes (lead the team in rebounds and 3 point shooting)
Blalock - 9 minutes (1 rebound, 1 turn, 2 FTs made)
Maxiell - 18 minutes (4 points, 3 boards, 2 blocks, tons of energy)
McDyess - 17 minutes (8 points, 6 boards)
Mohammed - 16 minutes (3 points, 6 boards, 1 steal, 1 block)
Davis - DNP
Amir Johnson - DNP
Dupree - DNP

Detroit did make a run in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late as Flip Murray converted several scoring opportunities but ultimately could not play enough defense to keep Steve Nash from closing out the game.

On that note, Nash is amazing. If you honestly think Billups should have been the MVP last year, you didn't pay any attention to Nash. He's the ultimate floor leader on offense, and tonight the Pistons gave him jumpshots electing not to allow him into the paint, and Nash made them pay banging down 6 of 11 three pointers.

The Pistons had no answer for Amare Stoudemire either and it looks like he is returning to his previous form.

Another poor game from Rasheed Wallace. Sheed was yapping all game and seemed to have lots of energy. On a night when his team needed him to go into the paint, pressure Amare, Diaw and Marion, Rasheed elected to shoot 0-7 from three point land. I just heard Piston coach Kevin Wilson say on the postgame show that he can't remember the last time Sheed went 0 fer from the arc. Well Kev, he's done it 5 times this month. Do you actually watch the games?

Flip Saunders answering Chris McCoskey in the postgame interview regarding what was wrong with Sheed said, "I don't know". Also said that Rip "ran out of gas". Gee, WHY NOT PLAY YOUR BENCH!!!

I know what was wrong with Sheed. He was lazy on defense and refused to make sacrifices for the team on offense. I still have 4 hours to ask slippy for a name change (http://www.pistonsforum.com/feedback-suggestions/5638-name-changes.html). ;)

We got caught up playing at their pace, and it killed us. Starters ineffective and out of gas, too many missed shots (1-15 from 3), not enough turnovers forced (9), too many turnovers conceded (14). Our bread and butter is stops down the stretch and playing smart. We did neither tonight.

Sorry folks, we are supposed to win at home. We are supposed to play defense. We are supposed to win. That is what good teams do. Instead the Suns did what good road teams do. Jump all over an opponent and play close enough to win in the last 2 minutes.

Flip Murray is a deceptive player. He makes some tough shots and gets on a roll offensively, but he gives you no effort on defense. He didn't contest jumpshots, he didn't try to fight through screens and frequently lost his man on defense. When the numbers come out on popcornmachine.net, I am pretty sure he was a MINUS player.

Also wanted to mention Tayshaun. He did get hot at one point and put up some points, but on a night when the team needed him to step up for Sheed and Billups, he turns in 14 points and doesn't commit a foul. A highlight block, but other than that, Tay did little to stand out. In his 5th year, I think we need to resign ourselves to the reality that Tay is a guy who takes over 5 games a season, and spends the rest of his time as a complimentary piece.

We got New Orleans on Thursday. I need a drink.

Good guys: Rip Hamilton, Jason Maxiell, Carlos Delfino

**NEW CATEGORY**
Middle-of-the-road guys: Flip Murray, Antonio McDyess, Tayshaun Prince, Nazr Mohammed, Tayshaun Prince

Bad guys: Will Blalock, Rasheed Wallace, Flip Saunders

Piston of the game: Rip Hamilton

No reason Delfino shouldn't have been give a shot a Nash, it's not like he could have done a worse job than Murray.
The one possession Delfino was matched up on Nash he got rocked on his heels and gave him the baseline for an uncontested layup. Two of the three or four possessions he initiated the offense resulted in turnovers from his overdribbling and awful entry passes.

Now, Delfino's done a good job defending a lot of small guards quicker than Nash in the past, so I don't see why he can't match up on them more in the future - he could definitely do a better job containing just about anyone than Flip Murray, most of the time. But I don't think his game has developed to the point where he should play point guard; he seems to have a mental switch between "distributor" and "scorer" so that when he's creating shots for others, dishing creatively, and running an effective 2-man game his jumpshot breaks down and he accumulates charges, and when he's on the wing he's too aggressive with his own shot and doesn't see the floor as well. He needs to find a balance between the two to get more touches at guard: that could be as simple as developing confidence from more consistent minutes, or something else, but either way I don't think he's ready yet.

Now Maxiell, on the other hand, needs to play more, especially with his much improved pick and roll defense since he was torched by Marbury-to-Lee in the Garden. Just shut down Rasheed until Chauncey comes back and let his ankles rest.
In his 5th year, I think we need to resign ourselves to the reality that Tay is a guy who takes over 5 games a season, and spends the rest of his time as a complimentary piece.
No offense to Tayshaun, but I'm glad to see you're coming around. :stirthepot:

ahb, Sheed said it wasn't the flu or tendonitis. He just couldn't throw the ball in the ocean, both teams played hard, get them next game, bla blabla.

I can put up with Sheed's hybrid poor man's Nowitzki role when he is effective, but if he's just going to float and play without hustle, he can pack up his BALL DON'T LIE act and move back to the west coast.

He's still good enough to be an enormous impact player when he makes the effort, and I don't think there's any way the Pistons could improve while this window's still cracked by trading him. He doesn't make enough of an effort while he's out there? Then Flip should cut his minutes. It's not like his position isn't the deepest one on the team, with the _iceman, two at least semi-talented, very physical bangers, and Amir blowing his rookie contract on street clothes chomping at the bit for more minutes. All it takes is for our resident Offensive Genius to imagineer up a way to convince himself to take a low-risk, high-reward gamble.

I'm not sure that I believe his claim not to be injured, though.

For me it comes down to Flip wants a well executed game plan with his players having the ability to score 95-100 a night and to hold the other team to 95 points. Saunders for good or for bad likes the zone defense and I have noticed lately other teams are using it to mix it up on D. I however think the best D is the nasty Eastern Conference mano to mano combat that resembles dirty dancing on a hot Saturday night in your local bar. The Pistons are an average defensive team and they can be shut down on offense with decent defense so what do they bring to the table to make them championship caliber? Today's game was winnable, Phoenix will let you score points and all Detroit had to do was play hard-nosed and send a soft team packing. Flip just seems to have a game plan that's hard wired or something. He hates to substitute very much in the first quarter and let's his best player just completely become run down. You know that Rip Hamilton takes pride in his game and having 6 TOs just is a big stain on an otherwise really great game.

Micro,

I also do not take anything much positive here. The Suns set the pace of the game period. Never looked like we would win.

We had no answer for Nash, no answer for Amare. This is a team to reckon with.

Right, Tay was soft and Sheed non-existant. Since the Jersey game, we have played at a very low level defensively.

Yes, we missed Chauncey but unless we defend better, we will have trouble with this team.

That's the thing. Defense is not about talent. It is about energy and desire. I'm worried that performances like this will fool the Pistons into thinking that Flip Murray can be a contributor with his offense only and that Flip Saunders will continue to get positive reinforcement of a negative (16 Mile). That we can outscore opponents.

We cannot outscore teams. That is a fallacy. This is a middle of the road offensive team.

And I can’t fault our guys, they came out and played hard. You can’t ask Flip Murray stepping into a role, as far as a point guard, to do much more than he did. [...] For us, we got killed by the three. At one end they were 9-12
http://www.larabida.org/assets/kids_corner/small/connect_dots/goose.gif

I wonder how we shot the three at that end. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Delfino: took three bad jumpers, including one which triggered a fast-break 3-point play that sealed the game inside a minute left. Two stupid bad pass TOs. Bad defense. Rebounded okay.

That's a bit harsh on a guy who put up 11 points (56% shooting), 7 boards (led the team), 1 assist, and 1 steal in only 19 minutes. Plus he came up with 5 clutch points in crunch time.

His "Bad defense" was on a play off a loose-ball where the D was scrambled and he let the 2-time MVP get a layup. But look at the 4th quarter when Delfino was on Shawn Marion.... What exactly did Marion do? 1 defensive rebound and 0 points on 0-for-3 shooting. A guy who usually kills us with his offensive boards, and those feeds from Nash.

Also, he had 1 bad pass TO, not 2. The other TO was a palming violation. And his "3 bad jumpers" were only "Bad" because they didn't go in. They were all good looks, and none of them were of the Chauncey, dribble-dribble-chuck, variety. All in the flow of the offense. Hard to blame Flip's awful transition D against the MVP on a Delfino missing an open shot. You wanna talk bad shots, look at Sheed. That was hideous.


Maxiell: decent offense, decent rebounding, nice shotblocking. Didn't get nearly enough touches.I agree, but he needs to get more aggressive on the defensive glass. That is his biggest weakness still. Otherwise, I still can't see how Flip keeps him off the floor. He makes things happen. From the charges to the blocks and the paint-points.

I however think the best D is the nasty Eastern Conference mano to mano combat that resembles dirty dancing on a hot Saturday night in your local bar.

Very nice!

delfino played great. some of us like to see the one miss from 3 point land that he did. he also made a 3 just before that pulled us to within 1 i believe. he made a steal and a drive to the hole just before that. it seems like delfino is a major reason we've even been in position to win the last few games but a few of us like to see the 1 mistake he makes at the end of games. i say for a guy that was supposed to be out of the rotation he's bringing us a lot. for the delfino haters he's put like 3 good games in a row together.


starters killed us again this game. play the bench. amir would have been perfect for this game. jmax and fino give us lots of energy and production. will blaylock needs more minutes.

flip murray sucks. i don't care how many shots he made on nash. most of the shots he made were selfish. not to mention the amount of 3 balls nash dropped in his face. flip shot the ball off the side of the backboard. he sucks.

Defense? You guys are talkin about defense? I mean... this is the New NBA, and you guys are in here talkin about defense?

It's not like we aren't scoring, and we do use the zone... and you guys are still talkin 'bout defense? Defense?

lol @ linwood.

Just going through the Play-by-play (when I should be working no less...) it looks like Will Blalock was +1 and Flip Murray was -7. Can't wait to see the popcornmachine gameflow.

If Ben tells you that we don't play defense, then that's that. I may have concentrated less on defense this year but if somebody says we don't play defense with all the defensive plays this year, then that's enough to get a whole lot started. I told Ben that you didn't have to give the people of Detroit a reason to think about firing me or anything like that. If you fire somebody, you fire them to make the team better: simple as that. I'm cool with that. I'm all about that. The people in Detroit deserve to have a winner. It's simple as that. It goes further than that - if we don't play defense, then we don't play defense. It's as simple as that. It ain't about that at all. It's easy to sum it up if you're just talking about defense. We're sitting here, and I'm supposed to be the head coach, and we're talking about defense. I mean, listen, we're sitting here talking about defense. Not offensive execution, not offensive execution, not offensive execution, but we're talking about defense. Not the jumpshots that I go out there and diagram for and plan for every one like it's my last, but we're talking about defense, man. How silly is that? Now, I know I'm supposed to plan for contingencies and all that but I'm not shoving that aside like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I honestly do, but we're talking about defense. We're talking about defense, man! We're talking about defense. We're talking about defense! We're not talking about how poorly we shot. We're talking about defense. When you come to the arena, and see us play, you see us jack up shots, you see us take every one we've got, but we're talking about defense right now. Hey, I hear you - it's funny to me too, hey, it's strange to me too, but we're talking about defense. We're not talking about the execution, where it actually matters: we're talking about defense. How in the hell can I make my team better by emphasizing defense?

FreshPrince22, you're right about the other turnover, and yes, Delfino's defensive effort was better in the second half. I still believe that two of those 3-pointers were bad shots and another was very questionable.

The one possession Delfino was matched up on Nash he got rocked on his heels and gave him the baseline for an uncontested layup. Two of the three or four possessions he initiated the offense resulted in turnovers from his overdribbling and awful entry passes.

Nobody stops Steve Nash, you only slow him down. Delfino covered Nash, only because Flip got lost. Delfino forced Nash to make great move, and squeeze the baseline without going out of bounds. Murray, who was behind Delfino, should have done something other than watch.

BTW, at least Delfino forced Nash to try hard. Murray got lost on pickandroll after pickandroll, making zero effort to keep up. I wished I taped the game, so I could make a youtube video of Flip standing behind Nash, watching Nash either drive for a shot, or making a great pass.

Delfino took the 3 coming out from a timeout if i'm not mistaken. He missed and it lead to a 3 point play by Nash and it pretty much close out the game. Did i mention timeout? Is it a play that was drawn out by the coach? From the play, it was not. There were no plays drawn out for that possession. Coming out from a timeout, it should have a better drawn play.

I put this loss on the coach.

I thought the coach was lousy JZ. He's simply too passive. D'Antoni dictated the game to him.

After re-watching the game to grab some cuts for future use, Will Blalock did a good job out there. His one missed field goal was on a layup which he seemed to rush, but to his credit he was fouled and did make both of the free throws.

The game seems a little too fast or Will is trying a little too hard when he gets an opportunity right now. One thing is not in doubt. Any unit with Max, Will and Delfino seems to win it's court time against the opponent. It might not be pretty but they seem to be consistently effective. I think it is because Blalock lets Delfino handle the ball more than Billups, Prince or Murray.

http://www.larabida.org/assets/kids_corner/small/connect_dots/goose.gif

:pound:

...We cannot outscore teams. That is a fallacy. This is a middle of the road offensive team.

I think the "Overlord of the Board" is coming around....:afro:

I simply don't understand it- Flip Sr. is in the perfect position for experiments right now- he has the weakest Eastern Conference for decades, an injured PG and lots of hungry bench players.
And what is he doing? He gives Hamilton 44 mins, and also far too many minutes to all the other starters, while playing only half of the bench.
Surprisingly, Flip Jr. had a decent game- let's trade him right after one of his decent games, otherwise we stuck with him for 10 more appearances.
I'd have loved to see more of JMax and a little bit of AJ- especially against the undersized Suns. I guess Flip Sr. hasn't had the same thoughts.
Maybe I should write him an email- it seems like he listens to fans if he suggests them to coach instead of him.
Sometimes I think he's oermanently sitting in a small room, biting fingernails and thinking of nice apologies why he plays his beloved starters 40+ minutes while degrading some bench players to water boys.

Happy New Year to all.

This game was dissapointing on many levels. 3rd loss in a row, 3rd close game lost in a row. Taken us from heading into elite status to just another run of the mill playoff team. Bulls have tied us for 1st place.

I agree with most of you on some of Flips choices in that game. 1st, what happened to Dale Davis? Did he do something? Injured in some way? That 2-headed center deal seemed to be working. In that game I suppose we did not need someone to play some interior D?

Lets see Blaylock was the 1st backup point with Murry all but being out of the rotation. Seems to me that Blaylock would have been the starter instead of going with Flip. Murry added some scoring and its nice that he was able to contribute but his D on Nash was very questionable.

Delfino has been very encouraging as of late but unfortunatly the team has not been able to win any of the past 3 that he has played well in. Bench seems to be back with Maxiel playing well again. So much for the goon squad since Davis is out.

Its like Saunders gets just so far. He has been great at finding things that work but seems to forget about things that had worked. If he can only piece it all together we will be fine.

Still, I believe we would have won if Billups had played. Thing is are we the kind of team that needs all 4 starters (you know the guys ) to be healthy in order to win? Too many breaking points with that. And Dumars used to critisize teams that went with the 2-star model. He has double the odds of something going wrong. One twisted ankle by Sheed,Billups or a sore shoulder by Rip or Prince and the Pistons cannot beat the elite teams. That has to change.

Sheed needs to sit down. Obiviously the flu, and the sore ankles are making him play horrible. Bench the guy than. I'm sick of seeing a starter playing even though a bench player is doing much better than them.

Without Chauncey Sheed, and Tay need to step up along with the bench players. Sheed was absolutely horrible. Tayshaun needs to take more of scoring load, we went to him early and than went away from him. I'll let him slide because he completely stopped Marion, but he was stopped too.

Rip has been scoring a lot lately. In the last 2 games he has averaged 5 turnovers. Many of these have been in the 4th quarter.

Good job by most of the bench. One of the only bright spots. If it were not for them and Rip it would of been a rout.

I didn't like Flip's coaching. Not only should Dice, or J Max be in for Sheed more but he never called timeous when Phoenix started taking control of the tempo.

I thought the coach was lousy JZ. He's simply too passive. D'Antoni dictated the game to him.

After re-watching the game to grab some cuts for future use, Will Blalock did a good job out there. His one missed field goal was on a layup which he seemed to rush, but to his credit he was fouled and did make both of the free throws.

The game seems a little too fast or Will is trying a little too hard when he gets an opportunity right now. One thing is not in doubt. Any unit with Max, Will and Delfino seems to win it's court time against the opponent. It might not be pretty but they seem to be consistently effective. I think it is because Blalock lets Delfino handle the ball more than Billups, Prince or Murray.

Micro, keep watching that film. Sure makes a difference, hey? Blalock can defend. And he should absolutely have started ahead of Flip Murray, who opts out of defense way too often.

I liked Will Blalock out their because he didn't collapse after facing up against one of the top PG tandems in the NBA with Chauncey only watching on the sidelines.

Delfino led the team in boards in only 19 minutes.

Davis didn't play because Flip Saunders let Phoenix dictate the tempo of the game on our home floor.

Flip Murray was great when he drove to the hoop. His jumper is whack.

Blalock either can't score, or he is afraid to.

Maxiel is the most exciting player on the team. Nobody pumps up the crowd like this guy.


Oh, and why didn't Flip Murray look to take any charges on those fast breaks? He intentionally got out of the way and reached.

We got what we wanted... bench play by everyone minus Amir... what no W?
I have no more ill will towards Sheed.. he simply doesn't compete at a high level for more that one out of three games... not acceptable... time to move him.... sorry your time is up.

Delfino?... ok, he's on the rise.... great to see.... I'm on board and will gladly admit my undue critisism if he can string a few quality performances together... nice job.
Other than that this is not a bad loss... %%%% happens... don't worry be happy.

PISTONS: To the Point (http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/PHODET_061231_recap.html)

Read at the end. Flip would like Chauncey to be back by January 6th, the Bulls game.

We've been outrebounding teams by a lot lately mainly in our 3 game win streak. It's turnovers, freethrows, and some slow rotations that have cost this team. Very weird. I can feel a big win streak coming for some reason though.

We got what we wanted... bench play by everyone minus Amir... what no W?
I assume you watched the game, so you're making that comment as a joke. Max/Delf/Blalock/Dice saved our butts in this game. If we didn't play the bench we would have lost by a lot more.

PopcornMachine's GameFlow - Phoenix @ Detroit (http://www.popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20061231&game=PHODET)

We'll try this again. Phoenix Highlights

YouTube - phoenix hilites (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0ZrXnqSwIc)

FELIZ ANOS NUEVE, MI FAMILIA!!

In my ongoing goal to go at least 48 hrs without yelling, I am at hour 14 and doing good. Its a strange feeling when u can actually feel the hatred in your stomach trying to get out. Maybe I really am a Sith...or at least Damien's seed. Anyway, here's the DIRTY LOW DOWN :

Steve Nash vs Flip Murray.

I dont when , as good as he is, that Nash became Larry Bird, but that was as good as "i just punked yo %%%%% " game Ive seen since The Great One laced up in the Garden. There was nothing Flipstone could do to Nash and he took it and liked it. It was like a prison rape. And all Flipper could do was call Steve "Daddy".
If this is what yall wanted from this loser when he signed here, then u got it and I hope your happy. As far as his 18 pts go, I was ready to pop Blaha in the mouth when he made a quick reference to Vinnie Johnson AFTER FLIPITCH MADE 2 SHOTS IN A ROW(woo-ooo) as 'shades of the Microwave' ! Gimme a bruckin fake!!!!
This was never a close game in the fact there was no one to shut down the MVP. He would have lit CB up for 40, like Zeke would do to remind Stockton 'who's boss'(THATS OLD SKOOL,HOMEY).
wE AINT SWIMMIN,YALL.wE JUST PADDLIN. We got to establish who's boss in this pitiful east. Thats why I said the key to this is Tay. He's got to be a 20/5 and 5. He's got to stop trying to back his flat %%%%% in to the lane fron 20' on the wing. And work to get lobs, taps and score from the left elbow, like Zach Randolph.
Also, Sheed...has got to go....

As we say in OLD WORLD, "Ba-dee-ya..Suerly you remember..."

I am so conflicted. For all this, I couldve stayed a sith...

oops - took my camera to the game, but left the batter in the charger at home heh. was wondering if they'd make a new player intro for flip murray, but they didn't.

this was the most entertaining game of the year that i've been to, and i didn't even care about losing. the crowd was actually getting into it, the bench is continuing to get more minutes, and in crunch time too. this is key for their development. we outscored them in the paint, destroyed them in 2nd chance opportunities, and outrebounded them too.

flip murray got hot a few times and was able to provide us some offense, but yeah he was non-existent on D. but i was impressed when he drove to the basket...not so much when he tried posting up or doing other thing offensively. too many times he got caught up in switches and was left defending stoudemire.

blalock didn't have a spectacular game. he had pretty good man defense, but got absolutely destroyed on picks amare threw. he was never able to fight through one, and instead got a good pounding.

mcdyess was huge at several points - hustling and bringing energy, getting a monstrous putback dunk, and playing hard.

maxiell and delfino had excellent games. delfino did well on the fast break, made shots, and successfully drove the lane a few times. maxiell had a monster block, took a charge, made some tough shots, and continues to improve his rebounding (which, if you all remember, was a knock on him during the preseason).

rip was great until late - but c'mon flip, give him a breather. tayshaun looked good early but didn't get many scoring opportunities later.

i will say that the detroit crowd still responds to defense more than anything. when maxiell and delfino came in, delfino had his 360 drive to the lane, maxiell got the huge block, and then took the charge, the crowd went nuts. everyone got on their feet and cheered, which basically *never* happens during the 2nd quarter of a regular season game. no one is yelling about how delfino sucks anymore, and i heard plenty of "jason maxiell is having a great game", "jason maxiell is awesome" comments throughout.

so again, sucks that we lost but we still gained overall. oh, and nash is ridiculously good. i mean it's insane how easily he gets a shot off, how his passes look like they're at weird angles and going out of bounds, yet land perfectly in his teammates' hands. and yeah amare is good, but nash makes him far far better. pair mcdyess or maxiell with nash and they'd goes for 20/10 every night.

one more thing - 150th straight sellout...but it's impossible to sell my tickets this year. last year i sold my tickets when the pistons played the suns and heat, and made almost triple each ticket's value. this year i put them at face value and couldn't even get rid of them. and the pistons took out full page ad in the detroit news.

I assume you watched the game, so you're making that comment as a joke. Max/Delf/Blalock/Dice saved our butts in this game. If we didn't play the bench we would have lost by a lot more.

PopcornMachine's GameFlow - Phoenix @ Detroit (http://www.popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20061231&game=PHODET)
Yeah that was tongue in cheek... however with all the solid bench play we didn't play the Suns as well as we did in the past when we BEAT this team with our overused starters.... I'm sure the +/- numbers were better during those games.
The bench should be developed more than in the past... there's usually a sacrifice involved as for wins & losses.

We beat this team twice last year. Both times without Amare. The previous season, we beat them once at home without Nash. We did lose the Phoenix game in 2005 when they had a full lineup.

Make no mistake, this Suns team with a full roster is dominating. I think they would have beat the Spurs in 2005 if Jerry Stackhouse didn't take out Joe Johnson, breaking JJ's face in the WC Semis.

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/439/nashjj050511ol1.jpg

Sheed needs to show up or sit a few games out. He is making this team much worse right now. We win this one if Max eats all of his minutes. Hell, we win this one if we just throw someone in who won't shoot.

A PF that shoots about 43% from the field is sad.

Last edited by FreshPrince22 : Yesterday at 04:58 PM.
I'll go with that.

If this is what yall wanted from this loser when he signed here, then u got it and I hope your happy.

I dont recall anyone wanting Flip Murray in the off-season, and he has received nothing but bashing since the season started. Which people are you referring to?

A PF that shoots about 43% from the field is sad.


Sheed ranks 61st among all power forwards in FG shooting - the worst with at least 800 minutes.

Right between Brian Scalabrine and Stromile Swift.


Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood answer man.

Is it possible to verify if any Pistons or Pistons brass read any of our thoughts? Joe, Flip, Sheed and CB need to subscribe just to know what the fans think, not that any of the four would care.

Agree that Flip should be giving Max and AJ those Sheed minutes until he proves that he is serious about contributing. 0-7 shooting from beyond the arc in unacceptable. If some other team would take his head case and salary I would trade for for a younger PF that was not afraid to post up and another backup PG.

(Still upset 24 hours later):( :hanged2:

Is it possible to verify if any Pistons or Pistons brass read any of our thoughts? Joe, Flip, Sheed and CB need to subscribe just to know what the fans think, not that any of the four would care.

Agree that Flip should be giving Max and AJ those Sheed minutes until he proves that he is serious about contributing. 0-7 shooting from beyond the arc in unacceptable. If some other team would take his head case and salary I would trade for for a younger PF that was not afraid to post up and another backup PG.

(Still upset 24 hours later):( :hanged2:

I think they care, just not necessarily about what a minority of hardcore fans think. I would imagine they are more concerned about getting the avg fan to come out to the Palace to spend money.

DBA, I was following FP22s lead. Bench Sheed.