LA Lakers February 8th, 8:00 PM
TV - TNT

The Lakers visit the Palace tonight. They are currently 3-2 on their eight game east coast road trip. The Nuggets, Suns, Wiz, and Golden State Warriors are the only teams in the league that score more points per game than these Lakers. THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS??

The Pistons will try to continue their winning ways as they play their second game at home of a five game homestand.

Got to play 4 qtrs. No defensive collapses in the 4th like tonight, because Kobe will be playing every minute of the 4th qtr. Lakers will inch their way back into any game and are looking for a season split.

I don't see any problems. Pistons should like nothing better than to put these guys in their place. Lakers are much improved but lack consistancy.
100 to 90 Ps

This is going to be a great game. Lakers are playing much better this year, and Kobe is playing unselfishly. Experiment with Tay and Rip on Kobe and double team him. We do stand the better chance of winning imo.

Odom should be the player to watch out in this game than Kobe. Zone or mano to mano, our defense can shut Kobe down. Sheed should bring his 'A' game defense in this game.

If you can keep Odom out of the lane, he's much less effective.

I don't see him posting up Sheed, and the Lakers dont have the personnel to go big against us. It should be fun to watch CWebb dominate Bynum.

At least Kwame Brown is out. That will make it a little easier for us.

If Chauncey can dig down deep and contain... Smush Parker, then this will be an easy night.

i still don't know why everyone considers the lakers contenders. if their team name was the jazz, no one would be making that big of a deal.

they don't have a solid point guard, they have an inexperienced big man, and they play in a conference full of quality, playoff-tested teams.

Bulletin board material?

"Their (the Pistons) zone is weak," said Phil Jackson.

Bulletin board material?

I don't know...would saying Chris Webber is from Detroit be bulletin board material?

Phil Jackson, the king of Viagra, is just coaching for $$$$$. I hate Kobe. My all-hate team:

Bryant, LA
Murray, Det
Walker, Miami
Djones, Cleve
Robinson, NY
Marbury, NY
Jackson, GS
Jefferson, NJ
Varajeo, Clev
coach:Eva Longoria

"Their (the Pistons) zone is weak," said Phil Jackson.


You just know Dolphin will be Jedi Mind-Tricked into playing zone for 48 min...resulting in a 26 pt loss at home.

Almost everytime Jackson shoots off his big mouth at us, it backfires on him.

Didn't Ben Wallace say the same thing about our zone when he was on the team?

I don't know...would saying Chris Webber is from Detroit be bulletin board material?

:pound: :pound:

Webber has always had problems with the Lakers.
I hope he doesn't bring bring that pathos here.
Maybe he should just watch this game as our manhood alone shuts the Lakers down.
Revised score: Ps 95, Ls 85 with a 20 pt. lead at some time

Phil Jackson, the king of Viagra, is just coaching for $$$$$. I hate Kobe. My all-hate team:

Bryant, LA
Murray, Det [not finger roll Flip, love the one you're with]
Walker, Miami
Djones, Cleve
Robinson, NY
Marbury, NY
Jackson, GS
Jefferson, NJ
Varajeo, Clev
coach:Eva Longoria
---
:sssh:

usually, a team that has won more games than the Pistons and from the west coast, may stir some convo. These 2 teams have lost their dominant centers. People feel that kobe is evolving into the "one". Not to mention, the game will be nationally televised. i would love for detroit to get the win, but i can honestly say, seeing the scrubs we lost against, i don't know who is going to win.

No Kwame Brown = no defense.

I hope Kobe scores 90.

Interesting, John Hammond just said that after the All-Star game, we see a different Rip Hamilton. Up the All-Star Game, he so much wants to be an All-Star that he tries to do a lot, but after the teams are announced (whether he gets in or not), Joe Dumars feels that he settles down and hence, becomes a different kind of threat.

This is from the pre-game radio show.

Chat is OPEN!!!

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

Bulletin board material?

Our's should read:
Their (the Lakers') "Triangle" Offense is more like an Arrow Offense, pointing right at Kobe Bryant.

Quick player notes:

Billups: excellent defense... good patience in setting up the offense
Hamilton: made good decisions but largely invisible
Prince: excellent defense... played as a finisher instead of trying to do anything in the halfcourt... weak rebounding
Wallace: good game
Webber: good game
Hunter: pretty good game

Maxiell-Delfino-McDyess: sucked... found ways to miss completely uncontested layups and wide-open jumpshots... not much doing on defense either... at least Dice and Delfino rebounded, which Maxiell is still incapable of doing

Minutes high but considering how awful the bench looked, that's not so bad... good win.

Zonemaster beats Zenmaster.

So take that Phil Jackson and your mind games with the Pistons. The Lakers looked like a bottom feeder team today and they actually have a record that is similiar to the Pistons. So the Lakers are starting to disintegrate and what's going on with Brian Cook and the coaching staff? I would offer up Nazr Mohammed and a 2nd round draft pick for Brian Cook, he's a solid player with a nice shooting touch for a big man. The Pistons are starting to round into shape and if they continue to play like a team with really great D, nice passing and unselfish play they are going to be going deep into the playoffs. Chauncey only 6 points tonight, that's pretty amazing it seems he was involved with a lot more scoring than that.

Hey Delfino does not suck he brings high energy and he missed a dunk near the end of the game but he wasn't blowing his layups. Maxiell just needs more playing time he's not a seasoned vet or anything and Flip needs to let him play through his mistakes. We need the Brahma for the playoffs.

Zonemaster beats Zenmaster.
:pound::pound::pound:

Pistons were solidly in control for almost the entire game. Kobe somehow had 8 turnovers, which was partly good defense, but also partly some bizarre bonehead plays where he just dropped the ball or dribbled it off his foot. Lakers had 18 turnovers overall, and the Pistons repeatedly took advantage on the fastbreak. The halfcourt ball movement was mostly terrific: 28 assists on 35 field goals, and only 7 turnovers. Balanced attack from the starters, with Tay getting 20 pts, Sheed and CWebb 18 each, and Rip 16. Chauncey scored just 6, but he had 9 assists to only one turnover.

Another no contest game like the last the last two. Pistons lead from start to finish winning every quarter and stretch the lead out to 20 midway through the 4th quarter. They beat them in the paint, in fast point buckets, and just ran them out of the gym. Kobe scored 18 points, but took only 13 shots because he had trouble getting the to the rim with ball since he had 8 turnovers. Billups picked his pocket 4 times and he dished out 9 assists.

The front court was great tonight with Sheed and Cwebb scoring 18 points apiece and each had a double-double. Tay scored 20 and once again is the leading scorer vs the lakers .

Bottom line is it looks like our defense is starting to take shape, but still need someone who can fill Hunters shoes at the PG.

Not much left to say>>Great win>>Raptors next:bored:

Ok, I am reading a lot of stuff about the game, and nobody is really mentioning the truly complete game Webber just turned in. A double double with several assists. Although at first glance it does not seem like it, we just saw Webbers best game as a Piston. Quietly as can be. Yeah, if he had made some free throws it could have been even better, but he put up some serious numbers tonight.

Sheed went inside a lot in this one, with pretty good results. And made some threes, and rebounded. And defended. What a blessing to have this guy on the team.

Prince scored 20, a lot of fast break points, including his usual dunk on a alley oop pass from Rip. And a triple. Defense? Hey, we are talking about Prince. He always plays fine D, why ask.

Rip did not score a whole lot, or did he. Kind of hard to tell with him just blending in with this very balanced scoring attack we have now. I think someone mentioned he had 16 or 18 points.

CB played great D, stripping Kobe repeatedly, maybe five times for the game. Just because he did not score hardly does not mean he did not help on O. He had the plays setup quickly, the job of a point guard.

Hunter played a lot, both as the backup shooting gaurd-where he did ok, and at backup point-where he hurt the team pretty bad. Good D, but no way he should be out there running the point.

Delfino knocked down a triple to end the first half, and had a fairly spactacular dunk on a fast break-on onother Hamilton assist. Fine D as always. Coaching wise, Delfino played most of the 2nd and a decent stretch in the 4th quarter. In other words, Saunders did not cut him out of the game in the 2nd half. I always like that.

JMAX did about nothing. He only played in the 2nd quarter, and not a whole lot. Here, well, at least he played, but this game, whether we win or lose, is not as important as developing the bench. We need more of Maxiell, and we need him to try playing small forward some.

Dyess hit an outside shot and an inside shot. Not much else.

No Dale Davis. Flip is going back to last years pattern, leaving Dale Davis out of things. Bad decision. Chris Webber does not need to be getting this many minutes. Dyess does not have to play every game heavy minutes. Develop the bench Flip. The playoffs are just around the corner.

A nine man rotation. But only 8 of them would help in a series vs. Miami or SA. Not enough. And if Flip won't trust JMAX, make that 7 players. What he cops an attitude on Delfino again? Everyone keep an eye on Saunders. Things could go very well for the Pistons; lets hope Flip does not muck it up.

Other than the minutes Hunter had at point guard in this game, the Pistons pretty much rocked. A bit of a lull to start the 3rd quarter and thats it for any stalling of our offense from our starters. Webber remained in the game pretty much out of momentum. He got fouled and had to shoot free throws, and Flip used that point to bring back in several bench players. Flip still could have brought Webber out a minute later, but I am not going to fret about one minute. This game was not won yet until the last few minutes of the game. With 4 minutes to go, we were up 14-thats not a lock in the NBA. We scored the next 6 from there and then the bench players came back in.

Nine of 11 wins now with Webber starting. And Webber's scoring is becoming just expected. His passing is no longer surprising his teammates and the assist numbers are going up. He looks stronger and stronger on D as he shakes off the rust from playing so little this season before he came here. Dumars made one great choice to bring him aboard. GO PISTONS!!!!!

Keep milking Webber in this new offense. If it isn't new, it sure doesn't look like the old one. The league will now have to adjust. Can they? We have 5 major scorers now (no superstar) but with five it truly is hard to stop everyone especially with movement. Tay can get open now. Sheed can post when he wants to because everyone has to pay attention to Webber.

When Kobe was up on Chauncey, it might have meant bad news before. We don't necessarily need Chauncey to score--not every game. Looks good.

I am going to start scouting Miami now.

No comment on that second unit.

I am loving the ball movement we have had these last few games!:) 32 against the celtics and 28 tonight against the Lakers its nice to have easy baskets. 1 example from tonights game prince handed the ball off to webber in the post cut to the basket and got the ball right back a beautifull give and go in the post! I gotta think if we can keep playing the way we are right now we roll the east. Imo this was exactly what Joe had in mind bringing in Chris. Webber has really opened the floor up for the other guys. Rip is getting at least 3 or 4 easy layups a game and so is Tay. I am getting hyped for the spurs next week.

Great win. Pistons really have the Lakers with the zone. Great win on national tv.

Almost everytime Jackson shoots off his big mouth at us, it backfires on him.yeeee=epp!!:pound:

some of u guys are too hard on delfino... he had a great game for a bench guy imho... I esp liked his "No free chili foul" earlier in the game.. that was nice... he played unselfishly as usal.. hit most of his shots and finnished on the break.. his d was good too.. what do u expect from him 15pts 7 rbs and 5 assists a night? I dont think so.. not with the minutes he plays.. hes not forcing anything.. thats why he doesnt shoot much and thats why he doesnt score much

take away the garbage time stuff that doesnt mean anything and delf was 2-5 fg and 1-3 on 3's not fantastic but certainly respectable

Very good game. But enough recaps already. How bout the "interview' that Sager did with "Mayce webber". Did u see it?This old guy with gray hair is doing the interview while the subtitle reads "Mayce Webber" the whole time. So, here's that nutball sager calling the guy MAY_CEE on three occasions and the guy is just talking on. Now, Ive known the Webber family since Chris was 9 so Im yelling at the Tv "THATS NOT MR. WEBBER!!" three or 4 times. Then the guy says something like " we've been watching him play since he was a kid" and now I'm tripping. "Why would Mayce talk like that?" And then Sager says "Thank you May-CEE" and the guy walks off and I'm like "Since when was his name pronounced MAY-CEE"?. And how did he get so old and so gray? Ten minutes later, here omes back that idiot Sager with THE REAL Mr. Webber. And I'm Like "sheeeeeeeeeeeesh"....:pound:
Number 2.....What was up with 84 playing the last three minutes. Did Flip get so punked by DD that he was afraid to tell him to go in? Or is Nazr on the trading block ..TO THE LAKERS FOR BRIAN COOK and Flip was told not to play him?....HMMMMMM:sssh: :sssh: :sssh:

It looked like a Better Basketball video the way we are running the offense now. It's a clinic. No wasted motion. It appears as if we are going half speed and just getting the easiest baskets. I mean Rip only took 4 shots outside of the paint tonight.

But Jeez, stealing the ball from Kobe at least 8 times is the best thing I've seen this year in the NBA. We are officially inside his kitchen. He doesn't know whether to be a ball hog or totally withdraw when he plays us. Tay is just long enough to make him uncomfortable. He has trouble drawing fouls on Tay with the pump fakes.

The one thing that the announcers said tonight that I really had to think about, was their comment about how the Pistons' defense has improved because of our new found offensive efficiency and how it allows us to set up our defense a higher % of the time. It's so obvious now that I think about it. Webber is not a great defender, but he makes our defense better throughout the course of a game. Eureka.

Safe to say CWebb ain't regretin' not signing with the Minnesota Lakers (they should be called the Pacifics)

Only got to check out the highlights on nba.com... noticed that we had the regular rip to prince alley on the fast break. Another play that i spotted was the webber behind the back to prince for the jam under the basket. Will this also be a regular highlight i wonder? Great win by the Pistons and looking forward to more great games.

I am so glad to see the pistons playing with enthusiasm and patience.

Huge change in production since the arrival of CWebb. I am also beginning to see more energy and the guys on the floor salivating and taking full advantage of CWebb's passing skills.

I still think that Joe will make a trade or two before the deadline.

Only problem with the game is Flip turning Maxiell into the new HVC.

I heard it on radio. The Lakers announcers said Sheed doesn't like Flip. They said Flip makes eye contact with Sheed but Sheed ignores him.
Flip tried to give a fist bump to Sheed and Sheed ignored him.
Com'mon Sheed snap out of it.
Told you we'd be up by 20 on these Fakers!
Held them to less than 80, that's very strong these days. But I think it was more Laker slop than Piston dominance.

Only problem with the game is Flip turning Maxiell into the new HVC.
Maxiell is not playing well. It's so correctable it's not funny. Hustle, energy, effort.

It appears as if we are going half speed and just getting the easiest baskets.

I remember last year people talking about CB looking like he was playing in slow motion. When the offense if clicking now it really does look like the whole team is playing at a different, slower speed than the opponent. Especially in the first quarter last night. That was pretty impressive.

Still, got to find a way to get two bench players into the game in the first and third, somewhere around the 8-9 minute mark.

YouTube - Craig Sager - Who is your daddy? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmTfwaNNzs)

Only problem with the game is Flip turning Maxiell into the new HVC.

Not quite. Here's the difference: Maxiel played in the 2nd quarter. HVC only played in the 4th quarter when the outcome was already determined.

Very good game. But enough recaps already. How bout the "interview' that Sager did with "Mayce webber". Did u see it?This old guy with gray hair is doing the interview while the subtitle reads "Mayce Webber" the whole time. So, here's that nutball sager calling the guy MAY_CEE on three occasions and the guy is just talking on. Now, Ive known the Webber family since Chris was 9 so Im yelling at the Tv "THATS NOT MR. WEBBER!!" three or 4 times. Then the guy says something like " we've been watching him play since he was a kid" and now I'm tripping. "Why would Mayce talk like that?" And then Sager says "Thank you May-CEE" and the guy walks off and I'm like "Since when was his name pronounced MAY-CEE"?. And how did he get so old and so gray? Ten minutes later, here omes back that idiot Sager with THE REAL Mr. Webber. And I'm Like "sheeeeeeeeeeeesh"....:pound:

The weird thing is that if you watch the YouTube clip that Roscoe posted, doesn't the first guy (turns out he was Chris' AAU coach) actually kind of look like Chris? I thought the way he grinned looked a lot like him. When they found the real Mayce, I remembered from interviews I've seen before that that's what he really looks like, so I was all, "oh, yeah, guess they screwed that one up." Still, I totally thought the AAU coach could pass for being a relative!

After Sager found the real Mayce, we were joking on chat that they must have been randomly asking every single older-middle-age black man in the stadium, "are you Chris Webber's dad?" :laugh:

Super execution last night.

Better not get overly happy about Kobes eight TO's. The next time we swipe at the ball that often will likely result in a parade to the foul line.

JMax needs to can the Lindsey style offensive moves. If it takes eight dribbles to get there, %%%etaboutit.

Is the FLEX dead? During a radio-side post game interview with assistant coach Kevin Wilson, he mentioned a brand new offensive concept of playing "INSIDE OUT" (his words). I don't know, it sounds like a fad. It willl never catch on. :nerd2:

5 & counting !!!

The flex was stupid anyways. All you have to do is read a Minneapolis-St. Paul phonebook and you know all the plays. :nerd2:

SIs the FLEX dead? During a radio-side post game interview with assistant coach Kevin Wilson, he mentioned a brand new offensive concept of playing "INSIDE OUT" (his words). I don't know, it sounds like a fad. It willl never catch on. :nerd2:
Maybe "inside out" is the technical term for "dang, the new guy sure serves up some nice passes."

Better not get overly happy about Kobes eight TO's. The next time we swipe at the ball that often will likely result in a parade to the foul line.

Good point. The kids had quick hands last night and maybe got some liberties with the calls. Aggression still influences the whistle though and everyone played defense aggressively last night.


Is the FLEX dead?

I prefer the "deceptively slow offense".

The weird thing is that if you watch the YouTube clip that Roscoe posted, doesn't the first guy (turns out he was Chris' AAU coach) actually kind of look like Chris? I thought the way he grinned looked a lot like him. When they found the real Mayce, I remembered from interviews I've seen before that that's what he really looks like, so I was all, "oh, yeah, guess they screwed that one up." Still, I totally thought the AAU coach could pass for being a relative!

After Sager found the real Mayce, we were joking on chat that they must have been randomly asking every single older-middle-age black man in the stadium, "are you Chris Webber's dad?" :laugh:I've been watching the games on 2hr delay, like CBS used to do, so i can workout longer. I have a DVR , so whaddoIcare! Yall know I would have neen rollin in the chat rm about that. Sager to popcorn vendor "Excuse me, Mr Webber? I didnt know u sold popcorn, too?":pound:

Kobe was complaining about the scratches on his arms.

I'm guessing that was probably from the Hotel.

"Better not get overly happy about Kobes eight TO's. The next time we swipe at the ball that often will likely result in a parade to the foul line."
---
So what are you saying? The refs enjoyed watching the Pistons abuse the Kobes?
I'm down with it, still the refs are always in the hole to us.