At Portland March 14th, 10:00 PM
TV - FSN Detroit (Local) NBALP

The Pistons try to avenge an earlier loss to the Blazers on the back end of a back to back. In the earlier contest, Zack Randolph went for 31-13, and Jarret Jack looked like a future hall of famer!

Not too happy bout this one right b4 the Suns game Friday and Dallas sunday. Blazers lost last night as Aldridge had 17 boards. Jack and Roy remind me of the Kamikazee Kids. Blazers win by 20.

Chat is open early because I might not be around right at tipoff.

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

Have fun.

Pretty solid win tonight. Pistons went up big early, up 18 at one point in the 2nd quarter, as the Blazers couldn't hit the side of a barn. Pistons somehow managed to blow the entire lead at one time in the third, but they got it going again and went up 10 at the end of the quarter. Bench played well in the 4th, even some good minutes from Flip Jr., to extend the lead a bit and keep the Blazers down about 12-15 for most of the quarter. Portland was pretty hapless whenever the Pistons had cutters going across the lane--8 dimes for CWebb, 9 for Chauncey.

Did I just see two games in a row where Flip Murray actually ran the offense? Someone please verify this.

Now the Suns and Dallas. They were pretty evenly matched tonight. Dallas has no more grip on the title than we did last year. It is going to be a battle.

Other than having to listen to the Portland announcers I really enjoyed watching the Pistons put away the Trailblazers. The Blazers have some nice pieces (Aldridge and Roy) but they are still a few years away from being a contender. So what reason on earth does Rip play 43 minutes in this game, that seems to be lots of big minutes when young Will is ready to come in and get some burn. Why did Blalock get dragged back up from the D-League if he doesn't get to play a little? Delfino had another really energetic game and I noticed he was wearing a protective sleeve over his left elbow. With about 5 minutes left Flip was going to substitute Prince in for Carlos but it didn't happen because Carlos got to shoot free throws and Price seemed very unhappy about having to go sit back down at the end of the bench. Really what is it about Prince that he can't just get some rest and not play himself ragged?

Gawd what a snooooooooooooozzzzzzzzzzzzer. I'm surprised the Pistons didn't lay down and take a nap during the 3rd.
I flipped it on the Mavs/Suns game to wake up during commercials--lol

Other than having to listen to the Portland announcers I really enjoyed watching the Pistons put away the Trailblazers.

I found it sort of interesting listening to them. For away announcers, they were pretty honest about what they saw as far as fouls and such. I didn't really disagree with them once either way. They also seemed to really admire the Pistons... almost to the point where it got to be repetitive. I think that they obviously respect our MO and would like their team to be more like us. I would rather listen to Blaha, but life's tough when you've abandoned the state of Michigan.

We went up 18. Flip, although getting better, still made the mistake of bringing all his starters back to end the 2nd quarter even though the team was doing fine with the bench players in. The returning starters, even though it was only two minutes, managed to give up a large chunk of the lead as they just seemed not to be able to get back into the game.

However, Flip then made amends for his ways in the 2nd half. The subs were in and the lead was staying nice and high, around 15 points. He left bench players in this time. He did bring back CB, but at the last moment, he called Tay back to the bench instead of putting him back in for Delfino even when Delfino was doing fairly marvelous out there. Just maybe Flip is learning something finally after all these years of being an NBA coach.

The starters lost all the rest of the lead early 3rd, but got serious and got a ten point lead by the end of the quarter. And he started playing the bench to start the 4th. Now, Maxiell got to play too in the 2nd half, which should be a no-brainer; but for Flip its a definite improvement. An improvement brought on by the happenstance of Webber being in foul trouble, but hey, I will be kind and give him credit for playing Maxiell. Maxiell, who makes Randolph look 100% ordinary. JMAX only hit 1 of 4 free throws or I would be saying he had a great game. Make those free throws.

Delfino played his usual fine defense, as usual gathered in all the loose balls and rebounds. And even showed up pretty well in the scoring column. No outside shots taken. On one play, Delfino was wide open but Webber passed him up. We turned the ball over a moment later. Delfino got a dunk on a fast break, made a hook shot in transition, and made a bucket on a nice feed from one of the bigs-I think it was one of CWEBB's many many assists in this game.

CWEBB did not do a ton of scoring in this one, but our offense went thru him very effectively a lot. Sheed did some damage down low himself. Plus you add JMAX and Tay posting up and you got a whole lot of inside play. Them mentioned that we had the first 10 inside points for the game. I wonder where that ended up.

Dyess continues to score a lot, and with one huge change of late. He scored around the basket. Now, they don't even mind him taking outside shots so much, its a better option than letting him have a layup. If Dyess could play D somewhere on par with Maxiell, that would be something. Did I mention that nice block by Maxiell on a guard thinking he could waltz in and score on us. Not.

Flip Murray had a 2nd straight good game. A bit of scoring. Only one turn I remember, and no silly shots. Defensively, well, I would have to review tape on that before grading him. Probably won't bohter. We did well with him running the point. Actually he had a lot of help in that from Carlos, Tay, and Rip, but it all worked.

Good solid 9 man rotation with all nine guys making good contributions. Can't complain too much except where is Dale Davis. Ten guys ready to play the day the playoffs start should be the goal. (and where is a bit of time for Blalock and Johnson.)

Sheed had some early foul trouble, which is a good thing. More rest for Sheed, more time for JMAX. CB at times scored, like when they put a smaller guard on him, but mostly he just ran the offense. Rip scored some. About the only change of late from him is more ball handling duties for him when playing along side Flip Murray. Not bad. GO PISTONS!!!!! Oh Yeah, 4-0 on a west coast trip. Not bad at all. And again, Kudos to Flip Saunders for playing his bench. Keep that up and we just might get somewhere in the playoffs.

Lee, have you ever been married to Zsa Zsa Gabor?

Lee, have you ever been married to Zsa Zsa Gabor?lol...that ain't fair...everyone has ;)

Nice cap lee

Good leecap dude. This west coast trip of bottom dwellers was just what the pistons needed to cure what ails them.....over confidence at home.

Now it is time to face the creme of the crop in what could become the Pistons hell week.:icon_evil: A win over the Suns at their crib may be more impressive than a win at home vs the mavs on Sunday. Especially since we have already beaten them this season and they are in the midst of a two game slide themselves. Let's hope they take out that aggression on Celtics Friday. These wins on the west coast have at least held off the Cavs (who have won 7 straight) from overtaking our lead.

Funny in these past three games, the Pistons have shot 54.2, 51.4 and again 51.4% from the floor tonight and outpointed the opposition in the paint to the tune of 48-26 over the Clips, 50-32 over the Sonics and 46-32 over the Blazers. It was just a week ago that the Pistons got pounded in the paint 58-30 by the Cavs, lost 46-40 to warriors and who can forget the Miami meltdown when the heat crushed us in the paint 58-32. And who said points in the paint mean nothing?? Of course the 1-16 shooting from beyond the three in the Heat game didn't help matters in that close loss.:mad:

:focus:

Oh yeah good win tonight over Paul Allens' Tblazers!:)

One thing that has stepped up lately is the help defense... there were flashes of the 04 defense where everything is contested.... For CWebbs lack of mobility he's definitely a man inside... willing to fight for position.
He's showing Sheed by example how to get it done in the paint.

Credit Sheed for some solid "D" on Zack... how he avoided another tech tonight is a mystery.... if you're up by 10 pts with a minute left just zip it for the sake of the team.

Tay looked fresh (Prince) tonight.... he was very active on defense and his shots weren't coming up short....
All 5 starters are capable of creating a post up mismatch... and good at recognizing a double team.... like Flip said tonight... "they're getting it"

Now for the reality check called the Suns.

Only caught three quarters. Felt pretty good about a Pistons victory so I knocked off early. These West Coast trips are a killer for a guy who gets up early...

Really impressed with LaMarcus Aldridge. Boy do we have bad luck picking in the lotto because there are a few gems every year. :(

Blazers are a vet and another year from being a playoff team in the West. Good young squad, much more promising than Atlanta or Charlotte. Maybe the coach has something to do with that considering how messed up their front office has been the last few years.

Blazer announcers are whiny, but they did end up giving the Pistons their props.

Some good and bad from Delfino, Flip Murray played ok as well. We're gunna need Murray in the playoffs at some point, and his recent interest in playing defense is very encouraging. Had a block last night and only took 2 shots in 14 minutes.

I don't know how many people caught it, but the Blazer's announcers were talking about the Spurs and how they are the best team at working the referees for an advantage. Said that Flip Sr will say his piece and move on, but Popovich just grinds and grinds the refs, and so does the Spurs assistant coaches.

That's an interesting thing to watch for with the Spurs. This season...

Fouls on Spurs - 1343
Fouls made by Spurs - 1240
Diff +103

Techs on the Spurs opponents - 26
Techs taken by the Spurs - 17
Diff +9

FTs taken by Spurs - 1499
FTs given up by Spurs - 1365
Diff +134

Food for thought

Credit Sheed for some solid "D" on Zack... how he avoided another tech tonight is a mystery....


How he avoided another foul in the second half is an even bigger mystery after the fouls 2 and 3 in the first half were bogus. Did someone slip the refs something at halftime?

After all the energy the Suns expended in their 2OT game vs. Dallas, I wonder if they'll be ripe for the picking (or a letdown) against the Pistons. Somehow, I doubt it.

These West Coast trips are a killer for a guy who gets up early...


Roscoe, you are a true warrior putting yourself on the couch for every one of these games. It's such a grind and some guys burn out early. Just don't fall into the trap of using performance enhancing drugs to keep up with the LADre's, the Linwood's, and the other talented West Coast watchers.

Roscoe, you are a true warrior putting yourself on the couch for every one of these games. It's such a grind and some guys burn out early. Just don't fall into the trap of using performance enhancing drugs to keep up with the LADre's, the Linwood's, and the other talented West Coast watchers.
You know what, I'm cleaning my screen.:pound:

Roscoe, you are a true warrior putting yourself on the couch for every one of these games. It's such a grind and some guys burn out early. Just don't fall into the trap of using performance enhancing drugs to keep up with the LADre's, the Linwood's, and the other talented West Coast watchers.

I have heard that phentermine can give you a nice little buzz to be alert for those West Coast games. You might want to ask your wife about it.:)

Coourtside seats were awesome. I bought some new batteries for my digital camera so I could get some photos at the game, and found out that my camera seems to be broken. Total Drag.

Our seats were on the court, about 10 feet from center court, opposite the bench, in the 3rd row. We could hear the players talking during the game.

Quick impressions from Portland:

Although my seats were better than in Seattle, the Sonics game was a much better game to watch. The Pistons phoned in this game, and still easily beat the Blazers. Portland has some talent (Randolf, Aldrige, and Roy) but they are years behind the Pistons for team play.

During one posession , Tayshaun had the inbound pass right in front of us. The ref handed Prince the ball, and Prince threw it back to the ref and ran down the court. Chauncey was standing there waiting for the pass, and when he saw Tay take off, he laughed and yelled "Tay, where ya going? You gotta throw the ball to me!"

Tay laughed and shrugged his shoulders. Seriously, the Pistons didn't
put much effort into this game, and they didn't have to, as they had this young Blazers team beat from the start.

Defense. I haven't watched too many games this season, and I've read lots and lots of posts about the Pistons lack of defensive effort. Of course, it's only based on two games... but the two games I saw, I would have to disagree. I think the defense was execellent. Tayshaun and Rip constantly steer their man into help defenders. Rasheed and Chris are very aware of penetrating guards and talk to each other on the court. I think the problem mostly lies with the age and speed of the bigs. I think there is a magical moment in a players career where they are both saavy vets and young athletic players. The Pistons with Dice, Sheed, Cwebb and Davis have tipped in the direction of saavy vets.

For the most part, experience beats athleticism. But sometimes, young fast players like Chris Wilcox, Bosh, or any of the other young, strong players can have excellent games against "the old guys". I don't think this is anything Flip can fix. (I've just been removed from TheLow's Family Christmas card list) True, Flip doesn't really seem to put much press conference time into talking about the D, but what I saw, it didn't look like it needed a whole lot of work.

Fourth quarter, Sheed backing down Zach Randolph from 12 feet out. Dice's defender moves to double Sheed, leaving Dice free under the basket. Rips defender rushes to cover Dice. Sheed never looks, but yells: "I see ya baby!" stands up, and tosses a beautiful cross court pass to a wide open Rip Hamilton, who drains the shot.

This team is still amazing.
:)

linwood, that is a wonderful recap. Thanks a lot.

I SEE YA BABY!

Awesome re-cap, linwood. We need you courtside at every single game!

Oh, and what's with the camera thing? First detteam's recorder when his daughter sang at the Palace, now this! Maybe there should be a PF.com collective camera/battery fund. :victory:

Great job Linwood, your re-cap is 100 times more interesting than those AP journals. Gotta to raise a fund for you to go to every game :MusicBigGrin:

Awesome re-cap, linwood. We need you courtside at every single game!

Oh, and what's with the camera thing? First detteam's recorder when his daughter sang at the Palace, now this! Maybe there should be a PF.com collective camera/battery fund. :victory:

I don't know what's wrong with my camera. I did take a couple of crappy pictures with my phone. I will see if I can't upload them to the site a little later today.

It is a different game from close up. I haven't seen a game that close in a long time, but I saw a couple of Bullets' seasons from there and the speed and quickness of the game is amazing. I found that I had to re-learn how to watch the game.

And hearing the players talking all the time adds a completely new dimension to the game.

Follow link for my Pics. 2nd row mid court. It was a great game.

Pistons vs Blazers album | Dndlion | Fotki.com (http://public.fotki.com/dndlion/pistons-vs-blazers/)

I feel like I was there...only my bank account still has money in it. Thanks for the photos.

The $$'s were worth it. I total different view of the game. I only need one seat since my wife does not like Basketball. Also got the ticket on the morning of the game for a decent discount. What killed me were the $8 beers.

linwood, that is a wonderful recap. Thanks a lot.

I SEE YA BABY!i know, Rc!!!...i really feel the love in these West coast recaps...or is it just me and my drinx???...naw there's somethin special(patti austin) out there...


PS...my new thing is to put my fave songs in my thots...or at least my drunk ones...:MusicBigGrin:

Awesome re-cap, linwood. We need you courtside at every single game!

Oh, and what's with the camera thing? First detteam's recorder when his daughter sang at the Palace, now this! Maybe there should be a PF.com collective camera/battery fund. :victory:my thots exactly...i really broke on TEAM bout that one, MR HIGHLAND PARK...

I feel like I was there...only my bank account still has money in it. Thanks for the photos.
I'd like yall to put together an album of all of our photos from piston games......