Toronto April 17th, 7:30 PM
TV - FSN Detroit, NBALP

The Raptors visit the Palace in an attempt to secure a win and the second seed in the EC. They currently hold the third seed.

The Pistons should want to avenge the loss on last Friday to Toronto - ah, nevermind, let`s rest till the playoffs.......:victory:

The Raptors call Anthony Parker PARKERVILLE.

Now that they are in our back yard, let's introduce them to Sheedtropolis, Ripsburgh, Billupstown, Lake Tayshaun and Los Webber.

Rip City

Daledale

Nazr County

More Dicetown and less Hunterton

Whatever happens in Fino City, stays in Fino City.

Maxville is the place to be!!!!!!!!

More Rip Heights.............Less Chauncey Park............:stirthepot:

I heard Bosh and AP are sitting out.

Fiddy 2 wins would look nice.
Pistons 89
Toes ripping through their tennies 82

I will be at the game. GO PISTONS!!!!!

This is gonna be a bench game. A 'let's not get injured game' looking like an All-Star game.

Flip said that he make work the starters more this game. I hope so!

This is gonna be a bench game. A 'let's not get injured game' looking like an All-Star game.

Exactly and I'm not necessarily mad about that either, but I do feel the Hometeam needs to go ahead and get this W tonight... Just to stay sharp and give the hometown fans the performance they deserve. Lord knows we've given away too many home games this year already, but if the Detroiters handle their biz in the eagerly anticipated post season ALL is forgiven! I'd like to win tonight without over extending any of our main guys, besides that the boston game is completely meaningless for us... It's all about staying healthy folks!

As a matter of fact all this playing time the bench is getting and has gotten this season is the likely reason why flip is probably going to keep his job here in the D. He has pretty much obeyed all of Mr. D & Joe D's requests (regarding bench playing time) unlike his 2 predacessors who foolishly wouldn't give upcoming studs like Tay (rc) & Memo (lb) the time of day. Mind you all I'm no big flip supporter but I will give him his due for indeed developing the bench a bit. GO PISTONS!

Flip said that he make work the starters more this game. I hope so!



Yeah right...a real coach would have chewed them a new one and made them play 35 min. ...not make the "I didn't like it" excuses after the fact. This guy is already preparing "it wasn't my fault" defense...

Chat is open!!!

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

Yeah right...a real coach would have chewed them a new one and made them play 35 min. ...not make the "I didn't like it" excuses after the fact. This guy is already preparing "it wasn't my fault" defense...
This might surprise ya Low... but I'll agree with you on this one... IMO Flip is lacking the bulldog mentality that motivates his players... the "edge" is lacking... Skiles has it...
If Phoenix wins the west then maybe the "in your face" style man not be as important as we may think... but most of your ship worthy coaches have been tough on their players.

Nice defensive rebound from Max around the 1:30 mark in the 4th... other than that, Max Uros, Uros Max, this is your assignment most of the time.

Lindsey, Flip, and Carlos showing why they were drafted.

Interesting comment by Flip tonight..
Why hasn't Dice played more?
Paraphrase... "Dice played less last game... Amir is more comfortable at PF.... Maxiell plays PF & Sheed"... Dice will play more next game.
We definitely have to move one of our PF's before next year.
Was very surprised at how much Flip Jr. scored tonight.

Did Max make Slokar look good, or does Slokar actually have some potential?

He looks like a tough Darius Songaila

This might surprise ya Low... but I'll agree with you on this one... IMO Flip is lacking the bulldog mentality that motivates his players... the "edge" is lacking... Skiles has it...
If Phoenix wins the west then maybe the "in your face" style man not be as important as we may think... but most of your ship worthy coaches have been tough on their players.

Nice attitude to have heading into the Playoffs.

Nice attitude to have heading into the Playoffs.
I agree. Great post Mercury! :thumb:

Nice games from Lindsey Hunter and Flip Murray. They both played better as the coach didn't divide the team into strict units and inter-mixed the players.

Too bad about Mo Pete hyper-extending his knee. He was having a good game (double double) and now it looks like he could miss the first round of the playoffs.

We looked like the Raptors tonight with two guards getting double digit assists (Hunter and Billups).

With Amir Johnson putting up 8 and 6 in 13 minutes, you gotta think this kid has something to contribute next year. As much as we want to see more burn for Maxiell and Johnson, perhaps one more year of growth and refinement behind Wallace and McDyess could allow us to have a proper transition to the next generation of Pistons.

And, Flip Saunders has to be pretty happy that we got through without any injuries, played defense and executed our way to 31 assists and only 11 turnovers.

Sure it was an exhibition, but as exhibitions go, it was a nice beat down. Now I feel like we are headed in the right direction as the playoffs approach this weekend.

That game was 5 kinds of pretty!

Not much of a game. Toronto did not play Bosh nor Parker, two guys who hurt us last Friday. They were already missing some guys to begin with. Not much competition.

The starters came out slow on D in both halves. In the 1st half, Flip just suffered thru it, and the starters did manage to play just a litttle D to get an 8 point lead going. In the 3rd quarter, Flip just caved in (which I approve of in this case) and started bringing subs in early to replace starters who obviously did not want to be out there.

Good floor game by Billups? Not. The ball went inside precious few times. Sheed had at least one shot in the vicinity of the hoop, Webber about two. Lots of outside shots, with Sheeds triples being the highlight of the starters night.

The bench came out and expanded the lead greatly in the 2nd quarter. However, the outside shot remained the theme. For the game, Amir only got 12 minutes, and he only got to post up maybe twice. JMAX got to post up just a bit more than that. Amir had a decent game for short minutes. About 4-6 from the line, and made a couple of shots. One on an offensive rebound, one on a fast break dunk. JMAX just got some dunks and made about 2 of five at the line. JMAX has got to improve his free throw shooting. Maybe just shoot jumpers and see how that goes.

Delfino made some shots, got rebounds, made a nice pass into Mohammed to get him on the scoreboard. (Otherwise, Mohammed was pretty terrible-guess he can blame this poor performance on the flu, but really that is just how he plays.)

Hunter and Flip scored about 25 points between them, and probably got plenty of assists passing the ball back and forth between the two. This did not impress me much. Two gaurds getting shots, while two post players are starved for shots. I think even Delfino was told to shoot just to ensure Amir was frozen out of this one to make sure he could not look all that good.

Hunter played good solid D in this one. Still got shot over a time or two for lack of height and ups though.

Dyess made 5 of 5. Time to let him rest for the playoffs, ditto for Webber who made a couple of shots. Tomorro night, we need to see a lot of Davis, Amir, and JMAX.

Dale Davis has still not got off the pines in these 3 games where the bench is suppose to be getting featured. By the way, I see someone is claiming I said Davis could guard Shaq. Sure he can, but not very well. He provides depth at that position, but is in no way like EC who could actually seriously slow Shaq down.
I got my picture taken with my favorite announcer before the game, and shook Kelser's hand too. I was there with a group to cheer on Mo Pete, a Flint native. I hope he is alright after his leg buckled there.

A pretty meaningless game in all. Still a lot of fun to be at the Palace and cheer on the Pistons. GO PISTONS!!!!!

Hunter and Flip scored about 25 points between them, and probably got plenty of assists passing the ball back and forth between the two. This did not impress me much. Two gaurds getting shots, while two post players are starved for shots.

Hunter did have 3 assists to Murray, but he also had:
2 assists to Delfino
2 assists to McDyess
2 assists to Maxiel
1 assist to Prince
1 assist to Wallace
for a total of 11 assists.

Gee, Hunter looked like a pretty fine point guard in this game.

There you go. The team finally decided to win one of these. Hopefully this can aleviate some of the playoff anxiety around here about the makeup of the team. I was starting to get worried myself.

Fiddy two wins, I'm happy. Don't even like an odd number.
But this is an odd year. Maybe 53 is more suited.

Gosh all fishhooks Mr Wizard - maybe there is a backbone in this team after all. For an end of the season game I thought the concentration was there. Though Nazr threw up some of the ugliest shots I've seen in a while.

Heard anything about Dice? He seemed to be making trips to the locker room during the game. Have the flu-like symptoms struck again?

Hunter did have 3 assists to Murray, but he also had:
2 assists to Delfino
2 assists to McDyess
2 assists to Maxiel
1 assist to Prince
1 assist to Wallace
for a total of 11 assists.

Gee, Hunter looked like a pretty fine point guard in this game.

The two assists to Maxiell were inside shots. The rest from the perimeter. Note, Amir was on the floor with Hunter for 12 minutes-where are the assists to Amir. What impresses me is assists like the one where Delfino got inside the D and dished to Mohammed for a dunk. A nice, high percentage shot. In the playoffs, a guard who can't get the ball inside is pretty worthless. Perimeter defense will tighten up in the playoffs, especially if the point guard is not a threat to get the ball inside.

we looked great. 66 bench points vs. 44 for the starters. tons of assists. our bench making shot after shot. flip murray actually running an effective fast break.

one more to go, then playoffs baby!! and i'm loving the golden state / dallas 1st round matchup.

one more to go, then playoffs baby!! and i'm loving the golden state / dallas 1st round matchup.
Yeah, who knew Stephen Jackson had so much to give!

By the way, I see someone is claiming I said Davis could guard Shaq. Sure he can, but not very well. He provides depth at that position, but is in no way like EC who could actually seriously slow Shaq down.

I beg to differ on this, Lee. From what I see, Dale Davis annoys the living daylights out of Shaq and does a good job of keeping him out of the game. Dale is a warrior who knows how to place his feet and push people around. He is exactly who we need to have in good shape in case of a series against a Miami Heat team with a recently revitalized Shaq.

Hopefully he can at least get into the game today.

If Lindsey is hitting that shot, then it really opens up the floor for him. It seems like he has been hitting for the past 5 games or so. Maybe he finally has his legs back... ala Dyess.

It also seemed like they were running a lot, which played to his strengths.

PopcornMachine's GameFlow - Toronto @ Detroit (http://www.popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20070417&game=TORDET)

How is Dyess doing it? It seems like every game he is the +/- leader now. In limited minutes, he just dominated last night.

Also, I thought it was one of Maxiell's better games.

Lee, I have to agree with you on the trio of JMax/Amir/Davis.

Hunter/Delfino/JMax/Amir/Davis would be a pretty rough crew to play against. Talk about a bench unit with an identity! That is the true extension of the Goon Squad.

Davis won't be around much longer and Amir won't play in the palyoffs, so it will probably never be tried.

Are you ever happy Lee?? You sicken me!

We try not to talk to each other like that. This isn't that kind of forum. If you don't like someone's posts, click on their name and add them to your ignore list.

I use this all the time on other forums, and it does wonders for my blood pressure.

Then how would he/she know they sicken me?

Besides, I'm 20, blood pressure isn't a real big concern for me...

But hey, I'll stop. I told you that politeness characteristic diminishes as the Playoffs approach...

They wouldn't. Which is the point.

I beg to differ on this, Lee. From what I see, Dale Davis annoys the living daylights out of Shaq and does a good job of keeping him out of the game. Dale is a warrior who knows how to place his feet and push people around. He is exactly who we need to have in good shape in case of a series against a Miami Heat team with a recently revitalized Shaq.

Hopefully he can at least get into the game today.

Dale Davis bothers Shaq more than most, but in the end, Shaq still shoots a way too high of a percentage when guarded by Davis. Davis can't keep Shaq far enough from the basket, and Davis lacks the height to stop Shaq from shooting over him. EC was excellent at keeping Shaq pushed out well away from the basket, and had the height too. Huge difference. Now, could Dale Davis have helped us in the Orlando series some if he had been included in our rotation last season. I believe so. Who knows, if we had started Dale Davis and let Sheed work more on healing that ankle sprain a bit for the next round, we just might have gotten by Miami. Since Sheed was injured, and was giving us little on offense, you might as well play the healthy guy who could at least defend very well. (That is, again, if we had been letting him play at all-which we were not, a big failure on Saunders part.)