Utah Nov 25 1PM

tv: FSDN

CB vs. DW
Tay vs. Kirilenko
Sheed vs Boozer
Dyess vs. Okur

Oh yeah, this will be nice!

The Pistons are currently 8-4, including 4-4 on the road and 4-0 at home. Utah is 9-4, with 3 of those 4 losses occuring on the road (Lakers, Cavs, Pacers).

Last year, the Jazz swept the Pistons, winning 103-101 in Utah and 100-99 in Detroit. Okur led Utah in the first game, scoring 23 points. The game in Detroit was Webber's Pistons debut. Deron Williams scored a career-high 31 points. Okur added 22 and Boozer scored 20.

The Jazz swept the Pistons two seasons ago as well. I'll be on the road coming back from Thanksgiving, so I'll have to miss this game like the last couple, but I really want a win over these guys. Come on, Pistons, get it done!

The last Pistons win over the Jazz was on March 13, 2005. Detroit won the game 64-62. Here were the post-game comments:

"It's a miracle," Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "We didn't get anything accomplished against their zone, but we luck out and win the game."

The last Pistons win over the Jazz was on March 13, 2005. Detroit won the game 64-62. Here were the post-game comments:

"It's a miracle," Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "We didn't get anything accomplished against their zone, but we luck out and win the game."


AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Unable to make a shot from the field in the fourth quarter, the Detroit Pistons (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/det/;_ylt=A0WTWZFsdUhHUlMAKgCQvLYF) relied on tough defense and six free throws to beat the Utah Jazz (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/uth/;_ylt=A0WTWZFsdUhHUlMAKwCQvLYF).

Richard Hamilton (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3330/;_ylt=A0WTWZFsdUhHUlMALACQvLYF) scored 15 points and the Pistons overcome 0-for-15 shooting in the fourth quarter to beat the Jazz 64-62 Sunday.
``It's a miracle,'' Pistons coach Larry Brown said. ``We didn't get anything accomplished against their zone, but we luck out and win the game.''

The futility wasn't limited to the Pistons, however. It was the lowest scoring game for each franchise, and the teams combined for an NBA-record 18 points in the final period, beating the 19 points by Miami and Toronto in the fourth quarter on Feb. 2, 2004.

``That's as ugly as it can get, but our defense held on long enough to win the game,'' said Detroit's Chauncey Billups (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/3174/;_ylt=A0WTWZFsdUhHUlMALgCQvLYF), who scored just one point in the second half. ``It was like a lid was on the basket. We got some good looks -- we got some great looks -- we just couldn't knock them down.''

NBA - Utah Jazz/Detroit Pistons Recap Sunday March 13, 2005 - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2005031308)

hope i remember to wake up in time to get to the palace ;D

The Tay/AK-47 duel should be good. AK-47 has been a defnsive whiz thus far and Tay has also had his moments.


If Sheed doesn`t play and Tay is shut down by Kirelenko, I see a loss for the Pistons on the horizon!

The last Pistons win over the Jazz was on March 13, 2005. Detroit won the game 64-62. Here were the post-game comments:

"It's a miracle," Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "We didn't get anything accomplished against their zone, but we luck out and win the game."

I remember that game like it was yesterday. Ben swats AK at the buzzer. No FGs in the 4th. One of those insanely ugly games that you just never forget.

The last Pistons win over the Jazz was on March 13, 2005. Detroit won the game 64-62.

Is that the halftime score???:pound:

Gosh! But those were the days where our D wins most of the games. Under Flip, scoring 64 is his halftime score target.

Without Sheed in this game, this will be our 1st home game loss.

Only way we win without Sheed in the lineup is the Jazz not a good 'away' team. With or without Sheed, this game is still a tough one. Hope I'm wrong.

This will be a good game to see how good we really are. We've only played 3 teams over 500 so far. Against sub-sub 500 teams we're 6-3. Not good.

Looks like Maxey and AA will get the start tonight as Rip is still under the weather and Sheed's knee is not ready to go.


Utah matchup is always a challenge; Rip, Rasheed questionable
November 25, 2007
BY KRISTA JAHNKE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

For the Pistons, it seems there's no good time to play the Utah Jazz. The West's most overlooked elite team has topped the Pistons in their last four meetings, encompassing all of coach Flip Saunders' tenure with Detroit.

Today, it won't get any easier as two of the Pistons' top two players are listed as questionable.

Shooting guard Richard Hamilton missed Saturday's short practice and stayed home to fight off a flu bug. And forward Rasheed Wallace stayed put in the training room, taking treatment on his sore left knee......

Saunders said forward Jason Maxiell and rookie guard Arron Afflalo will start if the two regular starters can't go.

PISTONS CORNER: Utah matchup is always a challenge; Rip, Rasheed questionable (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071125/SPORTS03/711250629/1051)

:hoops:

Watch out for Ronnie Brewer, he's a steal machine.

Chat is open!

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

Unfortunately, I don't get this game on TV. :(

I wonder if it is just a coincidence that Kirilenko wears #47. Most likely not.

The original AK - 47


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/AK-47_type_II_Part_DM-ST-89-01131.jpg/300px-AK-47_type_II_Part_DM-ST-89-01131.jpg



The AK-47 (short for Russian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language): Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года; Kalashnikov model automatic rifle of 1947) is an assault rifle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle) which was used in most Eastern bloc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_bloc) countries during the Cold War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War).
AK-47 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47)

:hoops:

No chance without Sheed. We are average without him.

Nazr got boards but is still soft. Deron and Booze owned the paint and it was our long jumpers vs. their bunnies.

Not a surprise the Pistons lost this game, I think even with a healthy Sheed the Jazz would have come out with a victory. There's just something missing from this team this year and is it because of a stale line-up? Maxiell is never going to be an All-Star but he's a nice piece and Rip seems to have lost his blur in motion always running wear out the other player persona. It's still early and Stuckey has to be integrated into the mix but the Pistons will need to make a trade to turn this into a championship unit. They are in need of an impact player -- how about a true center who can anchor the middle? Nazr had the game of his life today so trade him while he's got some value. The Pistons should look to grab Chris Wilcox from Seattle since they are going nowhere and he's the best big man out there that plays with fire. If not look for a 2nd round exit this year from the playoffs because this team is not significantly better than last year so why would the outcome be any different?

I think I saw the worst shot in the history of western civilization from Chauncey tonight.

That and some of the worst defense on the Palace floor in quite some time.

The Jazz are a good but not an elite team. They were exposed last year in the playoffs. Only Boozer and Williams can hurt you. So Boozer is left wide open to go 16-19. No adjustment evident. His shots were wide, wide open.

When we press, we go one on one. The Jazz get out on the break. Then we start the ref complaining routine.

Our personnel is overall better than the Jazz. So why can't we beat them?

Yes, no Sheed, but that doesn't explain our team play versus their team play.

I think I saw the worst shot in NBA, Regular Season, history from Chauncey tonight.

If you are going to shoot a three you might as well step up to the line instead of shooting it from way back. :ohwell:

The Pistons are slowly getting OLD before our eyes. Soon, it won't matter especially if we don't integrate the young players into the lineup.
Still looking for 44-47 wins this season.

I think I saw the worst shot in the history of western civilization from Chauncey tonight.

That and some of the worst defense on the Palace floor in quite some time.


Oh come on... you know that's

TRUE BLUE COLLAR

First home loss. Should have been expected since we haven't beaten the Jazz in the Flip era and there was no Sheed to throw up against Boozer.

Boozer was only 17-20 from the field to score 36 points. Most of those feeds came for Deron Williams 14 assists. Boozer probably got 28 of his 36 points in the paint as Max and Dce were no match for him. The Jazz scored at least 50 pts in the paint and I don't believe the Pistons had more than 30.

Flip was tossed near the end of the third quarter with the Pistons down 4, but 4 ft's pushed the lead up to 8 and the Pistons could never get closer than fivp after that despite the fact that Boozer sat for 3 mins near the end of the third and start of the 4th.

Unfortunately for the Pistons, Terry Porter coached just like Saunders down the stretch. Neither attempted to bring Amir Johnson to see if his long arms could block or stop Boozer. Luckily Memo was cold or this one would have been over at halftime...then again after the 12-3 run to close out the half by the Jazz maybe it was already over???? The Pistons lead by 4 at the end of one and then extended it out to 39-31 before Flip jr basically killed the offense flow and the Pistons were outscored 27-16 in the second.

Rip was supposed to be sick with the flu, but Flip played him the entire 1st qtr and he had a total PT of 37 mins on 6/16 shooting. IMO, if Tay had taken some of those shots this game would have been closer. (rip had 7 assists, so maybe he should have been more of a passer today if he had to play...

The Pistons are slowly getting OLD before our eyes. Soon, it won't matter especially if we don't integrate the young players into the lineup.
Still looking for 44-47 wins this season.

I didn't expect it because I thought Joe would make sure that the same guys did not play all the time. Stuckey is not playing, but he is injured. Afflalo has been very good and he is losing playing time to Flip Murray. Amir is not playing and unlike Darko he has not been a whiny *****. He should start playing as well. Let's just say Flip is not using everything available to him and it is going to cost him again. It seems like we are clicking the rewind button again and why should we expect the starters to pull out a playoff run when they could not do it the last 2 years?

Damn, I just realized I missed to today's game entirely....go figure.

Damn, I just realized I missed to today's game entirely....go figure.


early 10 AM start our time Low...entertaining first 15 mins, but a struggle for the Pistons afterwards. If you have it on your DVR, no need to look at it same ole players same ole result other than Nazr getting 14 boards. ..:sssh:

I didn't expect it because I thought Joe would make sure that the same guys did not play all the time. Stuckey is not playing, but he is injured. Afflalo has been very good and he is losing playing time to Flip Murray. Amir is not playing and unlike Darko he has not been a whiny *****. He should start playing as well. Let's just say Flip is not using everything available to him and it is going to cost him again. It seems like we are clicking the rewind button again and why should we expect the starters to pull out a playoff run when they could not do it the last 2 years?
I'd prefer it if Amir did start whining. It's hard to root for a guy to get more PT, when he seems perfectly content to sit on the bench and wait his turn.

As for this game, our D got exposed. If Memo didn't shoot so many bricks this would have been a blowout. And the JMax/Dice combo is looking like a disaster defensively. Nazr was our best big man today, and that's scary.

But I'm sure Flip is thinking that if we only hit a few more shots, and followed his game plan better, we would have won.

The Pistons took a long step backwards in this one. Afflalo got about 3 minutes. No Amir Johnson. No Samb.

With Rip having the flu, you might think Afflalo would get some quality minutes in this one. Instead, we see Prince play some shooting guard, followed by Flip Murray. As usual, nobody can predict what Saunders is going to do game to game for the rotation.
With Sheed out, you would think Amir Johnson would get to play a bit. Instead, Amir has his minutes go down to zero, after just 5 the previous game.

The outcome of this early season game did not matter. It basically ended up being just another wasted opportunity to develop the team.

Ok, the game itself. Billups started out doing pretty well, getting inside for scores and dishing assists. He even made some outside shots. Rip was hitting his outside shots too. But Utah's Williams was getting inside on us too. A draw there for the most part.

Tay started our scoring with a triple, but really did not shoot too much after that.
Dyess did not shoot much at first, but then hit some outside shots. Then missed a lot of outside shots. In all, his outside shooting hurt us. His rebounding was good though, as was the few times he decided to work inside. Its a shame as much potential he has to help us that he chooses not too by taking so many outside shots. As he can't defend Boozer at all, he should have been trying to get him into foul trouble.

Mohammed had a heck of rebounding game. But did anyone ever see him make a defensive play in this game? How about his work inside around the basket on offense? Weak as can be. He did get a couple of tip ins, but he should take a page from Rodman's book, pass the ball out if he gets an offensive rebound where there is anyone defending him.

Flip Murray made a couple of good drives in. About it though. Not much for all he played.
Hayes got a bucket in the post, and then hit a couple of outside shots. Did he shoot again?
JMAX was a bright spot. They let him shoot. People got to see that indeed he can make jumpers. And he played some pretty darn good D on Okur. And blocked some shots. Gee, it would be nice if they let our other shotblockers play some. Instead, the rest of our front line was slow. (Mohammed and Dyess were the rest of our front line.) Speaking of slow, and poor D, Hayes ain't none to fast on defense either. Thats a lot of slowness out there. In all, Boozer looked like he was all alone out there for most of the game.

Despite everything, the Pistons actually played pretty even with Utah, save for a bunch of technical free throws by Utah. Saunders got tossed arguing a call. They made the two tech free throws, and the two free throws for Tay's foul to put us down 8.
Our last hurrah was a triple by Billups to put us down just 5 late. That was it though. Okur's triple buried us.

Agree with your recap lee...perfect opportunity to play Afflollo, Amir and Samb, and the latter are glued to the bench.. with memo bricking all we had to do is try Amir on Boozer and Alf on Deron and we could won thos one..
.

Even Hayes looked good out ther scoring 8 pts in the first half but I am not sure if he even got in the game in the second half.

The Pistons will fail with Flip....

i don't think we can beat utah without sheed. in fact, we're not an elite team with sheed out of the lineup. we scored alright in the 4th quarter but it didn't matter because we couldn't get a stop.

the crowd sucked today - no energy, and when they were down 8 with 2:20 left the place started clearing out. there was no flow thanks to the terrible officiating, and the only funny part was listening to a heckler, particularly commenting when kirilenko got fouled hard and he yelled out 'down goes the russian!!' and made some rocky references.

no mason today, no matt dery on the radio, no erin announcing...yuck. i thought there'd be a better atmosphere with a sunday afternoon game, but the crowd never showed up and neither did the pistons' defense. and the missed free throws from our starters is getting old.

sidenote: milwaukee is 1st place in the central divison

Its not a pipe dream to say Amir and Samb should have played considering the impact they both had in the GS game. At the time I was elated to see them and at the same time dissapointed because I knew it would probably never happen again.

Tough team comes in and Flip goes with the vets. Very predictable.

Its not a pipe dream to say Amir and Samb should have played considering the impact they both had in the GS game. At the time I was elated to see them and at the same time dissapointed because I knew it would probably never happen again.

Tough team comes in and Flip goes with the vets. Very predictable.
the problem is that as long as the Pistons win two of three and stay in or within a game or two of first place, Flip gets a pass... As long as the Palace fills up, mr. davison only half cares. Flip needs to get a stern warning from both Dumars or Davison that the kids need to play at least 5 mins game or else...other wise we got a bunch of darkos on the pine...

I missed the game, but I expected Utah to play hard and give us a rough ride.

Max, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Well, I was looking for some inspiration and I believe I have found it.

I don't think that Sheed or who the coach played specifically can explain how one guy (their go to guy) can be that wide open time after time. Can't explain how LeBron could do what he did last year in game 5. There is still no evident defensive preparation and adjustments from the coach.

Only two guys on that team can produce a win over us. And we let one of them completely open--the whole game almost. Williams at least earned his shots. The Jazz were exposed in last year's playoffs. Did our coaching staff take any notes?

One team (utah) has steady offensive sets. The other (us) don't. The one on one misses by Rip and Chauncey led to many points for Utah. It is not the loss but the state of our coaching strategies (or lack of) that is scary.

This game was lost because our perimeter players CAN NOT STAY IN FRONT OF THEIR MAN DEFENSIVELY. Boozer did not KILL us in the paint, he clobbered us with the WIDE open elbow jumpers. That shot became open often because our bigs were always forced to rotate (more like scramble) because our guards could not check their man. Utah in turn moves the ball with great precision to get Boozer's open looks. Boozer did not just come onto the court and "Take It" to any particular defender, but Williams "Took It" into the paint at will and got the defense scrambling.

Amir and Samb would have really hurt us in this game. Amir and Samb are not good at understanding their defensive rotations away from the basket. We could have won had Afflalo played more. Here's the funny thing AA comes in and began to limit the effectiveness of Williams (no he didn't stop him because nobody can really just STOP the guy), AA had to check him because the backcourt consisted of him and Flip Jr (who had a few nice steals defensively BTW) and Williams would have murdered Flip Jr. Billups checks back in for Jr, and rather than leaving our best perimeter defender (AA) on Williams, and CB checking little Ronnie Price, he takes Williams and immediately began to get burned again!!!!!! Why oh why did the team and coaching staff not stick with AA on Williams?? Billups wanted to show DW that he was the better PG, and we lost!!!! The entire frontcourt played VERY WELL, it was the backcourts poor defense, and poor decision making offensively that lost this game for us.

This game was lost because our perimeter players CAN NOT STAY IN FRONT OF THEIR MAN DEFENSIVELY. Boozer did not KILL us in the paint, he clobbered us with the WIDE open elbow jumpers. That shot became open often because our bigs were always forced to rotate (more like scramble) because our guards could not check their man. Utah in turn moves the ball with great precision to get Boozer's open looks. Boozer did not just come onto the court and "Take It" to any particular defender, but Williams "Took It" into the paint at will and got the defense scrambling.

Amir and Samb would have really hurt us in this game. Amir and Samb are not good at understanding their defensive rotations away from the basket. We could have won had Afflalo played more. Here's the funny thing AA comes in and began to limit the effectiveness of Williams (no he didn't stop him because nobody can really just STOP the guy), AA had to check him because the backcourt consisted of him and Flip Jr (who had a few nice steals defensively BTW) and Williams would have murdered Flip Jr. Billups checks back in for Jr, and rather than leaving our best perimeter defender (AA) on Williams, and CB checking little Ronnie Price, he takes Williams and immediately began to get burned again!!!!!! Why oh why did the team and coaching staff not stick with AA on Williams?? Billups wanted to show DW that he was the better PG, and we lost!!!! The entire frontcourt played VERY WELL, it was the backcourts poor defense, and poor decision making offensively that lost this game for us.

Excellent post.

I disagreed with Lee and other folks who applauded AA on his defense, however, the few minutes he was in this game he did stay in front of D Williams and I was very impressed.

It did seem as if CB didn`t want to be embarrassed by D Williams resulting in a couple of bone head plays down the stretch trying to force the issue.

We are in trouble with our current rotation when facing quick penetrating guards that are well coached.

so Nazr grabbed 14 boards in 17 minutes? How did he do that?

If things don't change Flip needs to be fired. He is not utilizing all the players and is not doing anything about the poor defense. In the GS game the Pistons changed their game plan and they came roaring back. Flip needs to do that all the time, but he doesn't. To me a mistake is only a mistake if you do not learn from it and make sure that it does not re occur. Flip keeps going with the same game plan and he needs to change it.

so Nazr grabbed 14 boards in 17 minutes? How did he do that?


He's tall, and Memo plays for the 3.

Just noticed a really disturbing stat. Boozer was 17 for 20, and only took 2 fts.

Either the refs were completely biased, and didn't call any fouls against the Pistons, or from what I saw' we played zero D against him, and were never close enough to foul him.

Boozer never took it inside. He just had wide open shots all day long, so it was not necessary for him to make a move inside.

another thing that may have gone unnoticed to the tv viewers...there were lots of times where we'd push inside and not get a call, and then while 1-3 of our guys were complaining to the refs, utah was pushing it in transition and getting easy baskets. they particularly took advantage when one of our guys fell down (attempting to draw the foul, and in some cases this was justified but not called), or inbounding the ball.

i'd say they got anywhere from 5-10 baskets from this tactic alone.

i'd say they got anywhere from 5-10 baskets from this tactic alone.


10-20 points??

Really?

Just noticed a really disturbing stat. Boozer was 17 for 20, and only took 2 fts.

Either the refs were completely biased, and didn't call any fouls against the Pistons, or from what I saw' we played zero D against him, and were never close enough to foul him.

Kgreg explained this pretty well. Scroll back and read his post.

10-20 points??

Really?

maybe not 20, but at least 10. i specifically counted 2 off of quick in-bounds, and 3 more when we were complaining about calls or lying on the ground and outmanned 4 on 5. there's a good chance i missed others.

Boozer never took it inside. He just had wide open shots all day long, so it was not necessary for him to make a move inside.

Boozer scored more right at the basket on pick and rolls than anything.

Boozer scored more right at the basket on pick and rolls than anything.

Actually, the breakdown of Boozer's shots show that less than half of his baskets were right at the basket:

8 layups
3 from 16-feet
1 from 18-feet
3 from 19-feet
1 from 20-feet
1 from 21-feet

Actually, the breakdown of Boozer's shots show that less than half of his baskets were right at the basket:

8 layups
3 from 16-feet
1 from 18-feet
3 from 19-feet
1 from 20-feet
1 from 21-feet

Thanks Bill. The Pistons still can't allow one player to get 8 layup attempts??? What happen to halftime defensive adjustments??? looks like he made at least 7 of those layups...

What happen to halftime defensive adjustments???

Players: It's a war out there. Without Sheed, how do we stop Boozer and Okur, coach?

Flip: Stop Boozer? Stop Okur? Stop worrying bout it. They can't be makin 100% of their shots all the time. They are a jump shooting team. They are bound to miss some of their shots soon. This is what I've plan for the 2nd half, everyone take out my playbook, study plays 201 - 205. This 5 plays will win us this game, all you got to do is make your shots. Make them and we will win this game at the end of the 3rd quarter. By then, Amir, Samb and Affalo will get to play.

Stop jading yourselves. The coaching staff did not lose this one. If your guards can not keep their guards out of the paint, then you ain't gonna win. This is also why we can not beat SA, if you can't stay in front of Williams you sure as hell can't stay in front of Parker and Manu. On top of all that, if your guards (who can't stop dribble penetration) make dumb decisions on the offensive end of the court that ends up in them taking horrible jumpers, then you ain't gonna win.

Again, I really don't think that Flip is a bad coach. I DO believe emphatically that he is a bad coach for this team. Everybody used to complain that LB rode this team too hard, that they were a veteran team that could win without all that yelling and crap, they said they'd play better with a players-coach.......BULLCRAP. Rip and Chuancey need a coach to ride them and make them give their all on the court. Both of their games are really starting to suffer under Flip. Rip was a complete player that did not need the ball to have an impact. Billups would get you around 20 and only need 10-12 shots to do it. Now they hog the dang ball and suffocate their teammates games (look at the shot clock when Billups finally relinquishes the ball). Has anyone noticed that Dyess really has that jumper going?? Yet the guards still see him as the 5th option??? Notice how when Tay gets the ball he's been really delivering, yet he's an after thougt to Batman and Robin. I said it before and I'll continue to say it, Rip and Chauncey are the new Mobley and Cuttino. Bring Rip off the Bench!!!!!!!!! The bench really needs a consistent-veteran-perimeter scorer to give it a boost, as we have seen Hayes and Flip are OK, but they don't fit that bill.

at least chauncey took his share of the blame:

"We all did a poor job," said Billups, who finished with 15 points, six assists and four turnovers. "I feel horrible. I don't feel I did a good enough job leading us today. It started at the point with my matchup (with Williams). We let them get into a comfort zone. I let Deron keep getting into the teeth of our defense, and when we shifted he would just dump it to Boozer."

He just ought to. Had he checked Williams we would have won this one. Had the staff noticed, Rip is struggling, let's play AA aaaaannd put HIM on Williams so Chauncey does not have to expend that much energy on the defensive end, we would have had a decent shot at a win.

Flip needs to take those boys out back and tan their hides.

KGREG, you are right on in all your posts. LB was really strict with the guards and he brought out the best in them. Flip gives them a lot of freedom, more freedom than they are capable of handling. They are good, not great players.

I am almost ready to start rooting against these guys. Nothing has changed. When the going gets tough they can't get within 22' of the hoop. Their D is atrocious. There is no accountability. If you can't check your man, so what? Go zone. If that doesn't work they'll trap. That's about it from the bag of tricks.

Cleveland next. Big, big game. Good chance to lay all their cards on the table to squeak out a November win so they have nothing new to throw at them come the playoffs. I expect a lot of zone and traps.

I'm not sure how to put this, to make it not sound like I am hating on the team, but the more we lose, the greater the pressure on Flipper.

Because it's pretty clear to me that Rip will not be coming off the bench, and the guards will not be held accountable for their perimeter D.

A change in leadership is needed. More to follow soon.... :)

Not a surprise the Pistons lost this game, I think even with a healthy Sheed the Jazz would have come out with a victory. There's just something missing from this team this year and is it because of a stale line-up? Maxiell is never going to be an All-Star but he's a nice piece and Rip seems to have lost his blur in motion always running wear out the other player persona. It's still early and Stuckey has to be integrated into the mix but the Pistons will need to make a trade to turn this into a championship unit. They are in need of an impact player -- how about a true center who can anchor the middle? Nazr had the game of his life today so trade him while he's got some value. The Pistons should look to grab Chris Wilcox from Seattle since they are going nowhere and he's the best big man out there that plays with fire. If not look for a 2nd round exit this year from the playoffs because this team is not significantly better than last year so why would the outcome be any different?


There is something missing this year, i am just not excited about this year' squad.

The Pistons took a long step backwards in this one. Afflalo got about 3 minutes. No Amir Johnson. No Samb.

With Rip having the flu, you might think Afflalo would get some quality minutes in this one. Instead, we see Prince play some shooting guard, followed by Flip Murray. As usual, nobody can predict what Saunders is going to do game to game for the rotation.
With Sheed out, you would think Amir Johnson would get to play a bit. Instead, Amir has his minutes go down to zero, after just 5 the previous game.

The outcome of this early season game did not matter. It basically ended up being just another wasted opportunity to develop the team.

Ok, the game itself. Billups started out doing pretty well, getting inside for scores and dishing assists. He even made some outside shots. Rip was hitting his outside shots too. But Utah's Williams was getting inside on us too. A draw there for the most part.

Tay started our scoring with a triple, but really did not shoot too much after that.
Dyess did not shoot much at first, but then hit some outside shots. Then missed a lot of outside shots. In all, his outside shooting hurt us. His rebounding was good though, as was the few times he decided to work inside. Its a shame as much potential he has to help us that he chooses not too by taking so many outside shots. As he can't defend Boozer at all, he should have been trying to get him into foul trouble.

Mohammed had a heck of rebounding game. But did anyone ever see him make a defensive play in this game? How about his work inside around the basket on offense? Weak as can be. He did get a couple of tip ins, but he should take a page from Rodman's book, pass the ball out if he gets an offensive rebound where there is anyone defending him.

Flip Murray made a couple of good drives in. About it though. Not much for all he played.
Hayes got a bucket in the post, and then hit a couple of outside shots. Did he shoot again?
JMAX was a bright spot. They let him shoot. People got to see that indeed he can make jumpers. And he played some pretty darn good D on Okur. And blocked some shots. Gee, it would be nice if they let our other shotblockers play some. Instead, the rest of our front line was slow. (Mohammed and Dyess were the rest of our front line.) Speaking of slow, and poor D, Hayes ain't none to fast on defense either. Thats a lot of slowness out there. In all, Boozer looked like he was all alone out there for most of the game.

Despite everything, the Pistons actually played pretty even with Utah, save for a bunch of technical free throws by Utah. Saunders got tossed arguing a call. They made the two tech free throws, and the two free throws for Tay's foul to put us down 8.
Our last hurrah was a triple by Billups to put us down just 5 late. That was it though. Okur's triple buried us.


There is something about affalo that flip does not like. Affalo at least attempts to keep his man out of the paint. 10 minutes a game is not asking a lot.

There is something about affalo that flip does not like. Affalo at least attempts to keep his man out of the paint. 10 minutes a game is not asking a lot.

Flip doesn't appear to like anybody who is under 25 years old...but he still should give all of them PT. If he doesn't and can't figure out how to get Tay and Rip on the same page then his job is in jeopardy. As KGREG says, Rip and Billups need to pass to the HOT man and stop trying to force low% shots. At the the other end of the floor they need to play some defense and stop worrying about bad calls and what kind of shot they are going to force up later when they get the rock..

Why can't we beat the Jazz. Everyone else is.

They are now just 14 - 13 after tonights loss

Nazr put up a 17 -8 vs them

NBA - Utah Jazz/Charlotte Bobcats Box Score Wednesday December 19, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=Aoz.bL36ROYieHtP0aSIfva8vLYF?gid=200 7121930)

:hoops:

Why can't we beat the Jazz. Everyone else is.

They are now just 14 - 13 after tonights loss

Nazr put up a 17 -8 vs them

NBA - Utah Jazz/Charlotte Bobcats Box Score Wednesday December 19, 2007 - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore;_ylt=Aoz.bL36ROYieHtP0aSIfva8vLYF?gid=200 7121930)

:hoops:
Why can't we beat the Bulls? They are 9-14 after a win tonight.

^

When this thread was bumped, i didn't look at the date, and thought we were playing Utah next.

I got scared LOL

I think we should forefit all games against Utah. It only seems right.

^

When this thread was bumped, i didn't look at the date, and thought we were playing Utah next.

I got scared LOL

I think we should forefit all games against Utah. It only seems right.

I would just play only bench players. Put one of the starters in the suit, and glue the rest to the bench. I'd start Lindsey/AA/Hermann/J-Max/AJ with Brezec and Murray off the bench.