At Toronto March 26 7PM

tv: FSN

Injuries - From ESPN
Detroit: Dixon, Hamilton - day to day
Toronto: Bosh - day to day

Last 10 games.
Detroit: 6-4 W1
Toronto: 2-8 L2

Looking forward to this one. Hopefully I get the Toronto broadcast, they always show the Pistons much love.

Hope to see my boy play tonight. He hasn't been loggin' too many minutes the last three games.

Haven't been really keeping track of his game lately. More in tune with my Stons then anything else. Got tickets to the game on Staurday. My brother and I are taking my two daughters to their first game. Should be fun.

I didn't realize how much the Raptors have been struggling of late. They have only 3 wins in March, two over Miami and one over Seattle...ouch! In the last couple of weeks, they had a 5-game Western Conference road trip where they went 0-5, and they also lost at Cleveland and at home against Denver.

I didn't realize how much the Raptors have been struggling of late. They have only 3 wins in March, two over Miami and one over Seattle...ouch! In the last couple of weeks, they had a 5-game Western Conference road trip where they went 0-5, and they also lost at Cleveland and at home against Denver.

Ya` think they miss Bosh????

Now that you mention it, I hadn't realized that he'd been out for the entire month of March until the last 3 games. It certainly explains why they were losing to everyone except the worst teams in the league.

Looking forward to this one. Hopefully I get the Toronto broadcast, they always show the Pistons much love.

They are listed at the Raptors site as being on something called SCORE. That and NBA LP for league pass

The Score is a Canadian sports network. They leave the ticker running in the bottom of the screen, it is super annoying.

Now that you mention it, I hadn't realized that he'd been out for the entire month of March until the last 3 games. It certainly explains why they were losing to everyone except the worst teams in the league.
Yep they were 2-8 with Bosh out of the line-up and 1-2 since he came back.
This a possible first round match-up for the Pistons since the Rapts have fallen to 7th and they are still 5 games ahead of the Hawks for the 8th spot, but one game out of 5th.

Just depends who among the Raptors, Wizards and Sixers is the hottest these last 11-12 games.

My wife's sister and her husband were up for a visit over this past weekend, and he wanted to see the Cavs play, so he and I went to the Cavs-Raptors game on Friday night where LeBron set the franchise points mark.

I snagged Calderon as a FA in my fantasy league and he's been an assists stud for me, so I was excited to see how their offense flowed with him in there. Just as a general observation it seems like the offense flowed smoother when he was out there than when T.J. Ford was (and man does Ford look small out there!).

I know from looking at box scores through the season that Delfino is capable of having some good games, but Friday night wasn't one of them.

The game was close until the 4th quarter, and then it looked like the Raps didn't know who was gonna be their go-to guy on offense while the Cavs clearly did. Maybe it was just the injury, but Bosh didn't look like much of a force in the post.

Ford was shaping up to be a top 10 PG early in his career, but now Calderon has displaced him almost completely. Jose was an undrafted FA iirc.

Ford was shaping up to be a top 10 PG early in his career, but now Calderon has displaced him almost completely. Jose was an undrafted FA iirc.


In european ch'ships Calderon wasn't PG for Spain: his main role was to shoot treys as many as possible. He wasn't even a starter.

Chat is open!

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

The Raptors have been in a bit of a freefall the last month and they needed the game tonight more than Detroit. Sam Mitchell coaches a lot like Flip Saunders only worse if you can believe that. Mitchell is in love with TJ Ford for some reason and his selfish play almost put the team in the tank for the season.

Jose Calderon went to the coach and told him to start TJ to help with the team chemistry and it worked. I did notice that Chauncey was having a field day scoring over TJ.

There were lots of positives for Detroit and that's Stuckey looking like he fits in the rotation really well and he can score and even play D. Amir was pretty awesome on the defensive end and he held his own and got some key minutes. Arvis was missing his J tonight but he didn't get many open looks at the basket and Tay played his usual steady game.

The Pistons are just playing out the string until the real season starts and I my best guess is Philadelphia is going to take on Detroit in the 7th spot.

Oh well, there goes quite a streak for Afflalo. He played, even started, and we lost. Very unusual. Afflalo got into some foul trouble which limited his minutes in the first half. Flip left him after he picked up his 4th foul immediately to start the 3rd. Afflalo was put on guarding Ford, who is quite quick. Did not work out great, although Ford scored awful easy later with Afflalo not guarding him - giving Toronto the momentum big time going into the 4th quarter. (Not to mention a ten point lead. Afflalo did score five quick points to start the game, and then missed a couple of outside shots. He got inside on a cut and scored against traffic, and got the and one. A short jumper if I recall was his other score.

Hunter played quite a bit in the 3rd quarter. And we barely scored. Hunter was an absolute zero on offense. Call it rust if you want. I personally will not be so kind. But our defense did hold well with him in.
Amir was by far and away our best defender in this one. He played quite a bit. About 8 minutes to end the 2nd quarter and the whole 4th. By the end of the game, we see him getting a couple of outstanding defensive plays against Bosh. Also, Amir was often called to guard small forwards, and it seemed that this was just way too easy for him. He is quicker than they are, much more lengthy and athletic. Amir got one dunk off a cut and that was it for his scoring. He missed an offensive rebound putback try and missed a hook shot. He needs to play a whole lot more and get the rust off his shots around the basket.

JMAX did not play much. Theo got into the game a lot in the first half but not in the 2nd half. His one hook looked pretty good but managed not to stay down. He had a nice block.

Sheed did far too little work in the post. At least his one trip there resulted in an offensive rebound tip in by Stuckey off his miss. Now, Sheed was in there along side Amir as we made a game of it late in the 4th. Why Dyess starts over him is pure mystery. Dyess did hit 4 jumpers in the 3rd quarter as we were letting the game slip away from lack of defense.

Hayes did hit a shot I believe. Why he plays at all though is another mystery. Amir can play his small forward minutes and give us some excellent defense. (And probably start scoring inside for us if we gave him some shots and ran plays for him.)

Billups scored here and there. Hit a couple of threes late. Should we have busted it inside more toward the end. Probably. But it almost worked. We did not hit all the threes we took, but we hit several. Toronto simply found answers.

Stuckey had a career high, mostly going to the basket. Defensively he was so so.

Tay? Where was he. A shot here and there. But this is Toronto, a weak inside defense. Why was he not going inside. Sheed? Same question.
In all, this was 1)a very entertaining game watching some of our young players get to play. And watching a near comeback at least. 2)A pretty darn good game for getting our bench ready for the playoffs. Yes, even Hunter playing helps toward that, even though him playing himself into shape tonight probably lost the game as much as anything. (Though note, Hunter played little in the 2nd half when the game was lost. We had a one point lead mid-third quarter. Billups and Stuckey were in the backcourt as we lost the game. My comment about Hunter playing losing the game has to do with how he disrupts our offensive plan something fierce. Hard to recover even after he gets off the floor.)

I hate losses as much as anyone. But this game did get us toward our goal of winning in the playoffs. What we need going forward: Rest the starters. Have them fresh for the playoffs. Give Stuckey, Afflalo, and Amir a ton of shots. Play Amir as backup small forward. Play Hunter some, not a lot, and play Theo. Get the bench deeper.

Conversely, leave Dixon, Hayes, and Herrmann out of the equation. Yes, it would be a good idea to play Samb some. You can't go wrong getting a shotblocker into the game upon occasion just to give the other team pause when they around the basktet thruout the game. (Make sure Samb is still off the floor before shooting that ball near the basket.)

One more obsevation. No, Hunter did not have to play in this game. Note that Flip did not use Tay as a guard in this game. He could have. We had Stuckey, Afflalo, Billups, and Prince dressed. Hunter played strictly to knock some rust off his game. Not to help us in any way in this particular game.

Again, this was a good game. Good for playoff prep. Which is what matters. If things continue to go as they did tonight. (But with less Hunter playing of course for most games) the Pistons are going to be rip roaring for the playoffs.

First the score....

Toronto 89-Pistons 82

Second the meaningless stats
A stat fact that scrolled earlier today on ESPNews>> Pistons are 1-7 in games that they fail to score at least 83 points. How about 1-8 now.....

Pistons lost for the sixth straight Wednesday as once again they couldn't get over the hump. In those last four Wednesday game losses the Pistons scored 78 pts vs the Celtics, 82 vs the Sixers, 73 last Wednesday vs the Cavs and 82 vs the Raptors tonight. WTF do they do on Tuesday nights that prevent them from showing up on wednesdays?? :confused: We have two more Wednesday games left this season AT the sixers on 4/9 and AT the Cavs on 4/16...:noidea:

Now the game
Story of tonight's game :brick:Brick city in the first half for both teams. Raptors woke up and scored in the paint at will in the third qtr...while the Pistons continued with Jump city. About the time the Pistons decided to wake up they were down 17. They put together a run with Stuckey, Billups and Sheed to get back in it, but went to the three ball to many times down the stretch. I think they were down five 82-77 with 2 mins left and came down with 2 or 3 straight 3 ball attempts when a duce is all they needed. Billups got 16 FTA Monday...he could tried the same method of scoring tonight down the stretch and tied this one instead of going for the long gun...Great defense by Amir down the stretch on Bosh after Dice got abused in the 3rd qtr. No matter if Rip was missing or not, this was a winnable game by the Pistons, but it appeared that they took game off just like Rip

Notes

Pistons have split the last 8 games .... 4 wins vs the western playoff contenders (Spurs, Hornets, Nuggets, and Suns) and 4 losses vs the eastern playoff contenders, (Sixers, Cavs, Wizards and Raptors). Which means that we can beat those western teams if we can get to the finals, but we got to figure out how to get by the so called weaker east first?? Then again, maybe we are not showing our hand since three of those teams are potential first round matchups...:sssh:

It is very, very obvious the Pistons could care less about this game, and played very uninspiring basketball.

Can someone please tell me why with under 2 minutes to go, after a couple of huge defensive stops (one of them a great block on Bosh by AJ) ONLY DOWN BY SIX POINTS, CB and Sheed launch 3 pointers???

What happened to the agressive CB from the Suns game? We could have used an "and one" in those last two minutes.

And Flip allows this foolishness, unbelievable!!!!

Leopold - good analysis. There were some positives to take out of this game. More crunch time mins for Stucky and Amir made a good case for increased PT.

I understand that they think since the playoff seeding is set there is no need for urgency. Total lack of recall from the 2006 season where it was deemed important to get home court over the West in the Finals. Only have about a 1/2 game lead over the Lakers at this point I believe. Or maybe they will be glad to just get in this year. Who knows.

It is very, very obvious the Pistons could care less about this game, and played very uninspiring basketball.

Can someone please tell me why with under 2 minutes to go, after a couple of huge defensive stops (one of them a great block on Bosh by AJ) ONLY DOWN BY SIX POINTS, CB and Sheed launch 3 pointers???

What happened to the agressive CB from the Suns game? We could have used an "and one" in those last two minutes.

And Flip allows this foolishness, unbelievable!!!!

Yes but I don't mind the point guard taking 3's when he is hot. Its those stupid F** 3's from Sheed when he should be in the paint ready to grab the board or get open for a pass.

Missed this game as well. Damn Midterms! Although they lost, and looks like they didn't try very hard so kinda glad i missed it. Nice to see Amir get min. I was curious to see how he would match-up w/ Bosh. AA didn't play much. Looks like CB played too much.

I have this Dvr'ed. Prob going to skip it.

Can someone please tell me why with under 2 minutes to go, after a couple of huge defensive stops (one of them a great block on Bosh by AJ) ONLY DOWN BY SIX POINTS, CB and Sheed launch 3 pointers???

What happened to the agressive CB from the Suns game? We could have used an "and one" in those last two minutes.

And Flip allows this foolishness, unbelievable!!!!

Honestly i'd like to chalk it up to not caring or laziness, but it might just be them reverting. They do it far too much in close games esp the play for the Sheed 3 that Flip assininely calls even though it NEVER works.

CB should always be 1-7 from 3 if it inspires him to actually go to the basket.

Hunter played quite a bit in the 3rd quarter. And we barely scored. Hunter was an absolute zero on offense. Call it rust if you want. I personally will not be so kind. But our defense did hold well with him in.

Amir was by far and away our best defender in this one. He played quite a bit. About 8 minutes to end the 2nd quarter and the whole 4th. By the end of the game, we see him getting a couple of outstanding defensive plays against Bosh. Also, Amir was often called to guard small forwards, and it seemed that this was just way too easy for him. He is quicker than they are, much more lengthy and athletic. Amir got one dunk off a cut and that was it for his scoring. He missed an offensive rebound putback try and missed a hook shot. He needs to play a whole lot more and get the rust off his shots around the basket.

JMAX did not play much. Theo got into the game a lot in the first half but not in the 2nd half. His one hook looked pretty good but managed not to stay down. He had a nice block.

Sheed did far too little work in the post. At least his one trip there resulted in an offensive rebound tip in by Stuckey off his miss. Now, Sheed was in there along side Amir as we made a game of it late in the 4th. Why Dyess starts over him is pure mystery. Dyess did hit 4 jumpers in the 3rd quarter as we were letting the game slip away from lack of defense.


Stuckey had a career high, mostly going to the basket. Defensively he was so so.

Tay? Where was he. A shot here and there. But this is Toronto, a weak inside defense. Why was he not going inside. Sheed? Same question.
In all, this was 1)a very entertaining game watching some of our young players get to play. And watching a near comeback at least. 2)A pretty darn good game for getting our bench ready for the playoffs. Yes, even Hunter playing helps toward that, even though him playing himself into shape tonight probably lost the game as much as anything. (Though note, Hunter played little in the 2nd half when the game was lost. We had a one point lead mid-third quarter. Billups and Stuckey were in the backcourt as we lost the game. My comment about Hunter playing losing the game has to do with how he disrupts our offensive plan something fierce. Hard to recover even after he gets off the floor.)


One more obsevation. No, Hunter did not have to play in this game. Note that Flip did not use Tay as a guard in this game. He could have. We had Stuckey, Afflalo, Billups, and Prince dressed. Hunter played strictly to knock some rust off his game. Not to help us in any way in this particular game.




Good post Lee...a couple of observations. Hunter may not have played that much if Alf had not got into foul trouble. When Alf went out and Stuckey came in the first qtr, our offense stalled for few minutes and then it got worst when Hunter came in there to join Stuckey. In fact Stuck was only 1-5 in that first half missing 3 layups. The Pistons scored six pts in the first 9.5 mins of the 2nd qtr and then 9 pts in the last 2.5 mins when Flip brought Alf and CB back in. Unfortunately Alf picked up his 3rd foul, went out and theh put Hunter in. Hunter was part of the + at the time with 2 steals that led to a Billups bucket and a FT by Tay. After that as you indicated he was an absolute zero, especially in the third when they outscored us by 14..

I agree that both Sheed and Tay could have attached the rim more especially to open the second half when points were a premium..You would have thought the coaches would have made that adjustment?? Well if they did, Stuckey was the only player listening as he repeatedly took it the rim. Dyess played the entire 3rd qte and even though he hit four jumpers when the Pistons were struggling, his defense disappeared midway through the 3rd qtr.

This is getting old, all I can say.

stat line of the night and its not pretty


C.Samb Min 11:54 Fg 0-1 3pt 0-0 ft 0-0 +/- -5 reb 0 ast 0 to 0 stl 0 bs 0 ba 0 pf 0 pts 0



The only positive you can take from a stat line like that is 0 turnovers, and 0 fouls. Way to coach:director: him up flipper

Did Afflalo actually make contact with another human being on the basketball court tonight? Those fouls were pretty suspect.

I guess I really don't care that much since I wasn't overly upset by the loss. It looked like we could make a run at the end, but too little too late.

Of course, it is troubling that this came after the "players only meeting", but Toronto is a good team with Bosh and we were missing our leading scorer slash all-star slash best mid-range jump shooter in the game slash heir apparent to Reggie Miller, so no big deal. And Rip's backup got a 12 minute life lesson from Malloy, Brothers, and Callahan (which he will always carry with him).

I was so excited that Afflalo was going to have a serious impact on the game, too, after he scored 5 quick points in the first 2 minutes or so. Oh well :(

The one foul where he just jumped straight up and knocked the ball out of Calderon's hands WAS bull. He was foul prone in college too though, I hope he learns to work around it. I like the kid.

stat line of the night and its not pretty

C.Samb Min 11:54 Fg 0-1 3pt 0-0 ft 0-0 +/- -5 reb 0 ast 0 to 0 stl 0 bs 0 ba 0 pf 0 pts 0

The only positive you can take from a stat line like that is 0 turnovers, and 0 fouls. Way to coach:director: him up flipper

samb didn't play, that's a mistake in the box score

samb didn't play, that's a mistake in the box score

That post confused the hell out of me. I was like when did Samb play. I checked the NBA box score twice LOL

I was so excited that Afflalo was going to have a serious impact on the game, too, after he scored 5 quick points in the first 2 minutes or so. Oh well :(

The one foul where he just jumped straight up and knocked the ball out of Calderon's hands WAS bull. He was foul prone in college too though, I hope he learns to work around it. I like the kid.

Let's hope he doesn't go into Flip-induced exile after this.

edited to add;

I feel like the Piston's have succeeded. I too have become complacent. I could care less about this loss. Maybe we should all have a team meeting.

Is there a good reason why we gave away that game? I mean intentionaly giving it away. We probably wanted an extra W in toronto's Box. I will have to check

Things to take away from this one:

- Rodney is ready for the playoffs. He seems unfazed by big situations.
- Ahh, Lindsey's back.... ugh. Lindsey is a coach. With Rodney on this team, he should be a DNP every single night in the regular season and playoffs.
- When Tayshaun doesn't attack early when he gets opportunities, keep the ball out of his hands. He is the ball movement killer. I love when guys like Max/AJ/Theo try to post up in the lane, and he pretends like he's trying to get them the ball, but acts like he can't, so they'll come set a pick for him. Must have happened at least 6-7 times in this game. (Maybe I'll turn this into a drinking game).
- Dice and Sheed are a bad combo against pick and roll teams. Toronto got into the lane at will, and both were helpless trying to help and recover.
- Chauncey was starting to feel threatened by Mr. 4th quarter, Rodney Stuckey, and fell into the trap of hoisting bad off-balance jumpers. One in particular stands out. The Pistons were down about 5 w/ about 3 minutes left. Rodney had just made a couple shots in a row. Chauncey comes down and pulls up for one of his patented off-balance threes very early in the clock (trying to draw a foul?). I don't mind the threes off movement or offensive rebounds (like his others), but these momentum killers get on my nerves.
- Surprise... Amir can still play.
- I can't wait till AA's not a rookie anymore.

A forgettable game if it were the first two thirds of the season. To come out flat and lifeless at this point though is unexcuseable.

I guess they were looking ahead to Miami.

Stuckey will make many of us very, very happy. He has shown that he's a very good alternative to the jump shot squad. That means, FlipS absolutely has no excuse to rely solely on the starters in close 4th quarters- Stuckey can really provide a spark off the bench since he is the only to one to attack the rim relentlessly. He could be an X- factor in the playoffs, especially if CB keeps trying to force it way too much.
Also, AA played decent- he and Stuckey will be a very, very nice backcourt with years to come.
At times, I really can't stand Dyess. He made 3 (or 4) in a row in the 3rd, ok. But he doesn't even try to post up. He is such an offensive killer, he can shake hands with Big Ben who at least remained close to the basket to get offensive boards. Dyess is almost standing in 3pt land, shooting J's and nothing more. Dyess and Sheed should be split up and paired with AJ and Jmax.

Can someone please tell me why with under 2 minutes to go, after a couple of huge defensive stops (one of them a great block on Bosh by AJ) ONLY DOWN BY SIX POINTS, CB and Sheed launch 3 pointers???

Lack of discipline. Trying to win it on their own.

samb didn't play, that's a mistake in the box score

Yeah, Yahoo had Samb playing and I checked a couple of other places (because I couldn't believe it) and they showed Samb as a DNP.

A forgettable game if it were the first two thirds of the season. To come out flat and lifeless at this point though is unexcuseable.

I guess they were looking ahead to Miami.
That's about as much cynical inspiration as I could have mustered, good post.

stat line of the night and its not pretty


C.Samb Min 11:54 Fg 0-1 3pt 0-0 ft 0-0 +/- -5 reb 0 ast 0 to 0 stl 0 bs 0 ba 0 pf 0 pts 0



The only positive you can take from a stat line like that is 0 turnovers, and 0 fouls. Way to coach:director: him up flipper

Did Samb play last nite?

Just read further. Tough playing catch up.

- When Tayshaun doesn't attack early when he gets opportunities, keep the ball out of his hands. He is the ball movement killer. I love when guys like Max/AJ/Theo try to post up in the lane, and he pretends like he's trying to get them the ball, but acts like he can't, so they'll come set a pick for him. Must have happened at least 6-7 times in this game. (Maybe I'll turn this into a drinking game).

i am really glad someone else noticed this. i saw about 3 or 4 times amir got great position in the post, tayshaun was ready to throw him an entry pass, and then just waited about 10 seconds and forced amir to set a screen so tay could shoot a long jumper 2 feet inside the 3-point line. it was stupid, especially as he went 4/11 on the night. he looked like jarvis out there. i'm all for tay being aggressive (and i know he was moreso because rip was out), but dude if you're cold, stop shooting.

jarvis has been here a year and still hasn't realized that he is not a great shooter while moving, but he is a great shooter when his feet are set and he's standing still.

afflalo got hosed by a few calls, but he looked really good early, scoring 5 of our first 7 points. ford is really quick though.

stuckey looked awesome in the 2nd half/4th quarter. i was really mad when chauncey pulled up for that 3 when we were only down 5-6 and stuckey was hot. it's a shot when didn't need.

sheed looked bored against rasho and gave him open shots, but rasho can hit those. sheed could've dominated him if he wanted but it seems like he felt the dude was beneath him, and didn't try very hard.

since wins/losses don't matter much anymore, we can look to every game now as playoff preparation, and stuckey's performance was good enough for me to come away from the game satisfied.

i am really glad someone else noticed this. i saw about 3 or 4 times amir got great position in the post, tayshaun was ready to throw him an entry pass, and then just waited about 10 seconds and forced amir to set a screen so tay could shoot a long jumper 2 feet inside the 3-point line. it was stupid, especially as he went 4/11 on the night.

Worse, I'm not convinced it's just Prince. The offense seems to be geared towards pretending that you're going into the post and then turning some other direction. A possession often starts with a big man posted and either a guard or Prince ready to throw the ball in. They wait for a bit to see if a double is coming, then break out of that and look for a screen. And of course, no one doubles because the pass never happens.

It removes all notion of the post man becoming a passer and looking for cutters. That only ever happened when Webber was here. Seems like just dropping the ball down there early in the clock every now and then might pay some benefits, but it doesn't seem to be how the offense is structured.

stat line of the night and its not pretty


C.Samb Min 11:54 Fg 0-1 3pt 0-0 ft 0-0 +/- -5 reb 0 ast 0 to 0 stl 0 bs 0 ba 0 pf 0 pts 0



The only positive you can take from a stat line like that is 0 turnovers, and 0 fouls. Way to coach:director: him up flipper

Samb actually DID play. He's SO thin that when he turns sideways, it's hard to see him with certain camera angles.

haha nice one.

i forgot to mention amir johnson, he played great defense on bosh and didn't foul him late in the 4th quarter. that was very encouraging to see.

That crunch time block on Bosh was pretty amazing. Bosh is the kind of player that Amir should be able to bother. They are similar builds and CB shoots a lot of FT line jumpers.

Can someone please tell me why with under 2 minutes to go, after a couple of huge defensive stops (one of them a great block on Bosh by AJ) ONLY DOWN BY SIX POINTS, CB and Sheed launch 3 pointers???

What happened to the agressive CB from the Suns game? We could have used an "and one" in those last two minutes.

And Flip allows this foolishness, unbelievable!!!!

These last few minutes are all I saw of this game. And I too was frustrated by those shots. I think your question might have been rhetorical, but since I asked it myself as I watched those triples being launched I thought to myself, these guys have won too many games with that over the past number of years. Of course, they have also lost a bunch of games with those choices. But it's like the psych experiment with the soda machine that only sometimes doesn't give you a soda for your money -- you keep putting money into it just in case. Interesting that in the final couple of minutes Stuckey was the one trying to get to the basket and get a two or an and one.

just for another point of view.... we made a good percentage of them last night and as we closed that margin both of them made 3's to make it as close as they were.

so without the 3's we wouldn't have been close enough to complain about the 3's....

i am really glad someone else noticed this. i saw about 3 or 4 times amir got great position in the post, tayshaun was ready to throw him an entry pass, and then just waited about 10 seconds and forced amir to set a screen so tay could shoot a long jumper 2 feet inside the 3-point line. it was stupid, especially as he went 4/11 on the night. he looked like jarvis out there. i'm all for tay being aggressive (and i know he was moreso because rip was out), but dude if you're cold, stop shooting.

jarvis has been here a year and still hasn't realized that he is not a great shooter while moving, but he is a great shooter when his feet are set and he's standing still.

afflalo got hosed by a few calls, but he looked really good early, scoring 5 of our first 7 points. ford is really quick though.

stuckey looked awesome in the 2nd half/4th quarter. i was really mad when chauncey pulled up for that 3 when we were only down 5-6 and stuckey was hot. it's a shot when didn't need.

sheed looked bored against rasho and gave him open shots, but rasho can hit those. sheed could've dominated him if he wanted but it seems like he felt the dude was beneath him, and didn't try very hard.

since wins/losses don't matter much anymore, we can look to every game now as playoff preparation, and stuckey's performance was good enough for me to come away from the game satisfied.

I agree with what DBA said, but in the same vein, the starters most of the time refuse to pass to the bench players. Even Max barely gets the ball when he posts up. The only person who gets it (and still not everytime he calls for it) is Sheed.

It's both i guess. A problem with the Guards dominating the offense with jumpshots galore (be design or not), the post not being emphasized, and the seniority thing on the team.

When we have a lineup of 2 starters and bench guys, the other team doesn't really have to focus on anyone else. The starters usually take all the shots. Stuckey being the lone exception being he is the PG, but even he will be froze him out at times.

It's stupid, but probably not going to be a habit that will be broken at least this year.

just for another point of view.... we made a good percentage of them last night and as we closed that margin both of them made 3's to make it as close as they were.

so without the 3's we wouldn't have been close enough to complain about the 3's....

I agree with that. Chauncey hit 50% and I thought he had a good look at the end. He and Sheed both seemed to be "on."

I agree with that. Chauncey hit 50% and I thought he had a good look at the end. He and Sheed both seemed to be "on."

They needed the 3's to close the gap, no doubt. I think they would have been better served when it was 83-77 to go for 2's there. Just by scoring they're increasing the pressure on T-Dot. Going for the 2 though is kind of a glaring problem for them though. They don't have anyone to get those scores for them.

Going for the 2 though is kind of a glaring problem for them though. They don't have anyone to get those scores for them.

I guess I figured that Chauncey could get to the line just by getting himself into the paint and scoring a couple of free throws with the clock stopped would have made it a four point game with more than a minute to go.

I agree with what DBA said, but in the same vein, the starters most of the time refuse to pass to the bench players. Even Max barely gets the ball when he posts up. The only person who gets it (and still not everytime he calls for it) is Sheed.

It's both i guess. A problem with the Guards dominating the offense with jumpshots galore (be design or not), the post not being emphasized, and the seniority thing on the team.

When we have a lineup of 2 starters and bench guys, the other team doesn't really have to focus on anyone else. The starters usually take all the shots. Stuckey being the lone exception being he is the PG, but even he will be froze him out at times.

It's stupid, but probably not going to be a habit that will be broken at least this year.

It's a habit that won't be broken until Flip is long gone and the new coach designs up plays for the newbies that old one ones have to follow if they want to play.

It's a habit that won't be broken until Flip is long gone and the new coach designs up plays for the newbies that old one ones have to follow if they want to play.

are you sure that new coach would do that? Or is it just wishful thinking?

I guess I figured that Chauncey could get to the line just by getting himself into the paint and scoring a couple of free throws with the clock stopped would have made it a four point game with more than a minute to go.
Prof, that is what a smart captain would have done and that is what the coached should have coached, but apparently that was not discussed in the prior time out. He did it in the Suns game and got to the line 17 times. Hoisting a 3 ball with 2 mins left in a 5-6 point deficit was not smart basket ball even though that is what got you there. The defense was making stops and the Raptors were almost in panic mode and would have made silly fouls trying to stop CB or whomever was penetrating. A couple of and one stituations could have tied this one and put them in a position to win maybe..

samb didn't play, that's a mistake in the box score

wow thats the last time I am going to go by 1 box score thanx Yahoo for making me look stupid!:nerd2:

wow thats the last time I am going to go by 1 box score thanx Yahoo for making me look stupid!:nerd2:


Don't worry Abe, somebody af the Det News site said that even though the Pistons lost, Samb learned a lot in his 11 mins of playing time and commended Flip for playing him and the rest of the kids. I asked him did he see the game or was he just quoting the yahoo score board?? :laugh: Or was that you?:)