Minnesota April 15th, 7:30 PM

TV - FSDHD, NBALP

The T-Wolves come to town with thoughts of ping-pong balls and Mike Beasley on their minds, while the Pistons look to continue preparing for a championship run.

I am hoping that the T-Wolves put up little effort, and we get the Finals HCA clinching win and the key players get the rest. If the latter happens, then maybe we get that Wednesday monkey off of our back too and finish off the Cavs and the regular season with a 4 game win streak.

I'm there baby!!! Yeee-haa!! :dancingparty:

This is not going to be easy if starters don't make it that way. I wonder if Sheed is going to show up to play Jefferson.

not a game in my ticket package, but it looks like my dad scored some upper level suite tickets through work so we're goin.

Chat is open!!!!!!!1

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

Wow! The League Pass Broadband is showing Tigers game.

Pistons and Tigers do a twin killing on the Minneapolis teams visiting motown tonight. Both teams look shakey in the end as Todd Jones gave up a run after the Tigers erased a 4-2 deficit in the bottom of the 8th with 4 runs in there second straight come from behind victory winning 6-5..Go Tigers

:focus:

The Pistons pretty much played the same game they have played the last five games with the starters playing the 3rd qtr and the zoocrew playing the 4th.

The victory clinches the HCA in the finals when the get there.:cheerlie-GOAL::thumb[1]:

With the final score ending up at 115-103 it makes the Pistons now 34-1 when scoring at least 100 pts. Tomorrow is Wednesday..time to break that ugly seven game losing streak on woeful wednesday and end the regular season with a W over the lucky Cleveland Lebrons:sssh:

We clinched homecourt in the finals, if we get there. We continued to rest the starters with none of them playing but minimally in the 2nd or 4th quarters. All our bench guys got at least a quarter of work in. Nobody got hurt. 58 wins now for the season, an impressive number.

Hayes got player of the game with 20 points, and did not look that bad on D, although he did not actually do much good either in the D department. Kind of neutral at least. He certainly scored a lot more than he gave up tonight - good game for him.

Hunter knocked down 9 points himself while playing decent D. Theo played good D, and the unit of Hunter, Stuckey, Hayes, JMAX, and Theo closed out the 2nd quarter with a nice run in the last two minutes of that quarter to take a double digit lead. (It was tied with about two minutes to go. This unit played most of the 2nd quarter, though Rip and Dyess did play over into the 2nd qaurter a bit.)

In the 4th quarter, a different bench unit, Stuckey, Afflalo, Hayes, JMAX, and Amir, did the job. This unit started out the quarter well enough, got into a bit of trouble midway thru the quarter where Minny got it to within 6, but then closed it out well. Afflalo hit a key jumper to help, about the only shot he took, and Hayes then hit a triple that was pretty huge. (Hayes throw away helped Minny get close in the first place, but he made up for it with that triple.) Stuckey steadily got to the line, and made all his free throws. Maxiell got to the line a bit too with mixed results. Amir got 6 points, on a couple of dunks and 2-2 at the line. ( I remember Stuckey set him up for one of the dunks.)

Our starters played well enough, shooting lights out in the 3rd quarter, but giving up a lot of points as well there. Rip hit a lot of shots, including some triples. Billups and Tay scored some. Sheed played the good D on Jefferson and Dyess took care of the rebounding.

The 4th featured a lot of Jefferson getting what he wanted inside against the likes of Maxiell and Amir. Obviously, if this were a game where we really had to have the win, we could have rotated Sheed and Theo on Jefferson. We have some good depth up front.

Well, a fairly meaningless game against Cleveland tomorro night. Probably will see the same rotation. Then Philly on Sunday - they have not announced the time yet as far as I know. Tickets are still available, same price as regular season.

GO PISTONS!!!!!

yahoo box score mentions that AA and Amir DNP-CD.

i was going to meet up with webz before the game, but i got there late with my dad. we paid $10 for parking, but since we had suite tickets we still tried to get in that special lot...my dad had made a copy of the parking pass from his buddy at work, and the attendants found that so hilarious that they let us in.

what wasn't hilarious was noticing the smoke from my engine as i parked, then watching radiator fluid GUSH out onto the pavement. doh. we went inside and to the 3rd-level suites, which are on the 5th floor and you can touch the palace ceiling. it's kind of surreal to watch the game from a further view than the TV cameras, and most of the PA sound is drowned out because you are so high. anyway, we had some dogs and popcorn and beer, then left at the end of the 3rd quarter to beat the rush since who knows how my car was going to respond. took a couple bottles of water to put in the coolant.

thankfully, my car drove just fine and hardly lost any of that water, and wasn't even leaking when i parked it again. gotta fix it tomorrow.

so, unfortunately i hardly watched the game, didn't meet up with webz, and had to leave early, along with my car breaking. but other than that it was a lot of fun! :)

Nice call by Saunders to leave the bench in even though it got close in the 4th. His trigger finger didn't even twitch.

yahoo box score mentions that AA and Amir DNP-CD.

they both played.

Good game, Pistons did just what they needed to do. The starters went hard for the 1st and 3rd quarters, and bench did its thing. The starters will shore up the D in the playoffs.

This headline made my day:

The Associated Press: Jarvis Hayes helps carry Pistons to 2nd-best record in NBA (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iYsB28wzl7a9hll_8NP5SX-OX72wD902M8N00)

forgot to mention that there are a LOT of cars that leave at the end of the 3rd quarter...was kind of weird to see.

sadly alot of "fans" don't care to sit and watch the zoo crew i guess... which is just sad, since the bench players are so much fun to watch these days... they make mistakes but the wow factors they show on a nightly basis along with there hard work and effort make the 2 and 4th quarters more entertaining the last couple weeks.

I liked the way the first team was doing some trapping in the 3rd quarter it seemed to raise there level of play a bit. Being so deep now, we should press, trap, and defend like crazed animals the whole game now.... your tired thats ok we have your backup ready to go...

Being so deep now, we should press, trap, and defend like crazed animals the whole game now.... your tired thats ok we have your backup ready to go...

That is exactly right. Our players are such intelligent trappers and unselfish on the break that it would be a great style for us.

That is exactly right. Our players are such intelligent trappers and unselfish on the break that it would be a great style for us.
The problem is that lately the first teamers haven't played much defense. It is a good idea for the playoffs though, I agree.

Rip sure does go into serious ballhog mode when he's in with the bench players.

Rip sure does go into serious ballhog mode when he's in with the bench players.
It's a lot like what Cavs have. When Bron is not playing, they have good ball movement and everyone is involved. When he comes in, everyone expects him to be the primary scorer and everyone is just standing around waiting for him to do something.

It's a lot like what Cavs have. When Bron is not playing, they have good ball movement and everyone is involved. When he comes in, everyone expects him to be the primary scorer and everyone is just standing around waiting for him to do something.

I agree that can happen with LBJ, but I think the opposite happened last night with Rip and the bench. Rather than the bench standing around, it looked more to me like Rip just took the ball and tried to move everyone else out of the way. It was only a 2:43 span starting the second, but Rip was 0-1 with two turns as he repeatedly drove into five Wolves and then lost the ball.

I agree that can happen with LBJ, but I think the opposite happened last night with Rip and the bench. Rather than the bench standing around, it looked more to me like Rip just took the ball and tried to move everyone else out of the way. It was only a 2:43 span starting the second, but Rip was 0-1 with two turns as he repeatedly drove into five Wolves and then lost the ball.
I guess it is a better idea to have Sheed or Tay out there with rooks.
:hoops:

You gotta give the starters some credit for how they finished out the season IMO. They were pretty aggressive considering they were trying to avoid injury and they really had nothing to play for, with the exception of a possible home court advantage against certain Western foes in a possible finals match up.

Also give credit to Flip for the way that he got the best of both worlds toward the end of the season. He won just enough games without burning anyone out. On top of that, he's been mixing in the bench at a level that is satisfying even the biggest zoo crew fans. At least I know that I am happy with it.

Of course the question remains, will he trust the bench in the playoffs. No need to criticize him before it happens.

You gotta give the starters some credit for how they finished out the season IMO. They were pretty aggressive considering they were trying to avoid injury and they really had nothing to play for, with the exception of a possible home court advantage against certain Western foes in a possible finals match up.

Also give credit to Flip for the way that he got the best of both worlds toward the end of the season. He won just enough games without burning anyone out. On top of that, he's been mixing in the bench at a level that is satisfying even the biggest zoo crew fans. At least I know that I am happy with it.

Of course the question remains, will he trust the bench in the playoffs. No need to criticize him before it happens.
Flip said he'll trust any of the 12 players that were on the floor yesterday in the playoffs. I wonder if he left Dixon out? But, anyhow, we've heard a lot of talk before so I'd love to see it finally come to fruition. Especially considering the fact that the bench is much improved comparatively to the last two years.
I do love what he's been doing down the stretch and I surely hope it continues in the playoffs. Obvioulsy not to the same extent, but on a reasonable scale.

There really was some pressure on the bench players last night. Maybe the most of the whole season. They could have potentially screwed up our HCA in the Finals. When the score got close, I'm sure they felt it.

Afflalo hit a huge shot and then Jarvis hit what was probably the game winner with the shot clock running down. They were going up against starters with a pretty dominant big man.

That is the type of game that builds confidence. It wasn't a ton of pressure, but it was a lot for them.

Flip said he'll trust any of the 12 players that were on the floor yesterday in the playoffs. I wonder if he left Dixon out? But, anyhow, we've heard a lot of talk before so I'd love to see it finally come to fruition. Especially considering the fact that the bench is much improved comparatively to the last two years.
I do love what he's been doing down the stretch and I surely hope it continues in the playoffs. Obvioulsy not to the same extent, but on a reasonable scale.

I his post game comments he actually said he had 14 players that he felt comfy going with and that any of the 12 active for each game could see playing time, the only one he didn't feel would be ready was Samb... and he even qualified that by saying it was because he hasn't played enough.

Who is this guy and were is our Flip?

Flip said he'll trust any of the 12 players that were on the floor yesterday in the playoffs. I wonder if he left Dixon out? But, anyhow, we've heard a lot of talk before so I'd love to see it finally come to fruition. Especially considering the fact that the bench is much improved comparatively to the last two years.
I do love what he's been doing down the stretch and I surely hope it continues in the playoffs. Obvioulsy not to the same extent, but on a reasonable scale.


Flip actually said last night that he would trust any of the 14 guys in a playoff game at this point. He said Samb was not ready, but he said he wouldn't be afraid to use Dixon or Herrmann in a playoff game. I doubt an NBA coach has ever been able to comfortably use 14 different guys throughout a single season of playoffs.

Flip actually said last night that he would trust any of the 14 guys in a playoff game at this point. He said Samb was not ready, but he said he wouldn't be afraid to use Dixon or Herrmann in a playoff game. I doubt an NBA coach has ever been able to comfortably use 14 different guys throughout a single season of playoffs.

Even popovich has used 10 at best, and those have been proven vets.

Even popovich has used 10 at best, and those have been proven vets.

There is a difference between "would trust" and "will trust." Flip is saying that if he was forced to play someone toward the end of the roster, that he trusts that they will make sound decisions and play a team game. He's not saying that he's going 14 deep voluntarily.

There is a difference between "would trust" and "will trust." Flip is saying that if he was forced to play someone toward the end of the roster, that he trusts that they will make sound decisions and play a team game. He's not saying that he's going 14 deep voluntarily.

sometimes some here try read too much from random quotes. Relax. The fact is flip has played his bench and that is all what counts.

sometimes some here try read too much from random quotes. Relax. The fact is flip has played his bench and that is all what counts.
At this stage, heck yeah. But going forward what is he gonna do?

Nice dunk by Rashad McCants last night.

What was really great about it was after he threw it down and jawed all the way back down the floor and drew a TECH.

Yo Rashad, ya'll were down by 11 and well on your way to your 60th LOSS OF THE SEASON! ...You might want to STFU!:sssh:

Well, my time in the big D has already come to an end. I write this from another hotel room in Cleveland. Not going to the game tonight. Tickets for Quicken Loans are stupidly high and Cavs are probably resting LBJ, Ben and others. I had some days to kill and Cleveland is not far away.

But I will be back in Detroit in a few days. Why? Cos I scored a ticket to Game 1. Oh yeah!! Row 2 of upper level, dead on mid-court. How sweet it is!!

Ok, so not much to really draw from this game but there were positives. Firstly, I arrived at the arena about an hour before tip-off. I wanted to see all the build-up before the game. Didn't get to catch up with Warthog, but maybe on Sunday.

The stands were only 25% filled at best, so how stupid is it when you look at the boxscore and see a crowd of 22,016 turned up. HA! Sell-out streak my ass...

They were showing a 'Pistons at 50' feature on the scoreboard when I arrived. That was nice to watch while I waited. I guess they are showing it on local TV as well, but I don't live in Detroit so it was new to me. They went through the teal era, with interviews with Hill, Lindsey, Joe, Stack and others. I'm like, 'yeah, thanks for bringing back THOSE memories, but it was pretty interesting.

When I got to my seat Sheed was the only guy on court, taking some jumpers (both right and left handed of course). Then he was shooting 3's, taking a couple of steps back each time until he was shooting from mid-court. When he nailed one he ran off into the locker room much to the crowds delight.

I went down to the lower stands during warmups to get a closer look. Most of the guys were just joking around, Sheed and Lindsey in particular. AJ was practising his 3pt shots more than anything else. I think he nailed about 3 in a row, but jeez, his form is nothing special. Kind of shoots it from the side of his head. The guys were definitely looking relaxed. I was glad to see Chauncey out there cos it sounded like he may miss the game.

Rip started off ok, but the rest of the game was not great. He was forcing fade-away jumpers and trying to drive into 4 guys and losing the ball. Hopefully he pulls his head in when the real basketball begins. He is probably still a bit rusty from his lay-off.

Chauncey did his thing. No mistakes, Mr.Steady. A very quiet 18 points or whatever it was.

Tay wasn't really involved much at all.

Sheed only had 1 point at the half I think. His offense wasn't clicking but he was playing really solid D on Jefferson, even though Al was still a force inside. Problem I think was allowing Al to catch the ball so deep in the paint, or if he was catching it outside the paint, he would take 2 easy steps to get in there - then the guys would start to play D on him. There needs to be more denying or disruption of the entry pass. But Al's game really has taken off, he is a beast and future all-star, no doubt about that. His jump-hook is unstoppable.

Back to the other Pistons. Dyess did alright. He had a nice dunk after rebounding his own terrible miss. Showed some hustle.
Theo had a sweet block on Richard I think it was. Richard was at the rim and all of sudden Theo was there sending it back. Very nice to have a shot-blocking presence coming off the bench.
Lindsey came in and made some shots when the O was struggling. Every time he launches one of those long 2's I keep going, 'Noooo!' in my head, but then he'll make it. Happens every time. haha.

Max and AJ were aggressive on D but they bite on everything. I remember one play were I think it was Jefferson up-faked and both guys went sailing past him on either side. Funny to watch, but the guys still need to figure that out. Max was his usual energetic self on O, getting a nice O-Reb for a monster stick back. His FT shooting still needs work. If he is going to be getting fouled a lot, which teams are doing instead of letting him dunk, he's gonna have to get that up to at least 70%.

Stuckey did pretty well, but sometimes tried to force it into the paint too much, he would charge in there hoping to figure it out once he got there. Sometimes there just wouldn't be anywhere to go or pass it to and he'd be forced to throw up a difficult shot. He must have got blocked 4 times at least, but experience will help him, I like the aggressiveness anyway. He made some nice plays towards the end of the game, finding AJ and Max rolling to the basket for wide-open slams.

Afflalo didn't appear to have much of an impact, but he is a solid player fundamentally and didn't make any mistakes and hit a nice jumper at the end. His stroke looked very nice live.

And Hayes had a great game. He didn't force anything until perhaps towards the end. Every shot he took in the first 3 Q's was either open or in rhythm. Nothing forced. Hopefully his confidence will stay high even if he has a couple of bad shooting games in the playoffs. His offense is crucial to the 2nd unit.

Not going to talk about the Wolves too much except that McCants is pretty selfish. He got T'd up after he slammed on a couple of Pistons. Can't remember who it was, but they partially blocked that dunk. Then he ran into Stuckey going back down the court all fired up. I was like, 'Mate, look at the scoreboard!! What are you yelling about?' (They were down about 15 points)

Foye looked good, he has a nice jumper, but he won't ever be a big assist PG. More like Gilbert Arenas.

And I've already talked about Jefferson. I love his game, he should be in a Pistons jersey. No nonsense, going to work. He didn't get many whistles going his way last night but he rarely complained, just went back in there. Get on the phone Joe, he is a future Piston.

What else? Hmm. Well I noticed right away walking through the arena that a lot of Pistons fans were dressed in the gear. The point is, you could tell you were at a Pistons game, there was a good vibe in the crowd and everyone is passionate about the team. A HUGE difference to the Toronto crowd I was with last week. Good stuff!

That's about it I think. I'm back at the Palace on Sunday for Game 1. I can't wait to be with a packed arena, going off. Yesterdays crowd was deathly quiet.

If you want to go to the game, but don't want to spend the cash, try buying from scalpers and wait it out until the game is already started. It would be a shame to go all the way to Cleveland and not go.

You can try going to the box office ticket window and telling them that you came all the way from Australia to see Lebron play, but you left your ticket on the airplane.

Awesome job on the webzcap! I'm definitely looking forward to one from a playoff game! Maybe you and Warthog can combine forces for the most unstoppable forum recap of all time. :)

If you want to go to the game, but don't want to spend the cash, try buying from scalpers and wait it out until the game is already started. It would be a shame to go all the way to Cleveland and not go.

You can try going to the box office ticket window and telling them that you came all the way from Australia to see Lebron play, but you left your ticket on the airplane.

I didn't come to Cleveland to see the game, but if the price was right I was considering going. I already thought about going into town before the game to see what scalpers are offering, but I'm not too bothered. I might still do. LeBron probably isn't playing anyway.

I got into a Raptors game last week after Q1 by buying a $40 ticket from a security guard for $10! Shady characters... haha.

I got into a Raptors game last week after Q1 by buying a $40 ticket from a security guard for $10! Shady characters... haha.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

This game is going to be strange. Before, although they weren't meaningful, we still wanted to keep a winning spirit. With 1 game left and our position secured, this is a total lame duck game. Not only do we not want our starters to risk injury, but the zoo crew should taker er easy as well.

This would be a good game for Herrman, Dixon, Samb, and a few development league call-ups. Throw in a spare tires dancer as our center and suit up Curry too.

Now that's what I'm talking about.

This game is going to be strange. Before, although they weren't meaningful, we still wanted to keep a winning spirit. With 1 game left and our position secured, this is a total lame duck game. Not only do we not want our starters to risk injury, but the zoo crew should taker er easy as well.

This would be a good game for Herrman, Dixon, Samb, and a few development league call-ups. Throw in a spare tires dancer as our center and suit up Curry too.

Yeah, I might go just to make sure Samb actually exists and isn't a made-up character created by some Pistons forumites...

Yeah, I might go just to make sure Samb actually exists and isn't a made-up character created by some Pistons forumites...
I betcha Lee has tapes on Samb enough to last you a lifetime.
:stirthepot:

Also, not sure if you're into baseball, but the Tigers are playing in Cleveland tonight.

Also, not sure if you're into baseball, but the Tigers are playing in Cleveland tonight.
To bottom dwellers? Why would anyone wanna go see that? :nerd2:

Also, not sure if you're into baseball, but the Tigers are playing in Cleveland tonight.

Yeah I did see that, but I think I`ve had all the baseball I can handle for a while after I saw the Blue Jays and Athletics go 11 innings with only 2 total runs last week. Man that was hard to watch. :nerd2:

Yeah I did see that, but I think I`ve had all the baseball I can handle for a while after I saw the Blue Jays and Athletics go 11 innings with only 2 total runs last week. Man that was hard to watch. :nerd2:

Well the Tigers pitcher tonight is a call up from the minor leagues and will be making the 2nd major league start of his career. That is the recipe for a real run-fest tonight.

Well the Tigers pitcher tonight is a call up from the minor leagues and will be making the 2nd major league start of his career. That is the recipe for a real run-fest tonight.

If I can`t scalp a decent ticket at Gund Arena I`ll walk next door and see the Indians guys. So convenient here, the stadiums are all within walking distance of each other and all located in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

If I can`t scalp a decent ticket at Gund Arena I`ll walk next door and see the Indians guys. So convenient here, the stadiums are all within walking distance of each other and all located in the heart of downtown Cleveland.
Kind of like Detroit, except for the basketball stadium. Davidson needs to find a place downtown to build a new arena in due time.

thats a quirk of the schedules... minn in baseball and basketball in detrioit one night... and det in cleveland for both the next night.

lets hope for the same results and throw a wings win in to cap off the night.