Lee and Lemonpen on the Piston fast break, We really don't get much out of it unless it is a wide-open affair. I often wonder: 1) Do we just not have the players for it (other than Tay) so why push it. 2) Is it just not coached well? I prefer that we set up unless it is a wide-open break.
YouTube - Tayshaun Prince Spins on Lebron James YouTube - Tayshaun Prince of DET YouTube - Tayshaun Prince on Battie
One of those is an isolation on Jason Williams (definitely shorter than 6-4) and another is an excellent example of "finishing". The only one of those that is really a counterexample is the first, where James (a terrible defender) was attempting to take away the middle and force him into a baseline trap; unfortunately for James Varejão's rotation was well late.
So James sucks, and Varejao is slow. Williams is short, and Mourning's help defense doesn't count. I couldn't see what the play was against the Celtics, but Battie is definitely taller than 6'4". Tayshaun is now the 5th option on offense. I think he has pretty good low post skills, we just don't see him used much in that capacity. I'm not arguing that Prince is the greatest SF in the paint, but I don't think he is the second coming of Micheal Curry either. I feel a poll coming...
Re: Indiana Jan 28th 6:30 PM, correction In my game report, I confused the start of a different game with this one. Webber did not score at all to start this game. What I was misremembering is the several times we went to Sheed to start the 2nd half.
From the detnews on Sheed: "Rasheed is a great player," said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, whose team had won three straight before Sunday. "When he exerts the level of force on the game that he is capable of, he's as tough a player to deal with as anybody in the Eastern Conference." Hope Sheed starts believing this.
``Zone defense was only employed on a couple of possessions the entire game.'' You're congratulating him on ignoring his own philosophy. If it takes that kind of twisted logic it takes to be a Flip supporter, why bother?
I think the zone was used quite a bit in the second half to slow down Tinsley. I've only been able to watch the game 1.5 times so far, I will try to review again tonite.
Tinsley was looking very dangerous last night. I'm really glad we pulled this game out. It would have been a confidence shattering loss after that big lead.
Flip's philosophy isn't to play zone defense; it is to mix up the defenses. Making adjustments is a sign of good coaching.
went to the game - roads were terrible so the crowd got there a little late. since people did a good job with the caps, i'll throw in my other thoughts: - the nicest thing about having webber is that we are getting off to fast starts and early leads. before, my friend and i would always complain about us starting down 8-0, 12-4, etc., but with webber we're jumping out early. - mike dunleavy is the ultimate opportunist. he only scores when his teammates can break down the defense and give him a wide open three. he is no better than mo evans, and i can't believe he's making tay money. - i was really annoyed with flip's substitutions in the 2nd quarter. our bench only dropped 2 points off the lead (from 15 to 13), but flip threw chauncey, rip, and tay back in around the 6:30 mark (i think) if not sooner. there was no reason to take the bench out and make our starters play more minutes there. if our bench was giving up a run, sure, put the starters back in to stop the bleeding...but this was not the case. - troy murphy -21, dunleavy -29. wow bad. marshall was +29 heh. all of our starters were +, and all of our bench were -. - except for dice early, the bench had a horrible game. maxiell had nothing going and was a foul magnet. and while yes, our bench could use improvement and a proven scorer, they just had a bad game collectively like our starters often have. they can't be perfect every time. if that becomes a pattern i'll worry more. - with both webber and sheed, JO couldn't guard both of them, and this was huge. it's going to be a really big advantage in the playoffs since most teams don't have 2 quality big men up front to play the kind of defense necessary to contain both webber and wallace. - ahb doesn't like tayshaun lol
Cornrows: Pistons 95, Pacers 87: Simply Outplayed Recap from the best Pacers fan blog. Chief Webber. I like it.
JO got it rolling in the fourth as the Pacers tied the game up. Everything ground to a halt after JO picked up his fifth foul. Around the same time Murphy and Dunleavy re-entered the game and you could see the Pistons' energy change. They were licking their chops to get the ball on offense. JO was forced to return with four minutes left but couldn't be as aggressive on defense and the Pacers couldn't get closer than four points. Chief Webber had a real nice game just filling the cracks in the paint with put backs and nice ball handling. With the Pacers and JO in particular forced to help on interior defense, Chief rarely had a body on him. He took advantage with seven offensive rebounds. Juicy Also Flip Saunders and Tony Dungy were roomys for a while back at the U of Minny.
