At Miami April 6th, 6:00 PM TV - NBALP The NBA planned for this to be a nationally televised epic game featuring Wade and Shaq vs the Pistons back some time ago. My how things have changed, for the Heat that is. They have won two games out of the last 20-something I believe, both wins against the Bucks. The Pistons continue to tinker with their rotation as Flip allows the bench to get extended playing time winding down the season.
This game was supposed to be nationally televised, ABC chose to put the Hornets vs the Warriors on instead, and swithced the Heat/Pistons to a 6:00 PM start.
6:00 is better for me anyway. Good lord, how bad are the HEAT? I bet the NBA wishes they hadn't traded Shaq.
I wonder if any regular will be sitting this one out. Dyess is a leading candidate I would think. Probably lots of time for the Zoo Crew.
We are playing the Heat for crying out loud, I say START the zoo crew. Let the starters get bench minutes!!!!!!
Tay should start to keep his streak going. I know it is all about team, but players should get at least a little piece of the pie.
it is a guaranteed win even if we bring the D-league players. Miami does not want to win games for this season. It is not even a good game for the bench players. I suggest minimum minutes to any player who will be part of playoff roaster.
yeah, bring back acer, order michael curry to dress again, hey, when isaiah can't coach, maybe he can play? Let's make lee happy!
Tay actually has two streaks going. He currently has the longest consecutive games started streak. He is currently second (behind Andre Miller) in consecutive games played.
I can make the shot that he does at 0:50. Except, instead of a house, I usually shoot over my brother. It's almost the same thing.
Nice game for the Zoo Crew. Dyess got a game off to rest, nice move. J-Max missed some shots in the beginning, but made up for it in the 2nd half. Afflalo got involved in the offense more than usual. Sheed should've just sayed on the bench, he didn't do anything. Chauncey didn't look for his offense much, tried to get everyone involved more. Tay's minutes were really low, he went very hard to start the 3rd quarter and then got pulled about 8 min into it and never came back. Amir and Theo with good defense, but not much on the offensive end. Amir looks really timid on offense. Cheikh Samb got in for a few minutes, didn't do much. Dixon made a few shots, he could be an offensive boost in the playoffs. Herrmann looked decent. So did Hayes, but not as good defensively. Also, is it just me, or is it that Hayes can only make a shot while he is stationery? Seems that if you can get him to move his feet his aim is off. Stuckey with another good game. His jumper looks good, he got into the passing lanes for thee uncontested dunks. He also got to the basket and made a few plays to get easy scores for the others.
Boxscore NBA.com: Pistons at Heat Game Info Looks like another exhibition game. The Heat are pathetic. The NBA should issue refunds to their season ticket holders...
Things are still right on schedule. The starters are resting. The bench is getting huge minutes. And nice of course to watch a win. If I had to complain about anything at all, its not trying a different option besides Hayes / Herrmann at small forward. But even there, at least Hermann is getting some time to showcase his talents. Hayes himself had a fine game tonight; he was in there during a pretty long defensive run for us in the first half, hit some outside shots, and looked good going inside on a fast break. (But this is not a team with a decent small forward, so Hayes was safe from looking too bad on D.) Stuckey got player of the game with 19 points. He hit some outside jumpers, got to the hoop a lot and made his free throws, and three times stole the ball and dunked. This was part of an 18-0 fast break point advantage we enjoyed late in the game. I guess his highlight was his double clutch layup, or maybe the ankle breaking drive that resulted in two made free throws. Afflalo scored 10 as a starter in place of Rip who continues to rest a hip giving him some minor problems, problems that should in no way affect him for the playoffs. Afflalo is not hitting his outside shots, but he is hitting shots in the lane and getting to the free throw line. Sheed gave up a lot of points in this game. Maybe he was just not that interested? In contrast, when Amir was in the game, Miami typically could not find an open shot anywhere. Amir continuously was in the play defensively, getting several blocks and plenty of rebounds too. Maxiell started out poorly, missing several outside shots. He ended up scoring quite a bit, mostly inside at point blank range and at the free throw line. But I don't mind those misses. Thats called in game practice. Have him keep shooting as he needs the practice. Theo helped out inside too. Between him, JMAX, and Amir that was a lot of shotblocking / shot alterations. Late in the game we had 10 blocks. (Stats per the announcer, I have not looked at the boxscore yet.) Billups did start, did not do a whole lot. Tay scored a lot of points, missing only about one shot, in his short minutes. Very good 3rd quarter from him after resting most of the first half. (and he was out of the game with several minutes to go in the 3rd quarter yet.) Herrmann scored some inside, did not hit an outside shot on a couple attempts. He got Amir a bucket by driving in and dishing. He still looks quite slow. He does hustle, but it looks like he is walking thru quicksand at times when he tries to run from point A to point B. Dyess did not play, just to give him some rest. And what a difference between this and the last Miami game. We were far better defensively in the first half with a very tired McDyess getting the rest he really needs. By the way, someone mentioned about Dyess cutting off his practice time much of the season. He was playing too much. He had to cut out something or he would barely be able to walk at this point. Hopefully, the added rest will just mean a livlier Dyess in the playoffs where it counts. Dixon played, hit some shots. He too was in there during much of that excellent defensive stand (no points allowed first half of the 2nd quarter, and only about 3 from about 5 minutes into the game to that point. Pretty darn impressive.) Samb got to play, did very little in five mintues of garbage time to end the game. No Hunter. And this is getting significant. Thru much of the 2nd half of the season, the return of Hunter kept getting pushed back. Last we hear, he was suppose to play in the last 109 games. We are down to about 5 games now, and Hunter sightings have been scarce. It was my hope that when we got Dixon he would supplant Hunter as our spare gaurd in the rotation. That wish just may have come true. No press on the situation as far as I know. That is about all I can think of for now. Time to get excited. If a certain poster is right, and he has been right so far when he makes these kind of statements, the Pistons are pretty much going to use exactly what we are seeing now thruout the playoffs. And what we are seeing now (with Rip coming back fully healthy of course) is a team that is better than any in the league. A championship is coming. Like I said, time to get excited. GO PISTONS!!!!!
