Waddaya mean no meaning? With this win we stay 1.5 games up on the Spurs and Hornets our potential finals foes who also won tonight and now 3 up on the Lakers
And Minni wasn't gonna shoot 72% for the entire game. Once they got back to earth, Pistons got closer and closer.
New SuperStar in the making - Rodney Stucky. Especially impressive 4th quarter savy displayed out there by him to go along with his 27 points. Thats something you either have or you don't - he has it. I am glad it came down to the wire just so we could see that.
Look at the big picture... If Joe is calling the shots and the bench is trusted to go in when needed and capable of holding down the fort or now and then getting us back in a game, the Pistons actually have a chance in the later rounds of the playoffs. A single victory over the Celtics or any other team during the regular season is one victory no matter how you slice it. Our starters outplayed their starters for one game. Ho hum...been there done that. I've seen how that story ends. I like this game. You got a better one in mind? Not more exciting or against a better club, but one that carried more potential meaning?
this game was impressive because we fought back and our young guys 'learned' how to win. they had a couple situations where they tied the score but minnesota immediately came back with a 3-point play. they couldn't get over the hump...but they kept pushing and pushing and finally broke through, took the lead, and managed to hold it and close out the game.
Looks like I missed a great second half. :( Although, it is heartening for me to see that our young players have a lot of fight in them, not to mention the fact that they seem to possess a good deal of composure (Stuckey, AA and AJ). They're gonna be fun to watch down the road.
I like the idea of shutting some guys down over the last couple of weeks of the season for a game here and there much better than dropping them the last few games and having them go into the playoffs without having played in a week. Good job there, especially with Rip who probably shouldn't play until the last four or five games. Interesting start last night. Cowens in the hallway laid a lot of it on Jarvis not knowing how to play the two spot (probably shouldn't have been all that big a surprise since he hasn't played there all year) and that was throwing the timing of the offense off. I was never sure if the early defensive woes were due to a discombobulated Pistons team or a Minny team annoyed that Detroit was starting the second string. A good coach would have made that point to his team. Yeah, Stuckey, Affalo, and Johnson were great, but what about Samb? 2-2 and three boards in six minutes - that's 20 and 15 over 30 minutes. I've been impressed with him every time I've seen him - he's smooth, doesn't look lost, and plays hard. Nice jumper. And the weight is coming along. Either he doesn't look skinny any more or he just looked big in comparison to Dixon's legs, that have to be the skinniest I've even seen on an NBA player.
anybody who followed the summer league really can't be suprised with stuckeys performance last night. He lead comebacks in what 2 or 3 games? I think that if not for the hand injury combined with the fact he's playing behind one of the best all around pg's in the game he would be in the top 3 vote getters for rookie of the year. We have atleast 2 long time starters and wouldn't at all be suprised at 3-4 out of the zoo crew. Just think what Samb is going to be in a few years and has learned how to play the game. AJ and Stuckey are locks.... AA and Samb have a shot, and Max is a solid reserve for years to come.... Joe has a perfect blend of veterns and youth. I do have to ask why Flip keeps making himself look the fool though, unless I am missing it in print/video somewhere Joe never comes out and says "I told Flip to do this or to that" but Flip sure lets the media know stuff isn't his idea...
I loved the game DT. It`s just the word REST that`s bothering me, that`s all. Can we all refrain from using the word rest? I BEG OF YOU!!!!!!
I did like the way the sorta framed it... that at this point with the days off they would have 2-3 solid practices and that practice at this point would be more important to our starters then playing against a lottery team "thats my part, not the articles". For the bench players crunch time mins are crunch time mins no matter who there against... I really don't see what our starters could get from playing last night, as long as there working hard in practice on things to make them better in the playoffs.
I understand the need to balance wins against how well the team will do going in. But if they do make it to the Finals and lose because they lost homecourt to a West team by 1/2 game or so then it leave everyone wondering how they could not have learned anything from 05. Perhaps at this point though all attention has to be directed to avoiding another ECF collapse.
Yeah, max, that's why I was concerned when I heard that all 3 of the top starters would be sitting. Rip I expected because of the hip thing--surely they wouldn't need him to beat the lowly Wolves, so sitting him while they can without jeopardizing any wins makes sense. But sitting CB and Sheed as well, all at the same time? That seemed like it might be too much to overcome for a win, even against Minny. But the great thing is that they won anyway!!
And if there going to sit for x amount of games... do it now not the last 2-3 games of the season... we have seen in many teams over the years that doesn't work.
True that. Esp that the last game is at Cleveland. Win that game and get all ready for the playoffs. Treat that game as a playoff game and make it as some sort of a statement game but most important of all, stay out of any freak injuries.
