Pistons At Cavaliers ~ December 31st, 2005

Detroit Pistons @ Cleveland Cavaliers

December 31st, 2005 ~ 1:30pm
Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
TV: FSND, NBATV Radio: WDFN





~~Your Comments?!~~

food4thot

The 17-10 Cavs are 9-8 when Lebron scores 30+.

That said, I hope he has a great game.

IT was over when the Schedule was made

Look Detroit is not a Cleveland type of town. They always play their worse game in Cleveland. Lebron is a SUPERSTAR and there is no getting around it. The only way you neutralize a superstar is by hitting a high percentage of shots. Neither happen today in Cleveland so when Lebron hits a step back fade away Three game is over.

Well The game had all variebles that remain the same even when LB was the coach, Billups had a bad game, they shoot a low percentage, and they have a high turnover game. That equals a lose in CLev.

I'm not worried about this lose I knew it was coming, I'm very happy about our November and December Start, If you look at the past two years Detroit has had one of the best record from Jan 1st to the Playoffs. This year will be no different I perdicting a 44-10 finish which would leave the record of 68-14. Thats right close too 70 but not quiet.

GO PISTONS!!!!

game report

This game was more about Flip experimenting with stuff than anything else. One, lets see if we give Tay enoungh shots he will come out of a shooting slump. He didn't. Two, lets see if Delfino can guard James. He couldn't. Not that bad really, but not needed at all. Prince could have played a bit more until Bron came out of the game. Three, lets see if Evans can do better. No, he missed all his shots. Except for a few rebounds, he gave us no points, no assists, no ball handling at all. Worse, he was playing when Delfino should have been playing.

We fell in love with outside shooting. Got behind. To start the 2nd half we were not shooting any jumpers and were getting back into the game. CB decided to lead us right back down the wrong path. Missed another triple. Not to mention he threw the ball away several times. But that does not matter so much. You will throw the ball away on occasion trying to go inside. What killed us is everyone else imitating Billups, trying to be a hero from the outside. We needed to go inside in this game.

There is nothing wrong with trying some outside shots. But if they are not going, you switch up. Altogether, the Pistons failed to do that in this game.

Ben Wallace on many occasions guarded Wade just fine. Further pointing up the simple fact we could go big with Ben at small forward. This leaves Delfino as the shooting guard, where he should be playing, and Evans right out of the rotation. Or play Maxiell. Or Johnson. Got to change something because this experiment with Evans is not working. Evans was given a quick shot at guarding Bron and it ended real real bad. Bron lost Evans so easily and came in and scored at the basket with Evans no where in sight. Again, if Evans can't defend, don't play the guy.

Arroyo made some mistakes in this game. And missed a couple of shots. That pales in comparison to all the shots Billups missed and all the bad passes he made. But I suppose there will people who find reason to hate on Arroyo. But think about this. Flip is foisting Evans on Arroyo's unit. Not easy to work around that. Not that both Arroyo and Billups did there best at it. Hey, much easier to just remove the player than try to work around a guy not contributing to the offensive sets.

Dyess was off. Not good on a day where everyone else was too. Arroyo left Dyess as wide open as possible on one shot.

The only real effective play we saw in this game was the brief time we had Arroyo and Delfino in together with Evans over on the bench. I'd say if Flip wants to try an experiment, try Arroyo and Delfino in the backcourt, with Delfino bringing the ball up. Then if it bogs down into a halfcourt set, let Arroyo run that. And please remember, no Evans. That is too much to overcome.

A Confession

I turned the game off with four minutes left in the first quarter. It was obvious that the Pistons didn't feel like working a second holiday this year, and I didn't want to hear the Cleveland announcers BS about how this "sent a message." Fact is, the Cavs are an afterthought during a tough holiday week.

Lindsey has really been missed. Not saying he would have changed this game, but we need a guy in the backcourt who really gets after it on defense instead of taking scenic detours around every pick.

That said, thanks for an incredible 2005, boys. Get some rest with your families and start next year strong!

I felt the same way, but we still should have won.

How bad did Evans do?

Minus 13 in the first half. He came in with us down 6, and left with us down 19.

In the 2nd half, he came in with us down 16. Note, we had managed to gain a few points while he was on the bench. Soon after he came in, we were down 20. At that point, we are down 20 with about 14 minutes left in the game. Not looking too good. And Evans is minus 17 at that point, not having contributed any defense, any points, nor any ball handling.

The other day Evans had a plus 4 game. But I pointed out that he was plus 20 when the game was really over and we had the game pretty much in hand. Well, this is the opposite. When the game was pretty much out of hand today, you find Evans at minus 17. As bad as we played today, if Evans had simply not played, we still could have won this game.

Upon further review

Tay did score that one on one basket for us shortly after Evans came in during the first half. But that was it, our only score. And Cleveland did not fail to score even once while Evans was in.

Jump off his back

Man I really don't understand why you have a rager for Evans ya maybe he didn't play well today and doesn't have the best games but the team as a whole player for player today didn't bring it.Evans maybe can't guard his own guy like you say but I know he can't guard the other 4 on the court at the same time.He has shown flashes of good and bad he's on a new team and learning a new system.

I watched most of the first 2 quarters so no I didn't see the whole game but unlike other games you could just feel this one wasn't going to be a comeback for us we stank it up.

Looking at the Box Score

The Pistons rely to much on the Perimeter, it is games like today that will be lost on the road, next game similiar to this will be in San Ann. Sheed is the only guy on the post that can get his shot anytime he wants, and thats the problem he does not want to stay on the post. This game shows:P that when you get nothing from the swing position its a lost. If Tay hits half his shots today its a win, same with Evans hit half his shots its a win. but I'm looking forward to the new year it will be a great run to the Finals where again its San Ann and Detroit.

For now enjoy the ride.

More on Delfino

Yep, he did fine on Bron. That 11-0 run Cleveland got to start the 2nd consisted of Sheed leaving Marshall open for a pair of made 3 pointers, a Bron dunk off a turn by Arroyo. And earlier a bad call by the official. Bron lowered his shoulder into Delfino and got the call. The Pistons responded to that 11-0 run with a 6-0 run of their own before Evans came in for Delfino. We were down just 6 at that point.

We should have whore Red

Maybe Red uni's could have made the difference??????? LOL

I don't buy it

Sheed shot fine. Rip put in lots of points. Even CB, despite poor shooting, got a lot at the line. And Dyess did hit a few shots in the first half before going cold in the 2nd half. We had enough to win this game.

I am not angry at Evans at all. Its the fact we lost due to the coach doing his experimenting. Experimenting with trying to make a player out of Evans. The game may not be that important really, but this is a short season. The time to experiment with the wrong player is past. Next player please.

The problem with Evans

The real problem with Evans isn't his recent decline in play. What get's people mad is that he's getting more minutes over someone who's playing better. That's what get people mad. It's the same with Curry over Tay, Darvin over Dupree, Darko,Okur, and EC, Lindsey over Mike James. Curry, Darvin, Lindsey, and Evans are good guys, hard players, have Pistons DNA, but their NBA skills vary from non existant (Curry and Ham) to good with major flaws (Hunter).

Hunter over James was at least understandable, but with some of these other choices, and Evans over Delfino is starting to become one, it drives people crazy. Right or wrong, when this happens people really start to dwell on the negatives of the guy playing and the positive of the guy night playing. If anyone really thinks Evans is better than Delfino say so, otherwise understand why people are so vocal for Delfino.

This aint a Darko issue, with people debating potential. CD is proving his abilities on the court game after game, and proving that he is the better choice for the minutes than Evans.

Yup

What you guys said.

Somehow I think, the Pistons did the right thing if Lee is right. Experimenting is needed somehow and we need a few games like this. We shouldn't expect to win every game.

Let the Cavs think they've reached the top, but in the playoffs let them see that they've got a long way to go.

Maybe too much perimeter shooting in this one?

If everybody is off, everybody is off. Let it pass. I've played too many games like that, we just shake it off and move on to the next game.

Why The Pistons lost

First this game was lost at the beginning of the second qtr when Cavs went on their 9-0 run to begin the second qtr. If I recall Arroyo, Delfino, Dice and two starters were in there and both the defense (giving up 2 quick treys) and the play and shot selection by our guys was atrocious.

Shot selection in the first qtr was bad too as Rip, CB and Prince could not hit the perimeter shot and only Rip tried to penetrate for a higher percentage shot. I am not sure why if the shot is not falling, Prince does not drive to attack the rim and dish off if necessary. They were killing us in the paint and we failed to adjust anytime during the game. I'm Lee, but this loss should not be blamed on Evans, even if didn't he have a good game, because we would have lost whether he was in there for his non-productive 12 minutes or if he had missed the plane ride over there.

This is another game where we got out hustled for a stretch of about 6 minutes or so and gave up an extended scoring run that we could not answer due to poor shooting/shot selection. Even in the third qtr when we were in the penalty with a full 7 minutes left in the period & we still took questionable shots that should have been in the paint instead of outside. Yeah we got 14 of our 23 points from the FT line, but I expected that the coaching would have emphasized going inside to slow the game down and put points on the board while the clock wasn't ticking.

Even when we made a run to cut it down to 10 in the 4th, we were still jacking up threes when we had plenty of time (7.5 mins) to complete the comeback. They only made two more threes than we did, but three of them counted, (the 2 at the beginning of the 2nd qtr and the one James hit to put the score back up to 13 when it appeared we were making that run in the middle of the 4th. It seem that everyone of our long misses turned into a bucket on the other end.

Game lowlights>
CB & Prince shooting 4-23.
They outscored us 46-32 in the paint
They outpaced us 20-6 in fast break points

Never really thought about the 72-10 record, but a win today and we could have been looking at a possible 15 win streak before the meeting with the Spurs on 1/12. With an average of two losses a month, we could be looking at 70-12 maybe Right now, a game at time will do and the Pistons need to forget this one and go out an party.

hi

LA Dre, your summary of the game fails to mention the fact that we went on a 6-0 run, cutting the lead to just 6 points before Evans came into the game. No way the game was over. Maybe after Evans went out of the game a few minutes later with us down 19 points?
I have been rewatching the game some more. The more I watch, the less I am thinking good of Evans. He has pretty much been reduced to just walking over to the corner and staying out of the way until someone hits him for a triple try.

On defense, its a lot worse. In that first half, Evans was directly responsible for most of the points put up by Cleveland while he was in the game. I won't go into all the details, but lets start with immediately losing his man who gets an easy bucket in the lane. Then losing his guy on the perimeter, forcing Dyess to cover, leaving Ilgauskas open for a bucket. Etc. In the 2nd half, they put Evans on the point. Not too bad there. But hey, if that is the best he can do on defense, guard a rather weak offensively point guard, then why let him play?

Nothing wrong with losing a game occasionally to develop a player. Also, Delfino got some real important minutes there late in the 4th quarter. Flip is learning. Part of my gripe is people keep saying we can't play Darko, cause it would lose us game. So far, playing Darko has not lost us any games. Today, playing Evans did, and I am seeing a double standard here. I really don't see why people think of Evans as a vet. He barely has over a years experience playing in the NBA.

One more thought on Evans. Did you know that Evans only got in ten games, over the course of an entire season, in his first year in the NBA. He was dressed. Just did not play. And the coach who never played him. Flip. I wonder what changed his mind.

Bench Use

Lee, I am not a Darko fan at this point, but I agree he needs to be played even in these tight games. If Flip was going to bring the bench in early like he did, then maybe Darko's long arms and body could have slowed Ilgauskus down somewhat.....In a game like this when your starters were not getting the job done early, he could have even experimented with JMAX

Happy New Year

hi

I complain a lot. But Flip is going in some directions I like. More Delfino. The last few games we have seen Delfino get more and more of a role. Arroyo did play in both halves of this one. Thats the good.

Right now, I am not rooting for any one player to take away Evans minutes. Just as long as Flip is going in another direction. In this particular game, we would have been far better served by Alex Acker taking Mo Evans minutes. The only player Evans successfully guarded was Snow. Acker would have been good for that, and provided another pretty decent ball handler out there.

And I'll add this about Acker. The guy has a good knack for defensive help outs. In other words, knowing just how far to play off his own guy, and where to be to help out. Delfino is good at this too. Evans on the other hand is not impressing me at all. He gots this to some extent in a simple 1 dimensional situation, but add a 2nd dimension and Evans is lost. I am specifically talking about where a guy positions himself to help stop a player from penetrating while still staying in good contact with his own guy.

Of all the blunders I have seen from Evans, the one that gets me the most his gawking of his shot. That is pure highschool ball. That is, if you have a bad coach. I still can't believe what I am seeing on that one.

While on the subject, look at what we get when Evans comes in. Either he replaces Prince, or Rip. If he replaces Rip, he is replacing our best guy at moving without the ball with himself standing in one spot for a whole offensive sequence. If he replaces Prince, he is replacing a smooth ball handler with himself who simply can't handle the ball. Just too much of a dropoff.

On the other hand. If Rip is replaced by Delfino, you go from the best guy on the team to the 2nd best guy on the team at moving without the ball. Not much of a dropoff. And if Delfino replaces Tay, you go from a good ball handler to the best on the team at creating his own offense. This is per Flip Saunders by the way. I just agree with it.