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Chauncey day to day.

Flip Murray owning the shit. I AM SO CONFUSED.

Flip Saunders playing hopscotch.

Antonio Micketty micketty micky micketty mac DYESS.

Mason is fantastic.

I have too much momentum behind my Flip Murray hatred. If forced to stop now I might get whiplash and be out for the rest of the season. I almost look forward to him reverting to his natural point of mediocre equilibrium.

Antonio Micketty micketty micky micketty mac DYESS.

Mason is fantastic.
So is McDyess -- DA-YUM!!

Even though he killed a couple bunnies I've gotta throw in a word on Delfino. He is all over the place getting after it on both ends and moving without the ball on offense.

BAH! They're letting Dallas back in the game.

We're shooting 57%, they're shooting 44%, and we're only ahead by 4.

This concerns me.

must have been warm milk and bedtime stories for half time.

great/hilarious block by sheed. welcome to hell, dirk. if sheed played this way everyday...

sheed t in 5... 4... 3...

Given the way this game has been called, I'm expecting a Flip Saunders T.

Flip Murray looking like flip murray again :(

Had to happen at some point. :yingyang:

Pistons have gotten fucked out of 2 obvious shooting fouls in the 3rd. Not sure why the refs thought those should be inbounded.

Pistons have gotten fucked out of 2 obvious shooting fouls in the 3rd. Not sure why the refs thought those should be inbounded.
we arent the best record in the league with a Clean Euro German Cold war Assassin MVP candidate.

On a side note Flip murray can't play a lick of defense but steals very well. Iverson Syndrome.

Refs has stolen 8 points from Detroit today. Is this a road game at home ?

LOL@us finding ways to let Dallas get away with Stackhouse on McDyess. Fucking retarded.

I just realized Dick Bevetta is calling the game.

So it all make sense now

LOL@us finding ways to let Dallas get away with Stackhouse on McDyess. Fucking retarded.

Interesting. After Stackhouse went up on the five foul McDyess, McDyess (back turned to the camera) apparently said something to Stackhouse, who seemed to nod and mouth "OK". A moment later, a cheap foul by Stackhouse allowed McDyess to be benched.

There's something going on here.

this is where we miss mr. B.S.

The way Rip has played today, I don't have a lot of sympathy for the ass kicking he has gotten.

we choked like a mediocre team at the line.

Also Flip Murray is still Flip Murray. Its fucked up but we need to upgrade back to hunter asap.

fuck fans that leave early.

And The Pistons will win in the Finals vs the Suns or Mavs.
No doubt about that. Shouldn't have even lost this stupid game.

Upon reflection, until he brings his game from the bench, in his real role on this team, I'll still hate Flip Murray.

its a shame to give up a game like that shooting 13/21 from the freethrowline...damnit

Even if Rip did 6-7 FTs instead of 2-7, we'd still have lost in OT with the way the refs were calling the game. There were -tons- of bullshit calls against us, and I'm amazed we even got the flagrant call on Dumpier.

What a strange game!!! We gave the game away and looked really shakey come clutch time. The officiating was pretty bad with lots of phantom calls and missed calls but we played like crap. I can't believe the missed free throws and bad shots at the end. For everyone ripping on Flip, he still played pretty well. If you want to get on somebody, how about Sheed? He put up three pretty awful shots (not counting the one with the shot clock expiring) in the last couple minutes with one being an airball on a 3 attempt. Not good.

The turning point of the game was the Lineup of Prince/Rip/Delfino.

Flip should have let Carlos run the point and kept posting up. Instead we were running hot garbage plays.

sheed didnt play with his head at the end, pretty much after dirk hit that crazy good shot off the 4 second inbound. i think sheed actually does care about outplaying guys like dirk. cuz dirk hit that shot, and sheed tried to mirror it on the other end (he did the exact same move, but from 3 pt land) and couldnt even come close. i wouldnt say he cost us the game, but from there on out he wasnt helping us. we really need chauncy in tight games like this. especially with rip playing like crap today.

Rip didn't do so hot against the Suns either.

Sheed calling out the Flipster

:mccosky:


But there was something more covert, and possibly something more serious, that ultimately sunk the Pistons on Sunday. Rasheed Wallace jumped off the page in the fourth quarter. He became upset at the strategy Saunders deployed against the Mavericks' small lineup in the fourth quarter.

When asked where the game got away from them, Wallace said: "Honestly, I choose to keep that to myself. We didn't get a couple of stops, they hit a couple of shots. Give them credit."

The Mavericks went small two minutes into the fourth quarter -- three guards and Josh Howard at power forward, with Dirk Nowitzki -- and quickly erased the Pistons' four-point lead. Saunders chose to stay with a big lineup (keeping Antonio McDyess and Webber on the floor) for five possessions. The Mavericks ran off an 11-2 run and took control of the game.

Offensively, the Pistons missed some easy opportunities, including two free throws by Hamilton. After Wallace scored, Saunders decided to downsize his lineup to match the Mavericks.

The Pistons scored five quick points to pull within one, but, even though downsizing got the Pistons untracked, Wallace was out of sorts.

"I think we should have stayed big," he said. "Let them change to us. We shouldn't change to them."

The Mavericks went back to their big lineup right after the Pistons' run. But Wallace -- who had played an inspired game to that point with 13 points, six rebounds, three blocks -- never regrouped.

The pivotal play came with 4:08 left. After a steal by Murray, Hamilton was fouled hard by Erick Dampier. It was ruled a flagrant 1 foul, giving the Pistons two free throws and possession. They were down one and had a chance to score four points. They scored one. Hamilton missed one free throw and Wallace, breaking off the play, fired up an errant, heavily contested 3-pointer.

"A lot of teams try to go small on us and it usually doesn't bother us too much," said Webber. "I just think we got away from going inside and trying to force Dirk to play defense on the block."

Wallace missed his last four shots, two of them wild perimeter shots after he broke the play. He also was caught out of position defensively several times down the stretch, allowing Nowitzki (28 points, 21 in the second half) to score two back-breaking buckets.

The Mavericks ran side pick-and-roll with Jason Terry and Nowitzki the last eight possessions of the game -- and they scored on six of them. Clearly, whether it was caused by Wallace or something else, the Pistons were uncharacteristically distracted on the defensive end at winning time.

And that is the lesson that came out of this game. The difference between winning and losing, especially against elite teams, can be as small as one player stepping outside the team concept for just a short couple of minutes.

Play your game, Rasheed -- don't try to imitate Dirk's (unless you can actually make shots the way Dirk can).

In fairness to Sheed, if Flip would learn and make them adapt, then players wouldn't be stepping out of line. You have to do what your coach asks, but at the same time Flip ALWAYS reacts to their changes instead of intiating change. It's far better than Prick, who never changed at all.

when Dallas went small, Flip Saunders stayed with a big lineup and we tried to capitalize. Dice couldn't score on Stackhouse and then proceeded to get burned by a quicker Stackhouse on the next play. Basket and a foul.

i think it was the right move to get Dice out of there.

we criticize Flip Saunders for going small and reacting to Dallas' changes, but we'd be (still) be calling for his head if he kept Dice in there and he ended up fouling out.

Yep, Sheed was most definitely out of line. He if wanted Flip to stick with the big lineup, then he should have had his ass in the post against the smaller defender instead of hoisting threes.

Flip gave the big lineup a chance, and they fucked it up.

when Dallas went small, Flip Saunders stayed with a big lineup and we tried to capitalize. Dice couldn't score on Stackhouse and then proceeded to get burned by a quicker Stackhouse on the next play. Basket and a foul.

i think it was the right move to get Dice out of there.

we criticize Flip Saunders for going small and reacting to Dallas' changes, but we'd be (still) be calling for his head if he kept Dice in there and he ended up fouling out.

first I must say I didn't see any of the game. If our bigs were not posting up, then it's their fault flip changed. There is no way Dice can gaurd Stack, but you can go to the zone, or you can put Prince in at PF and he still has a post advantage over any Dalls G/F. You can limit their speed advantage on defense, but if you aren't posting them up then it's a moot point. It seems like Amir would have the quickness to still stay with Stack on defense and have a huge size advantage in the post on offense. Won't happen any time soon, but hopefully in the future he'll be that versitile.

Dice was the only big that posted up, and he either threw up a bad shot or passed it right back out.

they did it wrong. post up sheed and force stachhouse and the smalls to battle dyess on any miss. i feel like the small ball came about to get sheed off of his dirk ownage in the post as a bait. Dyess was more comfortable catching and shooting or rebounding. He woulda probably snatched every rebound out there with stack trying to box him out.


PS=Fuck Flip Murray.

I don't see how this gets spun as something negative against Saunders. His coaching move worked, the pistons scored some points and closed the gap. The problem and the blame here falls squarely on Sheed for sulking his way through crunch time.

I don't see how this gets spun as something negative against Saunders. His coaching move worked, the pistons scored some points and closed the gap. The problem and the blame here falls squarely on Sheed for sulking his way through crunch time.
I'm not a big Flip fan, but I'd have to agree here. Sheed sulking is not Flip's fault.