OGT: Pistons v. Heat, 10/10 @ 8:30pm in Puerto Rico, TV20

[Glenn]

I love what I saw from Nazr (16/8/2 and 4 steals!).

He's a lot more athletic than I recall.

I would have liked to see Amir and Daniel Horton get some burn.

Anytime you beat the Heat by 20 it's nice, even in preseason.

Anybody have any thoughts on the new ball?

[Matt]

NBA.com video highlights:

Open Windows Media Player, Goto File -> Open URL and copy/paste this:

http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/pre_detmia_061010.asx

(just clicking on it doesn't seem to work for me)

[Cross]

I love what I saw from Nazr (16/8/2 and 4 steals!).

He's a lot more athletic than I recall.

I would have liked to see Amir and Daniel Horton get some burn.

Anytime you beat the Heat by 20 it's nice, even in preseason.

Anybody have any thoughts on the new ball?

shaq and wade dont like it and it showed I guess. Wade went a horrible 2-8 and Shaq went like 1-5 or something.

Antoine also did the usual 0-4 from 3pt land.

[Matt]

i missed most of the game, unfortunately. i caught the highlights on espn and nba.com.

questions for anyone that watched: did Flip Murray get any run at PG? how did Delfino look? was the team force feeding Nazr, because i noticed he shot most last night.

[Matt]

[Fool]

I didn't see much but Nazr did some things that I didn't expect and some things that I did. He made a move on shaq from just inside the top of the key for a layup (good). Hit what amounted to a mini-McDyess jumper (good). Lost a pass out of bounds from Chauncey as Nazr was cutting to the basket down the baseline which would have given him an easy lay-up (bad). Tried to do a reverse lay-up on a fast break and squandered the scoring opportunity (bad).

I did see Murray dribbling the ball up the court a couple times with Delfino and Hunter in (at I guess the 2 and 3). I didn't really see him do much though (mostly me watching the Tigers game). Saw Delfino hit a three and miss a jumper. Saw Maxiell get to the line about 3 times in the few minutes I watched, I don't recall if he hit more than one of his FTs though.

[Matt]

Jason Maxiell: 5-11 FT

if he could hit more FTs, he'd be worth putting in purely based on the fact that he can get to the line so often....

[Black Dynamite]

For Matt:

Nazr started off shitty and slow. But once he got comfortable he surprised me. He will definately have some big nights from time to time. Defensively he's not that athletic and he's still too slow for my liking. But he is definately more than dead weight out there.

Maxiell got alot of praise for drawing fouls, but as kessler said, he's gotta make atleast 7 out of 10 free throws. Otherwise he was slender and quicker, he'll never be quick enough to play great one on one defense though. but on help outs he'll be a monster. theres one last spot open in the 10 man rotation and he may secure it.

Delfino was very comfortable in out zone defense as was Flip Murray. Also I must admit that Flip Murray with delfino on the floor is a light years better combo that Delfino with Evans. Much better chemistry and less pressure on Delfino to be overagressive. His 3 point shot was still mediocre, but he was money on the break with Flip, money on the boards, and money in the zone making deflections.

Flip Murray? He did what we are going to need him to do. Get to the basket and avoid long jumpers for the most part. He took a couple bad jumpers, but nothing near what he's been chucking the past 2 years. Good work by him and hopefully he sticks with the slashing first mentality. also he handled the ball a little, but played SG with Hunter/billups at the point and Delfino at SF. Small but quick lineup thats gonna have to zone.


The Zone defense was mildly effective tonight. Whether it was because Miami didnt care or because it was just working is hard to say. But it seems to fall apart sometimes and allow Wade to pentrate(a problem that made it useless in that playoffs last year). The bench plays it better than the starters, but the starters are slightly better with it this year. The jury is still out, but it did well last night.
Rick Rickerts hustled but looked a little too unathletic for my taste.

Amir got no real playing time. Nor did Dupree.

Will Blalock showed very good handles but did a little bit too much of the carlos arroyo drive and highlight pass it to the defender.
Hunter was fairly aggressive and looks as quick as ever still at his age. Definately pushed the temple hard with mixed results. But thats ok as long as he gets it moving.

Sheed made some decent passes, but was irrelevent on offense.
Rip was our most consistent looking starter out there and he'll have another big year.

Billups was up and down but I think he'll put up similar numbers again this year.

Tayshaun missed some shots but was much more assertive. If he shoots with more confidence and aggression, he'll start having more hot streaks like he did in Kentucky. All in all we'll contend this year. Still not sure how much though.

[Black Dynamite]

Anybody have any thoughts on the new ball?

No one likes it and most jump shooters outside of kapono didnt shoot well with it.

I'm glad no one was injured. that floor was humid wet and slipping was a big problem.

[Matt]

you da man, Gutz. thanks for the recap.