[Austin Kent]

vs.

Los Angeles Lakers (4-2) vs. Detroit Pistons (2-3)

Friday, November 10, 2006
The Staples Center
10:30

Probable Starters:

Andrew Bynum l Kwame Brown l Lamar Odom l Kobe Bryant l Smush Parker


Nazr Mohammed l Rasheed Wallace l Tayshaun Prince l Richard Hamilton l Chauncey Billups

Pistons Roster
Lakers Roster

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[Goubot]

Really, Bynum, Kwame, and Odom? I figured they'd start Walton or something. Oh well. Lakers are good, but they just lost to Portland. If Kwame's coming back from injury, he could struggle early on, and Kobe's only been himself against Portland. Odom can be dangerous, as can Bynum. I'm still a little punchdrunk from the loss yesterday so I don't really feel like going through the roster and doing any real analysis, but LA has some offensive firepower, but they haven't defended particularly well so far.

Former Pistons seem to be having their way with us, so watch out for Smush and Maurice Evans.

Thankfully, we're just one game removed from playing well in Utah, so I hope we can bounce back.

[STUCKEY!]

Bynum is a freaking beast we better keep him in check

[ike]

I saw in one preview that Rip is questionable (elbow). I haven't heard anything about that earlier, but I hope he's able to play. I don't like our changes even with him. That wednesdays game was so ugly. I think this game shows a little bit what kind of a team we are this year. How we respond coming from two straight losses.

[Husstla]

Should be an interesting game. Kobe should have some challenge if Prince guards him. I say Pistons to win by more than 5 points.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by ike

I saw in one preview that Rip is questionable (elbow). I haven't heard anything about that earlier, but I hope he's able to play. I don't like our changes even with him. That wednesdays game was so ugly. I think this game shows a little bit what kind of a team we are this year. How we respond coming from two straight losses.

In the Detroit news today they said Rip hurt his elbow in practice. They said Flip would start if Rip can't go...

[Roscoe Sheed]

I'm going to tonight's game. I've got good tickets too. Rip better play and the Pistons better play some inspired basketball

[JoeD]

Why the hell would we start Flip over Delfino? Murray can't do anything against Kobe on either end. He can't even make him break a sweat. Delfino actually played good D on him before, is better offensively, and not at a huge height/athleticism disadvantage.

[Austin Kent]

I agree with what Joe D. said here, the Caros Deflino's potential to have an impact on the game is a lot higher than Flip's. I say we bring Flip off the bench again because he is better sutied to come off the bench. Delfino is more of a slashing shooting guard than Murray is, so I say we let him try his thing against Kobe first and have Murray available off the bench. If Delfino can't get it done then we'll just try out luck with Murray, but not before we give Delfino a shot.

[Austin Kent]

Game's on and so far so good. Billups, from what I've seen since the Heat game ended, is on fire. Flip Murray ended up getting the start, but it's not as bad as I had thought it would be. Murray is matched up with Smush Parker and Bryant is guarding Billups. Billups is good enough to play his game in front of Kobe and Murray should be able to do alright if Parker's on him. I sitll want to see Delfino in here early, I imagine he'll be the first guy off the bench, unless Saunders decides he wants Hunter in there.

[Austin Kent]

Well, it's half time and we're up 45-37. We've managed to keep control of this game for a while. It looks like Saunders decided to unveil a zone defense that is working pretty darn good so far. It's held Kobe Bryant to two points on like two shots or so. We're also getting a lot of offensive rebounds which is nice, for once it looks like we're the team that wants to win more. Although we could be boxing out more on defense. I'm tired of seeing loafs like Brian Cook run in and pull down any offensive boards over our big guys.

Billups has kind of cooled down since last time, he started off hot, but I'm not convinced I want to rely on Billups' hot streaks in order for us to win. I'd much rather see the ball moving around. Tayshaun Prince is getting some good looks but is missing some of the one's he should be hitting, but overall he's doing decent. Sheed can have his way in the post against Odom, and I'd milk that as long as they'll let us.

Overall it's been a pretty good half, much better than last game.

[Copper]

Nice to see Hunter get some burn, but where is Max?

[Husstla]

Kobe with 2 points so far. Wow...thats all I have to say.

[jokeaward]

They can't stop Prince at all, he has a boatload of points in the third, at least 18. Go Tayshaun on offense! He has 29 pts.

With 8:44 left in the 3rd he had 11 pts on 36% shooting. Talk about a one-man run.

Kobe is still at 2.