I watched this before the Rockets game and then went back at every opportunity. From what I saw the Pistons did what the Bulls had done the night before - double Shaq as soon as possible with no regard for Madsen or Samake Walker. Cliff Robinson and Mehmet Okur did a decent job on Shaq and Ben Wallace rotated over very quickly. Wallace had great help position and when Shaq missed a shot, Wallace gobbled it up - 18 defensive boards. They "limited" Shaq to only 18 shots. On offense, the Lakers had to honor Rip Hamilton with Kobe so consequently Billups abused Derek Fischer to the tune of 34 points. 5 Pistons had double figures and Jon Barry had 9 points. Both Robinson and Okur have very good range for big men. Okur's range forced Shaq to come out away from the basket. Memo finished with 22 points making 8 of 10 shots.
Whomever beats the Lakers is always my favorite team (other than the Rockets). Even the Jazz (for, like, two seconds). The Lakers have been looking a bit deflated. Hope they keep their losing ways going. (And I hope the Bulls don't come out against us with the same effort they had against the Lakers; knowing our Rockets, who won't take the Bulls seriously until we're down by 20 to them....)
