We're talkin' about All-Star break.

Sheed got the first shot of the game with a sheedtastic 3 [what do you expect?] and then got the next Piston shot with a turn-a-round jumper. He finished with 9, but only played about 25 minutes due to knee pain.

Nobody knew if A.I. would be playing last night until just before tip-off. He has the flu and didn't play Monday against the Bulls.

"I don't have any energy," Iverson said before joining his team for pregame layups.
"I'm still real light-headed, I was dizzy at times and actually threw up during a timeout. I was real weak."

But even having that flu, being light-headed and dizzy and throwing up, he played one of his best games since becoming a Piston. That's warrior status, that's commitment, that's heart. That's what Iverson has brought to the floor ever since I've started watching him back in '96.
That's what we need on this team, especially now.

At around 40 seconds left in the 1st, there was a Josh Smith turnover. He lost the ball, and A..I. had a beautiful steal - I can't even describe the beauty, the hustle, the pain he must have felt diving for that ball - and threw it to Rip who "laid it up, laid it in, count that baby!"

Blaha and Kelser said it was hands down his best play since he's been a Piston. I'm gunna agree, and following closely is that pass to Rip when we played The Suns the other night THROUGH GRANT HILL'S LEGS.



Anyone who ever said A.I. and Rip didn't mesh well together or work well together on the court, think again and pay attention to games.

Speaking of Rip, he had another great game with 14 off the bench, and J-Max had another good night of IN YO FACE jams. Man, I love what he does when he goes out there.
Tay and Stuck both had 12, and Amir added 4.

At the start of the 4th, we were down 6. More Iverson on fire [he scored 15 of his 28 in this qarter!], more Maxiell jams, some good plays by Stuck, Tay and Rip, but just too much ATL. I was on the edge of my seat this whole quarter, especially after my boy A.I. got a beautiful layup and got us up to only a 2 point difference. Joe Johnson got fouled by Afflalo and made both free throws, and at 8 seconds left A.I. had the ball, made a 3 point attempt ... SO CLOSE. SO DAMN CLOSE.
We lost by 5.

The Hawks are 31-21 and have won 4 of 5, matching the most wins they've had going into the All-Star weekend in 10 years.
Detroit is now 27-24 before heading into the break. We've lost 3 straight.

Rip: "I don't even pay attention to our record anymore."

Detroit has their worst record at the break since 2002.

A.I.: "It's not a good feeling. But in life you have to deal with adversity. It's something that we're going to have to deal with right now. I have not seen anybody blaming anybody or pointing fingers. Once that starts to happen, if that happens, which I don’t think it will, once that happens we are really in trouble. Once we stop trusting each other, then you might as well throw the season in. The whole thing is to stay positive, stay with each other. Not to point fingers. Not to play the blame game, and be real men about the situation. We win together. We lose together. It's going to be important to stay together. You don't win a championship at the break."

The next time I'll see my boy is Sunday night when he returns to the East for the first time in 2 years [he was still an All-Star in '07 and '08, but on the west] in the All-Star game.


Go East!