In a way, there was nothing to take from Philly except the ball: they turned it over on ten of their first 21 possessions, allowing Detroit to storm out to an 11-0 lead. By the end of one, it was a 20+ point Pistons lead.

Our players were on fire. So naturally, Stan Van let them cool off for more than five minutes on the bench. As much as I respect Gundy as a strategist, he came across completely unaware on this one. By the time the starters were back at it, the lead had shrunk to fucking four! WTF?

In the later stages of action, Van Gundy would supplement some starters with a few bench guys, staggering the rest. He needs to develop a better feel for the momentum of the game – too often, he’s treating human beings like they’re statistics on paper. Just ask Brad Ausmus how well that works.

We boosted our lead to just over double-digits by halftime, and it was a shame, because you could see the starters finding their rhythm again. We could have led 60-30 at the break, easily.

Instead, we over-complicated a terrible opponent, forcing us to explode again in the 3rd. This was the other huge lesson we learned on the road: if we start settling for jumpers (like in the Clippers game last night), not only will we fail to expand our lead, it will give them a sense of defensive stops and confidence, like letting your foot off the gas. Never let a weakened snarf off the mat unless you want the fight to continue.

I think our bench is great. But they, too, need some kind of flow/consistency in order to maintain a presence. Spencer Dimwiddie and Joel Anthony could have helped us not only tonight, but all season long.

Look, we won (although a 29-point lead finished with a 12-point victory), and overall, especially at this point in the year, I couldn’t be more thrilled. But something about watching Stan Van rock that gut on the sideline was uninspiring, especially the way he was mismanaging our minutes.

Just like the players, the coach has to be accountable and make changes in a long season in order to get better. His surly, focused demeanor is phenomenal most of the time, but he has to remember how he fucked up in Orlando and not lose any of his players. They are people, not just numbers on a spreadsheet.