In my last post, I requested that Darko start against Larry Brown and the Knicks on Friday night. Did that come to pass? Noooooooooooooo. Darko played a grand total of five minutes. According to the Detroit News, "He had a dreadful five-minute stretch Friday, managing two turnovers, two missed free throws and two goaltending violations, one offensive and one defensive, when he reached through the bottom of the rim to block a shot.
Milicic also put up little resistance in the lane, as the Knicks got three layups and outscored the Pistons by five while he played." The upside is that Detroit beat New York by a score of 106-98.

Well, of course he didn't have an amazing performance right off the bat. He was anxious to show Larry Brown up and his nerves got the best of him. Just as he was getting ready to shrug off his jitters, he was sent back to the bench. If Darko had been given the start, or at least more than a few minutes minutes on the floor, he would very likely have flourished in my opinion. You can't get anywhere playing in dribs and drabs. Darko needs to have a few consecutive games with 15+ minutes of playing time!!

So how did Coach Flip handle things last night? The picture at left shows a reasonable facsimile of Darko's performance against New Jersey in the 92-79 win. In reality, Darko probably never even took his warm-up sweats off and certainly had no need for a towel. That's right! Darko was benched for the entire game! What's worse, Dale Davis may receive additional minutes because Saunders has not been satisfied with Darko's recent play. Holy cannoli, Batman! This is a revolting development. Instead of giving Darko more playing time to boost his confidence and comfort level, Flippy is decreasing even the scraps that he doles out now.

Is it possible that Flip Saunders is in cahoots with Larry Brown? Is this guy here to continue Brownie's dirty work? There is not yet enough evidence to reach a conclusive decision either way, but if things carry on like this, you can bet that a call to Joe Dumars will be in order!