How did we lose this game and our winning streak? Well the fact that Tayshaun and McDyess were the only guys going all out after the first quarter probably has something to do with it. Iverson gave us another one of his awesome shooting nights going 6-19 on the night. We desparately need Rip and Sheed back if we plan on beating Denver or Utah. I think the fact that we only had 9 guys play last night really hurt, as our point total for each quarter steadily declined going 26, 23, 19, and 15.
Tayshaun is the main reason why this game was even close, scoring 10 in the first quarter and shooting 13-21 for 26 points, including several nonchalant jumpers from the elbow in the fourth quarter. He also destroyed a Jerryd Bayless layup. Kwame also looked halfway competent, but I think that was mostly because Stuckey and Iverson would draw two or three guys when they drove the lane. As I expected, L.A. the Rugged Man (LaMarcus Aldridge) was very impressive scoring 26 points. If he can work on his rebounding, he will be an All-Star next year. Quietly, Steve Blake put together a double-double with 10 points and assists.
Now we come to those who didn't impress. The biggest dissapointment for the Blazers was Greg Oden. I predicted a double-double for him, but he managed only 4 points and 1 board, with a -14 +/-. He just looks lost when he's on the floor. The Pistons shouldn't be happy with how Stuckey played last night. He started hot, but then started the fumbling the ball like Adrian Peterson and ended the game with 7 assists and 6 turnovers. Jason Maxiell didn't play well in my mind. He posted a - 11 +/-, and took too many shots from the biggin' abyss. Also, why don't the Blazers give more minutes to Bayless?
The end of the game was just dissapointing. I give Nate McMillan a lot of credit for giving the ball to Outlaw, who the Pistons were probably not expecting. He nailed the shot, but we still had 8 seconds. The best shot we could muster was an Iverson fallaway in the lane with two guys all over him. We should have given the ball to Prince, even if he was double covered.
Next game: Friday Jan 9th at Denver
i created a detroit lions blog, and i couldn't get anyone to go to it. and i was too lazy to type much more than 3 sentences a post.
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