Torched by the Mavs, 112-91

See the picture above? This is what the Pistons knew was coming, yet could not stop in any way...at all. Amir Johnson summed up the fiasco

"I tried to stop Dirk, but when a 7-footer is shooting that fade, it is tough to do anything against him "

Our defense was terrible last night. The Mavs shot 55% last night compared to our 42%. It was just bad. They made us play out of tempo the whole game, and everybody struggled. Nobody was shooting all that well from the field. For instance, our 5 starters combined for 44 points. Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki scored 48 points. Rip led the team in scoring with 17, but it didn't make much of a difference. There was just sloppy defense all night long, especially in the post. Amir was outmatched all night long, and it killed us. Luckily, the next game will be against the Rockets, who lost to the Pacers because Yao went down. For those of you keeping track at home. There big 3 is now a big 0.

Other things of note:

• Jason Kidd had a double-double
• Brandon Bass looked impressive scoring 18 points and 6 rebounds
• Will Bynum is starting to get more minutes because of the starting lineup change. He played 21 mins last night and had 10 points and 4 assists
• Although Tayshaun scored 12 points, he only hit 1 field goal. He was 10-10 from the line
  

WTF! Who is voting for Iverson?

In case you haven't already heard, Allen Iverson is not only an All-Star, but he is a starter. The NBA really needs a new system to figure this all out. Apparently, we the fans cannot be trusted. But seriously, who is voting for this guy? The fans of Detroit really can't be all that impressed with him. Are the Denver and Philadelphia voting in droves for this guy. Is it China. These questions all may never be answered. Honestly, I don't think Iverson should even be an All-Star, let alone a starter. If Devin Harris or Danny Granger get snubbed, heads will roll. Not really, but I will just be kinda mad. Anyways here are the complete All-Star starting lineups

East:
G: Allen Iverson
G: Dwayne Wade
F: LeBron James
F: Kevin Garnett

C: Dwight Howard

West:

G: Chris Paul

G: Kobe Bryant

F: Tim Duncan

F: Amare Stoudamire

C: Yao Ming

Game 42 Preview

PG: Two very different styles at the point guard matchup. Stuckey is now a better scorer, but Kidd is the better player all-around. I don't Stuckey can defend him

Advantage: Mavericks

SG: Both these guys are in places they shouldn't be. Wright should not be a starter, Iverson should not be an All-Star

Advantage: Pistons

SF: This is a matchup of good versus evil. Both are good defenders and scorers

Advantage: Draw

PF: Yeah, Dirk is way better. Hopefully we can see him get swatted a few times, either by Amir or Maxiell, cause it makes me laugh

Advantage: Mavericks

C: Dampier is a scrub. Sheed will dominate

Advantage: Pistons

Overall: I think this game is going to be very close. Unlike against the Raptors, I see the bench playing a very big role in tonights game. Rip should score a bunch off the bench. I like us to win the game, by 4 points

Guess Who?

Pistons 95, Raptors 76

As expected, good things happened when Michael Curry made the decision to adjust the starting lineup. Yes, Rip was moved to the bench. The biggest impact this trade caused was that Tayshaun was able to move back to his natural position, and guess what? He took over. As you can see above, it doesn't matter who is attempting to cover, be it "The Other" aka gimpy Jermaine O'Neal, or globe-trotting Jamario Moon. Tayshaun finished the game with 25 points on 11-16 shooting.





The guards played well tonight too, even if they weren't huge in the stat columns ( Iverson 11 pts, 4 rebs, 6 ast- Stuckey 17 pts and 7 asts) Howeva, our bigs were out of sync (well at least the starters) were out of sync. Rasheed was 1-6 with 3 points and 2 rebounds. Amir had 2 points and 5 rebounds. Not to worry though





UNLEASH THE BEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hide the women and children!!!!!!!!!

The Baby Eater went off last night in 25 mins of gametime. He scored 16 points, grabbed 11 boards, and had 2 blocks.

Anyways, the game did not look good from the get go. We headed into the second quarter down by the five, but completely dominated the second and third quarters. In fact, Curry didn't really want to mess things up by subbing out the starters, so Rip only got 21 minutes

Other things of note:

• Antonio McDyess continued his rebounding his strong play, with 10 points and 8 rebounds
• I did not expect Jermaine O'Neal to play. He did, but not for very long, and he didn't make that much of an impact. Jose Calderon was also out for the Raptors
• This was the Pistons first double-digit win since Dec. 27th over the Bucks
• Everyone got a brief glimpse of Nathan Jawai, the only basketball player ever to be chased by a kangaroo

Game 41 Preview

PG: We will be in trouble if Jose Calderon decides he is healthy enough to play. He is currently day to day. Parker, however, should not be overlooked. This will be a tough matchup for Stuckey

Advantage: Draw

SG: This isn't even close

Advantage: Pistons

SF: This is another fun matchup to watch. Moon is very athletic, but he has occasional mental lapses. Prince is too savy for Moon to get the best of him

Advantage: Pistons

PF: This also isn't close

Advantage: Raptors

C: Here are two totally opposite guys that play an oddly similar style of game. Sheed is a much better rebounder though

Advantage: Pistons

Overall: We should win this game if the Raptors lineup stays as is. If they have Calderon and O'Neal play, I don't see us winning. I don't think they both will, so I like us by 10

The News I've Been Waiting For

The Detroit Free Press has reported that Rip Hamilton will now be moved to the bench. I have been clamoring for this to happen ever since we got on that freaking losing streak. I don't hate Rip. He is one of Detroit's best basketball players of all time. But I think Allen Iverson needs to be given a chance to work with a normal lineup. Some people wanted Stuckey out of the lineup, but I think we traded Chauncey so we could see what we could do, and he has proved that he can be an All-Star caliber player in this League. The only thing I am worried about is that Rip will become angry over time about sitting on the bench. For now he doesn't seem to be upset saying

That’s how I look at it: Just a sacrifice sometimes you got to make in order to
win games.
Bottom line, I want to try to get back to the promised land.

Now teams will have to deal with another threat coming off the bench, instead of just Antonio McDyess, who has turned into a rebound machine lately. Michael Curry made a wise choice, so in my mind, his approval rating has just gone up.

Every day should be MLK day

Finally, we have brought the streak of futility to an end. If we could play the Grizzlies, every game, then boy we would be good. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Anyways, we didn't win by a lot like we should have, but we did do something encouraging, we actually played well in the fourth quarter. That's right Pistons, there is actually a fourth quarter. You don't just stay on the court for a cool-down session, the game is still going. This is not hockey. We headed into the fourth quarter down by 2. Don't ask me how, just listen to what I am saying. We then held the Grizzlies to 10 points in the fourth and won by 8 87-79. Iverson was the man last night, or evening really, scoring 27 points on 11-18 shooting. Plus....new kicks!!!!!

We finally were able to shoot last night, which is always good. We shot 48%, while the Grizzzzz were at about 41%. This seems good, until you think that the Grizzlies best on ball defender is probably Quinton Ross. Tayshaun stunk last night, going 2-12 and only grabbing 3 rebounds. In fact everyone pretty much took the night off rebounding and left the job to McDyess, who had 16 rebounds. All in all, I don't think we should be too excited with this win, but hopefully we can take something out of this game

Other things of note:

• Stuckey bounced back well. He was 7-12 with 14 points
• Sheed somehow managed 3 steals
• Marc Gasol is developing into a double-double machine, not like his girly brother

Up Next: Wednesday vs. Toronto

Game 40 Preview

PG: Rodney Stuckey should not struggle at all tonight. Lowry is not a very good player.

Advantage: Pistons

SG: Iverson goes against the premier scoring rookie in the League. However, Mayo is not the premier rookie defender in the League

Advantage: Pistons

SF: This is another weird matchup. I think once Arthur trots out onto the court, they will look at him standing next to Rip, and maybe we will see some Darius Miles action, much to the chagrin of the Portland Trail Blazers

Advantage: Pistons

PF: Two guys playing here that should be SF's. Gay is a pretty good slasher. We will see how Prince handles it

Advantage: Draw

C: Hopefully, Sheed doesn't underestimate the younger Gasol brother. He needs to stay inside, instead of jacking up 3's

Advantage: Pistons

Overall: Tonight is the night. We could be on a 20 game losing streak and not lose to the Grizzlies. They have the worst roster in the League, without question. I think we win by 15 and put an end to the freakin streak.

Guess What? We lost again

Hornets 91, Pistons 85

We really need to put an end to small ball. This is just getting bad. We are now 22-17 in the mediocre East Conference (yeah the East still isn't as deep as the West). We should have at least 30 wins with the team we have, but there is no team chemistry. Things are coming apart right now, and I kind of feel like Joe Dumars is starting to think about changes.

The 5 game losing streak continued last night at home against New Orleans. The game never really got away from us, we just didn't play all that well. Chris Paul hurt us, with 23 points and 14 assists, but he does that to every team he plays against. With small ball, we should be sacrificing rebounds and post play for putting better shooters on the floor. This is not happening. We shot 42%, while the Hornets shot close to 49%. We did somehow manage to outrebound the Hornets, but that was mainly McDyess, who grabbed 12. All of our starters were in double figures, with Rip leading the way, scoring 19, but something was still missing. We need a new Mr. Big Shot. We don't have a person who wants the ball in the fourth quarter. Somebody needs to step up.

Other things of note:

• Both teams were terrible shooting threes. We went 6-19, they were 2-14. Sheed shot 8 3- pointers, while Peja took 6
• The Hornets made 19 of 20 free throws. We made 7 of 13.
• Besides Paul, the most impressive player on the floor was definitely David West. He has great range. He scored 20 points and had 7 rebounds
• Maxiell had 11 points and 8 rebounds off the bench