It's panic time

Well, I can't say this loss wasn't expected. Even without making a deal at the deadline, the Spurs are still at top 3 team in the NBA. That's right, one spot ahead of the Cavs. Tim Duncan was his usual robotic self, going for 18 and 18, but the thing that always catches me off guard is how good Tony Parker is. He had 19 points, 11 assists, and 5 rebounds. He should at least be in the conversation for the third best point guard in the League behind CP3 and Deron Williams. I would put him up there with Nash and Billups

Both teams showed up defensively last night, as each was held to about 40% shooting. Iverson was hot with 31 points, but he couldn't hit a 3-pointer at the end of the game, when he had two tries. That really kind of makes him useless at the end of close games. Most refs will swallow their whistle at the end, and teams won't let AI drive in and make an easy 2. He is only a 31% shooter from 3. He needs to work on his range

The Spurs unveiled a new secret weapon last night. Matt Bonner killed us, going 5-8 from downtown. Not bad for a center.

We played the Spurs close in basically every facet of the game, with the exception of perimeter shooting. I think the real reason we lost is because our most important scorer, Rip, never got into sync, going 2-10 from the floor. This is not coincidence. This is Bruce Bowen. We are not that great of a team at creating our own shots, so Bowen can seek and destroy.

Hopefully, the Pistons to get something out of this loss. I am not kidding about panic mode. We are now 1 game above .500. We need to make some changes. Perhaps move Rip into the starting lineup again, because Stuckey is really not playing very well lately. If we had won this game, everybody would have talked about how it righted the ship, but now we know for sure that we have major problems.

Also here is a quick review of the Bucks game from Tuesday:

We got off to a bad start, trailing 29-17 at the end of the first. Most of this was Richard Jefferson, who finished with 29 points on only 13 shots. Iverson, Stuckey, and Rip weren't shooting well (a combined 12-38), so we had to rely on McDyess to score. He did, getting 24 points and 14 boards, and we started to come back. But we were stymied by Milwaukee's defense all night. Sessions played well against us again, scoring 17, with 9 rebounds and 7 assists

Choke!

Going into last night's game, I thought we had a good shot at winning. Those odds increased to me when Iverson decided he had the flu and couldn't play. For three quarters, we played well as a team, with Rip filling in Iverson's role nicely. We were keeping pace with the Baby Bulls. Heading into the fourth, we had a nice 12 point lead, figuring we could coast off of the momentum Rasheed had just built (He scored 15 in the 3rd.) Then Tyrus Thomas started blocking shots and grabbing impossible rebounds, Andres Nocioni started driving through a barren, deserted lane, and Ben Gordon started knocking down impossible shots.

When the dust cleared, we lost by 5, 102-107. What a debacle! The Pistons should be ashamed of the way they defended late in the game, but luck also had a lot to do with the Bulls win. They got some questionable foul calls down the stretch. Nonetheless, the Bulls played like a team that should be in the playoffs. There two young big men were impressive. Tyrus Thomas had 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Joakim Noah had 12 and 16 rebounds. Noah isn't exactly built like a tank. Someone besides Sheed and Tay needs to start grabbing more boards.

We outshot the Bulls, but they grabbed enough offensive boards to make it not matter, 18 in fact. Derrick Rose was 10-15 from the field, and now he already looks like a better player than Stuckey. Rip was hot again last night, going 11-21 for 30 points, and he also had 8 assists. Rasheed had 20 and Stuck and Tay both had 16. We got sucked into playing to fast, and we lost control near the end of the game. We have just got to slow things down.

Nash destroys Pistons, 107-97

For all of the haters who said Steve Nash never deserved to win MVP, he just ruined your whole argument last night. He killed us down the stretch, going for 15 points and 21 assists. Plus, he reminded the Pistons of exactly what they are missing because of the Chauncey trade, a distributing point guard. Nash would drive and kick it out or dump it off to Shaq and Amare, and we couldn't stop it. Stuckey can't do that. Not yet anyways. Iverson is capable, he just shoots when he should pass.

Rip did his best again to keep us in the game, going 11-19 for 27 points, but the Suns were relentless, and we were tired from OT with the Bucks. All of their starters scored in double digits, even Grant Hill looked impressive. Just when the Pistons made it look like a game, they would usually committ a dumb turnover and give up the momentum. The Suns just made us look bad, tallying 31 assists to our 19. They weren't really shooting many 3's, they were dropping the ball off in the paint and letting Amare and Shaq do work. Overall, we got outscored 66-26 in the lane. They combined for 38 points and 17 rebounds (or 1 Al Jefferson stat line.) My big night never came for Amare, but that is because Michael Curry tricked me. About a week after he said he was done using Kwame in the starting lineup, voila, there he is. So Rasheed defended Amare, and kind of kept him in check.

Iverson had 25 points and 7 assists. For those of you that appreciate the finer things in basketball, check out this bounce pass. Maybe he learned it from Steve Nash. I mean he is a big fan after last nights game. He was quoted saying "Who's been down on Steve Nash, He’s definitely an All-Star and he’s still playing like an MVP."

Both teams were 27-21 heading into this game. Now, we are starting to get very close to falling out of playoff contention. Don't laugh. Sometimes even the worst teams can put together win streaks, and right now we have lost 11 of 17. Meanwhile, the Suns are fighting for a playoff spot, but I think if they get in, and still have Amare, they are very dangerous

Sessions vs. Rip City

Wow! I had no idea that Ramon Sessions was going to tear through our defense like a hot knife through butta. He had 20 points in the fourth quarter, and 44 in all. He was 13-18 from the field and 18-21 from the free throw line. He also had 12 assists. Not bad for a second round draft pick. If the team would have had Michael Redd as a kick out option for Sessions, there is no doubt in my mind that we would have lost. However, they are crippled with injuries. We also have Rip Hamilton, who was the man last night

Rip scored 38 points on 15-25 shooting. The more unsung hero of last night's game was Tayshaun. He only scored 7 points, but he contributed 13 rebounds and 9 assists. Iverson and Sheed also played above average, each scoring 27 points. We had no trouble shooting the ball, going 48% from the field, 55% from downtown, and hitting 26-28 from the charity stripe.

Usually a win in overtime is cause for celebration and a good start in building momentum. In the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast my friend." We may have shot very well, but what quality of defense were we playing against. The only defensive minded player on that team is a rookie, LRMaM. Sheed played good defense against former Spur Francisco Elson, but Amir struggled mightily against Chuck Villanueva, who scored 33 points. And Allen Iverson and Rip could not stop Sessions all night. We got the win, but it came against a sub-.500 team missing three of it's best players (Bogut, Redd, and Ridnour if you are keeping track at home.) We need to start going deeper into our bench to allow our starters to stay fresh until the end of the game, because we are terrible in the second half. Coach Curry needs a new scheme

Other things of note:

• My boy, Adam Morrison, was traded to the Lakers along with former Spartan Shannon Brown for VladRad. Rufus on Fire believes the Lakers only really wanted Brown


• New Jersey obliterated Denver, 114 to 70


• Disco Dirk scored 44 as the Mavs beat da Bulls in OT

Heat-Loss

If you live in Michigan, you know it is d*** cold outside right now. There is no Heat. The Heat apparently did not show up at the Palace last night either. They managed only 39% shooting on the night, while allowing the Pistons to shoot 49%, which is ridiculous for us. Somehow, they were still in the game until the very end, where Rodney Stuckey ended up killing them softly. He had the mid-range pull up jumper working, and he and Sheed finished with 18. Sheed was also instrumental in the final minutes, icing the game with a 3-ball to put us up 5. It was a stupid shot, but it fell. He got lucky. We won 93-90

Dwyane Wade, accomplished something unusual. He had a very dissapointing 29 points. Yeah that sounds weird. Why was it dissapointing. Well, he was 10-31 from the field. My predicted big night for the Matrix never materialized after he wound up with a scratched retina. He had 16 points. Perhaps he needs a visit with the Oracle.

Tayshaun was back last night. He scored 16 points and had 8 rebounds. We need this every game. Iverson was underwhelming, but the bench did well. By the bench, I mean Rip and Dyess. Rip had 12 points and 7 dimes, while Dyess was beastly, grabbing 17 rebounds. That's right, not even Joel Anthony could stop him. The turnover margin was interesting. Usually turning over the ball 16 times means absolute defeat, but it didn't. Somehow, the Heat had only 5 turnovers.

The difference in the game was the rebounding. We won the battle, 45-35. Our 8-14 3-point shooting didn't hurt either.

On an unpositive note, the consecutive sellout streak ended last night at 259 games. I blame the team, but the team blames the economy.

Also, my other things of note will be devoted to the latest tidbits from around the League.

Other things of note:

• LeBron outdid Kobe in scoring 52 at the Garden, while also tallying 11 assists and 10 rebounds. I really hate LeBron. However, this just goes to show that Mo Williams does not deserve the hype. He had 9 points last night. Essentially, he just lives in LeBron's fantasy world, where his stats depend on the King's decision of how many points he wants to collect on any particular night. Last night was a statement, so there was no time for Mo


• Without Andrew Bynum, the Lakers have become an Army of Two. Last night they beat the Raptors with Kobe and Pau combining for 67 points


• Stephen Jackson also had a triple double last night


• With our win, we are now back in the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference


• To quote famous thespian, Terrell Owens "Getcha popcorn ready." TNT has a delicious double header. First up, Lakers versus Celtics. I got the Celtics in that one. After that, the Jazz meet the Mavs. The Mavs will continue their roll again tonight.


• Blockbuster alert: A swap of Keith Bogans for Tyronn Lue is currently in the works

Another 4th Quarter Collapse

Check the box score of this game. It will make you ill. The Pistons beat the Cavs in all of the first 3 quarters, but managed to lose the 4th (and the game) 32-14. The Cavs beat us by 10, 90-80. We managed to shut down the Big Z, but it didnt' matter. Mo Williams had 22 and LeBron had 33 and we just blew it. Iverson scored 22 points, but you get the feeling that he could be scoring 40 each night and it wouldn't matter.

With this loss, we move to 25-21. Yahoo had a pretty interesting fact in their game recap. This is the first time losing 4 home games in a row since 2001. We are playing like one of the worst teams in basketball. The Pistons are not playing good defense. They should have watched and learned from the Cavaliers last night.

There really isn't a whole lot more to say about this. Right now, we suck. Iverson commented on the dreadful play "Our whole thing is, it better be figured out by the time we get to the playoffs." He should stop worrying about then, and start winning some ball games, because at the pace we're at, we might miss the playoffs. We are currently 6th in the East, and 13.5 games behind Boston. The current 9th seed is New York, who is 17.5 games behind Boston. We don't have much of a cushion. We must get our act together, and quick

Other things of note:

• The Cavaliers beat us in rebounds and assists. Every Cavs starter grabbed at least 4 rebounds. Why can't we do that?
• Stuckey and Sheed combined for 15 points. Way to show up guys, shooting 6-20
• Rip had 16 points in 26 minutes
• Amir had a good game, statistically anyways. He had 10 points and 9 rebounds
  

Good News and Bad News

The bad news is that we lost. We went 6-9 for the month of January The good news is that we only lost to the defending champs by 8 points. We played a tough game and finally showed up defensively. The even worse news is that we have to take positives out of losing games because it happens so often now.

We actually gave the Celtics a game. Their last 7 wins have all come by double digits, so I guess that is sort of a small victory for us, right? I expected the game to have more points, but the gap between the teams was as I expected. The Celtics don't blow us away. They lull us into thinking that we are close enough to come back at any time and we never do. They never stop defending, never. Marc Jackson pointed out that when the game finished, the Pistons were attempting just to score before the horn, even though it didn't matter at all. The Celtics shut them down. Not many teams do that.

The Celtics didn't do anything exceptional on the offensive end. We actually played pretty solid defense and held them to 45% shooting. The Boston 3 Party combined for 56 points, which is about average for them. Rondo had 12 assists, but we managed to keep Kendrick Perkins in check. He was getting so frustrated that he headlocked Maxiell and threw him down, so he was ejected. We stuck to one of my keys to success, not shooting more than 10 3-pointers. We shot 8, but only made 1. Overall, we shot only 40% from the floor. The Celtics defense just squeezed the life out of us.

Other things of note:

• The Celtics were able to score on us because of excellent ball movement. They had 25 assists, and were seemingly always able to find someone for an open jumper
• Iverson and Stuckey each had 19 points, but they combined for only 5 assists
• Tayshaun had a bad night, going 1-7 for 4 points. Paul Pierces defense is underrated
• Rip was instant offense off the bench. He had 14 points
• McDyess had 14 rebounds
• AI passed Charles Barkley for 16th on the all-time scoring list'
• In case you haven't heard, the Celtics have now won 10 in a row

Thanks for making me look stupid

One day after I post on how poorly Rasheed has been playing as of late, he decides he wants to score 25 points and grab 10 rebounds, against Big Al Jefferson to boot. Yes, I am impressed. He was even scoring on the low post, with his sneaky turnaround jumper. However, I want to see this sustained through at least a couple of games. Blaha and Kelser complemented Sheed's defense, which was good near the end of the game. I would like to see it at the beginning though too. Allowing Al Jefferson and Kevin Love 41 point and 16 rebounds isn't exactly exceptional.

As for the game itself, we won 98-89 over the hottest team in the NBA. Yeah I know the Wolves stink, or at least they should. However, I feel like this is a big win for us. We always seem to doze off on opponents like the Wolves. Sheed knew he would have to perform and he did. Hopefully, we can use the momentum to beat Boston and Cleveland.

The other man I considered tradeable, The Answer, did not impress me last night. He once again did not shoot all that well, going 5 for 15. He had 19 points, but he needs to start cutting when Sheed or any other post guy has the ball. He needs to make stuff happen. Stuckey had another solid game and McDyess was once again beastly off the bench, scoring 14 points with 10 rebounds.

Other things of note:

• We only attempted 8 3-pointers. I think was a key to victory. We have to realize we are not shooters
• We only had 7 turnovers
• Rasheed had 5 steals!

How did we give up 39 points in one quarter?

Yes, that is not a lie. The Mighty Mighty Pisstones defense allowed 39 points in the first quarter. Isn't the first quarter where we usually play out of our minds, then our play slowly declines as the game goes on tonight. Not tonight!

How was this scoring possible? Excellent question. First of all are not designed to be a jump shooting team. Without Yao, they were forced to be last night. Oddly, they were just hitting everything they threw up. They ended the game shooting near 53%. We just played lazy defense. No one really stayed down in the post, hence Luis Scola's 9-11 shooting for 21 points. In fact, every Rockets starter scored in double digits, even lowly Rafer Alston

One good thing coming out of this game was our shooting percentage though. We actually shot better than the Rockets, shooting 56%. I think if Yao had played that number would be much lower, but it still is ridiculous. Rip led the team with 27 points, while Sheed had 22 and 11 boards. Tayshaun was locked up all night by a combination of Ron Artest and Shane Battier.

Speaking of Ron Artest, I wasn't surprised when the boos rained upon him. It was kinda funny watching him sink the free throws that won the game. I really don't have a problem with the guy. He was just chillin on the scorers table when somebody hurled a beer at his face. I can't blame him for getting angry. Anyways, he and McGrady both looked good coming off of injuries. McGrady had 15, 4, and 4, while Artest had 24 points and 9 rebounds

Other things of note:

• We started Kwame Brown? I guess we were expecting Dikembe to start because Kwame only played 6 minutes
• The Rockets hit 12, yes 12 3-pointers
• Both teams grabbed 35 rebounds. The Pistons should have won this battle though because the Rockets didn't play an actual center at all. To start the game, Sheed tipped off against McGrady
• Stuckey had a quiet but decent game, scoring 14 points, with 8 assists and 5 rebounds
• Iverson had 17 points and 8 assists

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
  

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

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

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
  

The collapse is official

We have now lost 4 in a row. In this streak we have been beat by Charlotte, Indiana, and last night, Oklahoma City. I think we have to forget small ball. If Rip doesn't want to come off the bench, then screw him. Trade him for a center. Change needs to come.

Last night, we played the one of the worst teams in the League, the Thunder, and lost by 10 points. Even with Tayshaun playing defense on him for most of the game, Durant somehow still scored 32 points. We actually shot a higher percentage as a team than the Thunder, but small ball is the reason why we lost. We got outrebounded 52-35. Perennial All-Stars Desmond Mason, Jeff Green, and Chris Wilcox combined for 36 rebounds. If we had a real center, maybe Sheed, Prince, and Rip could all play there natural positions, but we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, so we continue to lose.

Other things of note:

• As pictured above, I now consider Russell Westbrook second in the Rookie of the Year standings. He only shot 2-10, but he leaves an impact in so many different ways
• Rodney Stuckey killed us last night, shooting 1-10, for 3 points
• Tayshaun Prince played well as usual. Seing as how he is the only Piston consistently playing well, I think he should have top choice of what position he wants to play. He is not a PF
• Rip scored 18 points on 9-19 shooting
• If you were paying attention you noticed that I was wrong with my starters in the prediction for this game. Nick Collison did not play, so Nenad Krstic took his place.

Make It Stop!

Seriously, I am done predicting easy wins for the Pistons. I'm just done. We can't make anything easy. You know who beat us last night? (We lost 110 -106 in OT if you must know.) We got beat by a Pterodactyl. What? Here just look

You can't deny the resemblance. I dont know how we lost sight of this guy in OT, especially because of the fact that HIS SHNOZ IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, Mr. Troy Murphy had 18 points and 13 rebounds. He had two dagger 3 balls in OT. Danny Granger was also part of our problem. He had 24 points and 10 rebounds. He played solid defense too, holding Rip to 4-13 shooting for 9 points. T.J. Ford did not start, but was dynamite off the bench, scoring 23 points and dropping 6 dimes. He also grabbed which 4 rebounds, which is unacceptable. Sheed couldn't find his shot. It only became worse in overtime, where he decided to get trigger happy from downtown. And now we have an L.

Stuckey did the best he could to keep us in the game, but he disappears too often. He did score a game high 30 points though. He also grabbed 9 rebounds and had 6 assists. Iverson played well too, finally making almost half of his shots (9-19) en route to 23 points.

One thing really struck me last night. The Pacers have the whitest basketball team in America. Secretly, they are eyeing up Kirk Hinrich, who has been on the trading block. After that, they are one quick trade away from a Don Haskins-esque accomplishment. They could roll out the first NBA all white (and non-foreign) starting lineup seen in many- a -year. Hinrich and Miller at guard, Dunleavy and Murphy, and Jeff Foster in the post. Ahhhhhh, they would be terrible

Other things of note:

• Arron Afflalo continues to play well in the minutes he is given. He scored 10 points in 15 minutes last night
• We only played 8 players last night. I have no idea why
• We took 25 3-pointers last night. Who do we think we are, the Orlando Magic. Rasheed attempted 11.
• We only made 11-19 free throws

What is going on?

Not to hate on the Bobcats, but there is no freakin way that we should have lost this game.

We blew a 7 point lead with three minutes left in the game. We had the ball in a tie game with under 10 seconds left. Then Sheed decided he wanted to mess around with Emeka and got called for an offensive foul (after already being T'ed up earlier in the game.) The game ended with the picture above, Felton's clutch jumper. It left .7 seconds on the clock for us, and we got off a decent shot, but it didn't fall. Felton was the man last night, contrary to my predictions, and wound up with an excellent statline, 9-15 shooting for 23 points, 6 boards, and 9 assists. Gerald Wallace had a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, and Emeka didn't have the great of stats ( 13 pts, 8 rebs, 5 TOs), he did an excellent job of getting under Rasheed's skin, which was our undoing. The Pistons player of the game was definitely Rodney Stuckey. He went 8-11 for 22 points, 6 boards, and 5 assists

Other things of note

• Rip was back and in our small starting lineup where he plays the 3. He shot 4-12 for 10 points
• Iverson finally made over a third of his shots, barely. He shot 5-12 for 13 points
• We had only 6 bench points. Charlotte had 13
• My boy, Adam Morrison, only got 3 minutes of court time, and didn't score. Sigh

Up next: Tonight at Indiana

Don't forget about Mehmet!

Utah 99, Detroit 82

One night after a big win over a former player, we let Mehmet Okur get the best of us. He had 22 points in what I predicted to be an uneven matchup between him and Kwame. With the exception of Stuckey, everybody struggled shooting as the team shot .359%. Two notables were Iverson, who shot 4-13, and Tayshaun who shot 2-10. If Tayshaun is off, we probably don't have a chance. The only way we could have won was with defense. So much for that....the Jazz shot over 53%. Oddly, Deron Williams struggled though, shooting 3-12. He did have 9 assists though. Ronnie Brewer looked good for the Jazz. He had 16 points on 6-9 shooting. In all honesty, I did not watch this game. FSN decided the Red Wings were more important. Maybe it was for the best though...Jerry Sloan was involved.

Other things of note:

• We have not beat Utah since March of 2005
• Maxiell looked decent, scoring 11
• Kirilenko had a great game off the bench, scoring 11 pts, grabbing 7 boards, and dropping 7 dimes
• "The Paperboy" Paul Millsap's double-double streak was snapped at 19 games
• Ohio State rookie Kosta Koufos had 6 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes

Next Game: Tuesday vs. Charlotte

Thank God for...

Pistons 93, Nuggets 90!

Wow, we snuck out of the Pepsi Center with a win? Chauncey looked like a man on a mission, scoring 20 points in the first half. He kept driving the lane and no one decided they wanted to stop him. He finished with 30 points.We looked terrible in the first half, especially the second quarter, where we started by shooting 1-10. The announcers kept saying how Iverson is the perfect piece. He had another exquisite shooting night, going 6-18, including 1-5 from beyond the arc. He did lead the team though with 23 points. However, three players really were impressive for the Pistons tonight. Once again, Tayshaun took the reins, scoring 19 points and locking down Linas Kleiza, who went 0-6 from the field. Don't laugh, Kleiza had 21 against Miami. McDyess continued his beastly rebounding grabbing 12 boards in 23 minutes. Finally, the man tonight was Arron Afflalo. He came through quietly in the first half, but he knocked down 6 clutch free throws to keep the game intact. Why 6? AI decided to foul J.R. Smith when he was shooting a 3.

Other things of note:

• Kwame looked terrible! He may have had 8 rebounds but he couldnt seem to hang on to the ball once it came to him



• Nene and K-Mart both looked impressive. I laughed when K-Mart threw down a wide open dunk and then stared down nobody in particular



• Our FT shooting was uncharacteristically bad. We were 27-40. Stuckey went 1-4



• I know they gave up 93 points, but where did Denver's defense come from. At times, it looked like we were playing the Spurs. They were a terrible defensive team last year, and they had Marcus Camby. What is going on? Is Linas Kleiza the key?



• Why doesn't George Karl give more minutes to J.R. Smith. He probably doesn't play much defense, and he is a streaky shooter, but Dahntay Jones is a scrub.



• Maxiell had a few nasty dunks, reminding us all that he still eats babies



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  What is up with Birdman Chris Andersen? Did he and Robert Swift secretly bet who could be the first to cover their bodies in tattoos? Did they draw inspiration from the exploits of DeShawn Stevenson and Drew Gooden?
  

We've been Outlaw-ed! Blazers 84, Pistons 83

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