UPDATE: By now you know and are frustrated that the Pistons lost by 10 (79-89) to the now 8-33 Thunder. I’m not recapping this one for two reasons, one is that I’m still a little upset with how Detroit played and two I have escaped the cold of Michigan for a few days or sunshine and I would hate to spoil my vacation by reliving the game last night.
I will leave you with one thing that just made things worst after watching last nights game. Since I’m not in Michigan right now I watched the game on league pass which played the Oklahoma broadcast and I don’t remember the time but there was at least eight minutes left in the game when the Thunder broadcasting team noticed and stated…..”this Pistons team looks like they have just given up.”
Wonderful.
NBA.com highlights if you want them. Therapy in the comments!
Detroit heads into Oklahoma on a three game losing streak to take on the 7-33 Thunder and try to get back to how they were playing when BIG things were happening.
Detroit seems to be a bit stunned over the way they are playing:
“It is surprising,” Iverson said. “I hadn’t even thought about it that way, but it’s a … good point.
“It’s even surprising having the leads we’ve been having and still can’t put teams away.”
But Iverson says too much is made of the closing minutes. If the team could take of business earlier, there would be no need for last-second heroics.
“It shouldn’t come down to that,” he said. “Even with all the last-second shots we’ve had to take, it should never come down to that.
“You don’t base what goes on in a 48-minute game on a last-second shot. It shouldn’t get to that point.” Via The Detroit Free Press
Most of us just want an end to the MADNESS of Small Ball.
Good news: Detroit has an eight game winning streak over the Sonics/Thunder.
Bad News: SB or “small ball” as we have come to know it all to familiarly.
Sheed may not play, he’s a game time decision after missing the shoot around today.
Tip off is at 8:00 P.M. and will be locally broadcast on FSN . If you can’t watch the broadcast, tune into 1130 AM WDFN The Fan. Can’t do either? Follow the game on NBA.com.
January 17, 2009 at 12:03 pm
RIP ISN”T VALUABLE TO THE TEAM ANYMORE….. LOOK HOW GOOD WE PLAYED WITHOUT HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 17, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Man it’s clear how many bandwagoners there are here. If you wanna jump ship on the Pistons now then do it. It’s clear you have no loyalty at all. You should go to Memphis, they’d kill to have a team as talented as this.
I’ll admit this game was ugly, these past few games have been ugly in fact. But it is no reason to lose faith in the franchise simply because of a bad stretch of games. I guarantee firing Curry will do this team no good it will only cause turmoil among the players and staff considering how much faith Dumars had in him.
Bringing in Laimbeer won’t help anything. I love Laimbeer just as much as anyone but a big name doesn’t necessarily mean a good basketball mind. (For example Michael Jordan is a HORRIBLE GM, he picked Kwame!) If you have actually watched Shock games, as I have, you would know Laimbeer is a fair coach but could never compete against the NBA’s great minds like Popovich and Pat Riley. Laimbeer may get his chance someday, but on a budding team that is experimenting with different staffs.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as frustrated as any other fan out there, but to say we won’t make the playoffs above teams like Milwaukee and Miami is ludicrous. Don’t get carried away.
From my observations of tonight’s game, it is clear the small-ball lineup will never work in our favor.
Rebound margin: 52-35
For real? we let Chris Wilcox Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green outrebound us? Pistons actually played fair defense (OKC 42.7% FG Shooting) but OKC got so many offensive rebounds (14) it was rendered obsolete.
OKC forced 11 turnovers from us which is very unPiston-like Rip had 4 of those TOs
The Pistons had 15 assists. That’s it. Just 15. THe main distributors Stuckey and AI had 3 and 2 respectively. In my opinion, the small ball lineup takes the Pistons off of their comfort zone and they don’t perform as well and make the right passes as a result.
AI: 6-14 He made alot of foolish attempts but it was clear he was trying to takeover the game. That’s the impression I got at least.
I miss Maxiell. These DNP-CDs are driving me crazy, one of the best energy players we have on this team and in my opinion, better than Amir Johnson. Yet Amir gets 25 minutes and Maxi gets 0. Care to share some of those Amir?
As mentioned previously, Durant was 14-21. It is obvious who the star is on the team, why can’t you shut him down Detroit? He waltzed into the lane without any resistance at all!
OKC attempted 20 FTs. While Detroit only attempted 8. We played poor defensively while not being aggresive on the offensive side of the ball.
On the positive side:
Sheed only attempted 3 3pters. Maybe Curry got into his ear about how many 3s he’s been attempting.
Amir had an impressive rebounding night with 6 rebs to go along with 3 blocks.
We had a pretty good shooting night at 46.3% mostly because of Rip (9-19) and Prince’s (9-14) shooting. But Prince when you let Durant score 32 that 9-14 shooting night isn’t so great anymore.
That’s enough for me any real Pistons fans left let me know your thoughts.
January 17, 2009 at 12:14 pm
fire dumars and curry, promote team mascot Hooper to a head coach position
January 17, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Man I think a trade is gonna come, and knowing Joe D this trade is going to suck for this team. He hasn’t made a good MAJOR trade in years. And since we are all saying fire curry, you know what that means. He is going to trade a player to get some of the heat off of his buddy Mikey. Carlos Boozer is not someone who should be here. Like we’ve said before Carlos Boozer is a little to sneaky for my taste
Rip plays off screens, he’s played that way for years. If there was a back up plan for not doing it then fine. But all Curry has done has eliminated Rip’s game for the simple fact he does not know how to run a half court offense, and neither does Stuckey or AI neither of which is a point guard, even if they do get assists
January 17, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Dominic I agree with what you said about Lambier everyone just seems to like him because he was a Pistons player I don’t think he is really as good as advertised. Though he would definitely be an upgrade over Curry.
But do me a favor, stop calling fans bandwagoners just because they want to vent a little bit. Saying something negative doesn’t mean their jumping ship. With the way the Pistons are playing, I can’t even make a guarantee that they’ll make the playoffs. Especially with so many injuries, Tayshaun even seems to be hurt.
I blame the injuries on Curry and his new way of doing things, since that’s the only thing that has changed this year.
January 17, 2009 at 12:31 pm
DOMINIC! i have said it before and said it again… there are a lot of bandwagon people on this site.
its ridiculous…
again im mad but im not gonna say my team sucks when they are in the playoffs and still have half the season left, and can still make that 4th spot (maybe not the third) and they have plenty of cap and trading opportunities that joe D (who has done phenominal) can look at. Of course they arent playing like we thought they should have but hey, thats life and thats the way things go. i’ll still love this team no matter what
January 17, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Take a 5 game losing streak coming up.. next is the Hornets!
maybe a 6 game slide against OJ Mayo and the Grizzlys.
i wish CP3 will be on a Pistons uniform someday.. Not a bad idea.
January 17, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Flu–Yeah, I know! I’ve missed our Pistons talk! Guess where I was a bit ago? Sterling Heights–I love it there.
I’d like to add that whenever Detroit went on their winning streak, it was when I was nearby. 
Anyways, why are you all blaming Rip? It isn’t his fault he isn’t as good at playing out of position. Sheed isn’t as good, Tay isn’t as good, and Rip isn’t at good–at a different spot. We all know AI isn’t. Obviously we’re going to lose, but trading Rip is not a good idea.
January 17, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Agree Amber, Rip has not gotten a fair shake.
And guys you can’t call someone a bandwagoner if they are still watching the Pistons and commenting on the games. That means they are still here, if they give up on everything Pistons (watching, commenting, etc) then you can call them that.
Instead of a negative Fire Curry campaign (while accurate) Let’s try to lobby for something postitive. The negative attention has to be affecting the team.
I propose the campaign to put either Kwame Brown, or possibly Dyess back in the starting lineup.
And I hear Edjuardo Najera might be available from the Nets. Have you guys ever seen him and sheed on the court? Always talking and laughing with each other. Then you get Najera and Herrmann. Plus I’m a little biased because I’m part Mexican.
January 17, 2009 at 12:50 pm
what will a head coach firing do… honestly, tell me cause i really dont know… all i hear is fire curry, but i havent read a legitimate reason why??? (if they are even supported with a reason)… will it better the team… i dont think so, just because we change personnel doesnt mean the chemistry and the way the team performs will change
January 17, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Pleaseee Curry, observe how Poplovich handles Spurs rotations….We’re similar in many ways to the build of that team with the exception of more young talent. Observe and learn Curry. Demand more veteran leadership and veteran bench roles (certain starters coming off the bench). When the team is playing ilke crap, aka last night, let the veterans coach the time out. Force them to become active leaders over the young talent and maybe then they’ll step their game up.
January 17, 2009 at 2:03 pm
does anyone think maybe these few DNP-CD’s are possibly a sign that Max might get traded? I was thinking that.
I really hope he does, Pistons team have been holding him back from first time he stepped on the court.
Id love to see him traded and then be a starting PF on a team and come back to play Detroit and just dunk all over Sheed and McDyess and heck the whole team.
This is just getting insanely out of hand here!
January 17, 2009 at 2:19 pm
aaron, I’ll give you a good reason to axe Curry. He lacks leadership, experiance, and balls. His play calling is weak, rotations are inconsistant, and anyone who tries to tell me Stuck is a point guard is an idiot. Stuck wants to shoot just as much as AI and Rip. Hell Tay is the best pg in that line up. And if we we’re going to run a small lineup, I would have Bynum in. He can direct a team, set up plays, and doesn’t feel he has to score to validate his playing time.
Why did Curry give up on having Iverson run the point? We all knew it would take some time for them to gel, but durint that time everyone was having fun and trying to win. And all the players we’re just getting used to something new. FIRE CURRY, PLAY MAX, BENCH STUCKEY
January 17, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Eddie agree with the first part of your post, up until the Tay is the best point guard, he can fill in fine, but relying on him to do it all the time is not a good idea.
And why have Iverson at the point, you just said Stuckey shoots too much to be the point, so instead you think Iverson should still be running the point? We don’t have a point guard because “Coach” (yeah I put it in quotation marks big whoop wanna fight about it) Curry supposedly wanted more players to make decisions with the ball so he thought he wouldn’t need a true point guard.
he needs to stop coaching in the way that makes me think he is living vicariously through the team.
And Max ain’t getting traded, unless it is a really good deal. Plus he plays so hard he burns out, I doubt he can be a consistent starter in his career. But I definitely look forward to finding out
January 17, 2009 at 3:10 pm
when maxiell speaks up about being frustrated you know something is wrong
http://www.freep.com/article/20090117/SPORTS03/901170368/1051/A.I.++Chemistry+is+not+there
January 17, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I agree. Said it the other day, firing a head coach mid-season is giving up on the season. Can’t do that while you are still playoff bound. However, I’d have no problem if there was a coaching change in the off season.
January 17, 2009 at 4:30 pm
as for Laimbeer, he’s proven. He may not be the best choice, but he’s legit, and a definate upgrade over the chump we have now. Laimbeer has won more championships as a coach than Chuck Daly and Larry Brown combined.
January 17, 2009 at 4:38 pm
^ meant to say as many, not more. but still…