The Pistons celebrated Martin Luther King day at home with their third straight victory. A feat that unfortunately the Pistons hadn’t accomplished since April of 2009. Despite 32 from Dirk Nowitzki, the Pistons, who shot a season high 57.5% for the game, took the matinee at the Palace 89-103.
Key Points:
- Rodney Stuckey led Detroit with 20 points on 6-for-8 shooting, with 6 assists, a blocked shot and just one turnover, with a +14 rating. Raise your hands if you think Stuckey is flourishing at the two.
- Another DNP for Rip Hamilton, who sits while the Pistons wait to see if the trade goes through. I wonder what Rip was thinking when he heard the Palace crowd chant “we want Rip”
- Got to love Pistons fans…after the Rip chant. @Chris_Iott heard a fan chant “We want Troy Murphy.”
- Good to see T-mac bounce right back after his slight injury against the Kings. Tracy with 8 points and 3 assists in 25 minutes
McGrady: “That foundation has finally been set. Guys know their role in the starting group and guys (know) their role coming off the bench, and you can see it’s just clicking right now. That’s something we’ve been searching for for quite some time and I think we finally found it.
- OMG how is Brian Cardinal still getting a paycheck in the NBA. If you didn’t know he was drafted by the Pistons. I wonder if anyone out there has a Pistons/Cardinal jersey?
After giving up a ridiculous 71 points at the half against the Kings Saturday night, the Pistons held the Mavs to 37. - Ben Wallace rested his ankle.
- Highlights of the game via NBA.com
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- Dare I say that this game was surprisingly easy?
- So is this starting five a winner? When you win three in a row using it, especially the way the Pistons have you have to say yes.
- Want more Stucktacular statistics on Rodney as the two guard? Stuckey is averaging 19.3 points on 17-for-28 shooting 60.7% since moving to the starting shooting guard position the last three games.
Photo/Getty Images editing Need4Sheed.com
- Another solid game from Charlie V, who I have to say has really played well all season long, but it’s particularly nice to get his shooting off the bench. Charlie V finished with 15 points in the victory.
- Tay with 19 on 9-for-12 shooting with 5 assists and a blocked shot. This really is the best Tay has played in quite some time. Tay recorded one block but really got robbed on a very clean block on Jason Terry that they called a foul.
- Will Bynum contributing again. He’s ready when called upon.
- Reports surfaced out of Dallas over the weekend that the Mavs have targeted Tayshaun Prince, among a handful of NBA players, as a possible fill-in for Caron Butler.
- He plays defense and he dunks, Greg Monroe with the steal and the drive.
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- Monroe solid, solid and solid. The kid put up 16 with 9 boards and 4 steals! He will be playing in the all star rookie game right? With every game you see his confidence rise and his shots fall.
- Ben Gordon put up 11, but still really doesn’t have his shot back yet. When he does…you’ll know it.
- Really….what have they been feeding Chris Wilcox?
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
This game was easy. I don’t kno how, but it looked really easy even tho Dirk scored 30plus again and stuff
Monroe is playing I expected from him, doing his thing!!! Barea should not be happy, lost the ball to Monroe on the dribbling, such a shame for pg if pg is under 6’0 and the defender in about 6’10
I like T-Mac as pg, he creates lots of mismatches, moves players the right way, he’s good!
and at last everyone can not just talk but see what’s the difference between Stuckey at pg and at sg
He is solid when someone else distributes the ball
Amen
Stuck still led the team in assists, so he’s still distributing as well. For the Pistons to be completely effective in thier system it’s important to get assists from multiple positions, which is exactly what happened these last 3 games.
might have been a hard fought win if Dirk was completely recovered from his injury.
I have to say this is surprising. We are the kind of opponent that Mavs are looking forward to finally break their slump and yet we beat them bad.
Nice Win!
Starting to get greedy. Beat Celtics!
What have they been feeding Chris Wilcox? Good passes, thats what. With a “true PG” finally on the team, we’re finally seeing what we’re capable of.
Wilcox was a very athletic player on the Sonics back then… if anyone was paying attention. Not a go-to guy but definitely a serviceable big man. I’m not surprised at all to see this come out, now that someone is actually sharing the rock.
On Rip – nice to see some fans still appreciate the guy. Not like some on this board who show no respect for someone who has helped bring a ‘ship to the city. I’m hoping the NJ trade goes through, and he flourishes in his new team and people will see how Rip can be used properly. One expression comes to mind – “You never know what you’ve got til its gone”
i completely agree with you on rip
The same could be said for Rip. Don’t get me wrong, I love him to death and appreciate all that he’s done for the franchise, but the team that won that championship got a bit too full of themselves. That’s why they always throw coaches under the bus. Hate to break it to these guys but there is only one Larry Brown and if you can’t make the best of it for any other coach, then that’s going to create problems. I think a change of scenery will be good for Rip and it will be good for the Pistons. Once he’s gone, he’ll appreciate what he had in Detroit, much like Ben did.
I should also add something else. Even back during the championship years, Rip would play caffeinated. That is, he’d play too fast, run himself out of position on defense and hurry his shots or turn the ball over. That’s pretty much how he’s played this season. Yes, he plays very hard, but he’s played out of control. He had Chauncey and Larry Brown to tell him to slow down and focus, but now? Perhaps this is an indictment on Kuester, but Rip is a veteran and there comes a time when you’ve got to be able to figure this out for yourself.
I would still like to see Rip play a before the deal goes down (if it does) He just hasnt been the same since they shipped Billups away
Just a note: do you remember how Okur was contributing for the Jazz? Did you see Kwame the potatoe hands lately? Darko? Did you see Milicic this season?
Where have they been when they were in Detroit?
Please don’t tell me your comparing Rip to Darko and Kwame.
No, but there is some talent in Darko, at least he’s a starting C in NBA team.
What was wrong with him all these years? Did it take him several years to start to play or is it his new contract? Why couldn’t he show anything here in Detroit?
It’s a rhetorical question…
I came across the box score showing Kwame scoring 15 points and grabbing 16 boards last night. Couldn’t believe it, but happy for him I must say.
yes i have and both kwame and darko are still TURRIBLE
you play those guys when you got nothing else
Not at all, I agree with J.G. he didn’t have time to play here… Now that he’s been playing you can see the results he’s among the league leaders in Blocks per game and in his las 3 games he has put up this nice numbers:
34 min. 22 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 blocks
19 min. 13 points, 6 rebound, 1 assist, 3 blocks
33 min. 14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks
pretty nice huh??
Darko might not be an ALL-STAR but he’s a good player
He didnt get enough playing time
good win fun to watch. really impressed with monroe hope he can keep it up. and stuck is soo much better at 2 hes just not forcing anymore taking good shots i love it i think they will get the 7 or 8 seed
It’s funny how many fewer comments there are after a win. Not much to say. We’re just content.
That was the halfway point for the season. We’re on pace for 30 wins now, which may not seem like much, but I’m sure most of us will take it. Our pace might seem inflated, given we just won three straight, but I think even if we continue play at a bad clip for the season’s second half (comparable to most of the first half) we’ll still win a game here and there, and then we can count on a handful of wins in our last six games (check out the schedule). Peace, I’m out. Have a good day, y’all.
“Money” Monroe, that’s what I’ll call him
I get that Rip isn’t playing because he’s likely to be traded. Any reason Jason Maxiell isn’t playing? Has he just fallen that much?
I would feel really bad if this Melo trade doesn’t go through. Rip will be stuck in a very awkward position and will probably be stuck on the bench until he gets traded to another team. I hope there is a plan B to this.
I don’t even want to think about it.
That’s a terrible situation, RIP deserved a good team two years ago
Great game to watch
Love the new backcourt; I wanted to see it but never thought Stuck will be so good off the ball, he had very good slash to the basket & he was able to get in rythm without using more than 2 or 3 bounces getting to the hoop…
BUT looking more closely at the game i’ve notice ( I actually rewatched it today) Stuckey & T-mac did not simply switch their roles !!
They both share the point & both play off the ball ; It seems that we re finally seeing what Joe had foreseen…A new type backcourt made of two combo guard that makes the Pistons not so predictable on offense …
I also love the fact that the team did run ( at least a couple time ) the offense through Greg on the High post
Now I wonder who would be the perfect fit next to Stuck if Tmac walk this summer…
i hope tmac dont leave. i cant bring myself to believe hes just doing this to prove himself then go to a better team, i rly like him here
T-Mac deserve to go deep in the playoffs at least once
Did he ever qualify for a second playoffs round? I know the rockets did while he was playing there..but wasn’t he injured?
There’s a picture on the internet of T-Mac “The Second-Round Virgin.” Search for it. Quite funny I digress.
very funny indeed!!
You’re right, they made the 2nd round once but he was out with an injury. Pretty sad.
bynum is almost exactly like a shorter stuckey. That’s your combo guard right there.
the problem is of course, this means we never use ben gordon, we just rotate t-mac, stuckey & bynum, and rely on charlie V, Daye & Prince for our 3′s.
like stuckey, bynum has never really gotten the chance to play at the 2, since he gets paired with shooters.
Bynum is too small to EVER play the two.
The defensive end scares me!!
I do not know if Bynum would be able to run the 2 with his lack of size & his weak defense…
But it seems we had a pretty nice 2nd half against SAC with this backcourt( “seems” since i felt in sleep at halftime!!)
So it deserves another shot against a tougher opponent
Sad to say, but out winning streak is most likely going to end tomorrow
Great read Natalie. Always enjoy it.
I like Stuckey at the 2, and it’ll be interesting to see how Boston adjusts to him. This game will show us if Kuester can coach (insert joke here). The past three games Stuck has been on fire and Boston will look to shut him down. With who? I don’t see Ray spending the energy on D, so it’ll probably be Rondo. If that happens, you have Ray on Mcgrady. As good as Rondo is defensively, Stuck is too strong. You can’t put Rondo on Mcgrady…See what I’m getting at?
I think we are going to more than hang tonight…
If they’re really focused on trying to shut down Stuckey they’ll put Pierce on him, with Rondo on T-Mac and Allen on Prince.