So it wasn’t Shaq and D Wade on the floor for Miami in The Pistons win Monday night at the Palace, but I finally got a chance to see the Rookies play.
Key Points:
- Stuckey didn’t disappoint, he’s fast, strong and he likes to drive the lane and get to the line. He lead the Pistons with 15 points. Start saving your money for you new #3 jerseys now.
- The first game Sheed started a center for the Pistons and he started the season off by ripping down rebounds like he was Dennis Rodman.
- Antonio McDyess looked just fine starting the game. For those of you who are worried his knees won’t hold up, I doubt he’s going to see more time than he did last season now that Mr. Maxiell is going to be the Sixth Man of the Year.
- Speaking of J Max, he looks noticeably thinner and he’s working just as hard on the floor as he always has. Harder if that’s possible. Dunking with authority.
Photo/Getty Images
- Looks like Jarvis Hayes has the green light to shoot the ball. He was 5 for 13, taking the most shots of any Piston.
- I thought Flip Saunders had to prove himself last season but Drew Sharp thinks this year is it.
- Seems Flip is worried about missed layups.
- Double-Double for Jason Maxiell.
- I know that this was not really the Miami Heat that the Pistons dominated, but I was still quite excited by what I saw of the new guys.
- I must have been getting some dippin dots because I missed all of Cheik Samb’s 5 minutes on the floor.
- Jarvis Hayes is really happy to be a Piston. He actually logged the most minutes with 23.
- Though Nazr Mohammed only scored 4 points, he blocked 2 shots and was working really hard out there.
- Flip Murray is going to have a tough time getting minutes, he did have a couple nice take aways last night.
- The Pistons moved the ball well and look like they want to start to run.
- I have seen some nice footage on Afflalo and have watched him at UCLA. I thought he was solid before I saw him in person, but I was even more impressed with what I saw last night. I think he’s going to carve out his role on the team and from what I hear he’s got a great work ethic.
Photo/Getty Images
- Rip was 9 for 9 from the line.
- Team Need4Sheed found a great link on Chauncey Billups Amazing Journey. He had 12 points, 5 assists and a steal in the Pistons win.
- Amir was a DNP because of his ankle, lets let Arnie Kander (who’s NBA.com page is strangely blank) take care of him before he steps on the floor again. We want him healthy all season.
- We have much to be excited about Pistons fans.
W00T! First post again! So, I wasn’t the only one who noticed Maxiell was looking a little more slim. And if there was a such thing as a “3rd Year, 6th Man Award” Maxiell would SO have that title locked up! Stucky and Afflalo will have a nice, and long run, in Detroit if they play with the energy they had last night. I wana hear some noise from Amir and Samb though. While I’m thinking about it, somebody in the thread brought it to attention on how much Samb looked like Ben in a game play picture of him, had me fooled!
*Points up* That was by me!
-BabyBen
(Forgot my sig. ^,^)
http://www.nba.com/pistons/multimedia/media_day_video.html
Pretty great video from Pistons.com during media day!
NAZR sucks so much
3 posts about the first preseason game? Slow your roll, it’s a long season LOL.
It’s scary that Drew Sharp finally wrote something that I agree with. I’ve never seen a sportswriter take a more glass is half empty approach to every one of his articles. Drew’s the type of guy who would ask to speak at your wedding and then tell you not to be too happy because statistics show that more than half of marraiges end in divorce.
Haha. I was just thinking the same thing Janet. Everybody in Pistons Nation is so excited (myself included), you’d think it was the Playoffs. I wonder if any other team’s fans are this pumped? Eh, I doubt it! After all, we ARE the best fans in the world!
My New Season Resolution: To pay more attention to the coaching style/techniques of Saunders.
I could pick up on the obvious mistakes and good decisions in years past, but I could never keep up with all the in depth analysis some people bring to this site and others. I’m hoping this season I’ll be able to understand half the things that the “experts” and my fellow fans say about our 3rd year head coach(!)
I love when players talk about how they think they fit in well with the team. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. (Which is a good thing to feel right now considering it’s not even 50 freakin’ degrees outside!)
Ok, I admit it…
I’m a little too excited.