Detroit looked like they had a Turkey hangover Friday night at The Palace. In a game that was almost difficult to watch, the Pistons were lucky enough to come out with a 83-78, victory after letting the Sixers take it down to the wire. Rasheed Wallace sat out of this one with a sore knee, but Pistons fans need not worry, his x-rays came back negative.
Key Points:
- Antonio McDyess still has a hot hand, playing without his protective shoulder sleeve. He scored 12 points with 4 assists and 7 boards.
- Ugly game.
- The Pistons scored a mere 16 points in the 3rd quarter.
- Amir Johnson only points came from a dunk he threw down as the buzzer sounded at the end of the third.
- Rip still hasn’t come out of his funk. It was painful to watch him shoot 4-for-16, especially when he couldn’t even convert layups. The whole Palace crowd cheered each of his makes as if they knew he needed their help to shake the slump.
- Tayshuan led the Pistons with 15 points. Was is just me that was surprised when he took control of the offense quite a few times last night when Chauncey was on the floor.
Photo/Getty Images
- Rasheed was as loud as can be last night coaching the team from the bench, though I didn’t see him out there in the second half.
- Arron Afflalo did what Rip couldn’t do. His 8 points came at times when The Pistons desperately needed baskets.
- Chauncey wasn’t his usual self either going 3-for-9 for 11 points.
- It sure was noticeable in the box score that Rasheed didn’t play, The Pistons got burnt on the boards 47-36.
- Just 6 turnovers for the Pistons.
- Credit the Sixers defense for some of the Pistons woes.
- The most exiting plays of the night came courtesy of Jason Maxiell. Maxi scored 14 points with 6 boards and this blocked shot.
Photo/Getty Images
- You know the customary dance Rasheed does in the circle after the Pistons introductions? Well Maxiell took his place doing the Soilja boy.
- Highlights of the game.
- Some games the Pistons bench don’t do much, but last night they sparked life into a listless starting five.
- Is there a reason Jarvis Hayes hasn’t been playing much the past few games?
- The Pistons can’t play like this Sunday against Utah who always seem to get the best of Detroit.
Sloppy win. But none the less a win. But on the other hand last time we said that we went 0-4 to the Cavs, let’s hope this ones just cause mama billup’s turkey was just too good to not go back for seconds.
Plus someone needs to find that some video of Maxiell doing the soulja boy.
I was really glad I turned the TV on when I did last night ’cause if I had waited another minute I woulda missed Maxiell dancing and that was as priceless as ‘Sheed’s reaction to it.
I was a little surprised when Tayshaun sort of took control with Chauncey out there but I thought it was a good move. I think if Tay ran more of the offense in that game and more plays were ran for him, it wouldn’t have been as close as it was.
Even when the Sixers game back and took the lead, I didn’t ever have the feeling that Detroit would lose.
Philly has an interesting offensive attack.
Afflalo was awesome. Maxiell still amazes me. Nazr was great again. Rip…well Rip actually took pretty good shots that were in the flow of the offense but they just didn’t fall. I was cheering him on from home too. He’ll get it. Hopefully in tomorrow’s game. We need all the offense we can get again the mighty Utah Jazz.
does anyone have video of maxi taking sheed’s dancing place?
Rip was sick.
nice jam in the 4 th…
He’s not playing in the next game.
Or so the rumor..
its nice that they cheered for him…
go gettem Rip…get better soon…
a game i can watch and he’s sick…ugh!
Sue…where did you hear that rumor from?
tay took over the O just becose every body kbnows that when the pistons arnt doing good hes the guy that can gett them back, thats whet he did
Jason Maxiell’s dancing is definately something I’m gonna remember from this season.
Has anyone seen the Power poll on yahoo sports? The guy said “Fans getting bored with Pistons? Sellout streak reaches 188 but, based on empty seats seen Wednesday night vs. Knicks, could be nearing an end.”
I don’t believe the streak will end soon but I can’t argue with the fact that sometimes it’s game time and I think ” let’s get this over with” Rather than “I’m going to see something amazing” Defense is non existent, Tayshaun really seems like he more worried about getting to the all star game rather than the championship (I said more worried, I’m not saying that’s all he’s worried about) and everyone seems to be in a funk, fans included.
Please can someone give me a way to get excited about watching the games when the players themselves, every chance they get. say they don’t even want to play these games AND DOES IT SHOW AGAINST TEAMS THAT PLAY GOOD DEFENSE AND DON’T GIVE THE PISTONS THE GAMES! One way I’ve tried to get excited about watching the games again is I look forward to the young guys, such as Arron Afflalo, Amir Johnson and the awesome Cheick Samb, but do we get to see them? Arron a little,barely for Amir and Cheick didn’t even play with Rasheed out. WTF
And btw the reason Jarvis isn’t playing much is because all he knows how to do is shoot and why do you need him out there when he’s not making shots? he can’t do anything else which is why I wasn’t a fan of him being the primary backup. Although Carlos didn’t do it as much as I would have liked, there were games where you saw how he could affect the game even if he wasn’t scoring. Jarvis is a one and done player and I’m glad he’s not playing, although Tayshaun needs to rest, I don’t want to see Jarvis score when there are so many others I would rather watch play well.
Come on Pistons ya gotta play like a team in order to win that ship
well, i get excited every time the pistons play. don’t really care if it’s a “sloppy” win or a “good” loss ’cause they my boys & i loves ’em. would watch them every damn day if i could. people bitch if they win & bitch even more if they lose… makes me sick.
GO PISTONS!!!!
DYESS ROCKS!!
Jeff here is a bit of the interview.
Posted by Philip Zaroo | MLive.com November 21, 2007
He also acknowledged that Rip Hamilton is trying to do too much by himself: “I told Rip I thought he was playing undisciplined – almost searching too much for shots.
“We’re a team that’s built to play by moving the ball.”
–same invterview w more detail.–
Flip Saunders Q&A: On Rip’s struggles, the poor showing out west and what to eat this Thursday
November 21, 2007 Detroit freepress
Flip Saunders went on 1130 WDFN earlier this week; here were some of the highlights:
Rip Hamilton looks out of sync:
He’s definitely out of sync. As I told him, I thought he was being a little undisciplined, almost searching too much for shots. What happens with our main guys is when things get close they have a tendency to want to (win it) themselves. And what happens when they do that, they take bad shots. That’s something through practice and through constant harping they’re definitely going to improve on that. They’re going to have to. We’re not a team that’s built that way, to be individualistic. We’re a team that’s built to play, to move the ball and that. That’s something that’s happened in the playoffs last year, that hurt us in the Cleveland series. That’s something we need to improve on and that’s a work in progress.