The Pistons play a big one tonight in Boston. This post is going to have to serve as your game thread as well as recap. I have to tend to some emergency family matters and won’t be updating the site for a few days.
Yes I will be back…..so until then I’m really leaving things up to you this time. As always thanks for all the support.
Go Pistons.
Best of luck, Natalie…hope everything goes alright.
We got you Nat. It’s not a statment game we are going to do what we do and that’s win the big games. If we don’t win it doesn’t mean that Boston is better. Let’s just play and entertain.
Rashid S. Umar
my prayers r w u and ur family for whatever’s goin on
Hope everything is okay Nat…best wishes.
I agree with ^^ on this, this is not a statement game at all, we know the Celt’s are a good team. All I expect is strong efforts by the ‘stones!! “Both Teams Played Hard”….lol
Here is something for all the PISTONS FANS-HAPPY HOLIDAYS—>
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1570215663
I hope everything works out well for you Natalie. Hopefully, your family emergency is like Rip’s, something that turns out good at the end.
nat……prayers and thoughts with you and the fam….whatever may be the emergency, i hope it all turns out ok for you.
go pistons!
Natalie – I’ll be missing your recap, but you’ll definitely be in my thoughts…hope all turns out well. Take care!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1579641133
HERE IS ANOTHER ONE!!!
Nat – hope all is well!
But I am pumped for this game tonight. I’d love to see Boston drop to 20-3.
If the Cavs can do it, then Detroit doesn’t have much of an excuse. Go Pistons!
all piston fans are here for you nat!!
we’ll miss you and definitely
be praying for you
ALL PISTON FANS VOTE FOR YOUR PISTON STARTERS .. ONLY A LITTLE OVER A MONTH LEFT!!!!!!!
lets get ALL of them in this time!
detroit♥
Thoughts and prayers are with you Natalie – you know Team Need4Sheed is here and won’t miss a beat.
hey nat. hope everythig is alright. i know all of us wishes you nothing but the best. i’ll be missing you and your posts. god bless nat.
I’m so sorry about whatever your family matters are. I’ll be praying for you!
If you look on NBA.com there is a “first returns” section for the allstar voting. We need to pick it up.
Not 1 quarter into the game and i’m already noticing the horrible officiating for the game. Too many touch fouls it makes the Celts 20-2record a little more understandable
Get into the paint, guys!!!
Hope to have you back soon Natalie, and best wishes…
Halftime, 45 – 52.
Let’s go Pistons, we need some big plays. Play some D!!!!
Best wishes for Natalie and your family. Hope you will come back soon.
About the game, we need to score inside. Chauncey should post up against Rondo. Plus, Chauncey’s got to defend him better!!!
Afflalo, Billups, Rip, and McDyess are the only ones hitting shots. Sheed’s shot is flat. Someone needs to tell him to get some arc on his shot and he’ll be fine. Boston has gotten one or two favorable whistles, but we look a bit chaotic on defense. I miss the days where everyone was on a string.
I wish I had a mute button for every time Bill Walton speaks. That guy makes me want to cut off my ears :/
Our defense needs to pick up, as well as our offense. There’s no way that we shouldn’t be keeping up with this 3-man team.
45-52 @ halftime isn’t too bad though. Lets get ’em!
where is max tonight? i was expecting some big plays from him. Its almost like he hasnt even hit the court. And Prince is flying under the radar again too. we need EVERYONE playing well. Great job by our backcourt though. We just need some defense and some points in the paint.
I want some big plays from Tay!!!
Pistons is catching up with Celts, only 2 points dificit. Keep it up!!
Gosh KG shoots everywhere… he’s got 18 now.
this game is so stressful!
up by three!!!!
come on boys! i want to see maxi eat some babies!
A game like this makes me glad Hunter didn’t retire and join the front office or coaching staff.
Deeeeeeetroit Basketballlll!
Great 4th quarter.
I’m doing a live blog since Nat can’t follow the game… hopefully parts of it can get up on the site when she gets back.
What a defense! What a block by Sheed!! We’ve got 6 points lead now!! Go Pistons!
Hunter was player of the game in his own way… up by 6, we can do it!
jesus… jesus (aka ray allen) just hit a game-tying 3… but unless they get a steal, which i doubt… we either win this, or worse comes to worse, overtime
OMG!! HOW THE HELL DID THEY JUST STEAL IT LIKE THAT!??
SHEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CB!!!!!!!!!
What a finish!!!
great game, not much more to say.
Chin up Nat…
BEST GAME OF MY LIFE!
that was sick. absolutley amazing.
you NEVER foul chauncey in the last seconds…NEVER. Not only did we just keep the Celtics from having the start in Boston history, but we also ended their undefeated home games! i love this team.
B-B-B-Billups!
damn that felt good!
Off to watch Suns/Mavs; is it just me, or is this basketball christmas, getting to see Celts-Pistons and Suns-Mavs in the same night? And most importantly, I was able to turn to Blaha and the K man instead of listening to Walton, who almost made me throw an Xbox controller through the TV!
WOOOHOOO!!!! What a game to watch.. Pistons finally step it up on National TV!
I will definitely be sleeping well tonight 🙂 i was so nervous when Billups turned the ball over, but man those free throws made up for it! They don’t call him Mr. Big Shot for nothin’.
GO PISTONS!
Go Pistons!
I don’t think they remembered to NOT foul C.B., but I’m glad they did because it would of gone to overtime and another stressful quarter…
Good game.
Is this the first win on national tv??
The NBA…
Where Sheed Happens!!!!
Haha! What a great game… Detroit basketball 4ever.
I agree Rychan tonight seems to be a great night for NBA fans.. Even the minor games look good: Raptors @ Blazers, Hornets @ Sonics, etc..
I don’t what’s happening with you Nat but hope that you’re alright 🙂
Have you guys noticed?? We’re almost undefeated in the East. We only have 2 lossed in the East. Do you remember against who? Chicago. So with the exception of Chicago (who seems to have our number, and won two very close games) we’re undefeated in the East. So while we have lost to one other Eastern team, Boston has lost to 3 (Detroit, Orlando, Cleveland)… Speaking of other Eastern “Powers,” Cleveland just lost again, even with Lebron in the lineup, to… the Knicks. That’s laughable.
What a defense! What a block by Sheed!! What a fake by Chauncey!!
This was a great game to watch like playoffs! Go Pistons!
Great, great, great statement game. Went into the last undefeated team at home’s place and took it from them down the stretch.
Best game of the season and it lived up to all the hype – what else can you ask for?
i love detroit basketball!! hah that was a great game.. i only got to see the second half because of b-ball practice, but it was definately the best game i’ve seen them play.. finally got a W on NT!!
J-Max = +11
I saw that and had to point it out to you guys. In comparison, CB was -2.
What. A. Game.
I LOVE THIS TEAM!
Like everyone else said, definately up there with the best regular season games I’ve ever seen. Loved Lindsey and Afflalo giving us that push and feisty D that we needed. Loved Dice’s all-around play; how Sheed stayed focused and kept doing what was needed even when he was in mini-funk (other than the threes). I thought Rip played a great all-around game, as well. And why did Boston give Chaunce all of that space the entire 4th quarter? I’ve never seen such open lanes for him.
I know it was only one game, but what a game it was!
First of all, I join everybody’s sentiments and my prayers and best wishes for you Natalie. Take the time you need… we’ll hold the fort!
Now, about the game…
It was a really good game. I was beginning to miss a good Celtics-Pistons matchup. I think we got the resurgence of a true rivalry here, minus the crazy clotheslines a la 1987! But we have a good rivalry again, two true contenders with quality players on both sides of the court.
Man, did Chauncey take Rajon Rondo to school or what? Rondo might be okay in a few years, in the meantime, he should enroll in Professor Billups’ Guarding School and learn a few tricks from Mr. Big Shot! More of Chauncey. If I were Doc Rivers, I’d have the MEGA-BONEHEAD that fouled CB in that last play with 0.1 seconds left GROUNDED for the rest of the year… that has got to be the stupidest play of the year, going at Chauncey and drawing a foul. What was he thinking? Oh, Chauncey will choke here, right? I guess that kid learned why they call Billups “Mr. Big Shot,” which just for the Piston-haters out there, is a WELL-DESERVED name… feel free to ask the Celtics tonight!
mannie32: Are you telling me that my night just got EVEN BETTER? So, ElCaBron James and the 10 guys named Pepe lost to none other than the Knicks… by 18 points… DAMN!!!!! So much for how much Varejoke was gonna make a difference… well maybe it did, now Cleveland really looks like Detroit’s retarded brother!
This evening is shaping up really nicely! The D to the P are still the team to beat, and this time you’re gonna need a f***ing army if you’re gonna take them!
I sent these to Nat but since she might not be able to get them up anytime soon, here’s bullet points…
– What. A. Finish.
– Mr. Big Shot sure as hell was alive and well tonight, scoring 28 to go with 8 dimes.
– First home loss of the season for Boston. They drop to 20-3 on the season while we improve to 18-7.
– Rip and Chauncey did most of the damage tonight.
– Dyess was solid again putting up a double-double, 13 points and 10 boards.
– Sheed played some great D (13 boards, 2 steals, 1 block) but was off all night going just 3-10 from the field.
– Tay couldn’t get it going at all, finishing with just 2 points on 1-10 shooting.
– All the starters aside from Tay (go figure) were negative in the +/- on the night.
– No Flip, Amir, or the former Bobcats.
– Lindsey Hunter’s box score does not do justice to how important he was when we went on a run to take control of this game early in the 4th quarter. Within two minutes he hit a long jumper, drained a 3, and stole it away before passing it to Rip for a dunk.
– Afflalo looked good when he was on the floor, and his +3 for the night is a good indicator.
– No thunder dunks for Maxiell but he had a couple great plays in the lane and finished a game-best +11.
– Ray Allen can certainly hit the clutch three and was active all over the floor, with 24 and 3-of-5 on long ones.
– Garnett put up a relatively quiet 26 (if there is such a thing) with a good portion of his points coming on spot-up midrange jumpers on the break and in transition.
– Our defense was pretty bad in the first half (I think a 7 point deficit at the half was quite lucky) but we finally pulled things together and locked down in the fourth.
– Rajon Rondo? Didn’t think he’d be the one torching us in the first half but we clamped down on him after the break. All 14 of his points came before halftime and Chauncey drew some key fouls on him in the third and fourth.
– Relatively quiet bench play from both teams, but our bench won the battle 14-5.
– Rebound war lost 34-37.
– No techs for Rip or Sheed!
– Great statement game this early in the season. It felt like a playoff game all night long, especially down the stretch. We had plenty of issues and were outplayed early on but made the right adjustments to come out and take one from the (formerly) last team undefeated at home in the NBA. Awesome game for the Pistons.
And I won’t post any significant chunk of the live blog, but here’s the part all us Pistons fans will enjoy…
4th Quarter:
1:02 … Eddie House for three and it’s a one possession game.
0:34 … My lord that place is rocking!
0:19 … Ray Allen drains a ridiculous three and it’s all tied up.
0:19 … Ummm, that place is way more than rocking. We’ve got the last shot. Can we have some more Rip magic in Beantown?
0:05 … Chauncey drives, turns it over right into KG’s hands, and now they’ve got the last shot. Eeeek!
0:02 … Good defense, Pierce’s shot clanks off the rim, Sheed grabs the board, and we’ve got the last shot – hopefully. Hey, this would work better for Rip’s magic with barely any time left, right?
0:00:10 … Chauncey draws the foul!!! Hits the first. Hits the second…
0:00:00 … GAME OVER! 87-85 Final.
we are now tied for 2nd with SA and Phoenix.. San Antonio just lost and Phoenix is playing right now on espn
Good luck to you and your family.
I hope everything works out.
Eastern Conference Finals right here.
Our thoughts our with you Natalie.
true, i also wanted to say thoughts are out to nat
hope it’s nothing too serious, and you enjoy the holidays!
I can’t believe NBA.com didn’t make Pistons win appear on the top page on the website! Something like “Celtics looks to extend winning streak” was the headline on top of NBA.com until Pistons beat Celts and now they’re trying not to make Pistons win a big deal…
makes sense though, Mvas are facing Suns… they prolly owe it to ESPN to promote the other big game tonight. Even had Celtics won they would have done the same i assume. In the same ESPN box that showcases the Suns-Mavs game they do have a link that says “Pistons pull past Celtics”
Check back tomorrow morning and im sure Pistons will have their glory on NBA.com
I hope everything’s okay, Natalie.
That was a heck of a game- it really could have wen either way, but we owe Lindsey a lot of credit for this one. He sparked the D, forced turn overs, and kept the run alive. Of course, it’s nice having Mr. Big Shot at the stripe when the game’s on the line, but let’s show some love for #10.
Way to go DETROIT!!!!!!!!!
My wife took me out for my birthday to dinner and a movie. I was able to watch the first half on the bigscreen at dinner, we looked okay, but the Celts were still holding that lead. I had to leave to catch the movie. Just got home and turned on sportcenter, and what a great birthday present from Detroit….lol!!! I love it!!!!!
Gotta love there heart and will to win.
HUGE Win Tonight !
Sending A Statement Around The League Letting Everyone Know That Were NOT Going No Where !
BTW.
Hope Everything Is Ok Nat..
I’ll Be At The Nets Game On The 26th … I’ll Make Sure I’ll Send You Pictures
– Vin
Connecticut
Forgot To Add That To My 11:41 Post lol
😉
Hope everything is ok Natalie. My thoughts are with you. Great win for Detroit.
What an awesome game!
Check it out….
“Savvy Pistons lure Celtics into a foul finish,” By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&page=sheridan-071220
Natalie, sending some Love for you.
AS for the game..OMG they did it…
I thought boston looked rather frustrated…hehehe…
how much walkin can one team do!?!…for being so “good” they made some rookie team mistakes….
Gosh Natalie, I sure hope you are ok. I know you work so hard for us here on the web and this site is really the best I have ever been on… and that’s not just b/c I love my Pistons, it’s b/c it is great in every way. I just hope you know you have prayers and support from people you have never even met before… myself included. I appreciate all your effort and wish you all the best in every aspect of your life. Feel like a kindred spirit b/c of the mutual love for the Pistons, but you seem like a pretty neat person beyond that… and honestly, even though I don’t know you, I don’t know what I would do without you.
On to other things>>>> I know some of you will hate me for saying this but I am [for real] truly loving this Flip Murray-less Deee-troit basketballll!!! No, I didn’t come here to bash Murray, but I really can’t see giving him a lot of minutes unless it’s a blow-out, or someone (God forbid) is injured. Some people were aggrivated to find L. Hunter still on the roster this season but never me… I, although realizing that he is ‘ancient’ by NBA standards, love this man. Now, that could be because he is practically a ‘career Piston’ and I am a career Piston fan or… it could be because I am a defense-minded person and that is (imo) where he does the most damage to the opposition… but I do love this man. Given the choice between him and Murray… Lindsey wins every time. I am not one of those people who are sucked in by numbers on a stat sheet. I go by what I see and I see (most of the time) Lindsey playing Deee-troit basketballlll way more than I have ever seen Mr. Murray playing it. Frankly, I am a bit of a weirdo (as far as popular opinion is concerned at least) when it comes to the Pistons b/c Mcdyess has been my favorite player on the team pretty much since he got here as opposed to one of the “regular” starters, and he (Dyess) doesn’t put up really big numbers either. Not sure if I just like the strong silent type or what, but the unsung heroes seem to do it for me. long story short… Lindsey Hunter, and Antonio Mcdyess deserve a ring this year, and if (when) it comes down to the Pistons & the Celtics in the ECF… they will be the ones who put us over the top. The “old guys” will help us more than hurt us and you can take that shit to the bank baby….
GO PISTONES!!!!
looks like mr. mohammed got 17 pts and 8 rebounds with 3 blocks in his first start for the bobcats, good for him.
So, here are the “big” stories on nba.com’s home page… Mavs v. Suns – Trailblazers v. Raptors – Magic v. Rockets – Bulls v. Wizards – Grizzlies v. Spurs – Warriors v. Timberwolves… no headlines for Pistons v. Celtics – probably the most anticipated game in the EC of the season??? I would be confused by this if it weren’t for the fact that I am a life-long Detroit sports fan (Pistons fan to be more specific) and used to the fact that the “know-it-alls” in the sports world are know far and wide to be Detriot sports team (Pistons to be more specific) haters… such BS though. If the Celtics had won the game it would have been plastered all over everywhere that Detroit was washed up… too old… de-throned as the beast of the east… y’all know you know what I am saying here. Where’s all the hype now? Yup, yup… don’t see it do ya? Bunch of assholes! Big deal when Cleveland beat the Celtics. Big deal when Orlando beat the Celtics. Let the Pistons give the Celtics their first loss of the season on their home floor and… nothing. You do the math! Shit pisses me off and I am mighty sick of it!
Pistons all the way this time… then let them try to ignore us.
espn has it as “eastern awakening”
“KG & Co. came up a little short at home for the first time this season.
Boston may still boast the NBA’s best record. But it took an 87-85 loss to Detroit to confirm the Celtics are among the elite teams in the East. Just not elite enough (yet) to measure up to the Pistons.”
jerks… they just cannot give us any credit..
best wishes and prayers.
now that they have an article up for NBA.com, its an absolutley ridiculous one. It pretty much says the pistons handed the Celtics their first loss, and the only reason they did was because of the free throws. They are pretty much degrading the win by saying it came down to a foul that Chauncey created. Give him some damn credit. Thats why hes Big Shot. Thats why hes the best point guard in the league. It was a good game. Im happy we won, but even if we didnt, the matchup would still pretty much mean the same. Both teams are equally good, so y cant they give detroit some damn credit. If boston would have won this game, there would have been huge hype on how they were 13-0 at home and that they had now officially had the best start in Celtics history. Well, give us some damn credit for ending that. To be completely honest, im surprised this wasnt a blowout with the way everyone but Chauncey and Rip were playing. This wasnt one of our best games, yet we still pulled off a W.
you know what? let them ignore us. I want to be the underdog. I thought that with this win we would stick out as a huge contender (which we do) but if they want to make this win less of a win, then let them. I want this team to be put away in a corner, that way when it comes post season, their gonna wish they never did. I love watching this team prove people wrong. Its what we do best. A good example would be this win.
What did I say yk???? By morning we’d get our recognition, front page! and Billups got his own video:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v660/gemstarrr/recognition.jpg
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Am2dYaczrTJT1CtR8RX32xa8vLYF?slug=aw-pistonsceltics122007&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
man, so it’s not the jerseys, not the nationally televised games, it’s me. This time I purposely turned off the game and didn’t watch it, and look what happened? We WON!
But I thought it was funny how the Cavs lost to the Knicks by what? say it with me Cavs fans, 18 POINTS! Man, good for the Knicks, beating the reigning Eastern Conference champs and you know, THE ONE.
Man, a great win doesn’t feel the same without a Need4Sheed recap 🙁
^ Scroll up about halfway, Claire… I took over Nat’s recapping duties as best as I can. Post’s at 10:30pm.
Hope everything is going well Natalie, I can’t wait for you to write about this one…
THAT WAS FUN!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME LAST NIGHT!!!
WOOOOOOO PISTONS!!!
Steve, what I meant was the pictures and other goodies in the recap. You know, the ones with the glowy orange ball and the opponents fading out in the back and a few videos here and there. But you did a pretty good job at recapping though =)
By the way, anyone has a clip of the Rip dunk? You know, Rip doesn’t dunk that much so when he does, it’s special and I wanna see it. THanks
Briefly
Pistons president Joe Dumars said that all five of Rasheed Wallace ‘s technical fouls will stand.
The league will not rescind any of them, although Dumars said the league did disagree with the technical foul he got in Sacramento in November.
Wallace earned that tech for essentially turning around and running toward the Pistons bench.
detroit news.http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071220/SPORTS0102/712200437/1127
Claire,
Well I do work with Photoshop a lot… maybe I’ll try my hand at a little bit. But I honestly don’t have anywhere near the skills Nat does when it comes to the kind of stuff she does to the pictures.
Thanks for the kind words tho 🙂
-Steve
here is more for you Nat when you get back…
December 18, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: In the second game of his NBA Development League season in Fort Wayne, the 7-foot-1 Samb was forced to leave after getting hit in the face. The injury broke Samb’s front teeth but also gave him a slight fracture to the jaw.
Samb had 12 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots in his Mad Ants debut against Dakota last Thursday, but the following night against Dakota he left the game in the second half after the injury. Even though he missed the entire fourth period, Samb finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/2007/12/samb_out_with_broken_teeth_fra.html
Hope everything goes alright…
Yeah you’re right, mannie32. Thanks for your posting. I’m so glad Pistons got on front-page so everyone outside of Michigan or even United States can find Pistons greatness. However, in second thought, maybe it’s better for the Pistons not to get so much reputation yet so Pistons can stay underdog, which they like to be…
BTW, glad to hear Nazr played well for Bobcats. I’m happy for him!
We miss ya Nat. Hope all is well.
Detroit played particularly awful defense in the first half. They really locked it down in the 3rd though, and so did the C’s. I mean, wasn’t it a 13/16 3rd quarter? That’s some good ball right there.
When it’s all said and done. the P’s pulled out an extremely hard fought battle and came away with a win despite being down by (I think) as much as 11 pts. The measure of the best teams is to FIND a way to win tough games. Anyone can blow out the Knicks by 25… well, anyone except the Cavs. Tee Hee.