The Kings came into Detroit with just 15 wins on the season, one of those wins was courtesy of The Pistons. They left Detroit with a series sweep. The final score 100-93 win over The Pistons Friday night.
Key Points:
- Bench Points – The Pistons 5 The Kings 60.
- Sure Bibby, Artest and Martin all came off the bench for Sacramento, but just 5 points from the Pistons bench, all of them coming from Jason Maxiell is atrocious.
- In the final minutes, the Pistons trailed by just three but couldn’t convert on two easy baskets. The Pistons have had a tough time making big shots late in the game. I once considered The Pistons money down the stretch. Now….not so much.
- Easy shots missed all night.
- Sheed, just 3-for-12 for 7 points and 7 boards. I have a problem with Brad Miller having a better night than RA.
- Mr. Billups was the shinning star of what turned out to be a frustrating night. Chauncey led the Pistons with 28 points, 10 assists, 2 steals and 8 boards. Chauncey was two rebounds away from a triple-double with zero turnovers on the night.
Photo/Getty Images
- Artest had a big night for the Kings with 18 points off the bench amidst boos from The Palace crowd. Ron just cemented the fact that he’s clearly immature when he threw kisses to the crowd after every basket. Stay classy Sacramento…
- Tay’s block on Artest looked pretty good, even though he got a little body. Same with the Dyess block on Artest. Both were called fouls.
- A combined 47 minutes for the Pistons bench. Twenty came from Maxiell. You know what that means…heavy minutes for the starters.
- 42% shooting on the night for The Pistons. The Kings shot 50%.
- I don’t think so Ron. We don’t want any.
- The Pistons bench (not including Maxiell) 0-for-11.
- 32 Points in the paint.
- McDyess had another double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. His under the basket turn around put in was a highlight of the game. He did however miss all four of his free throws, two of the misses were much needed down the stretch.
Photo/Getty Images
- NBA.com Highlights of The Game.
- Kevin Martin has the ugliest shot I have ever seen, that said he sure is a talent.
- Jarvis Hayes, still struggling.
- Tayshaun had a couple of highlight dunks, on of them coming form a Rip Hamilton ally oop pass. He finished with 15 on 5-for-11 shooting with 4 boards, 3 assists and on blocked shot. I miss the good old days when Tayshuan really gobbled up boards.
- The Pistons did have their chances in this one, but like seasons past they went on scoring droughts that really hurt them. In fact, after coming back strong in the third quarter and regaining the lead, they scored just 16 points in the fourth quarter.
- Maxiell’s turnover late in the fourth really took the air out of the Pistons chances to win this one. Maxiell did have a nice game though, adding a much needed boost whenever he entered the game.
- Rip was hot again with 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting. He added 5 assists, 2 boards, 2 steals and 5 of the Pistons 10 turnovers.
Photo/Getty Images
- “We waited too long to start fighting during that third quarter,” Billups said. “Offensively we were good, but defensively we were giving up a lot. Our defense kept us in it, but on defense we were just too late.”
- The Pistons 7-21 in the second quarter.
- Herrmann played 4 minutes and grabbed 3 boards, however he didn’t put up a shot.
- Rebound war won 45-40.
- The Pistons defense was nonexistent at times while it was stellar others.
- Three game road trip starting Saturday night in Chicago.
- If you didn’t know, that other Wallace is having issues with his teammates in Chicago.
I’ve said my part about the ass that is artest in the last post.
Pistons were taking it to the paint, which is good, and they were drawing the fouls, which is good.
They stunk on making the foul shots though, which is bad. They missed what, 11? If they made just half of those, you are looking at a 1 point game.
Stones got a little 3 happy, which is ok if you are making shots. They’ve been missing them for about 2 weeks now. I’m getting tired of the cheer “SHEEEEEED-OHHHH”
Nobody in my section gave any slack to Srtest. Because of that alone, I had a great time at the game.
Speak for yourself, not for all of us.
If the Pistons could trade Tayshaun for Artest straight up, or even wanted a future second round pick and Flip Murray or something.
I would be frustrated if Joe didn’t make this move.
Ron Artest is 20x the player Tayshaun is. He’s so talented. If he was here, he’d shut up and play the game. He’d be happy, he’d be winning and we would have such a force up front, and a guy to give the ball who can score on a consistent basis (unlike Tay) and actually defend SUPERSTAR SF’s (unlike Tay).
Hate Artest all you want, but he’s good. He has had mistakes, but I don’t think he’s as bad as everyone wants to think.
People need to move on.
Plus after two weeks of Artest being a Piston (if it ever happened) everyone would be all over him and cheering for him. He’d fit very well here, the guys would be a great influence on him too.
ok then.
I was speaking for myself, but thanks for your opinion. As for people needing to move on, why don’t you start with the guy blowing kisses to the crowd every shot?
Are you seriously going to defend and campaign for a psycho who throws gum into the crowd at the Palace?? Damn!! Who needs that kind of kindergarten bullshit on a championship team? You can have all the talent in the world, but if you’re an asshole… who needs it? He would not fit here in a million years… attitude and chemistry count for a hell of a lot here and he would be a terrible addition. MAYBE the guys could be a good influence on him, but it would take a hell of a lot more than two weeks — and I find it hard to believe that Piston fans would EVER accept him as a member of the family here after his immature unprofessional behavior. I know I sure wouldn’t. Hell, I’d accept Kobe before I’d accept Artest and I HATE Kobe!
GO PISTONS!!!!
Zoo crew… where are you???
Pistons need to make a trade… BAD
+I know they went 0-11, but it’s tough for the bench (spare Maxiell who got minutes) to score when Flip refuses to play them.
+I’m sick of people dissing Tayshaun beause he’s not the traditional type of player.
-Ahedofmytime, you stated that he isn’t a reliable person to give the ball to, though his half hook post moves and the transition opportunties he makes are undenyable. Now you’re entitled to your opinion, but I lost all respect for your Pistons fan credibility when you claimed that Tayshaun can’t gaurd supperstar small forwards. There are two times recently that I can ting of him not shutting down the opposing SF. He did a mediocre job against Peirce in the last Celtics game and he struggled against Lebron in the ECF last year (though Lebron was playing rediculously well). Other than that, you can thank Tayshaun for shutting down T-macin 2004, for blocking Reggie Miller in 2004, and for making life miserable fore Kobe Bryant, especially in 2004 when we last won the whole thing.
+Artest would NOT fit in this team and Joe D is way to smart to even think of a move like that.
Hermann is a great defender.. he defends well against Dirk and Martin.. i think he should stay.
I want Herrmann to hang out a little bit longer. The same thing can’t be said about Brezec.
We play the Bulls tonight, a perfect chance to showcase our smart rookies to Ben.
As for Artest being a Pistons? I can only laugh at that notion.
Artest isn’t anywhere near Pistons material. He is terrible, and even if we got him as a bench player, it’d still be a downgrade. Last night’s game wasn’t exactly an awful game to watch, but once again, we let our lead get away. It always seems to happen with us, and it drives me absolutely crazy.
helllll noooo
that will NOT be the day.. when artest comes to play for detroit
id literally gag if i ever saw him in a pistons jersey.. id take a guy with average skills willing to work hard over an arrogant, obnoxious guy with great skills and no class any day of the week..
in fact id take kobe before artest.. at least he tends to act like a grown man sometimes
besides.. who told him that detroit wants him?? hes acting like we’re begging him or something.. “yea id consider detroit” well we never considered him!
ANYwayssss… i think our guys are just in a little slum .. they just have to wake up and get themseleves together.. even though i thought the loss against the knicks was a big enough wake up call
come on pistons.. we’re better than this!! lets prove it tonight against the bulls!
DETROIT♥
Are Hayes better than Fabio ? I Don’t think so. Why not make one night herrman ,one night Hayes .
Herrmann , a great 3 PT shooter. He has size. Herrman has to be used as 3 ,not as 4 . And Amir should get time in the 2nd quarter.
Flip ,only think on achieve his record,to have a nice resumee.
No bench development.
We have to cut , Dice minutes, put Amir to 10 minutes oer night. And Herrmann has on the rotation instead hayes. Its ok, afflalo, lost some minutes for Stuckey get more invilved. But Afflalo had a good and solid job on D.
PISTONS SUCK! they need to make a trade to even compete in the playoffs, flip,brezec and tayshaun for marion or amare stoudemire, either one would help this drowning overrated team. CANT WAIT FOR THE TIGERS!
^sorry, youre wrong.
anonymous 11:37AM
Are u totally outta your mind? How come the Pistons suck? Check the standings and you’ll see that the Pistons have the 2nd best record in the league..they are 2nd only to Boston..so how can u say they suck? And how come they can’t compete in the playoffs? This gotta be the most stupid thing I have read in awhile..you don’t know much about the NBA, now do you? I understand being upset for last night’s game (and I am, trust me) but come on now.
Dude, stick to baseball and stick watching the Tigers since you said I CANT WAIT FOR THE TIGERS!!!!!!! (who didn’t even make the playoffs last season)..also, just a little reminding: the Pistons made it to the conference finals in the last 5 seasons, won the title in 2004 and almost won it all once again in 2005. So, which other team in the league (other than the Spurs) has been so consistent in the past 5-6 years? No one..
I have better chance of getting pregnant than the Pistons trading for Ron Artest(i’m a man). So Artest had a good game, the Kings are healthier and came in playing with a purpose. Now people want to trade for this clown…. whatever homey… go root for the Celtics or something!
I am upset at the idea that Flip (Saunders, and notice how no one refers to him as coach) is electing to shorten his bench. The Zoo Crew is struggling a bit but why would you do this????
Rashid Umar
^^^hahah i like that
i know everything about the NBA and i happen to know the pistons r 2nd best and yes i am angry for last night, but i also remember this team being the best choke artists in the world im jus afraid they will choke again..and as for the tigers considering we have the best team in the whole league and staring a world series down in the eye.. yes i cant wait, and if u were a real sports fan u couldnt wait either home boy.
actually the pistons have tried for artest for the last couple seasons. The only downside is his temper. He plays excellent on both sides and would be a starter on any team. He came off the bench and played less because of his injury. He would fit really well in flips offense. Any real basketball player and fan shouldn’t deny his talent. The nba isn’t about having good personalities, it’s about getting the best rosters and championships. Look at denis rodman and the bulls.
Everybody just settle down! You have to realize that this is an 82 game season! They are humanbeings just like all of us, and are bound to have struggles through the season. I understand Detroit fans love their teams and expect the best out of them. But give them some slack, 82 games is alot! Tay, Jarvis, Sheed, and everyone will regain their swagger in time. Plus when Stuck gets his rhythm back watch out! You can still see he is second-guessing himself, and not playing loose! Give the Stones time! And why would you want to trade anyone of the best starting 5 in the league?!?!
They are shortening their bench to get Stuck more minutes with the main guys! In the middle of an NBA season you have very little practice time, so for a young player who has missed so much time the only way he can learn is put him in the fire. His rhythm is coming back and he will learn how to play all tempos of the NBA game! Don’t be so critical!
Nat, Artest would immediately make us a lock for an Eastern Conference title.
I agree with the first guy; don’t speak for all of us. You can stay jaded from what happened three years ago, but winners move on.
Face it. He’s much better than Prince. Character is overrated.
If winners move on, then artest is a loser, since he can’t move on. It’s not just the brawl, it’s that Artest is nuts. The guy just isn’t right in the head. I don’t deny his talent at all, but it would worry me that he would flip out at some time, and get himself another big suspension, or some jailtime or something. There are just too many negatives about him, and they don’t outweigh the positives, in my opinion.
Fluidics, I’m with you. I don’t care how great he is, he F’N nuts. Every time he’s unhappy he bails on his team…then what?
I desperately want the pistons management to fire Saunders or give him one hell of a talk, because he needs to develop our bench and give them more minutes or even start bench players after a starter does bad in a game. Make the starters fight for their starting positions. everyone already knows that the pistons are a championship contending team, so it doesnt matter if we lose more games when we play our bench more, because we want to have the bench ready come time for the playoffs. The starters wouldnt have to struggle so much if the bench could carry the load for them when the starters need rest. sometimes you have to lose more to gain even more and this is one of those times.
also the chemistry and the trust between all of the players would drastically improve as well
Nat, I hate to correct you…
“Our defense kept us in it, but on defense we were just too late.”
but that first ‘defense’ should be offense.
Ron Artest is an amazing player, trust me I hate him for the scum he is. However, I will not deny that he is good at what he does. I think the pistons can use a player like him. He is a great defender and can score all day if he had too.
Do I want him on the Pistons? Hell no. He is a great player but I think his antics will rip this team apart. To think that our players will have a good impact on him is crazy.
i’m not against taking that chance however. remember, we took a chance at Sheed, who came off a 40-something technical season like 2 years before he was a Piston, and was probably the main part of the “Jailblazers.”
to be completely honest with you guys, i think the Pistons are stale at the moment. Getting Webber last year was a remedy for last year’s early-season staleness; we need to shake it up again this year in order to generate interest.
Just my 2 cents.
I think the Pistons are coming off quite a winning streak, in which the bench was playing tons of minutes, and are just in a slump right now. If they are still slumping a few games past the all star break, then I’d look to “shake things up”, but not to break things up.
I’m going to say this…
I sense a lot of homerism on this blog, and that’s fine. Many of you readers probably weren’t even watching the Pistons religiously until 03, but probably 04.
For my man who says he never remembers Tay struggling against great SFs, you don’t know what the hell you are talking about. First off, LEBRON owned him. Second, we must continue to go through LeBron for the next 12 years!!! Pierce took it past Tay every time, and then fed it to Davis, since Sheed had to cover Tay. Typical homer fan brings up the block from four years ago, cool, great block, great play. Ben had over a thousand blocks, Elden had some great blocks, Hunter had plenty of blocks just like Tays (and he’s smaller, by a lot). Artest would dominate Tay every playoff. Richard Jefferson the same. Tay has no offensive game, he slows down our offense, his D has become miserable (since he doesn’t have BEN AND SHEED to get his back and make him look good). Kobe isn’t a small forward. Tay is awful. At LEAST 18 starting SF’s are better than him, not including the guys that play SG and PF (that are listed at SF). Artest is one of them.
Say what you want about Ron, but Sheed was a risk. He paid off. Artest had his problems, but he gets a bad rap. He does a lot of good community stuff, and has. He has some growing up to do and coming here would be the ultimate stop for him. His anger has to do with winning, he wants to win, so badly that he has troubled his teammates in the past. I’m all for a guy that wants to win and goes 110% on the court EVERY night. Unlike Tay who complains every call, lays on the court when he’s knocked down, over exagerates hits and falls to the floor and has no tenacity to go hard or take over.
Technically, we are not a championship team. That was four years ago, we’ve gotten worse the past two seasons as far as playoffs go, and that’s what counts to me.
well basically the pistons mess up in every possible draft they were in such as the following players they passed over… Al Harrington, Manu Ginobili, Joe Johnson, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace Tony Parker, Gilbert Arenas, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Kirk Hinrich, TJ Ford, Boris Diaw, Leandro Barbosa, and Josh Howard Any one of these players to me seemed like they would have been a good draft choice, but we were completely unfortunate to sign any of them. Instead we landed duds like Mateen Cleaves, Darko Milicic, Carlos Delfino, Melvin Levett, and Rodney White. To me, most of these players were or only would be seldomly used bench players. The pistons organization needs to get their heads out of their asses or get better scouts so this team can have better future waiting ahead of them.