The Pistons put the Blazers away early Friday night at The Palace. Though the 91-83 score may not indicate, this one was a blowout. Billups with the hot hand in the first and a energized Zoo Crew, helped The Pistons earn their seventh straight win.
Key Points:
- The box tells most of the story in this one. 40 points on the night for the Zoo Crew.
- Two early fouls in the first quarter limited Sheed from having a big game against his former team but that didn’t stop Sheed from knocking down threes at will when he was out there. Rasheed was 3-for-4 from downtown for nine points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steal and a blocked shot in just 21 minutes on the night.
- The only member of The Blazers the Pistons couldn’t stop was LaMarcus Aldridge who scored 22 points.
- Big minutes for the bench usually means a whole lot of fun and a rest for the starters. Best bench play all season and a fun game to be at the Palace for.
- Chauncey Billups played just 24 minutes and scored all of his 17 points in the first quarter. Billups started the Pistons off right and the bench took over in the second quarter.
Photo/Getty Images
- Jarvis Hayes looked sharp from the minute he stepped on the floor. He knocked down two three pointers and has really stepped up his defense. He finished with 7 points and 2 boards.
- I am honestly starting to feel bad for Flip Murray.
- Walter Herrmann is the new Darko, and don’t take that the wrong way. I mean the Palace crowd goes nuts every time he enters the game. Unfortunately last night he was 0-for-2.
- I have said this before but I love when Flip leaves one of the starters on the floor when the bench is out there. It seems to be the key to keeping them flowing together. With Wallace on the floor with Stuckey, Johnson, Jarvis Hayes and Arron Afflalo, the Pistons opened the second period with a 23-8 run.
- The leader of The Zoo crew last night was Rodney Stuckey who had a career high 13 points. When he wasn’t driving the lane for an easy layup he was ally ooping it to Amir Johnson for a jam. Stuckey added 4 assists , 3 boards, with just one turnover on the night.
Photo/Getty Images
- I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record but I am continually impressed by the play of Arron Afflalo. It’s not like I didn’t know he had skills when he came to The Pistons, but he’s transformed his game into just what the Pistons needed. He’s just as pesky out there on D as Lindsey Hunter is. Have you noticed when he’s out there he’s making his plays for his teammates rather than taking the shot for himself? He runs the break well. I could go on and on. Arron finished with 4 points on 2-for-3 shooting with 2 boards and 2 assists.
- NBA.com Highlights of The Game.
- Detroit led by as many as 27.
- The Zoo Crew outscored Portland’s bench 28-4 in the first half.
- Get that outta here Raef LaFrentz.
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit
- Jason Maxiell scored 6, grabbed 5 boards and had that NASTY block. Every time they show Maxiell up on the big screen he looks like he just gave 110%. Gotta love it.
- We again have to give thanks to the solid play of Antonio McDyess who seems to be getting it down one way or another to help this team night in and night out.
- “That was awesome to watch those young guys just play with reckless abandon,” Billups said. “It was beautiful. A couple of times Flip wanted a couple of us to come back in, and we were like, ‘Nah, let them play.’ ” Via The Detroit Free Press
- It wasn’t a complete success for The Pistons bench. They let the Trail Blazers cut into their huge lead in the fourth quarter giving up 25 points to a Portland team that just didn’t give up. The Pistons themselves scored just 10 points in the final quarter.
- It was fun to watch the Pistons starters from the bench being just as excited as The Palace crowd was by the play of the youngsters.
- AMIRZING night for Johnson who finished with a season high 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 huge blocks. Amir was having fun out there and he looked confident. Stuckey, Afflalo and Johnson like to run and that is something we haven’t seen from a Pistons team in a very long time. And how about Amir diving on the floor like a football player for the loose ball, this kid comes to play.
Photo/Getty Images
- Matt Watson has some interesting observations about Primoz Brezec from last nights game in his Hoopsworld post game wrap up.
- I still can’t get enough of this video of Rip’s “perfect” three point shooting.
- The Second annual Blogfest details are almost finalized. I hope a lot of you can make it out this year. It’s great meeting up, and watching the game with dedicated fans.
- Back at it again Sunday against the Bobcats. Haven’t we played them like 20 times already this season, I feel like it’s groundhog day.
That game was great fun to watch until the 4th when the bench let up a little too much. I even watched the first half again last night and it may get the “save until I delete” classificaton on my Tivo. Stuckey surprises me with his speed and he can really sky. He got a rebound in the paint over a few bigs and I almost couldn’t believe it was him. I couldn’t agree more on Afflalo, he seems like a perfect replacement for Lindsey (but it is good to have Lindsey for the playoffs, just in case). I wish he didn’t get fouled on that steal in the first half so we could see him really thump one down. My wife thinks I have a George Constanza level man crush on Hermann, but I like how he plays and I really think he is going to come in handy down the road. Good 3 point shooters are never a bad thing to have (even though we already have Mr Tramp Ball). Hermann is a little bit of a spaz on defense, but I’m okay with that.
Twaltch,
What fourth quarter do you speak of? I’m trying to forget it myself. I think I feel a little bit like you do about Herrmann but I don’t know if I go as far as you do. “…a little bit of a spaz of defense” you can say that again, but he’s getting it done.
well I love loved loved loved this game, even though the Zooooooooooo Crew kind of let the Blazers in the game I loved it wen FLip stuck with the bench and let them play basically 3/4 of the game. Another thing i love to c is when the starters minutes ARE WAYYYYYYY DOWN. Like i heard rip, chauncey, sheed, and tay were playing like below 30 minutes is beautiful to watch. Something i think we need 2 keep consistent. Despite me missing the game i made an effort of waking up @ 2 in tha morning just to watch the game again :D. Also something to point out i love it when sports talk radio and sports center basically ignore us and giving all the media news to Boston, Phoenix, Lakers,Cavs and i like it when we just don’t say anything and just go out and play our game. I am very convinced that the bench is the key to our 4th championship. OMG Detroit is definitely sports city because i just realized tha baseball season is coming up, the Pistons are rolling, the wings are rolling, and I’m once again excited about the lions season this year, and not to forget the defending WNBA east champs the Detroit Shock. Great game i loved it , we gotta play like this on Sunday and oh boy I LOVE THIS BENCH. Have u guys realized the type of stats Amir puts up in the amount of minutes he has…OMG. I have to give mad props to our future Lindsey Hunter AA battery, I am really loving his D and don’t care if he scores, i just seem to really like this kid from Compton. Joe D always seems to make the right picks, because i was really skeptical about this pick in the draft, but now I WILL NEVER REGRET IT!!!! LOVING STUCKEY AS ALWAYS , LOVING JARVIS SINCE HE GOT HERE, ALWAYS WILL BE LOVING J-MAX BECAUSE HE IS TRYING, LOVING AMIR LIKE ALWAYS, AND WILL ALWAYS AND WILL FOREVER LOVE THIS TEAM !!!!
LET’S GO PISTONS AND LET’S GET THAT SHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2007-2008 IT’S OUR TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL BOUT DETROIT BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ll forgive that 4th, the Pistons were going o win, either way by that point. Portland would have needed another 3 minutes to take the lead, and thats assuming the Pistons didn’t keep scoring.
As impressive as the first half of the game was on O, I was doubly impressed by the Pistons defense in the game, just outstanding.
Funny you say that about Herrmanns defense, my dad and I had essentially the same reaction. He looks like a Michael Jackson video on defense, but it’s all good, Walters the bomb. My pops and I stood and cheered, whistled, waved our hats, everything when Walt came in. Game was fun once the crowd got going.
I wish I didn’t miss the first half of this one. It sounds like the bench was incredible. I felt like me watching the game was bad luck for the boys cuz they were up 22 or 24 when I started and then the lead just started dwindling from there.
I love how excited the crowd gets when Herrmann comes in the game. Blaha commented on how appreciative the fans were of Maxiell when he came out, but I think most of the cheers and applause was for Herrmann (not that we all don’t love and appreciate Maxiell!). You gotta love that guy–Fabio hair, freakishly large hands, and all. lol
Hearing about the bench and everything has made me even more excited for tomorrow’s game. From now on, I’m not missing a second of DEEE-TROOOIIIT! BAAA-SKET-BAAALL!
GO PISTONS!
well, I think I was so impressed with the second quarter that the Pistons could do nothing wrong in my eyes for the rest of the game.
When Amir dived for the ball and got it, I was speechless. I guess it’s just another day at the office for him.
The fact that our bench was holding it down on their own against a very good young team has got to make you smile. I gotta give it up to Joe D for silently building up a future like that for the Pistons. Last night’s game was a big “F U” to all those NBA “experts” who claim that the Pistons have peaked out and have no room to grow.
And Rip’s video is pretty hilarious. The NBA, where “FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONEEEEE” happens.
Detroitgirl,
Don’t forget our Detroit Demolition defending champs!
Detroit’s the best!
DEEETROIT FOREVER!
Hey Natalie, i have a question for u. Now don’t take this the wrong way but i was just on this website and it was saying mean things about tayshaun like how he got divorced and he only dates women and then breaks up just to get noticed more. Also that he doesn’t have any kids yet or that he has many kids. So i was wondering if new anything bout tay and farrah. Cause i like tayshan and i think he is awesome but eveyone makes fun of me for that and say all those bad things bout him. So i just want to show them that there wrong. So if u know anything bout tay can u please tell me.
From what I know all is good in Tayshaun’s world. I would say unless you read it in a credible source don’t believe it.
That’s all I know, I am not one to delve into the players personal lives, to me that should stay personal.
There was an article from Pistons.com that talked about how Tayshaun and his wife opened a little clubhouse or something for kids with cancer at the Palace. So I think their marriage is pretty rock solid.
But more importantly, I like how the Pistons keep their private lives private. You don’t see the Pistons on the front page for some rape or assault case, etc.
All we need to know is numbers 1,22,24,32,36,54,25,3,28,10,9,6 show up to play every night. On a side note, I can’t believe I have their jerseys memorized (except Herrmann and Brezec)…I mean I don’t sit there and memorize it or anything…
^^hahaha i love how those numbers wern’t in order. Nothing personal…it’s just something i saw
LET’S GO PISTONS AND LET’S GET THAT SHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2007-2008 IT’S OUR TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL BOUT DETROIT BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn’t there a 7 in there?
just a question for you natalie when do season tickets go one sale? I have been saving for the last few months and I have saved about 4000.00 for tickets and I want to by tickets.
Pretty much any time after the season. There is a selection process, people who already have season tickets get first pick, then the list for new season ticket customers. You will deal with a ticket agent, and there are quite a few perks that go with holding season tickets. Note that season tickets don’t include playoffs, those are seperate.
Follw this link to find out what you need to know.
http://www.nba.com/pistons/tickets/detroit_pistons_ticket_info_request.html
detroitgirl4life, yea, I was trying to put them in order, and I was doing well for the starters, but then I couldn’t continue haha.
Did Chauncey really clip his nails during the game? haha too funny. It’s good though, so he won’t scratch someone.
thanks the fluidics, I can’t wait until i can get them, do you know how if i can get lower bowl seats or will i have to start in the upper bowl, i will have about 7500.00 saved by the end of the season, and i want to get two seats.
Annon^^^
Email me at need4sheed@gmail.com and I will hook you up with my ticket agaent. He’s a really good guy, he can give you all the info you need.
No I didn’t see Chauncey clipping his nails. What is he LeBron now?
Maxielle’s monster block made my night. Woooooo-eeee! It’s very nice to see the guys rolling again, especially the bench! Nobody played over 28 minutes, and that makes me smile.
No Natalie, if Chauncey was Lebron, he’d be biting his nails, not clipping them 🙂