The Pistons showed the entire country that they’re no joke Sunday afternoon in the desert. Detroit got off to an early lead against The Suns finishing the half with an 18 point lead. It didn’t stop there with all of The Pistons playing well they didn’t let go of their stranglehold on Phoenix until the final buzzer sounded. The final score of this blowout 116-86.
Key Points:
- Detroit led by as much as 36 in the game and finished with a 30 point win, even with the Zoo Crew going up against Shaq and Amare.
- Maxiell and Amir made quite an impression.
- Many, many Pistons fans in Arizona. Could you hear the Sheeeeeed and Deeeetroit Basketballl chants over all of the booing of their team by the Suns fans? I still will never understand that. As many Pistons, Tigers or Wings games that I have been to over the years I have never heard Detroit fans boo their own team (and no, The Lions don’t count). I guess Suns fans are OK with it.
- DON’T F WITH AMIR SHAQ…..Dirty flagrant foul on Amir doesn’t go over well here(video).
- “After Amir Johnson had his wind expelled by a flagrant elbow from Shaquille O’Neal in the second quarter, a fan behind the Pistons’ bench shouted, “We aren’t soft anymore, Detroit.” Really?” Via The Detroit News
- Ask me to sum this one up in one word, it would have to be SHEEDtastic!
- Sheed could do nothing wrong in this one, knocking down shots over everyone effortlessly. Rasheed led the Pistons with 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting with 8 boards an assist going a perfect 5-for-5 from the line in just 26 minutes. It’s nice to see Sheed taking a technical foul shot instead of getting one. SHEEEEEEEEED!
Photo/Getty Images
- Sheed post game interview, with a little highlight action.
- The bench can run with the best of them as seen in Sunday’s game against the lightning fast Suns.
- The Zoo Crew put up 40 points, The Suns bench scored 29.
- “Rasheed Wallace joked that he had been trying to warn Johnson about O’Neal for two years. When Johnson reached in to grab a rebound from O’Neal’s hands, the Suns giant simply flung him from side to side. As they lined up for the ensuing jump ball, Wallace told Johnson he looked like a “ragdoll.” “Man, he was strong,” Johnson said. “You was right.” Via Yahoo.com
- Rebound war won 48-32.
- Chauncey feels like a cartoon after the knot he received on his head courtesy of Amare.
- Six Pistons in double figures, all the starters plus Hayes.
- Great ball movement and suffocating defense from Detroit .
- NBA.com Highlights of The Game.
- The Suns had a slight resurgence when they went on a 11-2 run to get within 45-39, but Detroit scored the last 12 points of the half. It was never really close again.
- Chauncey Billups put up another double-double with 14 points and 11 assists with 3 boards, a steal and a blocked shot. Mr. Big Shot ran the show the right way against Nash.
Photo/Getty Images
- “I love it,” Billups said. “A game like that where you play against a guy like Steve who is a two-time MVP and one of the best out there, you look forward to that challenge; you look forward to that competitive nature coming out. It’s always fun.” Via MLive
- Amir Johnson held his own out there banging with Shaq. He once again gave the Pistons team a spark off the bench, even though the starters didn’t need it on Sunday. Mr. Amrizing put up 5 points, 2 blocked shots, 5 boards and 3 assists.
- Bill Walton flops more than Anderson Varejao and Manu Ginobili combined. Remember his pre-game video? Well after the Pistons dominated at the half Mr. Ed changed his tune.
- Jarvis Hayes put up his best numbers as a Pistons with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 20 minutes on the floor. We know he’s a streaky shooter but he seems to be on a groove lately and I will say that he’s picked up his D.
- Stuckey was 1-for-9 from the floor and still seems to need to learn to be more selective when driving the lane. As for his jumpshot, he’s streaky now, but hopefully that will come soon.
- Give Walter a shot….Let him play! If he doesn’t go all out no matter when he’s on the floor, I don’t know who does.
- Maxiell…..The Putback King was impressive, 6 points, 8 boards and a blocked shot.
Courtesy of The NBA, ESPN and ABC
- Bagel for Grant Hill.
- 26 points in the paint for Detroit while The Suns put up 28.
- Did Shaq look frustrated out there or what? I think most of it was the Pistons youngsters getting the best of him.
- Do you need another reason to hate Cavs Fans? They’re happy Shaq took down Amir, but with it was Sheed.
- Rip put up 18, Tayhaun, 10 and McDyess 12. All three played well and were knocking down shots with ease.
- Dyess….Another double-double. How many is that on the season?
- “It’s embarrassing, it’s disappointing, it’s everything,” Suns point guard Steve Nash said. “It’s tough, no matter who you play, to lose by 30 points.” Via Yahoo.com
- “This was a big game for us,” Billups said. “You know how we are, man, when we play against other elite teams, we lock in. We lock in big-time. I thought everybody played great today-everybody.” Via Yahoo.com
- As impressive as Amir was the last few games on court, he’s even more impressive in post game interviews.
- Tough game Monday night against The Nuggets.
hey nat and need4sheed crew! i’m glad im the first one to comment because i just got back from u.s. airways in phoenix and im proud to report that pistons fans are spread all over planet orange and u can hear everywhere after the game “deeeeetroit basketball” it was a good feeling to get to leave the stadium wearing a pistons jersey! chaunce defense on off the screen was pretty intense and agressive more than what you saw on tv. wow! there is a big difference seeing it in person. he’s really a physical point guard, very unique! he made nash, 2 time league mvp look like a rookie. everyone else in pistons, was awesome……sheed seems like he can’t miss a shot, in fact a suns fans ask me about our pistons….”do they ever miss a shot?”
luved every minute of that game nice blowout…take that walton byaaaa!!!!!!!!!!
This was the best TEAM game the Pistons have played in awhile. no one was holding the ball more than they should have trying to go 1 in 5 (so many great passes, and fast breaks)
Max put back dunks, stuckey steal to Afflalo in the open court to Jarvis Hayes for a lay in, great team defense. This game had it all Also agree Walter needs more minutes
Rip Tayshaun and Chauncey were all great.
I wish Amir had converted that dunk in the fourth from the Juan Dixon pass.
Oh and Amir and Sheed were the greatest of the day love that energy, focus, and the team game they came with. Keep it up.
Why do the Cavs fans hate Detroit so much? We gave them so many of the the cavs employees including ben and they were even trying to use our same pyrotechnics, I mean we give and we give and we give, and yet they still treat us like they do. that’s just booty.
Ohio hates Michigan because we kick there ass in every sport. Everytime Ohio goes to some kind of championship they lose.
When I was watching the game, I was like “are they cheering for the Pistons?” I thought I heard “Sheeeeedd” every Sheed had the ball. haha I guess the Pistons could call Phoenix a “home away from home”
As for the Cavs fan comment, all I have to say is karma is a bitch. Watch what you say because your precious Cavs are also vulnerable to flagrant fouls…I pity the fool *shakes my head*
I was at the game today as well.
Alternating between my Bad Boys vintage sweatshirt and my Amir Johnson jersey. It was a great game, it was also worth the 3 hour drive (there and back, thru a miserable desert).
I didn’t hear really any booing from the Suns fans. I heard tons of Detroit cheering though, which was fun. There are tons of Michiganders in Arizona, it’s ridiculous. I bumped into a kid I knew from high school, that is your definition of RANDOM (the most overused word by trendy young people).
Though, I didn’t hear any booing from Suns fans, at least nothing carrying over in a big group. I have had Pistons season tickets from 2000-2006, and I HAVE HEARD booing at the Palace.
I think Phoenix has a great fan base, and I will say, the crowd stuck it out and people didn’t pour out much. I’ll tell you this, if that was the Palace and the game had that much disparity (either us winning or losing) the Palace would have emptied out into the fourth and definitely halfway empty with less than 7 minutes to go. So I wouldn’t dog the Phoenix fans, they’re a very nice and respectable crowd. Not one person said a rude thing to me today, nor last year.
In Detroit, many of the fans in the Stadium are rude, trash and an a complete joke (most of which are newcomer/fairweather), but still. So out of respect to the fans of Phoenix (and not some silly blogger person), I will defend them. I’ve been to away games in Indiana and Cleveland, and have had problems at both those stadiums (near fight experience).
So props to Phoenix, their fans and their very supportive crowd.
Natalie, you must not have been to many Pistons games, cause I’ve heard the boo birds many times, and even during the Canadian National Anthem…shameful.
Note, this isn’t all Detroit fans, there are plenty of great ones, I’m sure many at this board, but…I figured I’d speak my piece.
word.
Check my site for NBA blabber.
People boo at the Palace, but they don’t boo the Pistons when they are playing poorly. You could clearly hear the Phoenix fans booing when they were getting creamed. NY and Philly are also well known for this.
And the Phoenix fans were leaving early, it just takes them longer to file out because of the walkers and canes. (rimshot)
Good game, nice recap. Here is also a nice column from Yahoo sports about Amir and the young talent on the Pistons. Good read, check it out all:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Akqgn9.prrjfQHQQ0zU6euI5nYcB?slug=jy-pistons022408&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
-Vik
Stay classy, Cleveland.
That message board is full of scum, makes me angry. >.<
Gotta love how the Outside the NBA comes to Need4Sheed to belittle “a silly NBA blogger person” and then try to rep his own Blog site.
I was at the Phoenix game yesterday (made the trip just for the game) and I heard the boos, so I have no idea what that guy is talking about. I have been a Pistons season ticket holder for a little less than 20 years and I will tell you, we stick by our team.
If anyone should “stay classy” it should be you dude.
Thanks for the recap, top notch as always….
I loved every damn bit of this game.
On a side not I was listening to Detroit Sports talk radio 1130 this morning on the drive in and Jamei Samulson was worried about points in the paint.
We won by 30, on national TV bask in that. We live and die by the jumper that’s no surprise, it’s just how we roll.
Great game and F$%^ Shaq for taking down Amir.
Oh my, how good it felt to watch this game! Shaq was a poor mistake, GO PISTONS!
hey nat, if you get a chance. i’d love to see the retaliation hit maxy put on shaq, seding him to his knees. it wasn’t that bad, and you can see shaw knew he had it coming. he threw off help from a teammate getting up. it made me very happy.
I think Nat referring to Pistons fans booing the Pistons, and that she hasn’t heard that before.
Anyone booing for there home team is a bandwagoner regardless!
That Shaq foul summed up the whole game perfectly. Chauncey to Amir, who looks right at shaq and says i’m gonna dunk over his fat ass, and shaq knows he can’t stop amir from dunking unless he acts like a complete ass and rams his fat body into him. either a flagrant or a dunk was going to be the result, and if shaq had tried to block it, shoot it would have made a great highlight watching Amir dunk right over him. shaq’s ego got the best of him, he didn’t want to look stupid so he did what he does best, acted like a big dumb caveman.
Everything in this game was close to perfect, but stuckey shooting 1-9 is not good. him and jarvis inconsistencies could hurt us in the playoffs.
don´t hate on shaq
if i was a 3-time finals mvp i would not like some young cats routin me all night too…
it´s just human
I completely AGREE with Anonymous 1:07AM, Ohio is all hype and they are in the top 10 National Conferences every year just because they “paid” to be in that conference. If they get rid of that stupid criteria, the little colleges would kick their stupid Ohio State ass up and down the court or the field.
Thank you LSU, made me double the money I lost last year with those OSU frauds. Hope their basketball team makes the Sweet 16 so that I can bet against them again.
Shaq should hang up his sneakers now, he had his chance and he’s got 4 rings even though the last one is fraudulent.
I like Stoudamire alot as a player and as a person, please don’t ruin his skills with your so called mentoring. Everyone gets old, including you Shaq. Remember how all your coaches told you to be respectful and keep your weight down and you never listened. Karma sucks when it bites back.
Shaq should hang up his sneakers now, he had his chance and he’s got 4 rings even though the last one is fraudulent.
I like Stoudamire alot as a player and as a person, please don’t ruin his skills with your so called mentoring. Everyone gets old, including you Shaq. Remember how all your coaches told you to be respectful and keep your weight down and you never listened. Karma sucks when it bites back.
Sheed on the other hand is doing a great job as a mentor.
I was talking about some Suns silly blogger, I have every right to homeslice. My blog is a variety of stuff, and I’m actually a graduate of journalism and went to school for it. I can call that dude silly, and I think a blogger is a blogger…nothing more. Most of them have little credentials and are an outsider, so I don’t expect people to think I’m some end all be all, but I enjoy the NBA and I enjoy writing so I do it–I don’t think my site is some supreme official source, but it’s my viewpoints and things I enjoy about the NBA–I expect people to look at it and think either A. He’s not bad, or he’s pretty damn good. B. It’s a good site to visit a couple times a day or C. Who cares what he thinks, who the hell is he?
Regardless, I can totally call him a silly blogger, cause that’s all he is. His opinion is that of one Suns fan.
I didn’t hear any harsh booing from there crowd, I was in the lower bowl.
And for you to say you’ve never heard the fans boo the Pistons based on their performance, then you’re nuts and you must have given your season tickets to people.
I remember being there when we lost to Boston for example in 2002 and people chanting “Let’s Go Red Wings” and it carrying through the stadium, that’s even worse than booing, that is just one example. Memphis game, blowout in 2004-05 season–another.
So like I said, people at the Palace boo–and I think it’s unfair to go dogging the Suns fans, cause I think they’re a great fan base and both my experiences at the US Airways Center were great and both were Pistons blowouts.
So dude, if you heard booing, cool. I didn’t. Their fans stuck out that awful game for a very long time and I wanted to do was share my viewpoint on their fans, I thought that this site was taking a shot at them and then being homerish by building up fans at the Palace–which I didn’t think was fair.
I looked through that link of the Cavs fans. It was horrible. I almot vommited from all the Lebron worship. What kind of twisted person actually likes to see a 206 pound 20 year old get get pounded to the floor by a 7’1, 325 pound man? There’s nothing cool about that. I don’t like Lebron, Kobe, or even Varajoke, but I don’t want to see any of them get hurt. That’s childih and wrong if you ask me. I’m glad we’re above that.
By the way, “outside the NBA”, we have to have a little talk.
“Not one person said a rude thing to me today, nor last year.
In Detroit, many of the fans in the Stadium are rude, trash and an a complete joke (most of which are newcomer/fairweather), but still. So out of respect to the fans of Phoenix (and not some silly blogger person), I will defend them. I’ve been to away games in Indiana and Cleveland, and have had problems at both those stadiums (near fight experience).”
Giving the fans of the away team a hard time isn’t a trashy hing to do at all. It’s part of the fun involved in sports rivalry. If you don’t want to get booed when you go into enemy territory, then be a coward closet fan and don’t wear their enemy colors in their building. If I wear my Billups Jersey into Arco Arena I expect to get booed, and I’d accept that because I’d do the same to Bulls fans coming into the Palace. There’s nothing trashy about it- it’s all in fun. If you almost get into a fight over some (usually drunk) person going too far with it, than it just means you’ve taken them too seriously.
Furthermore, chanting “let’s go redwings” is WAY more positive than booing your own team. Doing so is only saying “Hey, if it’ not our year for basketball, let’s look at what we do have going for us.” As a Lion fan I’ll often say “let’ go Pistons!” at the end of the game- especially during the seonf half of football season. Does that mean I disrespect my beloved football team? NO- it means I’m looking on the bright side. I don’t give Suns fans a lot of credit for sticking around to boo the players that their supposed to be supporting.
Richie,
I was second row in Cleveland, cheering my team, not being obnoxious and showing my support with some friends. We had three beer bottles thrown at us?
My girlfriend is a Shawn Marion fan, she wore her jersey to a game at the Palace with me, and some dirtbag ‘fans’ yelled obscenities at her when she was walking around…F-bombs to clarify.
I’ve read some of the stuff you wrote on here, you seem like you started watching the Pistons in 2002, so that’s fine.
YOU NEVER GO TO A PISTONS GAME and CHANT FOR ANOTHER TEAM IF THEY’RE LOSING. ESPECIALLY AFTER THE SEASON THE TEAM HAD in 2001-02, real fans know. THAT IS A COMPLETE DISRESPECT. WHEN IM AT THE PISTONS GAME, IM A PISTONS FAN…THATS THE FOCUS, NOT THE WINGs, TIGERS or LIONS. That’s disrespectful.
you’ve probably been to less than 20 Pistons home games in your life, let alone any road games, so get some experience underneath your belt and pull your shorts down in your picture a bit, cus I think you got them up a bit too high homey.