It’s wasn’t just another Friday night at The Palace. The Pistons hosted the NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs and The Make a Wish Foundation. Pistons fans got two wishes granted with a 84-80 win over The Spurs and by surpassing their goal of raising 400,000 dollars for the Make a Wish Foundadtion, thanks to some very generous Pistons fans.
Key Points:
- The Pistons led by 12 early in the fourth quarter, but a 13 -0 run by the Spurs put them in the lead with just three minutes left in the game.
- Sheed and Dyess forced Duncan into shooting 9-for-23 on the night. Duncan finished with 20 points.
- The Palace was buzzing from the tip to the finish. I have been to my share of games this season and I have to say this was the closest to a playoff game all season. First time that I can remember that I didn’t see people leaving early to beat traffic.
- Flip shortened the rotation for the world champs. Playing Maxiell just 5 minutes with a DNP for Afflalo and Johnson.
- Looks like we will be seeing Lindsey Hunter very soon.
- Detroit couldn’t stop Tony Parker form driving the lane for easy 2’s. He led the Spurs with an impressive 26 points on 12-18 shooting.
- Rip led the Pistons with 25 points on 10-for-18 shooting, but most impressive was his clutch shot and subsequent free throws that cemented the win for Detroit. Hamilton also added 4 boards and 4 assists in the victory.
Photo/Getty Images
- The Spurs were they without Bruce Bowen, due to his suspension. While Ime Udoka sat out with a right ankle sprain.
- Tayshaun was solid, when nobody on court for the Pistons could score, Prince came up big. His 17 points were a key part to this win along with his wide open jumper late in the game. He pulled down 5 boards and has become an expert of late assisting his teammates, he had 6 helpers in the win.
- With the win, The Pistons sweep the season series with The Spurs.
- The Rockets are just plain impressive. The Spurs no longer are tied for the lead in the Southwest Division. The Rockets moved ahead in the standings by winning their 21st straight.
- NBA.com Highlights of The Game.
- Though I was sure Sheed would have a big night he scored 10, but did a wonderful job anchoring the defense for The Pistons. It was his 2 jumpers late in the game that helped lock up the victory.
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and WDIV Detroit
- 10 Turnovers for the Pistons and 11 for The Spurs.
- Classic Pistons-Spurs battle. Great defense in a game that went down to the wire.
- The Pistons really settled for jumpshots all night. A lot had to do with the Spurs presence in the paint. Detroit scored just 24 in the paint while San Antonia scored 44. Plenty of those points came from Parker.
- The Pistons took Ginobili out of the game. He scored just 9 on the night.
- How frustrating was it to watch The Spurs go on that run to take the lead in the fourth. The crowd got taken out until Rip hit that jumper late in the fourth.
- All hail Antonio McDyess! 17 boards a block and 6 points. Unsung Hero.
Photo/Getty Images
- “Half of those rebounds just fell into my hands,” the always self-effacing McDyess said. “I just tried to give good energy. I was very disappointed after the last game (loss to Philadelphia) and I wanted to come out and set the tempo and get this win.” Via The Detroit News. How can you not LOVE Dyess?
- Domination of the boards 51-39.
- I was lucky enough to attend the game with Team Need4Sheed Captain Steve, who is not only insightful, but come to find out he can do instant stats in his head. I have now nicknamed him Insta Stat and will apologize to him formally for being a really shitty photographer and ruining this great photo op.
- A new season high in offensive rebounds for The Pistons. They finished with 22 and scored 17 second chance points.
- You had to like the way the refs called this game. They were consistent on both sides and really let the two teams play this one out.
- When Sheed rolls, so do the Pistons.
- Sheed introduced a new Circle Dance last night and it was fabulous. Unfortunately they didn’t broadcast it, so I can’t show it to you. The best I can do is show you RA’s moves during the game.
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and WDIV Detroit
- 412,060 Money Raised to help Make A Wish.
- Remember….Hornets-Pistons at 1:00 PM at The Palace on Sunday and will be Nationally televised on ABC.
woulda lost if bowen played hahaha
wow, so Bowen is the driving force behind the Spurs? Oh of course, the Spurs need him to kick the opponents’ point guard in the balls to win.
Sorry Popovich, Tim Duncan, and Ginobli, you aren’t the core of this team, Bowen is. Come on Ginobli, flopping isn’t gonna make you a powerhouse like Bowen, next time, you gotta dive straight into the defenders, with your fists aiming right at their faces.
Oh by the way, was the Spurs short-handed last time they played against the Pistons in San Antonio? You know, the one where the Pistons won by 10?
I think Bowen kneed the last person in the head a few too many times.
I enjoy Claire’s sarchasm.
Diddo^^^^
I would love to see these two team is the finals again for so many reasons.
I really think you need to change “The Pistons held Ginobli to 9 pts” to “Tayshaun held Ginobli to 9 pts” It was his physical defense on Manu that held him.
I’ve been to many pistons games in my lifetime, but I’ve NEVER seen the crowd so hyped up in this one. I couldn’t hear myself think there…it was great!
I loved the game! (besides getting stuck in the parking lot for 35 minutes).
Watched the whole game on High Def with my wife and kids. Screamed with my wife when Rip made the shot and 1.
Welcome back Rip.
Henry
That game was great to watch, I was getting worried at the end, we couldnt make a shot, then Rip and Sheed stepped it up. I watched on NBA TV, and i CAN NOT STAND the Spurs announcers, they are so bias, worse than any broadcasting team out there, like, they don’t even really know the game all that well.
pistons suck!!
good game liked the article on sheed. Although in terms of the rebounding, why does Sheed get dissed for not “fighting through TD’s box outs” when Tayshaun doesn’t even box out or even block shots. Remember in the forth with LESS THAN A MINUTE LEFT Manu drives the lane and Tayshaun lets him WALK UP TO THE RIM and not even put a hand up. GREAT DEFENSE TAYSHAUN.
And in terms of Bruce Bowen being out. How many times do Pistons fans give the team the excuse of they lost cause they didn’t have a starter. Remember Spurs are a team like the Pistons.
And yeah I’m pretty sure Tony Parker was out when the Pistons lost by ten, or it might of been his first game back.
Either way good game, sad the bench is getting shortened, but happy Lindsey is coming back.
Good job Detroit on the telethon.
^^^
Tayshaun is a small forward Sheed is a Power Forward/Center it’s not Tay’s job to fight for boards as it is for a Center. As for blocked shots, that’s not Tays forte, he is more of an on-ball defender.
Stop gettin so pissed with Tayshaun he does his job better than most small forwards
I think anonymous 7:48 is a wee bit bitter that our Pistons beat his or her Spurs. 😉
Yeah, the Spurs announcers were bad. They sucked Tony Parker’s **** the whole game. However, I think the Bulls announcers are the worst – especially “Red” Kerr. That dude’s a moron.
Also, does a championship in a strike-shortened season really count? Dynasty, my ass…
Celtics announcer “Tommy” is clearly the most biased and annoying announcer in the league. That’s not to say that San Antonio’s were fair, they got on my nerves too, but nowhere near as bad as Tommy does.
i thought juan dixon was supposed to be a quick guard who could defend guys like tony parker. are we finally just accepting that faster guards are going to torch us?
Yeah, Tom Heinsohn is the worst. these guys were definitely on the homer side of the scale (as compared to blaha/kelser, the gold standard), but they definitely weren’t as bad as tommy. at no point did they threaten to beat up the guys in their own production truck for showing a replay that showed they were wrong. i still can’t believe that happened or that no one has made a big deal out of it.
nat … have you been drinking while posting this one?
btw: go pistons go
“frustratingly”? 😉