The Pistons ended their two game losing streak in style with an overtime thriller at The Palace Monday evening against The Suns. This game could have went either way with the lead changing hands with minutes left in the game. It was Chauncey Billups’ heroics along with a couple of huge plays from Rasheed Wallace that propelled Detroit to the 110-105 overtime win.
Key Points:
- The Pistons were without Rip Hamilton, who didn’t play with a sore left hip. Detroit was also short Juan Dixon who is now on the inactive list with a strained left calf.
- With the win, the Pistons notched their 50th win. They have now reached 50 wins the past seven seasons.
- Arron Afflalo got the start in Rip’s absence. Arron played 21 minutes, scored 6 points, grabbed 4 boards with 3 assists and a steal on the night.
- Apparently Lindsey Hunter doesn’t need much to get flowing again. Hunter, in his first game back since being on the inactive list since December knocked down a huge three off of a Rodney Stuckey steal. He looked playoff ready in his 10 minutes on court.
- Chauncey Billups certainly lived up to his nickname taking the over the game in overtime scoring 9 of his 32 points when the game was on the line. Chauncey drove the lane at will and made 15 of his 16 free throws on the night, adding 6 assists and two steals in a stellar performance.
Photo/Getty Images
- Chauney’s post game interview was packed with highlights and smiles after the victory.
- The Suns feel robbed “First, a foul on Nash resulted in Billups’ three-point play that gave the Pistons a 107-105 lead with 1:01 left in overtime. “I think he panicked,” Nash said of the official. “He kind of stuttered and then he said: ‘You were underneath him.’ It’s tough to take when you feel like you played well enough to win, but you feel like the win was taken away from you.” After Nash missed a shot, Shaquille O’Neal fouled Antonio McDyess on the rebound and McDyess hit both free throws to give the Pistons a four-point advantage.” Via Yahoo.com
- Rodney Stuckey was huge in this one and played probably the most important minutes of his short NBA career. He scored 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting with 2 steals, 2 assists, 2 boards and a blocked shot. His whole game was packed with highlights, but the most important play came on a hustle offensive rebound with 28 seconds in the game that resulted in a jump ball against Raja Bell that he ended up winning, to give Detroit the final possession of the game.
- The only thing you can fault Chauncey for was his 1-for-7 three point performance.
- Amare Stoudemire had a monster game for The Suns leading them with 32, but I still found it quite funny that he kicked the court in frustration when the game ended like a little kid kicking up dirt.
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and myTV20 Detroit
- 9 blocked shots on the night for the Pistons.
- Clearly one of the most exciting games of the season. Win or lose this one was great, but I’m much happier with the win.
- Play of the game, Rasheed Blocks Amare in OT. This was the definition of Sheedtastic.
- Rebound war won 43-38.
- The Pistons have won both of their OT games this season.
- Tayshaun put up 11 points, none of them prettier than the open jumper after getting the ball back from an inbounds pass to Dice.
- Mike D’Antonio went on a tirade with 14 seconds left in the game after the Bell loose ball foul. I’m shocked he didn’t get called for a technical foul.
- Fourth quarter tied at 94 one minute left in the game.
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and myTV20 Detroit
- Don’t you know you can’t stop him Amare?
- 30 points from the Pistons bench.
- NBA.com Highlights of the game.
- The Palace was electric.
- Jason Maxiell played 10 solid minutes, but didn’t see much time in the second half. He finished the game with 5 points, 2 blocks and 2 boards in very limited minutes.
- Sheed started the game raining three’s on Phoenix. He finished with 23 points on 9-for-21 shooting while going 5-10 from downtown. He added 9 boards, 2 blocked shots and a steal in a great all around game for the big fella.
Photo/Getty Images
- Ratliff played solid defense and had a particularly nice block on Amare. He put up 4 points and 4 boards in 13 minutes.
- Detroit is 3-0 when Afflalo replaces Hamilton in the starting lineup.
- This is the fire I like to see from the Pistons. Passion and the ability to close out a big game.
- Season series sweep of The Suns.
- Grant Hill played a great game in his old stomping grounds. Though on the opposing side, I will always pull for Grant.
- 32 Points in the paint for the Pistons.
- Now when I say this one was close…it really was. The lead changed hands 30 times and was tied 29 times.
- Realize it doesn’t get much easier, after this back to back they have another one on Wednesday and Thursday against Toronto and Miami with The Cavs looming on Saturday. Buckle up Pistons fans, this week is a doozy.
Lava ball!!
Grant Hill gets tons of love, nobody boo’d him when he was introduced. I’m glad we don’t give him the Ben Wallace treatment.
As far as Nash crying about being robbed, he did get a shooting fould while dribbling the ball late in the fourth, plus made both shots. Like I said earlier: the refs were bad, but they were bad both ways, which equals OK.
wow u put up the post game recap fast!!
man crazy night for me, lakers are my fave team out west as many of u know… and they are now in an OT battle with the warriors (trying 2 get revenge for last night)
and then the pistons game, that was a classic in its own right… coming out party for stuckey… he seems comfortable playing the 2
I was so exited from the game I couldn’t stop the post…Piston over sleep after a game like this.
haha yea was a great game (ps: for other fans of lakers, they also pulled out the OT win)
anywho… forgot 2 mention the amare kick… i couldnt stop laughing when he did that at the end of the game… same with d’antoni actually, he makes me laugh when he gets angry… u cant take him seriously, looks like the monopoly man… maybe the refs dont tech him up cuz they’re laughing at him on the inside
on the inside, lol.
lol, he was actually kicking dirt.
we may whine to the refs but the Suns are straight babies.
Natalie- it’s a shame that games like this aren’t on TV for those of us here in the UP. However, I can’t tell you enough how much it really means to have your detailed comprehensive coverage of all the things I miss. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I just got hime form the game, and lets just say the 4.5 hr drive was well worth it, I havebeen a grant hill fan since I seem him play (on tv) his last yr with duke and tonight was teh first time I have gotten to see him play and I was not disapointed at all with his play… I had a fever and have a really bad cold but there was no way I was missing this one, I changed my seats to hit a little higher up since my sister and 7 month old nices came and well there is not a lot of room where my pickters are and teh chairs do not have arms so I figured it would be easyer and well where I am getting with this we sat on row behind the lower suites closest to the floor and there was a boy and his dad on the suite seasts and they were cheering for the suns well this guy from the palace comes up to him and says I see you are cheering for the suns, I want you to have this auth. signed jeresy by amir johnson, also inclued is a cert. of auth. he then went on to say amir was one of the lst players to be drafted out of highschool, playeed in the d league and is an up and coming star, he is also loved by the crowd which I am sure you will get to see later on, anyway the biy did not seem interested in what this guy was saying the dad was more and the dad was teh only one to thank hiim, I was like wow for someone to just give you that for being a suns fan I would be greatful, I don’t think I will forget that conversation for a while, One point when amir was out there and the crowd cheered him load the biy took notice and so did the dad…
Also loved how lindsay got a standing O when he scored it was priceless…
well its like 3:30 am and I have to a managers meeting at 8:00 I just wanted to share that pice of kindness with you all… It is another reason why teh pistons are so great..
sheed’s kicks are awesome? what are they?
I missed out on the game but I saw the recap on nba.com and I read everything on here.
I find that picture you posted of Rasheed and Amaree a bit humorous. I don’t know what Amaree is trying to do but it looks like he’s asking sheed to take him to school!!! and thats what sheed did!
even better (to me) than telling amare that he couldn’t stop him, was sheed then looking through his fingers and crushing amare’s head. i’ve never seen any basketball player do that before, that’s freaking hilarious.
sheed was amazing in this game. he hit shots exactly when we needed them. chauncey and stuckey were the hot hands, but sheed was the hard worker that kept the game rolling.
stuckey was huge. this is the kind of game that shows playoff potential and he stepped up big time. his defense on nash was stifling.
max and amir both got limited minutes. but i was impressed with flips rotations. max and amir got in their in the first half and it kept the starters focused and they both produced. amir had earned a few minutes just from taking that hit from shaq last time.
This was a good game, but the ‘stones got more than a little home cookin’. And how could one of the game points not be that Stuckey had a chance to win the game with the last shot and passed?!
Seriously, big rookie mistake. He needs to step up an take that shot. He was wide open at the end of regulation. Tay hesitated on the three-point shot when he got the passed cuz he was too stunned and wasn’t expecting the ball! Take the shot and propel yourself into the NBA stratosphere, young man!!
I’m writing it again because I’m still stunned over it. Stuck coulda won the game at the end of regulation but hesitated. If he can’t handle late-game decisions in the regular season, I predict he will be a positive non-factor in the playoffs with that kind of mentality. Yea, he had a good game, and has been playing increasingly well this season.
There was no reason to NOT take that shot. There was about a second and a half left, no time for PHX to come down and take another shot, no one else open. Ugh, big mistake. Did no one else see this?!
Tom..you’re right, in fact I was just talking about that this morning at work. I don’t know if I would call it a mistake, maybe he thought Tay had a better chance. I was a bit upset that Tay didn’t put the shot up right when Stuckey passed him the ball.
I’m not that upset about Stuckey’s decision, but I guess that’s because we got the win. I’m sure it will be a topic of conversation in the locker room.
Was Sheed really Crushing his head? If so I love him even more.
Mannie…Dantonio the Monopoly man? That’s just dead on and hilarious.
No problem Richie.
Sheed’s Kicks….Custom Sheed Air Force 1’s. That current shoe hasn’t been released to the public.
Mustafa
“I don’t know what Amaree is trying to do but it looks like he’s asking sheed to take him to school!!! and thats what sheed did!”
That made my day
Pretty good game from what i watched of it i kept checkin back n forth since my girl was making me watch a movie but i kept gettin up to check the score in the other room..but please please dont start this afflalo is undefeated shit, cuz no way in hell he is better than rip..we already have the horrible amir bandwagon, we dont need another one for afflalo..but good game..but still doesnt matter read nba.com power rankings they already said celtics got the championship on lock o well espn has tigers winning the world series so hey u win some u lose some!!!
Steve, I’m not starting anything with the Afflalo point, just stating a fact. Never said he was better than Rip, I don’t think anyone would, but it’s nice to know we can count on him if Rip’s hurt.
And yes, opening day is just a week away.
oh ok i misunderstood i thought u were like hey we r undefeated with him so we should have him take over now..ook i get ya
this was a big game and came out with a big win. im so happy that sheed and billups set the tone on this game and thats something the bench would follow which they did. im not upset that stuckey didn’t take the shot but he did give himself a chance by allowing himself open but tay was already up to take the shot instead of passing it back to him. our two rookie guards did a solid job, theres no doubt that they will come out big in the playoffs that the opposing team would be surprise and won’t know how to match against them. lindsey is classic, came out for a few minutes and just drastically change the game. i always think of him as the guy who starts the fire, and when that happens, detroit becomes deadly. i love it.
I don’t think the refs were bad both ways, I think the Pistons had a night playing 5 on 7 (at least). Look at all the offensive fouls Shaq got away with. Two of Amare’s great plays were three in the key on both he and Shaq. Once the Pistons got away with one on Shaq under the hoop (Sun’s bench went nuts) and on the very next play they got a plain make up call. Two players fouled Sheed on the final play of regulation (certainly the foul on Prince was so far after the shot that I’m not as upset on that one). If the Pistons had gone that nuts (with or without provocation) they certainly would have had to eat some Ts. Double standard much?
Biliups was vintage. The way he attacked Shaq in the second half reminds me of the 2004 final.
Anyone else noticed, next to the bench we still have Rip’s mask sitting there, even though he didn’t dress up for the game??
Stuckey made many inexperienced drive to the rim, But the shot he passed at last minute was a smart one. The last thing you wont is to leave a few sec on the clock for Nash. Plus, Tay was open when he got the pass (AND he’s smart enough to dribble out the clock first).
The fun moment for me was Stuckey had a drive to the lane, threw it up wildly with Nash+ Shaq in his face. Nash on the next play took stuckey on a drive and got an EASY layup. Then Chauncy did the same thing on Nash on the next play. (Nash: “let me show you how it’s done Rookie”, Chauncy :” Wanna see that again ? I’ll show you one more time” – That’s what I was thinking when it happened)
thanks natalie.. hope they release that on public someday its really nice..
What if Amari had made contact with that ref with that kick? But yeah Nat I agree it was like a little kid just getting so upset that the only thing they can think to do is kick their foot. If I were him I would mad also. That game could have went either way. I started watching in the 4th…..curses I know. I saw that the Pistons were up by a few points and put my head down and started doing something on the laptop and I looked back up and they were down a couple. Kind of freaked me out. Then in the last couple minutes they wre trading buckets. It was pretty exciting. I was on the phone with a friend and just when the Pistons were coming back to tie it up she started watching it. So I told her she was to watch at least the 4th quarter of every game from now on. Who knows maybe that will work. But let’s vote NO to the red uni’s in the playoffs. But Tay should have taken that open shot with like 4 seconds left. The shot he did take he was double teamed. But I am glad they pulled it out in the end.
yo natalie u need to fix the need4sheed heads..u need to remove primoz and flip murray and put ratliff and juan dixon up in there..
nat rulessss ok now that thats out of my system what a game,
and how excited was i to see a he cant stick me out of sheed. you know i wasnt the biggest sheed fan when i started visiting this site about 4 years ago but now im glad ive seen the light.
-marcos #1 teenage pistons fan
“…It’s tough to take when you feel like you played well enough to win, but you feel like the win was taken away from you.” –Nash
Hmm… how that reminds me of SOOOO MANY past pistons games.
And the kick by Amare was hilarious. It looked like he was going to kick the ref and the ref got ready to hit him in the stomach. You all need to watch it again!
chris webber is retiring due to a bum knee, wow glad we didn’t hold out for him this year…
http://www.nba.com/nba_news/webberretirement.html
Jessi, you must have posted that when I was reading it…thanks for making sure we didn’t miss it.
People!!
There is a Houston Rockets fan who’s been editing and posting highlights on Youtube for quite a while. I’ve been thinking about doing it for our beloved pistons for a while. But this takes commitment and time. I finally decided to do it for last night’s game. Little did I know it was gonna be a great game to start. I have just finished editing my first video highlight. Though it’s a bit late. (it’s hard to squeeze an OT game in a 10 min video :D)
I will try to do it for every game until we win our championship ! Hopefully much sooner after the game.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H-JvDW5hiLg
Please go check it out! Go Pistons!!!
oh god.
thanx for the great screen cap of amare stoudemire. it was hilarious!
I don’t live in MI, but I am a die hard Pistons fan so I have to watch most regular season games on league pass.
Last night’s and the OT game with Denver last season were by far the best.
Fortunately I got to see this season’s other OT game in person at the Bobcats Arena. They certainly didn’t play as well as last night, but it was still quite an ending with the offensive goaltending call.
Anyway, Natalie, I love your site and it is now part of my daily viewing. Keep up the great work.
Was curious if anyone knows a link to a high quality stream of Sheed’s OT 3 against Denver last year. I don’t know why all the youtube clips are streamed so low as they only last about 45 seconds. That’s definitely one of the most amazing basketball clips of all time and deserves to look as good as possible. Even my two non-basketball friends who saw it with me talk about it to this day.