Detroit clinched their fourth Central Division title Thursday night beating the Developmental League The Miami Heat 85-69. Don’t look at the score and count this one as an easy victory for The Pistons. The makeshift Heat lead 45-43 at the half and it wasn’t until midway though the fourth that the Pistons finally pulled away.
Key Points:
- Rip sat this one out again resting his hip injury.
- Credit the hungry Heat players for really going out there and making this a game. I never heard of Blake Ahearn, the D league player who was called up for the Heat but trust me I won’t forget him. He led Miami with 15 points.
- Pistons fans got treated with a minute and fifty four seconds of Walter Herrmann, who scored 2 in his much awaited return to the court.
- 36 points in the paint for Detroit.
- Arron Afflalo started the game in place of Richard Hamilton and had a career high 15 points and 7 boards. Afflalo added a couple of steals and did a heck of a job on the defensive end all night. He’s always being razzed by his teammates about him jumping ability, so you know this one cracked some smiles.
Photo/Getty Images
- It was nice to see Afflalo in the Post Game Interview with George and Special K, which was also packed with AA highlights.
- Sheed a future NBA Coach?
- Detroit held Miami to just 24 second half points.
- Maxiell had a monster of a game with 15 points a blocked shot and 7 boards.
- Jarvis Hayes played 13 minutes and surprisingly only put up one shot.
- Detroit shot 47 % on the night.
- Double-double for Chauncey Billups with 13 points and 11 assists, that’s his 13th of the season. I would say the best dish of the night has to be this feed to McDyess for the jam.
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and myTV20 Detroit
- Sheed vs. Primoz who are you going to VOTE for?
- Juan Dixon sat out his third straight game.
- 30 plus minutes for all the starters.
- So we would have liked the Pistons to have mopped the floor with the lowly Heat, right? It doesn’t mean what they have done this season should be looked over. The fact is their record since the All Star break looks quite alarming, but I’m not losing faith until I see something to be concerned about come the start of the Playoffs. Maybe that’s just the Homer in me.
- Stuckey played a solid 20 minutes, but Afflalo was truly the Rookie that shined. Rodney finished the game with 4 points and 2 assists.
- I think it’s unanimous amongst Pistons fans that we would like to see Tayshaun be aggressive night in and night out. It doesn’t mean we want him taking every shot, but with Rip out he should be dominating. Tay had 8 points, 8 assists and a steal.
- He just causes a ruckus on the defensive end. Two blocks in 16 minutes. Good to see Amir get some burn.
Photo/Getty Images
- Rebound war won 37-34.
- DNP Ratliff.
- The Pistons led by as much as 16 and Miami once had their lead at 9.
- NBA.com’s Highlights of The Game and GMac’s Highlights of The Game.
- The game against the Heat was The Pistons fourth game in five nights.
- Cavs tomorrow at The Palace, I feel a message needs to be sent.
FROM THE LAST BLOG
i jus like pissin people off its what i do! i think its funny to post somthin that i know will get a reaction, and for the tigers bandwagon and pistons bandwagon? i been watching the pistons since 89 since i was old enough to watch em with my dad shit i even got a “the worm” rodman poster still in my room, and as for the tigers me and my late grandpa watched every game usually since 1990-2005 till he died thru all the bad n good..dont give me this band wagon shit ur crazy as hell i bleed detroit, u all cry when u think of any of these players gettin traded for an upgrade cuz ur all in denile and think its a family..i will say this..the way they r playing is equivelent to the memphis grizz..im pissed cuz i know if they wanted to, they could smash anyone but they just dont want it enough! and the celtics rep their shit all day they pop their jerseys after every basket made i just wish the pistons had more pride like them like they did in 04 thats all..and ill stop the bashing.. ill stop making the weak cry all day.. i jus like some diversity thats all..im not an optomist im a pesamist..i am the anti christ of sports i like to stirr it up i dont like it when everyone is jolly and happy and face it everyone is too positive and believes this team floats on a cloud and is so perfect..we have the best bench in the world!!amir johnson is the new garnett pfft thats all horseshit..im here to make this G rated site at least a pg13 come on now people we need fans like me to go against cleveland fans im the most nasty pistons fan ull ever meet i will make u cry if i visit your arena and if pistons beat ur team ill talk all the shit and rip into you..classy fans are overrated and outdated..get mean detroit! were not the murder capitol for nothing!!..anyways we won the central and we will see boston in the east finals…then see what happens.. all day baby! plus u cant take my opions too seriously when my profile picture on here is rip and sheed smoking a crack pipe and drinking beer and being surrounded by munchies…
and steve u said i stole ur name? how was i sposed to know? ur not as sweet as this steve anyways haha
I hope for Arron’s sake that this would never ever happen to him
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rxLmgmQSVCw
I don’t think the abuse in the locker room would ever stop if he did that.
According to Kenny Smith this is what every team needs to win an NBA title.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AkhHOsLfYc024wmCPh_ehSW8vLYF?slug=ks-championchecklist031708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
1. Style of play
The Pistons use a Half Court defensive orientated style but sometimes they defer from passing the ball. This can hurt us on those scoreless grinds we go through
2. A quality point guard and an inside presence
Of course we have that as long as sheed gets in the Post this category is a lock
3. A superstar
This is wat the Pistons lack but we originated the no superstar offense so I think this one is null and void
4. A Beast
Not what u think it is. Kenny says a beast is not afraid to take the big shot and make the key defensive play Someone with enough experience to steady the team when the pressure rises THis could be either Sheed, Rip, or Chauncey I think we have it locked as well
5. A Great Bench
No problem. NEXT!
6. Adversity
This is the point when every team vows to play harder, smarter and together. This usually happens after an upsetting loss or a trade/injury. The Pistons don’t have this, sure everybody is against us but the Pistons are too cocky to believe the media. I think if we truly believed that we don’t have a chance to win the Championship unless we step it up we would be the favorites
7. A magic moment
Pulling out an important victory when you’re about to lose. A shot that goes in from halfcourt. A record-breaking winning streak.
We’ll see if this happens to the Pistons
8. Chemistry
We all know the Pistons respect each other. But do they respect Flip Saunders?
The Pistons need some sort of adversity if they are to win a championship, they have to believe they have to get better in order to get that ring
Tell me wat u all think
Hilarious Claire!
hey nat and need4sheed peeps. i missed out on this one and expecting to win it anyway, but didn’t expect how we have to grind it out. like i said, i don’t really care about the rest of the regular season except 2 things, beat cleveland twice if possible and make sure we have homecourt advantage for the nba finals, meaning we should have a better record than the top west seed.
claire..god thats so embarassing!!! but so funny!!!! all of a sudden parker looked like a junior highschool player….why the hell would he do that if hes not sure!!!? HILARIOUS!
at least he probably looked cute to Eva Longoria. HAHAHAHA!
I loved the Coach Wallace note… Quite frankly, I would LOVE to see RA coach in the NBA at best, college hoops at worse… I mean can you imagine a Rasheed-shaped team? They’d be too entertaining not to watch! Think about it: There’d be bets for the over-under for games RA gets tossed out of in one season. He has become a mentor for the Crew and his antics as a coach would take entertainment to another level! Forget NellieBall…SheedBall would be the next step in NBA evolution!!!! SHEED, listen to FLIP and become a coach!!! We need some passion and entertainment!!!!
tay had 8 boards last night, I know he has been getting more assts latley but lastnight it was the borads, he also had the shots he just was missing them and I mean most of them even the wode open ones. I have to say I was a little happy teh pistons didn’t beat up on the heat and played the way tehy did but they did turn it on and get it done at the end its also like when you are in grade school and your coach tells you to take it easy on the team who is not very good adn makes up rules like you must pass 4 times before making a shot and take your shots from out side, its liek the pistons let them show off them got it done.. or the pistons just came out thinking it was going to be an easy one but I like to think they were helping the heat out a little..
lol Eva Longoria was probably like “Awww…my baby…”
I think Afflalo should show Chauncey that video clip every time Chauncey makes fun of him. That video would shut just about anyone up.
HAHA good video Claire….Not that you care but that reminds me….me and my hoopin pals call that dunk “Got Sprite-ed” as in Tony Parker “GOT SPRITE-ED” on that dunk…kinda stupid but it has stuck for years…
this video might help explain
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9raQiHJioGM
dear need 4 sheed, please keep affalo involved. he has been a quiet but consistent part of this year’s pistons. not sure why flip and joe backed off of him this past month…..
because juan dixon is better..any real nba fan would know that..
lol
great post again natalie.
i think your analysis of tay was spot on. he should be busting balls out there. plus, it’d be nice if he got more boards than assists (esp. cuz chauncey and rip can pass really well). i do, however, think that we should have beat the d-leaguers by more. i don’t know if we’re old, complacent, tired, a little of everything, but i’m getting worried about our boys.