The Pistons were taken down by the Suns Sunday night in Phoenix 104-86. In a game that Phoenix shot 1000% 68% from the floor, the Pistons tried their best to keep it close.
Biggest news on the night was Shaq’s early exit on a nasty flagrant 2 on Rodney Stuckey. The fall itself makes me want to cringe every time I watch it. Here is the FSN HL recap of the game complete with the Shaq foul.
What we do know after a game like this where Phoenix scored 52 points in the paint and our big (what we have of them) got into early foul trouble is that we sorely miss Antonio McDyess.
What happened to pistons defense!?
Wow good game by Phoenix.
When they score 50 point in the piece it’s hard to win a game.
It was interesting to see how many touches Shaq got in the game. The philosophy has changed in Phoenix.
Why does Shaq feel the need to seriously injure a Piston every time? Last year it was Amir, this time Stuckey.
Bad officiating. Not that it would have affected the final score, but Stuckey got whistled for offensive fouls about 34.2 times. Most of them were just bad calls.
horrible calls pplus greg kelser is right when kwame can hold the ball without fumbling he is actually a really good player when he reaches the paint
I went to the phx and detroit game and after that hard foul by Shaq,,i couldnt believe all the phoenix fans were talking saying that he barely touched him!! Then I almost got kicked out for clapping when Alvin Genty got a Technical foul!! Security came and said that i was cheering to loud for the pistons!!!! I never been so hated in my life!!!…lol
I never thought I’d see the day when phoenix was stronger and tougher on defense than the Pistons.
When he got hit Rodney Stuckey literally bounced like he was a basketball. A;though I don’t really think that deserved an ejection. don’t get me wrong when I saw Rodney hit the floor I was like whoa, I thought it was a flagrant, but I don’t like that they ejected him.
Does Shaq respect Terry Porter, cause what I saw looked like a red flag
No dribble penetration and no defense.
Haha with the crossing out 1000%
Still Kwame’s 3-4 dunks in the first quarter and his defense on Shaq had me going this is why you’re here. Keep doing that.
Am I the only one who thought Walter Herrmann, should have gotten in? I agreed with benching him against faster guys, but I think he could of handled Boris Diaw, and we really could have used his outside shooting.
I think the reason we lost was that we were trying to establish RIP again. He started getting back in his groove, that will improve soon, people were less agressive because they were trying to get RIP the ball. I like it.
I’m sick of watching the Pistons give up the paint night after night. And this big mutherfucker Shaq is a big fuckin sissy, he can’t play ball no more so he’s takin out guys half his size, Sheed should have smacked him dizzy on the ear.
Yeah, we might have lost this game but 3 out of 4 on a west coast trip is really good. Especially when you man handled the Lakers in their gym. And oh yeah, I the Lakers are better than the Suns. I’m not worried at all. I think the next two games vs Cavs, and at Boston will finally tell us where this team his right now. If they loose both I’ll start getting a little worried.
I think last nights game was difficult for three reasons.
1) I can’t even believe I’m saying this but if Kwame wouldn’t have gotten in foul trouble it would have made a huge difference.
2) The Suns were definately getting some home town officiating. Every time we touched somebody they blew the whistle.
3) The zone defense. You saw the same thing last night that you saw in the New Jersey game. When teams play zone we have a hard time scoring. Especially if the jump shot isn’t falling. That’s where not having a true post presence kills us.
Plus when your opponent shoots 68% what are you supposed to do. We did the same thing to the Lakers on Fri.
Wake up.
In the last 4 games we’ve given up 101, 107, 106, and 104 Points.
Refs aren’t the problem, “establishing rop” wasn’t the problem, Putting in that joke of a player Herrmann wasn’t the problem.
Our team is getting away from the defensive mentality and focus. If we don’t get it back we have no shot at a finals run.
Steve I agree, but those things were problems (although not sure if I agree refs were at fault) But this is what we mean when we say it won’t be overnight. The defense is a huge problem, and that has me worried, but establishing RIP, who is now team captain, I think is neccessary for the team to have any chance at winning. You may be right, all these things might not matter, if we can’t get stops. But I’m holding off judging that until I can see if Dyess comes back, what he’ll bring to the interior defense. Maybe he’ll get lost under Curry’s new system, which so far, hasn’t really impressed me. In fact it makes me crave Flip Saunders ability to diagram plays, especially out of a timeout.
But I’m with you in terms of they don’t seem to be scaring teams with their defense. fans were saying last year how Jameer Nelson was crazy for thinking they could beat the Pistons. But in my opinion, even though the Pistons won, the fact that Jameer even thought they were good enough was a symbol that the Pistons lost that mental edge over other teams defensively. This is why I don’t understand why Lindsey Hunter, Dale Davis, and Carlos were let go. Say what you want about them offensively, but they were not guys who could be taken advantage of. Carlos even showed he could slow down guys like Lebron James in spurts.
Thoughts after the game:
1. The NBA needs to play law of compensation with PHX… after all the All-Star game is there and they don’t wanna lo$e money… Sure, they ejected Shaq but the compensate with more fouls for PHX…
2. I guess Shaq’s no longer the Big Aristotle… he’s officially the Big Newton… Sir Rodney fell not because of Shaq… it was all physics!!! Second Law of Shaq: Any object in motion that hits Shaq is bound to bounce to the ground… especially if it’s a Piston!!!!
3. A loss always hurts, but hey, the trip out west wasn’t a total failure. Hopefully they’ll learn from this loss and come back ready to defend their home court against LeBron and the 11 guys named Pepe, otherwise known as The LeBrons, er, the LeCavs, er, the Cavs…