If you didn’t know it, the Pistons are the hottest team in the NBA with the longest winning streak, now at six games after their 98-92 win against the Sacramento Kings. On a night when the Pistons were without three of their key pieces in Rip Hamilton (groin), Rasheed Wallace (foot) and Antonio McDyess (ribs), the rest of the big names picked up the slack. Stellar nights from Tayshaun Prince, Amir Johnson, Allen Iverson and Rodney Stuckey were just what the doctor, or Arnie Kander, ordered.
Key Points:
- Stuck-y Stuck-y Stuck-y Stuck-y! Was the chant from the Palace crowd late in the fourth quarter when Rodney Stuckey decided to add to his already superb show. None louder than when he was at 38 and everyone in the building was willing his last shot in so he could get to 40 again.
- Allen Iverson didn’t disappoint either. Iverson not only played minutes he’s used to but he put up 23 points on 10-for -24 shooting. He grabbed 6 boards with 4 assists and a steal. His jumper with 15 seconds on the clock sealed the deal for Detroit and had him skipping to the bench when the Kings called their last timeout.
Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN
- “Right now we are starting to feel real good as a team,” Iverson said. “We are starting to get that confidence and swagger. We didn’t have that feeling at first. Obviously, running off six straight wins helps you feel a lot better, but we are coming together.” Via The Detroit News
- Mr. Stuckey led the Pistons with 38 points on 15 for 29 shooting while going 8-for-10 from the line. He added 7 assists, 4 boards and 3 steals in 42 minutes on the floor. Remember that poise that we all loved in late game situations that Chauncey Billups always brought to the game? Stuckey seems to have inherited it.
- Dyess and Sheed out-War of the boards lost 49-45.
- Kevin Martin put up 20 and Brad Miller burned the Pistons for 25.
- Detroit held the Kings to 33% shooting on the night.
- What did Rodney think about the fans chanting his name? Here is his FSN post game interview with Eli Zaret.
- Stucktacular Highlights. As Greg Kelser stated, “If you didn’t know, now you know.”
Photo/Getty Images
- Afflalo had a surprisingly cold night going 0-for-4.
- Walter Hermann 5 minutes, 2 boards and 2 quick personal fouls.
- A quiet 22 minutes for Mr. Maxiell, probably because Amir Johnson was tearing things up.
- 36 points in the paint for Detroit to 30 for the Kings.
- The Kings made 33 of 34 free throws.
- Amir Johnson has been truly impressive since he’s been added to the starting lineup. Last night was no different as he had a career night in rebounding (14) and minutes (38). A double-double on the night adding 10 points to his 14 boards and his hustle was a big part of why Detroit won this game. Did I mention his 3 blocks? The kid goes after everything.
- Amirzing Highlights.
Photo/Getty Images
- FSN Highlights of the game. Make sure you check out the bullet pass in the fourth to an open Amir (from Stuckey). He got his double-double just in time.
- Alarming – Detroit was 75% from the charity stripe.
- Tayshaun Prince had a huge night too, 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting with 10 boards, an assist and 3 blocked shots. It’s nice to see Prince play at his true position, that’s when he’s at his best. This pass from AI to Prince for the dunk was The Play of The Game.
Photo/Getty Images
- Tough West Coast road trip ahead for Detroit, starting tomorrow (Sunday Afternoon) against the Clippers. Here is to hoping we have at least some of the injured back on court.
- As I told you, it was Need4Sheed’s suite night at the Palace. That’s a separate post altogether but let me just say, thank you David, the Pistons are a great organization and George Blaha is a saint!
Natalie I think you got Stuckey field goals wrong, according to your stats he scored 44. Love the recap thought, great pics. I’ve been reading these blog of a year now and I can’t get enough of it. Specially because I don’t get to watch Piston games at home. Great job!
Go Pistons!!!
^^^^Thank you, fixed the typo 15-for-29 on the night.
Glad need4sheed helps!
havent seen a tayshaun alleyoop in ages
Natalie-
Do you possibly have the Teammates video they aired during the broadcast??
If you do thanks I love watching those!!
^^^ I’ll get it up soon, can’t give you an exact date but it will be on n4s.
Even on ESPN they have Iverson skipping.. He did that against Washington not Sacramento.. Weird.
No, James- he skipped in the game against Sacramento too. Nat used the same clip from the Washington game, but he did the same celbration last night. I love seeing these guys energized even if they are playing big minutes.
Not to put a damper on Stuckey’s great performance, but why did Bynum only play 7.2 seconds (on D) instead of burning A.I. and Rodney for huge minutes? Bynum is a compact verson of what Stuckey brings, and I can understand him not seeing minutes when the team is stacked, but you’d think with Rip out they’d give him some more burn.
Great game by Stuckey again.
Does anyone else realized that Stuckey, in just 16 career starts, has scored more points in a game twice than Chauncey ever did in 696 career starts?
Stuck’s scored 38 and 40 while Chauncey’s high was 37.
Crazy.
Also, I know the Pistons were shorthanded obviously, but come on, less than a minute of playing time for Bynum? Even when Rip comes back the Pistons need to either get a backup PG or play Bynum. He (along w/ AI) doesn’t need to be playing 40+ minutes a game.
We are playing so well right now with Stuck leading us when Rip, Dyess and Sheed went down and I am worried that when they all get healthy then MC might go back to what he did before when he barely played Amir and our team was struggling.
I know its still early, but can you see anyone else in the league taking away Most Improved Player from Stuckey if he keeps up this pace? He’s expanding his game faster than I expected this season.
amir johnson should be a starter every day rip hamilton is coming off the bunch
sheed better get better fast
hey natalie…i spotted a typo in your article the part where u wrote kevin miller scored 20 its supposed to be kevin martin
Easy on the comparison’s Steve. I’m as pumped about Stucky playing so well as everyone else, but starting to think he’s better than Chauncey is like saying Kobe’s better than Jordan. I simply don’t agree with it, especially not based on points alone. Chauncey was untilized and mistreated in his NBA career until his arrival in Detroit, where Stuckey was fortunate enough to land right away.
wtf does untilized mean?? richie why do you always have to condemn other peoples opinions and be so damn pretentious .. stuckey seems to have brought something chauncey never could have and thats new energy and explosiveness.. steve was just saying its nice to see some new blood out there and a real scoring threat not just a spot up shooter.. chauncey is a great set up man and can run an offense better than many point guards i’ve seen in the league but he never really was just a pure scorer. he is in a great fit in denver with their run and gun style and a superstar to feed the ball. chauncey will forever be mr. big shot and i wish him the best of luck but i’m loving what i see from this team with stuckey and the youth movement. so richie get over your boring old ass ways and just enjoy what we have
I’ve been saying Stuckey>Chauncey since we drafted him.
Glad to see my predictions coming to fruition.
I heard that Stuckey was leading the pregame dance, do you have that video?
Hate that i missed it!
Richie,
Hey, I didn’t say that Stuckey’s better than Chauncey. I just think it’s amazing that Stuckey has surpassed Chauncey’s career high twice in just 16 starts.
Stuckey going to the rim is reminiscent of Chauncey about 4-5 years ago, but he didn’t really do that the past few seasons for the Pistons.
All I’m saying is that I don’t think anyone, not even Joe D, could have foreseen Stuckey doing this well this soon.
I’m sayin Stuckey is better than Chauncey.
It is crazy when you think about how well hes doing having only started 16 games but there are other factors.. The team hes leading is just beginning to click, they havent reached their full potential yet, anyone who hasnt yet forgotten about chauncey will soon.
Still cant believe we got AI for chauncey and were able to give stuckey this opportunity to show us what hes got.
“mr big shot” hasnt hit a “big shot” in years. It seems like for every 3 chauncey hit stuckey would have driven to the basket 4 times..
my favorite thing about chauncey vs stuckey is stuckey isnt a flopper like chauncey. rodney is more likely to get actual foul calls.
pistons are going to beart the chlppers
pistons are going to beart the chlpper
billups sucks stuckey is way better than billups beacuse he secord 40 points than 38. when billups was in detroit he dided show that evert
resheeds out again and hamilton when thay will get heathy.
Hey Natalie,
I’m nitpicking, but I’m not sure why you described 75% FT shooting as “alarming.” Pistons have shot 75.8% as a team this year and league average is right around 76%. Shooting 18/24 is more “normal” than “alarming.” Sorry for nitpicking and the site is great, just thought I’d point that out.
Hey tyler, learn how to spell dude. Your posts might make more sense then.
The thing that I like about Stuckey is his humble attitude. All his success isn’t going straight to his head which is refreshing. It seems like sports these days are filled with idiot athletes that only care about the money and fame. I love to see athletes that care about one thing, winning. Props to Joe D. for finding Stuckey and making most other NBA teams wish they would have drafted him. And some of you guys think that Joe D. is a bad GM. We could have Kevin Mchale, would you rather have that moron running your team?
Once again Stuckey proves the Pistons can win and play good without AI. Stuckey gets 2 to 3 minutes less than AI and he dishes out 4 more assits than him and 15 more points than him. Also he shows he can step up in critical times and help his team win. Stuckey also had a shooting percentage of over .500 while AI had Below .500. Amir Johnson once again for like the millionth time gets the 2nd or 3rd best shooting percentage, first in rebounding on his team and 2nd in both teams, as well as tied for first place in the whole game with blocked shots. Yet they only let Amir shoot 8 shots which 5 of he made meaning they did not give him the ball much. Kwamae Brown only got one shot which he made making his shooting percentage 100%. Tay is doing good for the best part. He got 23 points, 3 blocked shots, 10 rebounds, 1 assit, and a steal. Also the 2nd best Shooting Percentage. Maybe that trade rumor got him playing good. Iverson not too bad of a game. But remember this was a .333 record team. (Way below .500).
Stuckey is younger, faster, smarter, and much better than Chauncey.
Blazer- I never once condemned other people’s opinion, I just disagreed with it and stated my own. I also said that I was just as pumped as every one else to see Stuckey playing well. Did you even read my comment? I have no problem with people claiming that Stuckey’s better than Billups I just choose to disagree.
+All the big shots Billups hit over the last several regular seasons are currently undershadowd by him not doing well last season (when he was injured) and him missing one big shot the year before last.
+Billups is NOT a flopper. Nor is Stucky, but stuckey’s point production has just more to do with being fouled than Chauncey’s. Chauncey is a sensational FT shooter and usually got fouled when he attacked the basket, but he also got a lot of his points from 3’s and step back jumpers.
+If chauncey played 42 minutes a game and drove the lane on every other posession without kicking it out he could scroe 30-40 a night too.
+ All I’m saying is that before you take a second year player and start claiming that he’s better than an established veteren champion you should consider more than just the kids ability to drive the lane.
+ I’m not against Rodney becoming better than Chauncey some day- why would I be? He plays for the Pistons! I’m just saying he’s not there yet.