The Pistons finally won a game on Sunday as they squeaked out a W against a severely depleted Los Angeles Clippers team at The Staples Center. It took an Allen Iverson fingerroll goaltending call with 2.8 seconds left on the clock to seal the 88-87 victory for Detroit.
Key Points:
- Detroit is on its largest win streak of the season at 7, currently the longest active streak in the NBA.
- The Clippers haven’t beaten Detroit since Nov. 3, 2002 at Los Angeles.
- Allen Iverson put up a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists. He was having a hard time hitting all game long going just 7-for-22 but it was his clutch jumpshot with 1:20 and his fingeroll with 2.8 seconds left that won the game for Detroit.
- Like the trade or not, AI has been the Pistons “Big Shot” of late.
Photo/Getty Images
- Another game without Rip and Sheed but McDyess stepped up even when he was hurting. It doesn’t compare to a Clippers team that was without Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, Ricky Davis (suspension), Taylor, Hart and Fred Jones who was hurt after the first two minutes of the game.
- Dyess, unsung hero with 15 boards, a steal and 6 points. The man has heart.
- Rookie Eric Gordon played a heck of a game for the Clippers with a career high 31 points in 44 minutes. They trusted him enough to take the possible game winner when LA had just 0.4 on the clock. Interesting note, the Clippers are so high on the rookie that they assign him the opposing team’s best player to defend. That player wasn’t AI for Detroit….Gordon was assigned Rodney Stuckey.
- The Pistons finally won the war of the boards 47-40. Half of the Clippers boards were courtesy of Marcus Camby (20).
- Tayshaun had another big game with 20 points, 7 boards, 2 assists and 3 blocked shots. He had some key baskets late in the game to help the Pistons win the game. But nothing was better than the play of the game.
Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit
- This game was close, it was tied 28 times with 42 lead changes.
- Aaron Afflalo wasn’t feeling well but still managed to put up 10 points against his hometown crowd.
- Just what we need from Kwame Brown, 11 boards in 18 minutes and 2 points.
- To all the Pistons fans in the house, we could hear you loud and clear. The Pistons have a huge fan base in California so I’m glad they have taken both games in LA for our Pistons fans on the left coast.
- “Detroit scored eight straight points to take a 78-70 lead with 7:04 to play. The Clippers tied it at 80 with two free throws and a short jumper by Gordon that capped a 10-2 spurt with 2:56 remaining. But the Prince spun around Mardy Collins for a dunk and Iverson hit a 20-footer from the key 32 seconds later, giving Detroit an 86-82 edge with 1:20 left.” Via NBA.com
Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit
- FSN Highlights of the game complete with the Tayshuan Dunks and AI’s clutch plays.
- Can we finally put to rest the argument about Amir Johnson? I, along with plenty of you, have been criticized for being on his bandwagon. Hasn’t he proved his value to this team by now? He’s out there changing games with everything he does on the court. He may not always fill up the stat sheet, but his contributions can’t be denied.
- Amir unfortunately got into a bit of foul trouble and ultimately fouled out of the game. His 6 boards, 4 points, blocked shot and a steal in 23 minutes didn’t tell the whole story when he was on the floor. Did you see his putback jam that had the crowd breathless? It’s ok to watch it more than once.
- If you haven’t jumped on the Stuckey bandwagon yet think about this… Detroit is 13-3 since inserting Stuckey into the starting lineup.
- Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 24 on 10-for-24 shooting with 6 assists and 2 steals. He’s playing out of his mind just when Detroit needs him most. I know that Pistons fans have been watching him, but he’s getting noticed by the whole league. He’s being picked up in all the fantasy leagues and he’s the chatter all over the internet. They are even talking about him down under.
Photo/Getty Images
- Rodney Stuckey Highlights.
- The Pistons held the Clippers to 12 third quarter points.
- 40 points in the paint for the Clippers and the Pistons.
- Just 16 minutes for Maxiell who scored 4 with a blocked shot and a rebound.
- Herrmann just isn’t hitting his shots when he gets on the floor and Curry is pulling him quickly. He was 0-for-2 in six minutes.
- The Pistons shot just 39% on the night.
- It’s starting to click.
- Wallace should be ready to play Wednesday in Portland. The Pistons are being more cautious with Hamilton. Hamilton hasn’t tried to sprint or make a hard cut yet. Via The Detroit News
- Dana Guarudner of the Oakland Press is also jumping on the Rip to the Bench Bandwagon.
- Aaron Larson Need4Sheed reader who was at the game in LA had a little tidbit for us. “I watched Sheed during a timeout take a piece of gum off the scorers table, roll up the wrapper and place it in an assistant coaches suit breast pocket secretly…he noticed it, grabbed it and placed it in his EAR…AND LEFT IT THERE ALL GAME. LOL always a joker that Rasheed!”
- Justin Shaw was there too, and he had some pretty sweet seats. “Good to see our bench players pull off a win on the road / Here are some pics from the game, 2 of them are the refs talking to the kids whose drinks Iverson slipped on and hurt his side when he landed on a water bottle / The fans were pretty cool, better than Laker fans for sure cause they know about being a fan for a a team that has struggled / If you watch the video you can see the backs of me and my friend jumping up when Prince takes that one to the rack for the dunk”
- As always I welcome comments, but I would especially love to hear from those of you that attended the game.
- For those of you who downloaded my January Game Schedule Wallpaper the 1st day I had it up, I neglected to put the game against the Hornets on the 17th on. I have since fixed it so check your wallpaper and download again if needed. Sorry about that.
Aaron and Joe!
Count That Baby and A Foul, Aaron and Mr. Blaha
was it just me or everytime there was a good piston play, there was a couple of girls yellin or cheerin on the top of their lungs
wasn’t there like 2 seconds left when Iverson made that layup(goaltend) shot? On your blog, you stated that there was 0.4 left….
Po-gee, the official game notes state .04 but they could be wrong.
http://www.nba.com/games/20090104/DETLAC/playbyplay.html
When we were watching, it said 2.8
I noticed Piston’s fans’ cheering too.
ook cool, yeh that’s no biggie we all make mistakes hehe. By the way I always love reading your blog!!!
Stuckey is stucktaculer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7dmtATXMUM&fmt=18
So they let you upload it finally?
just the stuckey one, not the AI or rip one
AI video:
http://www.vimeo.com/2679870
Just watched the tape again…fixed it 2.8.
I am going to the game @ Memphis on the 19th! can’t wait! I haven’t been to a Pistons game in probably 6 years.
natalie i just noticed that your missing the hornets game on your january wallpaper
^^^^^I meant to say something, I noticed I did that after the first game…re-download it I fixed it as soon as I noticed. Thanks for reminding me I’m going to mention it in the recap for those who downloaded the schedule on the first day.
THANKS
This was an especially exciting game to watch. I don’t feel that the win is so meaningless despite the depleted L.A. roster. Since we were missing two of our starters (and we don’t use half of our bench anyway) with McDyess having to play out of his mind considering he was hurt (15 rebounds from the man with injured ribs) I say this win is legit.
How about that Maxiell to Stuckey for the two handed throw down in transition? It’s fun seeing an ocassional role reversal like that.
I do feel bad for Walter Hermann. He isn’t allowed to play through his mistakes at all- if you can can call missing a shot a mistake. At least he grabbed two boards and had an assist in his 6 minutes. He’s being given the ulimatum of playing to perfection or riding the bench and I really don’t think it’s fair to him. That being said, I still think Bynum is collecting dust on our bench when he could be resting Stuckey, who again played over 43 minutes today.
love that Tayshaun dunk! nice to get the W but i guess just getting over the line against the Clippers is nothing to write home about.
PS – Thanks for the link Nat 🙂
That 39% FG shooting is an ugly stat. It’s affected by not having our best pure jump shooter on the court (Rip) but it’s not acceptable to shoot below 40% on any day and expect to win thankfully we played amazing D (41% for Clippers) I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet with the AI learning process. We still need some cohesiveness to become the powerhouse we used to be. I don’t have the confidence i did when Chauncey was here.
Richie, that’s our brilliant head coach for you. I can’t complain about it much though, they are on a heck of a streak right now.
As for the value of this win?
A win is a win is a win, the W/L column doesn’t care how you get them, just that you get them.
ommg. 313forlife
i was at the game too and it was two girls that were screaming that loud. the security let them go all the way to the front because of that. haha
thanks natalie i noticed that one cause im going to that game 🙂
I WAS THERE AT THE GAME. DROVE 3 HRS TO GET THERE. THE GAME WAS AWESOME!!! I THINK MORE PISTONS FANS ATTENDING THEN CLIPPER FANS. THATS JUST SAD!!! ALL THE CLIP FANS AROUND ME WERE UPSET BC I KEPT GETTING UP TO CHEER. HAHA. AND GOAL TENDING OR NOT ARRON STILL MADE THE JUMP SHOT AFTER THE BLOCK, AND I ALSO SAT NEXT TO ARRON’S PARENTS!!!
I’m such a damn fanboy.. I watched the highlights and amirs putback was wicked, as was the maxiell to stuckey two handed dunk but my favorite was AIs behind the back save to stuckey for the layup&foul.
amir is a good 12th man, he will never be a superstar in this league.. horrible game this team could barely beat a shitty horrible team.. a win is a win but wow..another bad outing on a sunday.
and hermann is like 2 for 19 shooting they said..that is piss poor.
A win is a win, especially on upset day. Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando all lost.
Maxiell plays 9 mins in the first quarter, and only 7 mins the rest of the game? He gets taken out, and the Pistons start to slide…hmmm, maybe 16 minutes ISNT ENOUGH! Maybe Stuckey and Iverson shouldnt take over 40 shots combined with pretty terrible FG% and start thinking more assists and maybe these games wont be so close!
Been going to LA-Piston games for several years now and Cali-based Detroit fans always represent… And once again today we put it down. Like the soaring lefty thumper from homeboy Tay.. and the rugged defensive rebounding from Dyess.. the fearless attack of Stuckey, and the persistent drive of Iverson..
I think these close games are good for us. They let us build some chemistry in tight situations when the game is on the line. In the past we would rely on Chauncey and Rip to pull us through, now we are finding that we have a couple of new guys that can get it done in the clutch. If we can continue to develop confidence up and down the lineup and continue to grow into our roles, this team will be prime for a championship run.
The game today was a nice win to start the trip, with a tough string of games this week. We may not have to deal with the injured Roy in Portland, but we will somehow have to defend Big Shot in Denver, before our yearly challenge in Utah. If we can take them one at a time, maybe we can take the streak home.
PS. By my estimate the ratio of Piston fans to Clip fans at the game was approx. 1:5
…but we were much LOUDER and much PROUDER, so it felt more like 1:1.
Go Pistons!
I was honored to have great seats @ the game today, and was blown away with the Pistons energy when backed in the corner. (All game.) We finally are getting team concepts down, that may have been overlooked as ‘automatic gelling’ we so often assume from the past years. You can hear it coming out of AI’s public mouth lately. He’s playing his role, like a Piston always should.
This is a new team people.
I have been going to L.A. vs DET games out here for 3yrs, both Lakers and Clips. This years whole experience watching them gives me butterflies, like a girls underwire. Yet,I wonder and daydream about the identity of this blossoming young core of overachievers. I slowly am watching them crawl since the trade, into a first walk. Joe Dumars knows he is an oldy Papa, (they have a trophy named after him for goodness sake) but a goody young minded “biz” man takes a hold of change. He’s done it this year. I finally can stop rubbing my hands warmly together, wondering when Stuckey can settle down and take the reigns. The proof has been in the pudding since he’s been our starter. Watching him, and the units play today got me wondering. Can we endure? But then again, there are awesome chunks in this Tapioca…
Baby steps, baby steps.
Dumars is in the corner, shaking a rattle to them.
I just enjoyed watching it in person today.
Straight up… I will say it again Stuckey is the man and I knew of from his college days at eastern washington! I’m glad we picked him up in the draft last season! Great win for them! We def. needed that with these tough teams comin up…
oh and did anyone see this on ESPN?:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=predictions09/nba
it’s about half way down the page…I emailed the writer saying this:
I like how ESPN already knocks the Pistons out when the season isn’t even half of the way through. Why don’t you say this about San Antonio…oh wait not the heavenly Spurs! God, no one would dare! Well you can say what you will, but never count them out. Even if you wanted to make the arguement about the Spurs being strictly a playoff team, you could easily say that for the pistons too. Stuckey is doing amazing… something you happened to leave out as well as this team finally starting to click ( 7 straight as of 1/4/09). So as far as saying that they are done is just a ludacris statement…
johnny, are u really surprised? its ok. let the pistons fly under the radar, cause thats when they play their best. they love to prove ppl wrong… just like in ’04. i’d rather have espn knocking them out now. when ppl expect them to win, they lose. just look at the ’06 season. this is exactly what we want.
GO PISTONS!
I totally agree with Richie about Hermann and Bynum. Walter seems to get about 2-4 minutes to try, if that and if he doesn’t make his shot, Curry pulls him. His goal seems to be to keep the ball movement going since that creates shots, but that doesn’t seem to fit what is going on. I have noticed that in timeouts and others times he doesn’t seem that engaged on the bench. If you watch the highlight from AI’s winning shot, most everyone on the bench is excited about the goaltending call but Walter isn’t. Bynum could play 5-10 minutes per game in place of Stuckey and that will pay dividends come playoff time.
Tay-40:39min.;20pts;.7-18Fg;7reb.;2ast.;0st.;3Bs.;1To
*Ok Game. Did good on blocking shots, getting 7 rebounds, and turning the ball over only once.
Could improve on shooting percentage and getting a little more points. After all he got over 40 minutes.
Amir-23:05min.;4pts;.2-3Fg.;6reb.;0ast;0st.;3Bs.;0To.
*Good Game. Tied for 2nd best in Field goal percentage, good rebounding, good on blocking shots, and good on not turning the ball over. Could improve on more points.*Should get more minutes and the ball more.Only shot 3 times meaning he did not get ball much.
Kbr-18:53min.;2pts.;1-3Fg.;11reb.;0ast.;1st.;3Bs.;3To
*Almost Good Game.Did good on rebounding, blocked shots, and gave out an assit. Could improve on shooting percentage, turning ball over less, and getting more points.*Should get the ball more.
Stuck-43:12min.;24pts.;10-24Fg;4reb;6ast;2st.;0Bs;3To
*Good Game.Got lots of points, did good on assists, and got two steals.Could improve on not turning ball over much, better shooting percentage, and little lesser minutes.*Needs to stay out of foul Trouble.
AI-41:48min.;18pts.;7-22Fg.;0reb.;10ast.;2st.;0Bs;0To
*Ok Game. Gots lots of assits and two steals.Can improve on shooting percentage, getting more points, little lesser minutes, and more rebounds.*Did not do as well as Stuckey.
Afa-26:50min.;10pts.;4-9Fg.;1reb.;0ast.;0st.;0Bs.;1To
*Good Game.Got ok shooting percentage, 10 points, and only turned ball over once.Could get more steals, rebounds, and assits.*Good minutes given by Coach Curry.
Dyess-23:17min.;6pts;2-5Fg;15reb;0ast;1st.;0Bs.;0To.
*Good Game.Got a lot of rebounds, ok shooting percentage, and got a steal.Could improve on more assits, blocked shots, and more points.*Good Game for a person coming off an injurie.*And Good minutes given out by coach Curry.*Needs to stay out of foul trouble.
Max-16:03min.;4pts.;2-3Fg.;1reb.;1ast.;0st.;1Bs.;0To.
*Good Game.Got tied for 2nd best in shooting percentage and got an assit .Could improve on rebounding, blocking shots, and more points.*Needs to get ball more often.*And needs more minutes.
Herman-6:13min.;0pts;0-2Fg.;2reb;1ast.;0st.;0Bs;0To.
*Bad Game.No points, horrible shooting percentage, and only two rebounds.Could improve on points, assists, rebounds, blocked shots, and shooting percentage.*Good decision by Coach Curry not playing him too much.
Key:
*Tay= Tayshaun Prince
*Amir= Amir Johnson
*Kbr= Kwamae Brown
*Stuck= Rodney Stuckey
*AI= Allen Iverson
*Afa= Aaron Affalo
*Dyess= Antonio McDyess
*Max= Jason Maxiell
*Herman= Walter Herman
*min.= Minutes played
*pts.= Points
*Fg.= Field Goals made out of attempted
*reb.= Rebounds
*ast.= Assits
*st.= Steals
*Bs.= Blocked shots
*To.= Turnovers
pistons01, I’m not suprised believe me just a bit upset wit how we are treated all the time thats all…I understand we thrive being underratted, but it would be nice one time to get recognition lol
I for myself agree with pistons01. I Like it when Pistons are under the radar because thats when they play good and win. If people (like Espn) say they are a good team and they are going to win than the Pistons lose. So let the Pistons go under the radar. Watch when it comes down to the game in Denver and the Pistons get attention because of the AI and Chauncey trade and if most people say the Pistons are going to win than the Pistons will Lose.
Read the post above this one and the one above Johnny Says.
johnny if that article upset you, check out the power rankings on nba.com WTF?!?! Boston has lost 4 of 5 and lost to the Knicks, do they really deserve to be at the 2 spot? Cleveland lost to the worst team in the east and they put them at 3? My God! The Pistons beat Orlando who also lost to what they call the underachieving Raptors. WOW!! be a little more fair than that!!!!!! Pistons should have at least cracked the top 5. give credit where credit is due
http://www.nba.com/powerrankings/
lets start the chauncey vs stucky talk… we do play denver this week.
oh, and i like how boston is in sheed’s armpit on the desktop calendar nat. LOL.
Saw this on PistonsNation:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=predictions09/nba
Read the comments too! I hate “Chris Broussard” now.
my gosh, those NBA power rankings are a joke! Boston at 2?! and i agree with those above, i like it when the Pistons fly under the radar. it suits us.
STUCKEY PLAYER OF THE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/01/05/players.week/index.html
that putback jam clip is so awesome I can’t stop clicking it. 😀
has anyone noticed how everyone over at ESPN is bashing the pistons. Hollinger called the pistons 7 game win streak “possibly the worst ever in the NBA”. he has us ranked 15th. I think it’s quite funny that just because the pistons aren’t always winning by a large margin, that they are doing poorly, a little frustraing.
Good win and another huge shot by AI! Things are clicking now and yes, we will lose again, and yes, the haters will show back up with the “fire curry,” and “trade AI” comments, but it’s amazing what wins will do for a team (and fans). Everything’s so much easier when you’re winning. We’re going to be a beast to contend with in the playoffs, mark my words.
Congrats to Mr Stuckey, EC Player of the Week!
Amir unfortunately got into a bit of foul trouble and ultimately fouled out of the game. His 6 boards, 4 points, blocked shot and a steal in 23 minutes didn’t tell the whole story when he was on the floor.
=============================================
What game were you watching?
He didn’t foul out. He finished with 4 fouls and in fact was on the court for the very last play of the game, sent in for defensive purposes.
Mike,
I thought so but the box and the game notes confused me on this one. In fact NBA.com was wrong earlier with the clock times. I didn’t think he fouled out either but when I went back for the game notes that’s what it stated. My mistake….I knew things were messed up. Thanks for pointing it out.
Have you tried Make-My-Baby.com