The Pistons host the ailing 27-17 Houston Rockets this evening at The Palace.
The Rockets could be without their top three scorers, Yao left Friday night’s loss in Indiana because of a sore right knee. Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest haven’t seen action for Houston in some time.
That doesn’t mean a cakewalk for Detroit by any means. Houston has a talented team and Detroit…… nothing is guaranteed right now. Well maybe a game against the Flint Tropics is a given……maybe.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNGqlzoHrrI&feature=channel
Chris McCosky of the Detroit New has a great piece on The Pistons struggles, I suggest you read the entire thing but couple of things stuck out, especially since most of us have been clearly upset with small ball and the fact that this team, this defensive minded grind it out team…..is one of the worst teams in the league defensively.
On The Rip Situation
“We will see how it goes,” Prince said. “I’ve been saying all along that with the bigger lineup we are a better defensive team and a better rebounding team, and that’s something we have always took pride in here.”
Iverson is caught in the middle. It’s not his call, obviously, but he can’t change who he is as a player, either. He can’t all of a sudden be a Billups-like point guard or a high-percentage shooter and high-efficiency scorer.
“I can’t say I necessarily like it,” Iverson said about the new lineup. “It is what it is. It’s something we have to adjust to. You are faced with a situation and you deal with it.”
The key to it all is Hamilton, and thus far, he is handling it like the team-first professional that he is
“You can be ticked off and think it’s about yourself and things like that, but I’m not about that,” he said. “I’m about winning. I’m about trying to get back to the promised land and get that feeling again with that gold ball (championship trophy). I just said to myself, ‘You’ve got to figure it out. You’ve got to go back to the drawing board and find a whole new different game plan and you can help your teammates win.'”
On Sheed
Understand this, though. No matter who starts or who comes off the bench, nothing is going to work unless Wallace gets rejuvenated and reengaged. Among all the reasons for the Pistons inconsistencies to date, Wallace’s struggles have to be near the top.
His statistics are down across the board and worse, his presence on the defensive end has been minimal. There is a chance he’s just worn down. He is 34 and has played heavy minutes, first when McDyess was gone and then when the Pistons went to the smaller lineup. On top of that, he injured his right foot and that set his conditioning back.
This could just be a lull, a slump — something he can work himself through. That’s what the organization is banking on. Curry plans to reduce his playing time over the next 20 games to facilitate some fresher legs and spirit. But if that doesn’t work, the Pistons will be facing the worst-case scenario — that his legs are gone, that Father Time has finally caught up to Wallace.
Good News/Bad News
- Will the Sunday blues continue?
- Rasheed Wallace will be playing PF and Kwame Brown is starting, which means traditional basketball, unless Mr. Curry goes back to his small thinking midway through the game.
- The Pistons have lost 3 out of 4 at the Palace.
- Houston has lost 11 of its last 12 road games against Detroit.
Tip off is at 6:30 P.M. and will be Nationally televised on ESPN. If you can’t watch the broadcast, tune into 1130 AM WDFN The Fan, with pre-game coverage starting at 5:30 P.M. with Matt Dery. Can’t do either? Follow the game on NBA.com.
UPDATE: Artest and TMac will play for Houston
About Sheed: no offense, N4S, but I’m hoping we don’t see him back next season.
I think I’m all burned out on Sheed. I have no more patience for the man’s game. Great person, but eff it.
I believe the decision made by Curry to put Rip on the bench was a mistake. AI should have gone to the Bench. The Starting lineup should have been Stuckey, Rip, Tay, Sheed, and Kwamae. I would have said Amir, but the Pistons I guess the pistons dont like him because whenever I see him shoot he has to get the ball himself. Almost no one passes the ball to him. And when they do pass the ball to him, which is rare, he makes it 75 percent of the time. So giving him all those minutes, but not giving him the ball is a waste of his energy and time, so I would let Kwamae start.(I wish Amir could start, but the Pistons wont give him the BAll). Just go look at the boxscore and see how often he gets the ball and his shooting percentage. Back to putting AI on the bench. I think putting AI on the bench would have given the Pistons a big boost. Why? Because the little guy can play with fast, defensive, experienced, and more energetic guys like Amir, Max, Affalo, and Mcdyess. Also putting AI on the bench would make him think that he was not good enough to make the starting lineup so he will actually try to play. There is also a minium amount of points AI likes to get in game, so he would most probably get those much needed points off the bench. I also think we should use AI in last minute heroic points. The thing the Pistons were missing in the Eastern Conference playoffs against Miami, Cleveland, and Boston was a heroic player.( Also in the bitter finals against San Antiono Spurrs). When we need points to tie or win games we can let AI do his thing like everyother Superstar should do and is doing.(Like Lebron, Paul, Kobe, Wade, and many more). The last thing I would like to touch on is defense. If not number one we would always be in the top 5 in defense when Chauncey was around. But since he is gone we are like last. So it is obvious we have lost a good defender. So if I was Curry I would have a talk with my team about defense. I would set aside time on practice for only defensive drills and defensive plays. We need to get our lock down defense back. We need to get into the opponents faces like we used to. We need to stick like a magnet on the opponents. Whenever the opponent runs we run, whenever the opponent stops we stop, and whenever the opponent jumps we jump. When the opponent makes a screen than we get another player to come up and trap that player coming off the screen. We need to get our blocks, steals, and defensive rebounds back. I know defense starts from the guard and point guard positions. I know you say that AI and some more of our guards and point guards are to weak or small to play good defense, but THAT IS NOT TRUE. Just look at Nate Robinson and remember Lindsey Hunter. Hunter is just like AI. But he was a good defender. I remeber last year when it was our first game against Boston. It was the BATTLE OF THE EAST. And Lindsey Hunter made that steal and took out a lot of pressure off the Pistons back. That play may have just won the game for us. If it wasn’t for that play we would have lost. So dont tell me our guards cant play defense. WE NEED OUR DEFENSE BACK. A lot of you say defense is not the problem it is the offense. You say we are 27th in offense. That is true. But you get alot off points if you play defense. They are called turnover points. You get steals, blocks, and defensive rebounds and you create fast break points and points off of turnovers. I am sure if we can get back to the top 3 in defense we will get back to the top 15 in offense. Dont get me wrong, we can also improve a little on the offense. This is the first step. If the Pistons are unwilling to make this step than we need trades. Because we are not paying them Millions to play like this. By the way we are the secound most in player salerys in the nba with over 480 million dollars. I would trade AI for a good guard who can come off the bench and play just like a starter.(Like Granger from Pacers).I would also get thier draft pick.Than I would trade Kwamae, Herman, Acker , Sharp, and 2nd round pick for Bosh. If we come short on players in our roster than sign some free agents.
Ricardo….None taken at all
Whatsittoya: Can you please stop copy and pasting your comments in multiple posts. We see them, trust me.
^^That has to be the longest post I’ve ever seen here. How long did that take you Whatsittoya? 🙂
Only about 10 minutes.
Just checked NBA.com. You know it looks really bad when the Pistons lose to the Mavs by 21 and then two days later the Mavs get their butt’s handed to them by 24 against the Celtics. I wonder how the Pistons will do against them on Fri?
I noticed that too P4Life, I will give it to the Mavs, they had a hot night on Friday.
But still sad.
I’m off….lets hope they don’t disappoint again tonight.
I’m just really sick of hearing about all this **** being a “team in transition.” Especially from places like Pistons.com (Langlois more specifically). That phrase just reeks of euphemism for “a team still in disarray.” There is no way in hell that a transition should take over half of the damn season.
I’m getting fed up with the people in the Pistons brass spinning this like it’s all some sort of master plan for the future. Truth is, most of those FA’s are standing pat.
But with that said, I still am excited for this stretch of huge games. Although it’s a shame that we’re basically fighting for our lives just to survive them. With the way we’ve been playing being the time this stretch of hell is finished we may be at .500…
I agree with Ricardo. We are no longer in a transition. The transition for this team is over just like it is over for the Obamas. We probably are planning for 2009 or 2010 free agency, but we are not likely to get anyone good enough worth wasting one whole season. Lets just practice and improve and get are butts straight and working or lets start the trading.
They better find a way to get it together starting tonight, for Boston and Cleveland await next weekend. We need a convincing win tonight, especially against a team that will most likely not have it’s three stars playing. Plus, I don’t want to hear 48 minutes of ESPN commentators destroying the Pistons, as deserved and true as it may be.
the game is on ESPN!? I didn’t know that!
NICE
uh oh, tracy and artest are in…..we should still win.
I call a loss if thw Rockets play with 2 of their 3 stars.
Dang! They are killing us on the threes. They are going in drawing double plays than making the threes. They are doing what the Pistons used to do. We need to shoot more thress. AI does not know how to pass. He thinks when you go inside you just go for the shot not pass. THey need to start playing better defense.
Is it just me or do we rarely look like we run set plays?? We just pass the ball along the perimeter until the shot clock forces someone to shoot. There is zero post up play with Sheed doing nothing but launching threes. We’re just too easy to defend.
Iverson needs to create more for us (or should I say we need to tell let him) and we have to develop post play if we want to contend. And the defense, what the hell. I’d never would guess defense would be a problem for this group.
Sheed could score on Hayes on all night…force him to post and feed him the ball.
When the Pistons go on these hot stretches, it makes you wonder why we can’t play like this for 48 minutes??? (or at least 40) They actually look like they’re finally having fun right now. Let’s hope it lasts.
Kind of glad I’m not at the game. I lost my voice yelling at Jermaine the other day, I can’t imagine how I’d let loose on Ron.
Alright we are back in it. Just 4 points before half. I was hoping 2 or less and we had that chance, but McDyess missed both free throws. But that is alright. The defense we played in the second quarter was what I wanted to see. Ecspecially By Affalo, Rip, Sheed, Dyess, and AI. See I told you AI can play defense. And I told you, you can get a lot of points off of good defense. We still need to play a little more offense though. I think Affalo, Sheed, Tay, Stuckey, and Hamilton should come out after half.
I would also like to see Sheed more in the post. And when AI, Stuckey, or Rip go in and get trapped than Sheed should be Outside for the Three.
I want to see 80 percent of the games blue on the right(Schedule) after this game.
Did Artest do a cutthroat before his second free throw?? Or did I just misinterpret that? Thought the league ruled cutthroats automatic T’s.
Anyways, we fought hard. Sheed was actually getting some post play and dominating. He’d be over 20 points a game if he would make a habit of that. Good game. I’m not sure how much longer AI will keep happy with getting 0 minutes in the 4th quarter. The last 3 of 4 games he’s gotten no 4th quarter minutes.
Detroit is simply a team playing out of position. Stuck isn’t a point guard and Sheed isn’t a center. If the guys play their right positions, defense would improve, and Detroit probably wouldn’t lose so much. Dumars thinks any player can play any position, and he’s wrong. Rip guarding Tracy earlier…are ya kidding me? Bill needs to let someone else replace him, Dumars needs to either get his shit together very quickly or be fired, MC needs to go, and then AI, Kwame, Walter and Alex can leave immediately. I don’t know though, basically we’re probably screwed either way. Losing Chaunc really hurt the team, and I can’t think of an actual PG that could replace him for Detroit’s specific players.
A pretty good game but an interesting article. Wish Detroit won though.
Is Dumars Looking To Deal Iverson?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01252009/sports/moresports/no_answer_for_piston_failure_151908.htm
Sheed’s legs aren’t gone, he just needs a Ben Wallace center playing with him…or someone very, very much like Ben.
Rasheed isnt a center, but Stuckey is a PG and will be playing PG his whole career.
Let’s see, 28-29 for free throws in a blow-out loss to Dallas; tonight 11-20 in a 3 point loss. Yes, it was a better game for our team, but it is hard to say it was a good game when you give up 39 points in the 1st. We did come back and had a shot at the end–but poor defense (was that 4 offensive rebounds by Houston in the final 2 minutes on that one possession?) and 11-20–well it wasn’t lost at the line but it could have been won there.
Stuck was a SG in college, and it’s how he thinks. He always looks for when he can score. I was uneasy initially with him, because I felt he hogged the ball a bit too much. Nevertheless, he doesn’t seem to be able to lead the team the way Chaunc could, and he certainly doesn’t control the tempo of the game. He’s amazing….but I’d rather see him as a SG.
Better game compared to the blowout loss against Dallas. Offensive rebounds from long jumpers and free throw misses realy hurts. 24-18 2 games behind Atlanta.
Next two games: at Minnesota and then (gulp) the mighty Celtics next at home.
Man that was an awesome game. First game in awhile I wasn’t disguisted after a game. Would of loved the win, and there are certain things we could of done better (1st quarter d, maybe letting someone other than Sheed take that last three, get some freakin rebounds in the 4th, etc) But overall I’m feeling satisfied with the game, the boys fought, they had pride, and I am guaranteeing a win next game, and I don’t even now who we’re playing. I’m feeling good, we fed the post, we passed the ball, we tried to get the win, sometimes when you get houston who shoots like they did from the 3point it’s hard to come back. But overall, hey I’m not cursing anyone on the team, because that game could of been over VERY early. But the Stones fought, and next game like I said, Victory, they might even go on a little winning streak if I may be so bold.
And by the way whoever the ref was that called off that Dyess basket is in my doghouse for the rest of his life. That basket was good and no one will tell me different. Dyess, Sheed , Rip, Stuckey, Amir, Max, everybody Good game, and I love the emotion and the heart I saw tonight.
Honestly that was a pretty terrible last play to run with that much time left… a fallaway 3 from way out? They had time to run a few screens to actually get sheed SET to shoot. It’s like just a throw up desperation 3.
I’m just hoping and praying to God that somewhow, someway the Pistons becomes the next Miami Heat of 06(champsionship team) who were very inconsistent during the season, but all of a sudden amazingly clicked during the playoffs.
The game was 103-99 when Dyess got that board. If the ref got it right that could of been a potential 3 points we could of scored but instead we didn’t get any points. If Dyess made the free throw it would of been a 1 point game. That’s the only thing I’m going to gripe about on this game
FIRE MICHAEL CURRY, THATS IT!
I liked the way Sheed played in the post as well get some threes. I liked how the offense went overall even though we can get some improvement. The defense in the first however was the worst ever in history. I have not seen this for a long time. We just did not cover behind the arch. Those threes killed us. But we got our defense back in the second. That helped out a lot. We declined a little in the third and the start of the 4th but we came back in the end.The defense by Amir, Affalo, Sheed, AI, Rip in the second was awesome. Everyone on the Pistons squad should just watch and learn about defense from Affalo.HE IS AWESOME. The block by Amir and the hustle to get the ball and call a timeout was great. I love the way he always follows his shots after he knows he missed it. I still belive he should be able to get the ball more. McDyess should also get the ball more usually when he shoots his jumpies he drains them. I think he should start shooting Threes. I mean come on hes only like three feet away.
They mentioned on ESPN that AI said the Pistons are enjoying flying under the radar. Will somebody please tell them its time to pull up on the throttle? They’re starting to drag the wheels on the ground
if we made some fucking free throws, we would have won the game. rasheed missed a technical and so did taysahun. if they both made them and iverson made 1 less miss, the game would have been tied.
oh and mcDyess missed a pair.
Am i the only one that notices that?
One more loss for the Pistons or one more win for the Heat and they’re on their way down to the 6th seed. And with some of the tough games that are coming up, things might not be looking that great after another week or two. How bad would it be if they continued to drop down to 7th or 8th?
I’m really starting to wonder if Joe is going to do something before the all star game. If they continue to struggle like this it might force his hand.
i seriously give up , 2 air ball 3 pointers from sheed n afflalo , n putting rip as a bench player does not help , he had the hot hand but the offensive rebounds fukked us , excuse my french , but this is seriously gettin outa hand , i seriously wish that curry n dumb ass dumars get fired , its like we have no luck with our trade , i missed chauncey .
theres no way we can win with AI on the bench in the final minutes of any 4th quarter, especially when were down, thats when he thrives, he’s a great 4th quarter and late fourth quarter player…. WE NEED TO MAKE SOME KIND OF MOVE WHETHER ITS CHANGING COACHING PERSONNEL (CURRY OR DUMARS FIRED) OR MAKING ANOTHER TRADE, AND I”M WAITING FOR IT TO HAPPEN
Wow…Another loss for the Pistons.
In the first quarter, Sheed didn’t quite figure out that he couldn’t leave his man wide open for a side three until they buried about five of them on him. The slow start and horrible defensive effort displayed at the beginning set the tone for the game, and it favored Houston.
If the Pistons would guard the perimeter, make free throws (11/20????), and grab big rebounds, they’d find themselves on the winning end of more games.
Not to blame the refs completely, but their officiating in the last few minutes of the game was horrible. Dyess had the offensive rebound, got hit, and shot it off the glass before hitting the ground. There is no way that it wasn’t a continuation, and those three points would have been huge down the stretch.
On the following possession for the Rockets, where they had four or so offensive boards, Houston went over Sheed’s back for one (no call), and flung Rip to the floor on another (another no call). Houston proceeded to score after burning over a minute off the clock.
I don’t think Curry did anything wrong tonight. Would’ve liked to see Bynum out there, and maybe a little Herrmann in the 4th, but we can’t blame him for the loss tonight.
Have the Pistons been watching Kwame too much? He’s 38.5% from the line on the season. lol
You guys/girls just wait till playoffs ;).
First of all I didn’t even read that book/comment left at the top. Second of all, Rip and AI played well together tonight. With Stuck in the game, you will always have at least two shooting guards in the game. Stuck is trying to make a name for himself instead of playing team ball. He looks to score and then when its too late in the shot clock he passes off. Also, has anyone noticed that his teammates don’t try to set him up for points. For the most part Stuck only touches the ball once per possesion. Maybe thats why he feels he has to hold the ball and find his own shot. RASHEED GOT A LOB DUNK, I CAN’T BELIVE IT!!! Dude has to lose some weight and he’ll be fine, he won’t be 24 again but he’ll have more energy.
The Sheed dunk was hot, but mostly due to his being slow down the floor. So slow that he was easily the first back to the other end of the floor, lol.
In an discussion about this game on a message board there was the discussion if the benching of Iverson for most of the fourth quarter did the team good. I think yes, but I’ll post the numbers and let you guys discuss.
It did. Alston hit that runner in the lane to make it 94-81 Rockets. At that point this was the subs out of the T.
Afflalo for Prince
Stuckey for Iverson
————————-
Pistons then go 9-7 and it’s 101-90 and Houston takes a timeout.
————————————–
Curry then throws Sheed in for Maxiell and the lineup is
Stuckey, Afflalo, Rip, Dyess, Sheed (Smallball)
The Pistons then go 9-2 with Prince entering for Afflalo during this sequence and the score is 103-99.
——————————————————
Curry sticks with the same lineup that goes 6-5 until the timeout after Artest’s missed foul shot.
———————————————–
Out of that timeout he inserts Afflalo for Dyess leaving the lineup as
Stuckey, Afflalo, Rip, Prince, Sheed where they of course go scoreless. But in that span with Iverson out of the game.
The Pistons go 24-14 in that stretch of the fourth without Iverson but still lose the game.
————————————————
With Iverson in the game, by my math, the Pistons were outscored 82-77 with Iverson in the game and while Iverson was out of the game, the Pistons outscored Houston 28-26 while he was on the bench.
Thoughts?
hey Nat what would you say about iverson as our 6th man?? some points about that:
– rip would be comfortable as a starter
– it would be the same starting lineup that got us to 6 east finals, with stuckey instead of billups (which makes it even better id say)
– iverson on the bench would feel comfortable with our bench players, since he would be the obvious king of that lineup, which skill wise resembles the lineups hes been on in the past (ie. he would get most of the shots)
– we would have 2 great lineups with completely different styles to suit whatever team we are playing against
– amir, maxiell, brown and dyess would be pretty much interchangeable between the lineups to customize them a bit to suit the style they want to play.
I would say the lineups would develop great chemistry by playing only with each other, and maybe they would compete with each other to be the better 5 man lineup. If i was MC i would try this, at least, i am pretty confident it would work!
Hey, did someone just take a post off Boxden?
I always liked A.I. coming off the bench, but that won’t solve the big issues. I think there are too many problems to fix at this point. I’m all for sticking with some kind of consistency in a line-up though. Maxiell is undersized, but he’s our best best as a starting big man. Amir can bring it, but he can’t stay out of foul trouble. And Dyce gave up posting up 2 years ago.
I’m just along for the ride at this point.
I didn’t watch this one, but after reading T Kinslow’s post I’m just dumbfounded that somehow someway Curry always finds a way back to a small lineup. Wow, I don’t know what to say at this point that hasn’t already been said a million times.
I like what Jayborne just said, “I’m just along for the ride at this point.” That’s pretty much how I’m starting to feel. How is a team is such disarray going to accomplish anything the rest of this season or the playoffs? We’ll find out I guess.
I think the best lineup we could bring on the court, played at the 4th quarter.
With Stuckey, Rip, Tay, Sheed and Dyess/Amir/Brown we are a very good team. Despite the loss, I’m confident, because of what I was seeing in the 4th.
This looked a lot better, than games before.
Without AI we’re a much better defensive team, because there are no matchup problems on the guard positions.
I LOVE to see Rip running screens out there again!!!
I think the reason that the 4th quarter lineup is successful is that all those guys have played together before and know how they like to do things. When AI was thrown into the mix it kind of screwed things up. I wonder how well they would be playing right now if Billups and Dyess were never traded?
Who else gets up in the morning and looks for Curry to have been fired? Every morning I go to NBA.com to check if hes been sent to the unemployment line. Does anyone know what this douche is getting paid and how long his contract is?
too much and too long.
I look every day too. I still think a mid season firing is as good as giving up on te season, but I still look for it.
Sheed obviously didnt look at the clock when he jacked up that 3 – we had 9 seconds – -not .9 Sheed and then as the game goes off the air he is just smiling and doesnt care
1. Dumars had no idea how deep the effects of Trading chauncey would hurt – we see it now
2.Curry is over his head on how to manage players
3. They say small ball is dead but yet we have 3 gaurds on the floor over half the time – and not that it would save us but why cant Walter get any run the guy can ball
4. I am so tired of hearing about 2010 – Lebron, Bosh, or anyone else arent coming to the Pistons – maybe we can get a package deal for Stackhouse, Hill, and Ben!!!
It’s very frustrating to watch Pistons Captain Rip Hamilton as a bencher. If Sundays game hadn’t said enough: Rip scored 27 points in 31 mintues more than any of the starters for that game. Hamilton or Iverson should ever have been consider to be a 6th man. Come-on were looking at Stuckey, and Johnson here. Stuckey has shown that he can be a star; however, he can be selfish at times.
Really what Detroit and Dumars needs to do is find a good center. Rasheed cannot play a center. He certainly wants to shoot three-pointers and post up. We need a center who will rebound and stay near the paint to help get the ball back in. Rasheed is definatly a better offense player than a defense player.
The ideal pistons team for now Should be C:Rasheed PF:Mcdyce SF:Prince SG:Hamilton PG:Iverson. now that will be a good line-up as well as a powerful bench. Hamilton and Iverson would be the lead scorers. While rasheed can throw up some points by posting up and from his three pointers. Then we would get extra points by prince while Mcdyce reounds. We would have Stuckey who will sub in for AI and Brown who will come in for Rasheed, Amir for Tay and Allfalo for Hamilton.
It seems to me that Dumars is not interested in winning the championship this year. His focus is to build back up the Pistons. First losing Ben Wallace, and now Chauncey Billups has hurted the Pistons. We have lost focus in winning at home court. We are letting teams come to Detroit and beat us on our home court. That is definatly not GOOD at all.. It’s embrassening.
I think this needs to end. I am a huge fan and it’s very SAD to watch something like this happen to a good team.
Dumar really NEEDS to fire Curry. Something needs to change quick or the Pistons are really going to DIE out soon..