Despite having their team at full strength for the first time all season, the Pistons suffered a 95-102 loss to the Raptors Sunday afternoon in the Toronto. Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon each scored 15 points as the losing streak goes to seven games.
Key Points:
- Losing aside, it was nice to get Ben, Rip and Tayshaun back. Because of the suspensions to Daye and Jerebko on opening night, this was actually the first game all season long at full strength.
- Pistons started this one strong in the first few minutes of the game, but Toronto slowly pulled away leading by as much as 20.
- Fantastic third quarter where the Pistons outscored the Raps 28-13 to give them a chance in the second half.
- The Pistons still winning the board wars (40-36), and still not winning games.
- Huge game from Chris Bosh a 16 rebound 25 point double-double in 38 minutes.
- Chucky Atkins deactivated and the box score listed DaJuan Summers with a strained left knee.
- The thing that the Pistons have been hanging their hat on has seemed to disappeared in the past few games. It’s not just the pick and roll defense that’s suffering either.
- After being out 8 weeks with a back injury, Tayshaun Prince looked pretty good. Prince scored 9 on 4-for-8 shooting with 3 boards and 3 assists in 26 minutes.
Photo/Getty Images
- Gordon looked a bit rusty to start, but caught his groove in the second half finishing with 15 on 4-for-15 shooting with 5 boards. I’m guessing he’s back to his usual self by Tuesday.
- “We had our chances tonight,” Gordon said. “With all the injuries and guys coming back, I still thought we had a chance to win the game. We just didn’t convert on plays that we needed to.” Via The Detroit News
- Five Pistons in double figures.
- A decent 40% shooting percentage compared to the twenty something they put up last time against Toronto. However the thing that may have done the Pistons in was it’s 33% shooting in the third quarter while allowing the Raps to shoot 62%.
- With BG, Tay and Rip back and “The Swede” starting at PF I was surprised the Pistons didn’t rest Charlie Villanueva. Charlie scored 8 on 2-for-7 shooting with 2 boards, a blocked shot and 4 turnovers.
- The Raptors really have the Pistons number this season. This may be one of the best Raptors teams I can remember in quite some time.
- The Pistons seem to have trouble getting to the line lately they were 23-for-33, while Toronto was 32-for44.
- Rodney Stuckey’s high…..high glasser had to be the shot of the night, this thing bounced off the top of the backboard and fell right in.
Video Courtesy of The NBA, FSN and The Detroit Pistons
- Rodney scored 13 on 5-for14 shooting with 8 boards, 5 assists and a steal. Solid all around game for Rodney.
- Detroit trailed 74-69 after three thanks to a (as Blaha said) a “man sized third quarter” from Jonas Jerebko. Prince got the Pistons to within 85-84 on a turnaround jumper with 5:47 left in the fourth, but that’s as close as it got.
- Just 9 turnovers for Detroit.
- A Bynumite ankle breaker.
[flashvideo file=https://need4sheed.com/videos/flash_videos/dec_27_09_stuckey.flv /] - Will Bynum finished with just 4 points, 2 boards and an assist in just 14 minutes on the floor.
- Clearly Jonas Jerebko was the player of the game, enormous hustle all game long and dunks and consecutive three pointers in the third to get the Pistons back in the game.
Video Courtesy of The NBA, FSN and The Detroit Pistons
- Need4Swede, despite the return of Prince in the starting lineup, started the game at PF. Jonas finished the game with 14 points with 7 boards, 2 steals and a block shot before fouling out on a bogus call in the fourth quarter. I hate to say it, but had Jonas not been called for that last shot, thing may have ended just a bit different.
- Rip, Ben and Tay back but Jonas was the difference maker.
- Happy to see Chris Wilcox being the guy I thought he was going to be when he got to Detroit. Six quick points in 12 minutes with 2 boards and a blocked shot. That’s nice production in short minutes.
- Highlights of the game via NBA.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/games/raptors/2009/12/27/0020900439_det_tor_play3.nba_nba_576x324.flv /] - Can they get things together for their next game at home against the Knicks? My guess it that the losing streak ends Tuesday.
- Apologizing it was a long time coming, but Mr. Atkins is not tooned. I also have a bit of a surprise with a couple new additions to the header of the site.
Very nice write-up Nat. I had to go to a family party today, and their big football fans, so I couldn’t catch the game.
Sounds like Jonas should stay in the starting line-up for good.
Give them some time back on the court! We are back.
we will be ok, but we need 2 things :
1.CV come on!!! he needs to play better on both ends of the floor. I know he will be OK offensively, but I am worried about his defense..
2. I think we really need a trade ,but not a big one as most of the fans think. Do not trade Rip, Tay or anybody this caliber. we need to trade 2 of our 3 bigs (Maxiell, Brown, Wilcox) for 1 solid PF-C. I hope we could trade Maxiell and Brown for a athletic, strong, and a good defender player, like Tyrus Thomas from Bulls
I was horrified. At the end, Detroit handed the win to Toronto on a platter with all those free throws. If the Pistons weren’t fouling them so much we really could have won!
Arnie and Mike haha natalie you rule so much its not even funny.
As for the game glad to see the guys back, they started getting it together but couldn’t hold it. Overall nice effort and I agree i think the losing streak will end against the knicks
I noticed a typo, on the 2/27 game you put warroprs
but hopefully u guys can beat the knicks (who really arent that bad this year) and bring this losing streak to a halt. Even though the Pistons are almost at full strength, it is too late in the season to really end up with a good record that would lock up even the first 5 seeds in the playoffs, but at this point itd be nice to still make the playoffs. even though im a celtics fan I’ll be rooting for you guys, sucks what injuries can do to a team (i should know lol). At least you guys arent as injury plagued as the blazers lol
Too late into the season? U talk like we’ve played over 40 games, i got news for u buddy, the pistons season has just started ( thats if no more injuries happen to the main guys)
Hey Natalie, my name is John Bushara. I live in Toronto, and I was at this game and I got to meet Charlie and your favourite player Jonas Jerebko. I have pictures and autographs with the two. I also talked to Mike Abdenour and got his autograph. Charlie and Jonas were so friendly and it truly made my year.
Can someone please help me in getting Mike Abdenour, Assistant Coach Pat Sullivan, and Mason’s autograph for me??
HAHA WERE BACK AND WE NEED 1 TO 2 GAMES AND WILL B GD JUST NEED TO GET USED TO IT
if the pistons dnt beat the knicks tomorrow at home, i believe that they’ll be booed. they got to win the next 2 games in order to get back in this thing
Wow..play maxiell or trade him!
Pistons suck it up again with their scorers shooting bad %’s. Stuckey still cant seem to pass the ball. Villanueva gets monster minutes and has one or two good games out of 10 and plays NO defense, yet the Pistons keep losing and playing maxiell 5-10 mpg. Funny how when he was starting they were at least playing better and winning some games. I dont get why everyone things miraculously when RIP, Prince and Gordon are healthy the pistons will win. Sure they might score more, but the defense is non-existent.
Sure Maxiell is undersized, but he could play SG, he dominates defensively and has proven his offensive game this season already, but yet limited to low minutes even when NOT in foul trouble! Why sign him to a deal if hes gonna play 4mpg just as “pity” playing time?!
Pistons are terrible this year, and the reason is the lack of a true PG. When your PG almost never shoots close to 50% and sometimes has 1-3 assists per game….thats not good…but yet everyone on the pistons coaching staff seems to be ok with forcing it to continue?
@Paul Chaunceys highest fg% as a Piston was .448,in 03/04 he had 0.39! With Prince back, we have 3 good defenders in the starting five(Ben,Prince and Jerebko). BG can shoot the lights out against every team.Hamilton is great for the leadership…let’s see 2010 as a new season opening!
@ Paul- Wow buddy, do u have any idea what you’re sayin? Because of the PG we are losin all these games and aren’t good? Really? When all these injuries happened we wouldn’t have won half the games we did without Stuck. Say what you will, I think his numbers are great this year and he has put himself into another level from last year. I can’t seem to believe that you can blame everything on a PG… if you’ve watched anything pistons bball this year you would’ve seen Stuckey make some tremendous plays on both ends of the floor. It’s funny how critical fans never look at the good, ONLY THE BAD in a player. And come on Maxiell at SG? Tell me you were kiddin on that one…
Now that we got our players back, it’s time to rest bynum. Let him get healthy and just play Chucky some more as the back-up point. Chucky is the only true point guard we got anyway.
A lot of your numbers are off. Check again on fg%, points in the third quarter, tayshuans minutes, etc.
@ paul i think u mean sf? not sg. i hope anyway or u really have no idea about how basketball is played. also stuckey has played half the year at sg, or sf. so of course his assists are gonna be down, by the way how do u expect him to get assists when he is the only scorer on the floor? (when rip,tay,ben were hurt) kind of hard to get the assist when u pass the ball and they give it right back to you, then u have to try to make something happen cause there is only 5 on the shot clock. hence poor shooting percentages he is trying to rush up a shot. who would u pass it too to score? wallace? chucky? maxiell? maybe jerebko? kwame? wilcox? daye? cv31 if he is hot which right now he is not BECAUSE HE IS HURT, cant say bynum he usually on bench when stuck is in. so WHO do you think he shoud be getting all these assists from? its not like he is rondo with a stacked team of prolific scorers ready to spot up and shoot. sorry i ranted but i was just curios on yours and others logic here. GO PISTONS
CURIOUS*
NAT THE BYNUM VIDEEO DOES NOT WORK, sorry about the caps didnt know it was on.
@ DEL cv31 is hurt u cant blame the loss on him he is playing with a very painful foot injury to his heel. it was not his fault the coaches did not rest him, there was no reason for him to try and play when rip,tay,and ben were all back. GO PISTONS
I agree with you Junior. Will has been hurt for over a month and has only sat out 3 games (I think) and both his ankles are hurt. I wonder who makes the call on whether a player sits out or plays. Either way, give the guys a break!
Nice history on my favorite Piston Will Bynum.
http://www.pistonpowered.com/2009/12/will-bynum-high-school-documentary/
This was the first pistons game that i’ve been able to watch this year, and i was wondering if a couple of things are new:
1) Our offensive system is really poor. Almost every play from this game started with Wallace with the ball on the high post and 3 players loaded up on one of the wings. Though this may not be bad, a lot of our plays ended up with a difficult drive or jump shot that was out of rhythm with the rest of our players. Has this been happening a lot recently? I thought Q was supposed to be good at offensive systems! I read recently that Toronto has the lowest defensive efficiency in the NBA this season, and we made their defense look tenacious.
2) Is our defense always this bad? Maybe we’re not statistically horrendous, but everyone was out of sorts on this one, especially the bigs. CV, Wilcox, and even Wallace were often a little out of place, which can be seen by their slight stumbles throughout the game. This is really weird to me. I guess I am just too used to sheed and wallace doing a good job in the pain.