Another…almost win.
Pistons fans may be tired of saying it, but Wednesday nights game in Atlanta can be added to the “they should have one that one” column. Detroit looked like they were headed for their first win of the season when all things fell apart in the fourth quarter (again). What was a highly competitive game, where the Pistons were probably looking they best they have this short season turned into another loss for Detroit. A five-point, fourth-quarter lead turned into a 85-94 loss in the last five minutes of the game.
Key Points:
- What mysteriously happened to Rodney Stuckey? Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News was there.
‘Rodney Stuckey, the team’s only point guard, only played 13 minutes, missing the last 20:56. While the Hawks were at the foul line early in the third quarter, Pistons coach John Kuester called Stuckey’s name.” Stuckey didn’t flinch, so Kuester called for DaJuan Summers to come in, and Stuckey went to the bench without acknowledging his coach. Kuester ended his postgame press conference early, before the question could be asked. Stuckey declined to talk about the matter afterward, saying only, “I’ve got to stay focused.” Via The Detroit News
- I don’t know what Stuckey did or did not do, but to pull your only PG in a winnable game makes one think.
- The Pistons had a 48-44 halftime lead.
- If you watched, I’m wondering if you thought they would blow it when they had the lead late in the fourth.
- Things looked good for Greg Monroe, who grabbed 8 boards and scored 7, while adding three assists in 27 minutes on the floor. He needs time on the floor, but you can see he’s got skills.
- A little vintage McGrady – Tracy went over his allotted 15 minutes on the court (24). Nice contribution with 9 points, 3 assists, 3 steals and 4 boards. If he can play like that consistantly…it will do wonders for the team.
- 38-35 rebound war won.
- Ben Gordon’s hot hand led the way again with 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting in 41 minutes on the floor. Rip is out, but Ben Gordon starting isn’t hurting my feelings.
- Speaking of Ben Gordon…if you want to WIN a Ben Gordon Bobblhead…Please RETWEET this. Pick me @BenGordon8 – @Need4Sheed_com is giving away a Ben Gordon Bobble head and I want it! #BenGordonBobblehead #need4sheed.com I’m trying to get Ben to pick the winner himself!
- Tayshaun clearly had a different attitude Wednesday night. His point total (17) and his body language said it all. Whatever back and forth was said in the locker room hopefully is squashed.
- Austin Daye is still struggling he was 2-for-12 from the floor in 24 minutes, scoring 6 with 4 boards and 3 assists.
- Detroit had 7 steals on the night and only 8 turnovers…they really should have one this one. I feel like a broken record.
- Jason Maxiell DNP.
- 14 points for Charlie V who went 6-for-16 with 4 boards, 3 assists a seal and a blocked shot. His response to Kevin Garnett’s Statement about the Tuesday night “trash talk” …”I know what I heard.”
Highlights via NBA.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/games/hawks/2010/11/03/0021000054_det_atl_recap.nba_nba_576x324.flv /]
- Call me crazy…I know the Pistons are 0-5, but I still think they will be the team I thought they would be to start the season. We may not make the playoffs, but they will be better than they were last year. You need to remember, this is not what the team is going to look like come February.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Will-Josh-Smith-or-Chris-Kaman-move-to-Motor-Cit;_ylt=ApMhsRiUQosuWEqz0S3XeTO8vLYF?urn=nba-282131
TRADE RUMORS!!!
Rip for J.Smith
Tay for C.Kaman
can you say HELL YEAH .. i hope they go through with it
I can only dream of that lineup
Stuckey
Gordon, Daye
Daye
J.smith, monroe
C.Kaman
DAMMMMM
I agree with you Jimmy. I would love to have those players on our team. If we could swing both, that would be the ish!
I know that Villanueva has put up better numbers offensively, but his defense is still atrocious. He let some bench scrub beat him down the court for a dunk in Boston game. His body language just stinks when he gets abused by some rookie or 1st year player. It’s like he can’t believe he got called for the foul…move your feet Charlie! Maybe he is thinking about what his next Twitter post would be: “Got beat by Josh McRoberts for 22 & 14, he iz tough.” There is still too much dribble up the court…pound the ball near the top of the key for 8 seconds while the rest of the team looks at you…pass to someone, set a crappy pick and then throw up a contested jumper/turn-around shot with 4 seconds left on the clock. Last night, they are down by 5 with over a minute to go and they give it DeJaun Summers isolated in the post against someone smaller than him and what does he do? Turn around J with 14 seconds left of the clock. Zero effort to take his guy to the hoop. I can understand getting beat sometimes on defense, but they go through the periods of funk where it just snowballs…same on offense as well.
I am frustrated.
I’m frustrated too…we should have won all 5 games.
on the bright side, we know our team is really focused on showing everybody that we are going to succeed. but why are we still not winning?..
if they have enough answers.. then they should it figure out and go win it!!
there are lots of moves to achieve it.. you might risk one piston veteran or two or more but it doesnt matter, as long as we want to prove something!
Damn, damn damn w should have this!
Well, maybe trades if trades come, I think they will help team.
And I think starting would be:
Stuckey/Will B
Gordon/T-mac
Daye/Summers
J-Smoove/CV/Monroe
Kaman/Monroe/Wallace
why would the hawks send j smooth in exchange for rip? They already have two good shooting guards i really dont see this trade going down, unless joe d can throw something really sweet in the pot.
Hawks will never let Josh Smith go, especially not for Rip, they JUST signed joe johnson to a giant contract and the also have jamal crawford.
the article says it’s for salary relief, rip isn’t salary relief he’s an anchor!
Neither trade will happen. The Clips let Camby walk when Kaman came back. He had his 1st allstar year last season & he hasn’t really got much playing time with griffen. They want Tay, Tay would love to play at home, but you don’t go big for small. This trade NEVER happens. They won’t take Rip either because they have Eroc Gordon who is becoming a star in his own right.
ATL’s motivation to move Smith is financial. Why would they trade for a SG who is not as good as their current SG but too good to play the bench & has 2 years on a pretty big contract. It makes no sense what so ever! I too would love to see both on our team. But neither of these moves happen as straight up deals. player for player. The clips & Hawks are bad franchises but not that stupid.
Nat I love your optimism, but we are were we are supposed to be. The bottom of the east. We have the worst coach in the game. He proved that last year. With all the “too many injuries” excuses, no one had more injuries than Por & they still made the playoffs. We had a better team than them last year but couldn’t win 30 games in the east? til the end of the season when other teams didn’t care anymore. We heard all Summer all the players saying the right things, Kuester saying the right things. But he needs to go. His substitution patterns stink! His line ups are all over the place, with so many players out of position. We have a team full of GF’s & PF’s. No Centers, no true PG. So we lose JJ (a F) at PF & instead of Monroe, CV or Wilcox we start Daye? Our best line up is Stuck, Rip, Prince, Daye & Big Ben? Really? We are a bad enough team with out adding the fact that Kuester has no idea what he’s doing!
Just a quick comment on the Portland thing there. They did a remarkable job with the injuries they had, but they were not adding eight new players and a rookie head coach. BIG DIFFERENCE. They also didn’t lose the quality of players we did.
Really, losing Greg Oden and Joel Pruzbilla wasn’t a major loss for Portland? That’s only their starting and back up center.
A loss, yes. Major? Not really. They played the previous season without Oden so it wasn’t like they had to make major adjustments. Losing Pryzbilla hurt, but they managed to get Marcus Camby and get production out of Juwan Howard – like I said, no comparison to what the Pistons went through.
i like playing daye at SF. Think about it. You start Charlie V and our defense is even worse than it is already. Monroe is not ready. Wilcox is not very good.
But Q taking out Stuckey?? Unforgivable! Stuckey is allowed to criticize you coach Q. If you can’t handle criticism, you better leave detroit because that’s all you are going to get for the next 3 months.
I think Q should apologize to Stuckey. Or leave town, either one is fine.
Sitting at 0-5, Illitch must be angry as hell at Joe D.
Just saying, HEADS R GONNA ROLLL.
I think the 30-day negotiating window closes tomorrow so on November 6, Joe D and Coach Q both might not have a job.
My thing is, if Daye is ready to be thrust into the starting spot & Stuckey was ready when we dumped Chauncy, Why not just plug Monroe in there? Daye is playing terrible! I think Monroe can put up the same numbers as daye with have the effort. Plus his size & passing ability make it at least worth a try. Just my opinion. But Joe’s record the last 3 or 4 seasons has been very Suspect. His impatience with coaches & reluctance to pull the trigger on a trade, yea his days are numbered. I love Joe for what he’s done, but it’s time for a big & drastic change all across the board.
Stuckey didn’t criticize Kuester, he completely ignored him. During the 3rd Kuester walked over to Stuckey at half court while Al Horford was shooting free throws and tried to say something to him. He called his name 4 times and stuckey (who couldn’t have been more than 5 feet from him) didn’t even look at him. So Kuester took him out of the game for Summers. If you have the game recorded, go to minute 9:40 something, when Horford is shooting free throws. You can see Kuester walk to half court and you can hear him calling Stuckey by his last name twice, and then first name twice. Stuckey didn’t even glance at him so he called in Summers.
I don’t blame Kuester for taking Stuckey out at all; granted I think we probably could’ve won if we’d had him in, but if he’s going to ignore you, then he has the potential to become a liability. It doesn’t matter how angry Stuckey is for whatever reason, you can’t ignore you coach like that. I don’t care if you’re going to ignore his suggestions, you have to at least hear what he has to say.
look, when a teacher of a bunch of 3rd graders has to consistently put the kids into time out, send them to the principal for “acting up” and puts half the class in detention, it’s not the kids fault! It’s the fault of the teacher for not projecting confident authority.
same with coaching, Q has got problems in discipline on the team because he is doing a bad job. Our guys are some well mannered players. Prince, Wallace, Stuckey they are not a bunch of Allen Iversons. Q is the one that let things get out of hand, he’s the one having a meltdown. Q should have examined what the hell it is that he is doing that is so wrong that even Stuckey doesn’t want to listen to him.
Maybe 0-5 is part of that!! think about it.
These aren’t 3rd graders. 3rd graders don’t know any better. I’d like to think that the Pistons are more mature and have more composure than a bunch of 3rd graders. Taushaun was upset with Kuester’s comment when he called out the team, and Tayshaun called Kuester out, but he also said that it goes both ways. So obviously he thinks that the reason for the 0-5 start has to do with everyone. Regardless of how Stuckey feels, he should be able realize that he and Coach Kuester are both working to achieve the same thing, which is winning.
Whatever frustration there may be, the players and the coaches should be able to put that behind them so they can work towards wins. You didn’t see Tayshaun ignoring Kuester, and he’s called him out publicly. If Tayshaun is willing to put his argument with Kuester aside to play the game, Stuckey should be as well.
You may think that I’m a Stuckey hater, but I’m really not. I’ve always been a fan of Stuckey, and I hope that we keep him on our team for a long time, however in this instance I have to side with Kuester.
I definitely think Kuester was right in benching him for being insubordinate & behavior detrimental to the team. But in this situation it cost us a much needed win. At the end of the day, the coaches job is to get a W. By any means necessary. Q coulda yanked him, tried talking to him or waiting til after the game to talk to him or fine him. I think Q’s problem is he micro manages & he places more of the blame on the players than his system. I have a boss that micro manages too & as much as I want to ignore her, I know I can’t/ So Stuck was wrong for that. But at the end of the day the way the game is played, Q needs to win in order to keep his job. That was a bad move throwing away a W to save face. It was just dumb & will definitely play against him, just like when Flip & Curry were let go. The players always win in the end. So like EDT said, Q needs to look at himself & figure out how to get his players back. Cuz he is on his way out. He may as well focus on rebuilding his resume with some W’s! Cuz he will still need to work after this season.
I believe in you Nat, things will get better. Unless we lose the next game. Things will definitely get worse.
If I were the Hawks, I’d trade for Tayshaun. He’d definitely be an upgrade over Marvin Williams. Hawks are never gonna make it to the elite with that at SF. Just like the Blazers will not either with Batum at SF. Tay should go to one of those teams, if any.