The Pistons fell to the Trailblazers, 100-78 Tuesday night in Portland. The game featured several runs by the home team which were sparked by a number of Detroit mistakes – including coaching blunders.
The Blazers, who were led by LeMarcus Aldridge’s 19 points and 17 rebounds, raced out to double-digit lead in the first quarter. The Pistons starters got off to a lousy start offensively – settling for jump shots – and were even worse defensively allows a season-high 36 at the quarter break.
The second quarter saw the Blazers go ahead by as much as 13 until the Piston bench – sparked by Charlie Villanueva’s shooting, rebounding, and defense – cut the lead to one. However, the boys in blue slowly lost momentum as the home team ran the lead to eight by halftime.
The early third quarter saw the starters sleepwalk their way to a 14-point deficit, at which coach John Kuester seemingly not wanting to acknowledge that changes were needed. Instead of inserting the bench sooner, Kuester allowed the non-factoring starting unit to trudge through the quarter as the Blazers became more aggressive. Once some first half heroes were substituted in, the game was too far out of reach.
The fourth quarter saw what seemed to be the Portland Trailblazer transition game practice drill, as Piston turnovers and bad shots led to a series of uncontested layups and dunks, which delighted the Rose City crowd.
Key Points:
- The Blazers were coming off of a 121-96 shellacking at the hands of the two-time defending champion Lakers two nights earlier.
- Rodney Stuckey led the Pistons with 17 points but only 2 assists.
- LeMarcus Aldridge led the Blazers with 19 points and 17 rebounds; Nicolas Batum chipped in with 17 points.
- Charlie V has 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks all in the 2nd quarter.
- Portland shot 50 percent from the floor.
- The Piston starters were -75 in the plus/minus category; Blazers starters were +82.
- The Pistons are now 0-4 on the road.
- Rip Hamilton shot 2-7 and only tallied 4 points and picked up a technical foul in the second half for just throwing his arms after a disputable call. The league is really cracking down on players expressing themselves in the heat of battle.
- Austin Daye had 15 Points and 8 Rebounds.
- Blazers Rudy Fernandez, who had office season issues with the Blazer front office, made was major factor for his team in this one. He scored 13 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished 3 assists, along with several energetic defensive plays.
- Rookie Greg Monroe has seeming supplanted Jason Maxiell in the rotation.
- Next Stop: Los Angeles. I’ll be at the game.
Highlights via NBA.com
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What a blowout…
I was sure that Pistons will give Blazers a fight after 2 W’s.
Yesterday I thought that when CV and BG look good, when Stuck is on fire we can at least fight with average teams like Blazers but now I see that everything can go wrong at times.
We not only lack size, but lack intensity, this squad is all about the finesse, no players can bump people in the paint, grab a hard rebound vs bigger opponent.
We need tough guys badly, we need size and identity.
This is the same old topic…
u said it rashit. we need jerebko back. if there’s one thing JJ has that’s defensive intensity. It’s fun to point fingers, but I cant really blame Q or the players, this team is what it is.
nothing will move until illitch closes the deal. I really think the day after mike buys the team he will fire Joe Dumars. I realize tho the 30 day exclusive window from karen is now closed, so illitch is in no real hurry any more, we might not get a new owner until January, a lot depends on how Illitch is going to make this work for tax purposes, whether he wants to put the sale on his 2010 returns or his 2011 returns and how much profit the franchise as a whole is making all that kind of money stuff that is so complicated.
Yes, they do everything they can. But this group of players can lose games even when BG has 21 points in the first half almost without a miss.
Even if a game turns out in a best case scenario for us like 20-points lead, these Pistons can spoil it at will, just because it is what it is.
Q wanted to find some chemistry between fives, any five players that could do the right things and set the tone. He tries everything, he had some ups and downs with his roster experiments, but this team is this team and it’s all we have for now…
Turnovers at fault. There is no way to catch up to any team while turning the ball over.
P.S. dont forget about the offensive rebound-kickback threes at fault either. I’m not defending anyone here but at the end of the day, if you rebound and limit your turnovers, you have a chance to at least stay in games..if not, blow outs will occur and coaches will get fired and players will get traded and fans will get irate..haha
Q definitely had some lapses in judgment that game. With about a 1:30 to go in the half he pulls Charlie and goes small. The result? As I expected Blazers have a feast in the paint while our smalls are bricking contested jumpers. It looked to me like the game plan was to have Stuck play more off the ball this game, which is odd considering he’s the point guard. Q was trying to force the starters to be productive, which in that game was like trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. Rip was just awful, trade that man! I like Daye but CV should be starting at PF. Let Austin Give the spark off the bench at SF. Is there anyone that can crack down on David Stern?!
Before this game even happened I knew Larmarcus Aldridge was going to tear the Pistons apart. Besides the aging Ben Wallace this team has NO ONE who can match up to a front court of Aldridge and Camby.
Jeez, this is getting out of hand. Q, Daye is not a natural PF, replace him with JMax, CV, or Monroe.
rai I think you’re being too harsh with daye. j max is not that good, charlie v is a matador on defense (except for last game! best game of his career), and monroe is severely undersized at power forward.
the more we get a look at monroe the more it becomes evident he is naturally yet another finesse small forward player, easily pushed around.
We have players like rashit said, all finesse, excellent passing, excellent shooting, but very poor defense.
This team is naturally one you want to race the floor with, run & gun. Unfortunately Tayshaun Prince, T Mac and Monroe can not run the floor. These guys can only play slow half court ball, Prince because he is not physically suited to running the floor t-mac because his knees are not right, and monroe because he’s not yet developed his full physical potential.
monroe undersized at the 4? Isnt monroe listed at 6-11 i think he should be playing the 4 more than anyone. i understand the the team is getting bought out but you can still make the team better without taking on additional costs.
lol, you believe the posted figures of 6 foot 11 inches 247 pounds.
Every single posted measurement of our favorite basketball players is pure fabrication. For instance LeMarcus Aldridge is 6 foot 11 inches 240 pounds.
So Lemacrus is smaller than Greg Monroe. Right.
Charlie Villanueava is listed at 6 foot 11 and 232. So he’s the same height as Greg and 8 pounds lighter?
The truth is that Charlie V is about 6 foot 9, the weight seems right 232, Greg Monroe is 6 foot 8, 220 pounds not 240, LeMarcus Aldridge is 6 foot 9, again he didn’t seem to lie about his weight, he’s about 240.
Will Bynum is listed at 6 foot 0, 185, again the weight seems right, but he’s 5 foot 10, not 6 foot 0.
Height in basketball is wildly exaggerated.
This is why when someone says he’s 7 foot tall, the claim is never “So and So is 7 feet tall” no the claim is always, “He is a TRUE 7 foot tall” not one that’s made up.
ps once the basketball player gets to 7 feet tall they quit exaggerating (I guess 7 feet tall is tall enough they no longer feel they have to put on special shoes when they get measured). So for instance Shaq and Marc Gasol do not exaggerate their heights they are both true 7 foot 1 inch NBA players, but they aren’t merely 2 inches taller than people listed at 6 foot 11 they are anywhere from 2 inches to a half foot taller than the 6 foot 11 players.
Kuester is not good with clock management & his substitute patterns are erratic. He’s lost the team. I will always love what Rip Tay & Big Bien did for us all these years, but like the old bad boys, time goes on & so must we. Those 3 need to go & deserve to go compete for another ring. Watching them suffer on this poorly coach untalented team is unbearable. I am supposed to go to the Warriors Pistons game next Monday here in the Bay Area & I can’t do it. I can’t stomach this team. Q, the Vets & Joe need to go. We need to completely blow up this team & start over. We have not 1 keeper. JJ is an energy guy. But to me, he is just a Nocioni type. Nocioni was off the bench energy enforcer for the bulls & always gave us fits. He is not a savior to build around. We need to start from scratch.
i know what they are listed is not actually their height. he is listed at the “avg” height of a power forward. ben is only listed at 6-9 and be plays the 5. I think if monroe packs on about 20 pounds of muscle he will be good where he is at. im sure he is hitting the gym with ben and soaking everything he has to get playing time. i didnt think he was rdy to play right away he was smaller than id like. But lets be real hear he is not going to run around the 3 point line chansing melo or anyone like that. He has a nose for boards and needs to be down low. I usualy agree with you but this case i dont. its my opinion and you can have yours as well.
tayshaun ” our wins didnt feel like wins”
someone quoted this in the last post and it aggrivates me cause it shows tayshauns selfishness. He’s mad because they played so well without him being the focal point. IN FACT it was the best ball i had seen from the detroit pistons in a couple years, and tayshaun says it didnt feel like wins?
the team is going to be held back so much until tayshaun’s selfish butt is gone