A week ago, no one was sure how this west coast trip would turn out, but I’m sure more predicted more lows than highs considering the team’s 0-5 start to the season.
Well, the Pistons beat the Kings Sunday night in Sacramento 100-94 to earn at the very least a split of the four game road swing, that concludes Monday in Oakland versus the Golden State Warriors.
The boys in blue were led by Rodney Stuckey’s 17 points and seven assists. He also seems to be finding his niche’ as the team playmaker.
Ben Gordon scored 16 off the bench, eight in the fourth quarter including a three-point dagger with 23 seconds remaining to put the game out of reach.
Sacramento was led by former Purdue Boilermaker, Carl Landry’s 19 points and 8 strong rebounds. Rookie DeMarcus Cousins, whom the Pistons had coveted in last June’s NBA Draft, had a rough night with picking up fouls, while scoring six points and grabbed eight rebounds but committed six turnovers and picked up a technical foul after disagreeing with an offensive foul call.
Last year’s Rookie of the year, Tyreke Evans scored 20 points and Luther Head added 13 off the bench.
The Pistons could never run and hide from the Kings only leading by as much as eight, Sacramento stayed in the game on the strength of their offensive rebounding.
Detroit has now won two straight and four of their last five.
Road trip concludes Monday night at Oracle Arena against Golden State.
Key Points:
- Jason Maxiell started in place of Austin Daye, who didn’t play.
- Rookie Greg Monroe scored six points and pulled down eight rebounds in 15 minutes.
- Tracy McGrady is looking more like an asset lately.
- Rebound war lost 41-37, 18-8 on the offensive side.
- Ben Wallace grabbed 10 rebounds; Rip Hamilton scored 13 points in only 21 minutes.
- Tayshaun Prince is proving to be more valuable these days.
- Charlie V scored only 11, but his defensive effort has improved.
- Anyone notice the Ben Gordon skip step after he made the clutch three in the closing minute?
Highlights via NBA.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/games/kings/2010/11/14/0021000140_det_sac_recap.nba_nba_576x324.flv /]
t mac was looking good when he was running the show. sometimes he would iso more than i would like but i still think he is a steal. prince was looking like his old self, glad to see you back buddy. lets keep this vibe going. ps i still think q is playing with the line up’s and the frist couple of games were experiments. should of had it down by now though.
Good Job…Pistons!!! Lets keep it going so we can slowly weed out the people who only want to put up negitive comments about their favorite team. (even though some of the negitives i agree with)…but it’s good to give love when they win as well as though love when they lose. ying-yang..hahaha. I kid, I kid.
t-mac is absolutely great. I thought it was stupid to get this guy when our whole team is wing players, but he has such an incredible basketball IQ, he really improves the flow of our team coming off the bench. Unlike AI he is a solid presence in the locker room, letting his play on the court silence the critics.
BG is awesome. He needs more touches though, tay is avoiding him most of the time when hes open.. Apart from the game winner this time of course. Let Ben shoot!
One more thing.. Is it just me or tay really seems less interested in whats going on with this team than my grandma? He seema bored and unfocused. Not sure what professionalism means since i’m no nba player for sure, but i’ll try and care a bit at least.
Wow T-mac is getting better offensively. His isos were very encouraging to watch. He seems to be getting his legs back.
I dont see Rip stayin here much longer . Tay maybe
Rip/ Tay for J.smooth/C.Kaman
Wow we’d immediately be one of the elites with those big guys on our team
R.Stuckey, W.bynum
Ben Gordon, T-mac
Austin Daye, Jerebko
J.Smith, Charlie V, J-Max
C.Kaman, B.Wallace
Holy mackerel.. gives me the chills thinking about it
Great effort from the Pistons!
I hope someone will provide a reason for Daye’s DNP.
The reason is Sacramento’s pretty powerful frontcourt.
That’s why J-Max got minutes.
And it’s back to back too so… 🙂
Go Pistons.
BTW this page is awesome now.
Great stuff from Rashid and all you guys.
Much respect for your effort.
Good game… and good D! i like Max in the line-up regardless of match up issues for Daye. Max and Ben will help w/ boards and D. we need second chance points and better D. btw… i think a trade is going to happen in the near future involving Rip or Tay (and maybe a package deal involving an additional player)…. that will be hard to see cuz i’m a big fan of both, but its part of the business i guess…
on a positive note: Kings coach was quoted as saying the Pistons are a playoff team in his view…