Whenever teams matchup that have faced off against each other in an NBA Finals, the commentators often say “tonight features a rematch of the ________ NBA Finals between the _________ and the __________”. Well people, those days are over.
Some prominent players remain from the 2004 Finals like Kobe Bryant, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace who has since completed a tour of duty among other Central Division teams from 2006-2009 before coming back to Detroit. The last few years have featured Detroit getting whooped either at the Forum or at the Palace (or both), but either way Detroit has been outmatched in recent years due to the Lakers acquisition of Pau Gasol. Let’s re-cap some of the more notable parts of the game last night, shall we?:
- Richard Hamilton was ejected 5 minutes into the game for what appeared to be doing next to nothing. The referees seem to be a little sensitive, and the technical foul calls are not consistent from ref to ref. Hamilton, however, does have a history of complaining to the refs.
- Kobe was Kobe: 33 points on 11-20 shooting with 9 rebounds. Kuester played Tayshaun, Hamilton, and Stuckey on him but it didn’t matter.
- Lamar Odom, who came in averaging nearly 15 points and 9 rebounds a night against the Pistons for his career – matched his career point per game total while also pulling down 14 rebounds.
- No surprise here – Pistons outrebounded 55-41.
- The ball movement was there for Detroit as they racked up 18 assists compared to only 5 turnovers.
- Rodney Stuckey lead all scorers for Detroit with 18 points on 7-17 from the field. Stuckey needs to go back to finishing strong at the rim.
- Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon shot a combined 5-22 from the field for a total of 16 points off the bench.
- Chris Won’t Wilcox made his first appearance of the season. He played 3 minutes and had 1 rebound.
- Thank goodness Andrew Bynum wasn’t playing, that’s all I have to say.
- Will Bynum was playing though, and whiffed badly on a breakaway dunk that officially sealed the night for the fans and the game’s outcome.
- Austin Daye had a flagrant foul against Pau Gasol which made me “LOL”.
- Laker rookie Derrick Caracter matched a career high with 6 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes.
- Tayshaun Prince had the worst +/- in the game: -24.
- Derek Fisher and Ron Artest tied for best +/- in the game: +26.
This was not the way the Pistons wanted to return home after the circus act they provided in Golden State at the end of the West Coast trip. The game was close for the first quarter and a half, and then the Lakers pulled away for good.
This team needs help, and they need it quick before this season gets away from them.
This sucks.
Last sentence of this article kinda summons it up…
im not sure how much I trust those +/- numbers but Tay scored -8 vs the warriors last for pistons . . .
it’s almost as if when prince thinks the pistons are going to lose, he gives up.
Mrs. Davison was seated in her old spot with a few lady friends at the game. I wonder if this means the sale of the team broke down. I think this was the first game she attended this season. Could mean a long delay in rebuidling is what I figure.
She’s been to every game but one this season…I have seen her.
@ edt
this is where I got the -24 from: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=301117008
right right, what I’m saying is this is NOT the first time tay had the worst +/-, check out the game vs the warriors, he had a -8 there.
The reason I dont trust the +/- too much is that they dont take into account which rotation you are playing against. So anyone (like Prince) who is on the floor 100% of the time that Kobe is on the floor will have a terrible +/-.
Still there is something to that +/- if it keeps on happening.
trade players now before we are stuck wtih them …trade tay,rip stuckey ,maxiel,wilcox, get players who play defense. and dont wine all the time and get players who respect teamates and coaching staff. I wounder when these guys will just shut up and play basketball the Pistons willnot and canot out score no team in the nba. they need to go back to drawing board and learn how to play defense. p.s. I really miss JJ right now man, It was so cool seeing him hustle for 4 quarters of basketball. that what i liked about the pistons when they picked him I felt there was hope.now, I just hope they figure something out . go pistons.
You’re implying that we’re not already stuck with them? Their value is absolute crap right now and the team sucks so it’s even worse. Dumars doesn’t want to “give these guys away”, but that’s what he’s going to have to do. Rip and Tay should have been traded when Billups was! If you’re going to dismantle a team DO IT. Don’t just talk the talk and not walk the walk.
4th game in 6 days. Plus we were on the west coast while the Lakers were waiting for us on the east coast. We are going to seriously struggle to beat the Lakers at this team’s peak performance, but when you are giving up that edge straight there. You are going to get blown out.
I know that Rip got called for a touch foul on Kobe and that Kobe would get away with a lot worse and still complain to the officials without getting a tech, but Rip has to do better than that. Five minutes into the game? Any player who gets two techs in a row is just being selfish and stupid. Once he calls the first, you have to walk away!
What is most dissapointing is the fact that a fairly decent crowd (20,000+) watched a team put up no fight. Well that will really bring them out to the next game!
Must win verse Washington after 3 days off. Then a tough two day road trip verse Dallas and Memphis. Will be happy if they win one.
Get rid of everyone except Jonas and Summers cause he never pissed me off.
I’m talking coach, GM, and rest of the players. All of them.
There was a true leader in Soviet Union, Stalin. His politics were to make everytinng right, but he was rude man. If someone did something concerning betrayal, treachery to anyone, then he spoke only this: “Rasstrelyat!” what means “shoot him down”
Don’t be a communst, tovarisch!)))
What I see now is what I wrote yesterday before the game, this team has no real goals, they play for “if”s. If we will get into a winning streak, then who knows, maybe something will happen. If we will lose a lot…If Mrs D will trade the team…If not…
We have no goals like LAL – anything less than the championship would become a distraction and failure.
We have “Thank goodness Andrew Bynum wasn’t playing”
That’s what this team is, we need another one bad season IMAO, or we need a good trades. Not one, one man won’t change anything unless it’s D Howard or Pau Gasol, which is impossible.