The Big story was not the Pistons seeking revenge in Toronto, it was the fact that this was the first game that Rip (barring injury or illness) was going to come off the bench for Detroit. Mr. Hamilton not only preformed, he set the season high of the bench for the NBA with 35 in the Pistons 115-93 victory in Toronto.
Key Points:
- The Pistons jumped out to a big league and (this time) kept it.
- The Pistons led by 32 with 3 minutes left, they played the full 48.
- Story of the game, Toronto with 23 turnovers.
- Pistons have set an NBA season high by scoring 41 points off of turnovers. The previous mark was 35.
- I hate using this cliche… but we saw Vintage T-Mack.
- Pistons bench outscores Toronto’s 62-39. Having Rip and T-Mac coming off the bench makes for a great second team.
- Rip stepped up big time to make a statement and right his wrong… Career high 6 three pointers, scoring 35, with 1 assist, 1 board and zero technicals in 28 minutes off the bench.
- Jason Maxiell left the game early with a dislocated finger and didn’t return. It shouldn’t keep him off the court for the Chicago game though.
- Congrats to Ben Wallace who played his 1000th NBA game and he looks like it’s his 100th. Wallace finished with 6 points, 3 assists, 2 steals 3 blocked shots and 6 boards in 23 minutes…the man is a ROCK.
- Austin Daye dressed but did not play. I don’t know what I was watching…apparently I missed Daye’s 4 minute return. Though I’m glad I did, he was 0-4 and 0-2 two from downtown. More shots than Ben Gordon takes most nights in just 4 minutes for Daye.
- Great ball movement and good job by Detroit capitalizing off of Toronto’s mistakes.
- Rip Hamilton Video Highlights with Post Game Interview
[flashvideo file=”https://need4sheed.com/videos/flash_video/dec_22_10_hamilton.f4v /]
Video courtesy of The NBA and The Detroit Pistons
Rip: “Tonight I just wanted to make a statement with all of the stuff talked about. I just wanted to come out and make a statement.”
- Another great outing from Charlie Villanueva with 18 points, 4 boards, 2 assists in 25 minutes as a starter alongside Ben Gordon.
- Gordon started slow and stayed slow in his second game as a starter. 1-for-7 from the floor for just 4 points in 20 minutes for Detroit. Rip made a point Wednesday and Ben didn’t. Ben will turn around, he just needs time.
- You can say what you will about me, but one 35 point game doesn’t excuse Rip’s behavior or his play this season. It was nice, but I’m reserving my right to still be upset with the situation and I still think Detroit needs to move him. At this point the team really isn’t in the running for anything other than a draft pick…so get to rebuilding, Tay and Rip both deserve to be on a team that have a chance at something bigger.
- Highlights of the Game
[flashvideo file=”https://need4sheed.com/videos/flash_video/dec_22_10_hl.f4v /]
Video courtesy of The NBA and The Detroit Pistons
- Tracy McGrady with a season high in points (17) assists (7) and rebounds (7). Plenty of boos from the Toronto crowd…
- T-Mac post game: (VIDEO)
- Good to have Rodney back, he took the game under his wings from the start scoring the Pistons first 6 and going on to put up 21 with 2 assists.
- The didn’t let this one go…post game quote from Kuester about what what said at the half.
“Keep booing me I love it, it really doesn’t bother me at all…It’s not like I was like Chris Bosh and selling out the city like the city was horrible or something or making crazy comments like the city was horrible”
Kuester: “It was mentioned, there is no question about it. We realized that we had to continue with the same type of focus that we had in the beginning and again.”
- Greg Monroe has one more assist than Rodney Stuckey. I’ll take his stat line of 7 points on 2-for-3 shooting with 3 assists, 3 boards and a steal in 25 minutes.
- Great team ball led to 27 assists for Detroit.
- A quiet Tayshaun Prince didn’t have to do much when T-Mack and Rip were on fire.
As always, wishing everyone a Happy and Safe Holiday Season, no matter what you celebrate (or don’t). And remember you can always you can follow Danny and I on twitter, if you’d like.
Here is a SHEEDtastic Holiday favorite of mine, Rasheed and Company singing Jingle Bells.
And if you’re listening Santa, please get this team back on track. We’ll settle for a trade, any trade…please Santa, all no coal or bricks . Is a a big ban that can play defense too much to ask for?
Really, I promise, we’ve been really good.
Why didn’t Rip come out every night and make a statement, last night says more about him than even he knows.
Proof positive that he checked out two years ago.
Aside from that, good job Pistons, keep up the hard work.
Now, if only we could get everyone to start making statements every night. We might win 40 games.
the the the big pay back, well big as we have had so far. i knew t mac with the help of ernie would be getting it back. he has something to prove and ive always loved his game. we are getting him for pennies on the dime. big ben whatever you contribute is always appreciated by me, and you always over exceed, love you buddy.
Sorry to correct you Nat, but Daye did play. He missed like 4 three pointers..haha.
Dont be sorry…I must have dozed off for 4 min. 🙂
Nat; Glad to read your comment about Rip. At 13M a year, he should be trying to make a statement every night. Wish I could have an upset stomach and get a $160k game check anyway. Just shaking my head…
At least another team might look at that stat line and realize he has something left to give (are you listening Dallas?). Maybe Rip realizes he’d better play now or his trade value will not be high enough for Joe to move him…
Great game last night. I can’t help but think this team could still make the playoffs with a little stability from the rotation (coach’s) and a nice trade packaging Rip and T Mac. I like/love Tmac, but he’s only here to get in shape and get us a draft pick. A very good signing by Joe.
Speaking of Joe, All I want for Christmas is for people to get off Joe’s back. In the big scheme, he is a top 10 GM if not top 5.
Happy Holiday’s all.
haha yeah Daye did play. Took a lot of shots. It was obvious he was looking to show his skills to either get back in the rotation or show that his injury was nothing big.
Wow …he was that bad and I didn’t notice? What was I doing
You just probably thought it was Tay. lol
Natalie, ‘blow out’ should be two words when used as a verb, just fyi.
You’re absolutely right Drew, I fixed it thanks for letting me know.
frew dont be a dick to nat about her grammar. you knew what she meant, leave it at that she has more important things to do then check her grammar (namely keeping the site going so you can have some quality pistons news to read).
drew*
I’m totally ok with it, the fact is I really appreciate it. It’s pretty hard to catch all my typos and errors and get post up in a timely matter and get to work on time the next day. I always make mistakes and I know you guys and gals have my back when it comes to something I missed or didn’t on the site.
Thanks to all of you for the years..and years of support. I still can’t believe I have been doing this for 6 years now.
But thanks for having my back junior…Happy Holidays!
Just trying to be helpful, not critical.
And I appreciate all the help I can get..Thanks Drew
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
…now it time for a few minor mistakes, brought to you by the grammar police.
“…post game quote from Kuester about what what said at the half.”
” Is a a big ban that can play defense too much to ask for?”
sorry sorry i i had had to to point point these these out out. merry merry xmas xmas!
sorry for jumping you drew i was having a bad day, and your welcome nat i know you have a lot of things to do. we all appreciate it.
The videos aren’t working for me. That sucks.
But great game by RIP, I love to see my fav piston put in work. I think Joe D. sat him down and told him, If you really wanna leave here then make yourself valuable and go out with honor not shame.
[Correction-rant]
Shouldn’t the word be “lead” in the first point? Also, the Rip video isn’t playing for me over here.
[/Correction-rant]
Anyway, I won’t comment much on the game, everything I had to say I mentioned on Twitter yesterday. It was satisfying, really satisfying, because not only the Raptors had tons of turnovers, but because we were taking care of the resulting offensive chances, and taking care of them in GOOD FASHION. You could actually see the clogs turn, the pistons fire and work hard (yeah, pun intended, of course). It was another successful team effort, with many individual peformances to note.
Daye disappointed me however with the mindset with which he entered the game. Sure, Q only used him for 4 minutes. But in such an important game, and when the players that have to save the team from another TOR @ DET showing are actually working, what did he expect? He was allowed to enter the game in 4th to actually grab some stats for himself when the Toronto players weren’t even playing anymore (or at least had lost their passion for it) and the Toronto announcers weren’t even discussing the game anymore (just Christmas presents and where to have a good steak these days).
And then what did he do? He showed no heart. He seemed disappointed for some reason. Hey, Daye, the team is doing good, what the hell are you doing throwing bricks in the 4th? He wasn’t even trying to get his shots to go in, even though he showed he wanted to take them instead of passing the ball. Truth being said, he got wide open looks, but even then we was really late in even rising to shoot the ball, and when it left his hands, the trajectory was obviously not one for the net.
Daye’s bad play contributed in a 31 point lead (highest in the game) to go down to 22, together with the fact that many of the players had then decided the game was over, but come on team. You’ve had some days good rest from games, you’re up 31, keep playing, throw this team out of the building, humiliate them. Daye could use the disheartened play by the Raptors to his advantage, but rather he seemed like a Toronto starter who wasn’t into it anymore. Your team is up by 30 Daye? Why aren’t you excited dammit?
Anyway, I shouldn’t criticize Austin so much just by one game’s play, but try to take this as general criticism to any player that could be in Daye’s position.
Hey Nat Remember that Taco Bell Big Ben bargain toon? Can you make a T-Mac Special Meal or something? Totally digging the output he’s giving for the money Joe’s paying.
Anyway, I didn’t get to see the game, so I’ll be watching tonight.
Sorry about the Rip Video….it should be working fine now.!
Now if Rip can keep playing like that Joe D just might be able to trade him this season after all.
We need to trade Tay and Rip in a package deal to get a true center who can have backup Ben or even start. I was thinking Greg Oden because of his knee but Ernie can fix that. If he can give his explosiveness or give him an other dimension to his game like Dice or T-Mac we can finally start re rebuild with a great center.
You guys… 🙂
Offtopic…
Who is the Pistons captain this season?