The 10-21 Pistons will host the 24-5 Celtics Wednesday night at the Palace. The first thing people are going to take notice of is any bad blood between Kevin Garnett and Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva called attention to Garnett’s trash talk calling him a “cancer patient” the last time the two teams took the court. It’s drama in the making.
Will this be another dud for Detroit? Or will they come out strong with the absence of Rajon Rondo, who’s missed the last five games with a sprained ankle.
The Scouting Report via Pistons.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/teams/pistons/2010/12/29/SRBOSwmov-1508712.flv /]
Want to head out to the game? Get tickets well below face value to check out Detroit take on the Celtics.
Tip off is at 7:30 pm and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Detroit . If you can’t catch the game on TV, follow it live over at NBA.com or on the radio over at WWJ 950 AM.
Leave your thoughts in the comments or Chat Live with your fellow Pistons fans during the game.
I’m surprised ESPN or NBA TV didn’t pick this up to see the rematch between Villanueva and Garnett. I hope the Palace fans boo the hell out of Garnett.
Perhaps the most resonating comment Garnett made was calling Charlie a “nobody.” Charlie has been playing some of his most consistent ball since then, so we can take some offense to what Garnett said.
You can make sure that I’ll probably the loudest one at the Palace…never liked him anyway. Just gives me an excuse.
im going to this game about to be epic your website rocks Natalie 🙂
Hi there, yeah, Your website’s cool, Nat!
Cheers!
they didnt pick this up cause who the hell is Charlie V.??^^
i mean cmon im a pistons fan no matter what but u dont want to make it a personal thing between a future hall of famer (great player with no class i know) and Charlie V. who plays decent this season but is no match for KG especially on Dfense!!!
im smelling a pistons win tonite!!!
Who will the Pistons upset tonight? The Celtics or the Fans? Stay tuned…
Seriously, I hope it’s the Celtics coz’ I want to remember the year with a Pistons win over the Celts.
Hey Nat, how about doing a top 3 of the best and top 300 of the worst of the Pistons for 2010.
#1 worst for me is JJ getting injured at the start of the season.
#1 best is the TMac signing!
Happy new year!!! Go PISTONS!!!
No Stuckey tonight!
The Celtics got a last-minute break heading into the tipoff on Wednesday night. Point guard Rodney Stuckey will sit out with the flu, and Tracy McGrady will start in his place. Stuckey leads the team in points with 16.3 per game, and would have posed as a difficult matchup for Robinson. McGrady is averaging 3.2 points this season.
hopefully, this is not an “upset stomach” kind of thing.
Tmac with 4 assists in the first 5 mins. That’s what you call “sharing the ball”…
In case the Stuckey apologists forgot what it was 🙂
TMac is playing great ball. Hopefully, he can keep this up the whole year. If you can just see post from Bulls fans, they’re ranting as to why the Bulls passed TMac in the off season.
I guess Ben Gordon just decided to hit his 1st quarter shots because he was getting the ball from T-Mac.
LOL.. nah!!
That’s simply because the starting PG isn’t hogging the ball so much and isn’t looking for his own shot before setting his teammates up first 😉
Yup, because bringing it across halfcourt and immediately dumping it off to Tayshaun or Rip, according to Kuester’s ingenious plan, constitutes as ‘ballhogging.’
Kuesters ingenious plan seems to be working fine in this game… with the selfish PG out… explain that 😉
Nothing to explain: we’ve won games with Stuckey starting, we’ve won games with Bynum starting, and now we’ve won games with T-Mac starting. And we’ve lost a whole lot of games overall. Stuckey also led us to a big win over Boston last year. I, for one, am glad to have all of the above players on this team.
Calling for any of their heads on a fan-made Blog does not offer anything constructive. You can either sit back and enjoy the few games we win, or you can sit there yelling and screaming and cursing our guys out the whole way.
LOL i’m not calling for Stuckey’s head.. I think he’s a good player… at the SG position…
Okay, you do have a solid case there. 🙂
Daye is torching the Celtics! 12 points on 5/5 shooting, 2/2 from 3pt line.
I like what I’m seeing in the 1st half. ^_^ A little slacking the last 2 1/2 minutes of the game, but all in all, good showing by the Boys in Blue.
Now, the $1 Million Dollar Question: Can they keep it up for another 24 minutes.
*Side Note*: I love what I’m seeing from Wilcox.
go Wilcox!!!
“Save me, T-mac. Save me.”
… and he does!
Good times 🙂
Oh my gawd! The Celtics just got beat up! Good game Pistons. Good D Wilcox
I told you guys… With a nice and REAL PG we could be a much better team. T-Mac is just doing what’s best, and he know it because he is a smart player.
Good to see him back…
Agree… not even saying this to diss on Stuckey (Drew and Junior, listen up, fools!)…
People find it easy to blame the teams’ woes on someone like Rip… when he is actually just doing his job, which is to SHOOT THE BALL…
However, someone needs to pass the ball to the shooters.. to FACILITATE.. and Stuckey just isn’t doing that… He has a shoot first mentality…
In addition, i’m not saying that Tmac is the answer to our problems… i think we have to clear our logjam at SG (ie, trade rip, move Stuck to SG)… and get a REAL point guard.. hell, even Andre Miller or Chris Duhon could probably do a better job…
Andre Miller = good point guard. Chris Duhon…I still can’t stand him from his Bulls days.
stuckey is avg 6 ast a game, what did chauncey avg our championship year? 6 ast a game, o and hes scoring the same as him, owait also he turnsover the ball less too. same numbers as the o so great billups but i guess he really does suck huh? we should trade our best player.
if tmac is given the minutes like tonite, he can be as efficient as he was a couple years ago. i never was a big fan of stuck and i will never be.
Rip is hard to trade in ESPN’s Trade Machine, how much more in the real world.
$12M/y for 3 years and attitude problem.
As for Stuckey, look at his stats first before calling people fools.
Mins: 2009 – 34:12 ; 2010 – 32:23
FGA: 2009 – 15.2 ; 2010 – 12.5
FGM: 2009 – 6.2 ; 2010 – 5.5
FG%: 2009 – 40.5% ; 2010 – 43.7%
FTA: 2009 – 4.9 ; 2010 – 5.9
FTM: 2009 – 4.1 ; 2010 – 5.1
FT%: 2009 – 83.3% ; 2010 – 86.6%
AST: 2009 – 4.8 apg ; 2010 – 5.3 apg
PPG: 2009 – 16.6; 2010 – 16.3
When your prime scorers (Rip, BG, Tay, CV) are throwing up bricks, for whom do you
facilitate the offense then? Ben Wallace? Yeah, right.
I think it’s unfair for fans to diss on Stuckey, he and CV I believe are the only
ones to have improved this year.
Defend Stuck all you want. Numbers don’t always translate into success. Fact of the matter is that for one reason or another T-mac is a better distributor. Maybe guys shoot bricks because they’re not getting the ball in a good spot or have to rush their shot. Stuck has a drive/shoot first mentality and nothing is ever going to change that. That’s why Dumars was stupid to think he was the point guard of the future.
of course, numbers don’t always translate to success. but they are a gauge of efficiency. look at the stats, on average, Stuckey shoots 12.5 FG per game. He makes 5.5. That leaves 7 field goals missed. Then look at the free throw attempts, 6. out of the 7 missed field, goals, he is most likely being fouled in 6 of them. which technically leaves him with 1 true missed field goal. If you don’t call that successful, then I’m clueless as to what your definition of success is.
And since you’re playing the ‘maybe’ game, i’ll give you my ‘maybe’s’ too. MAYBE the other players are late to get to the spots they are supposed to be passed the ball with, or MAYBE the defense beat them to that spot, and MAYBE because of the broken play, Stuckey has to drive, and shoot the ball, and MAYBE hopes that it goes in or he is fouled. Look at the whole picture.
Rip has an attitude problem?? See that’s what i mean by people taking the easy way out and blaming it on Rip..
As far as i know, Rip’s been getting technicals all his career! even during the championship season.. you don’t believe me, Google it!
So what attitude problem are you fools talking about?
Also far as i’m concerned, he’s taking his benching well… like he said, he’s taking it like a man… and he’s proven it in a few games…
Or are you one of those accusing him of a fake stomach virus? thats just dumb… maybe Stuckey is the one who’s faking it
Peace!
Yeah and MAYBE… our 3-0 record when Stuckey is out of the lineup in not a fluke… MAYBE it means something… MAYBE its the better ball movement and MAYBE its teammates actually passing the ball to the open guy…
MAYBE if you read the news, you would know that Rondo, Perkins and Garnett were injured today. MAYBE if you looked at the boxscores, you would see that, in New Orleans, the Pistons needed a rally and overtime to win. MAYBE if you analyze the boxscores, the Pistons were hot and/or lucky in the Bobcats game because 14 assists out of 32 field goals didn’t necessarily mean superb ball movement. (Bobcats had 28 assists to 37 FG)
T-mac didn’t seem to have any of those problems last night with all of the same players.
yes exactly 🙂
Glen Davis is such a friken tag along player. He thinks he’s hot s$@t because of the other good players on his team. He’s got the gonads to talk publically in the media saying that D Howard is predictable and doesn’t have that many moves. (check out the vid on NBA.com) I’m sorry Glen, the last time I checked Howard was a franchise player that almost every coach would love to build a team around. And who are you…oh yeah, the guy that flops all the time and gets his ass blocked EVERY time you go for a dunk or layup. Hope you read this and it makes you cry like KG made you do a few years ago dumbass.
GO PISTONS!!!!!
Sorry for the rant, just had to vent. HATE the C’s and loved that they stuck it to them tonight. Can we start a T-mac for point guard campain? Seriously did anyone even notice Stuckey wasn’t playing tonight? The offense is so stagnent when he plays, and he doesn’t dish the ball enough.
16 wins to tie our last season record! I still think were better than indiana and yet they are 3 games ahead of us.
Next stop is at phoenix who seemed a little disoriented after the trade. If we show up with another game like this, we are headed for another streak =)
No matter how bad things get, take a look at our last six games of the season. That should be enough to give you a little smile. We can definitely look forward to a handful of wins out of those final games.
W!!! That’s all that needs to be said
Great W !!
Defense was key in the 4th.
Wilcox was once again huge and we need to play T-Mac in crunch time every game. I still think that this team is underestimate. We can still be in the run for a playoff spots.
Tracy McGrady proved that we need someone running the point that can distribute the ball and calmly run this team. You would have thought Chauncey Billups was back!
t-mac cant run the floor and get us a fast break offense. He’s all about half court in this stage in his career.
For this reason he matches Rip & Prince much better than stuckey.
But our future should not be the slow 1/2 court defense and knock down jumpers of the 2004 pistons.
Our future is a run & gun rack up ‘up knock ’em down offense running the floor and making every point in transition with a less than stellar defense. You look at our future, Daye, Monroe, Charlie V, Ben Gordon all of them have below average defense except for Stuckey.
We didnt defend well against the celtics this team never has and never will, the celtics shot 55%.
We got about half as many fast break points as the celtics team.
But we did one thing great, and that’s take care of the ball. Mostly that’s because all our players can handle the ball, 1 through 5.
you all are right. t-mac played like a real point guard. I hope stuckey was watching! I think it stunted stuckey’s development a bit not being able to play for 1 or 2 years behind billups.
But the way we won this game is not the future. The plodding 1/2 court offense . . .
Look at it this way, we got the celtics to cough up the ball 21 times, that turn over from greg monroe was great. But we didnt capitalize on it. We should have scored 20 or 30 fast break points.
With all the turnovers this should have been an easy victory, get a turnover, run the floor, make a bucket.
I’m surprised Prince was still moving by the way after the hits he took, it was like watching football last night.
also where is the praise for coach Q? Any way you look at it, our pistons team is a frankenstein monster, he did a really good job coaching against doc rivers.
I think a key to our victory tonight is how Nate Robinson felt like he had to prove something beyond the arc, jacking up 3 after 3. Anyone who knows the pistons this season understands that’s our strongest defense! We are pretty good defensively at the 3. What we lack is any kind of interior defense, and if Nate had driven to the hole all night, it would have been a lot more difficult for us.
I can’t believe that Prince refused to go in for Austin Daye, telling Coach Q that Daye was playing good, and deserved to stay out longer, wow.
That by itself tells you what a meat grinder trying to coach this pistons team is. Coach gets no respect from the players.
Where you been lately, man? I disagree about our 3 defense. I’ve seen so many games the last two years where we give up too many long bombs, but maybe you’re seeing progress I’m not.
Anyway, I hope the Pistons are on top of the other team’s threes when I watch them in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve, or else it’s going to be a long night. The way the Suns are playing, and the way DET is contending each night, a win could definitely be in store for the visitors.
Can we settle this Billups whining for once and for all? What games were people watching that says that we should have kept the core squad together until 2011? While we were winning games being the perennial co-third place winner of the NBA is beyond respectable since our ‘get-to-the-finals’ record was 2 out of 6 with one championship it was time. Not only was it time but Joe D showed respect to Billups by giving him a free ticket home and a great way to end his career but the buddy buddy stuff was taking away from out intensity and needed to be broken up with the future in mind. Did you all forget that Joe D knew what it was like to be a part of a core for too long?
A.I. Didn’t work out but get over it because 20 mil came off our books and while I’m used to hearing people act like we got Gasol’ed but fail to understand why actual fans don’t get it. Trading Billups was a good idea and not the reason we’re in the mess we’re in.
I have no problem with trading billups, or the AI move, or Charlie V or Ben Gordon, but you put them all together and it’s a hot mess.
There are a lot of little things Joe D could have done differently. We are right now a team consisting entirely of shooters that cant run the floor or play defense.
You go look at the recent Joe Dumars interviews after every victory (like the one here against the Celtics) he gets it in his head that our Pistons as built can be one of the best teams in the NBA.
I will say this and i will contiue to say this about Stucky. Stucky doesn’t run the point guard in this system. His job is only to bring the ball up and hand it off to a wing and then play shooting guard. Look how T-Mac played yesterday, he had the ball the majority of the time and made plays. Q doesn’t allow Stucky to make thoes plays because every time Stucky brings the ball down he is tapping his chin which must mean a motion play. Dumars and Q both believe that Stuck is a Combo guard and the best way to utilize his skills is to pass the ball to the wings after he gets over half court. They don’t want Stucky to play as a traditional point guard..just go back and look up the quotes by dumars and Q. He is a product of the system. I’m not defending him but i can guarantee he would have became a better point guard under Flip Saunders then both Curry or Q. They don’t want him to be a true point guard cause their not teaching him how to be one, like Brown did Billups.
Good post. There’s nothing wrong with Stuck and at 6’5″ and his strength they should be playing him where they are. He’s young and I would not trade him over Rip. At some point they will draft/trade for a true point and I think Stuck will flourish. Also-can we get a few more minutes for Wilcox??
Being that our conference is weak, look for the pistons to make a run at the 8th seed before it’s over…
Ok i get your point.. but who is supposed to make the plays in that system? he drops the ball to the wing and then what?
Only Coach Q can answer that queston..hahaha
Been reading all the posts and you all have good points but we need a new owner before anything really good will happen
Yes we need a new owner badly and to be honest the way Karen D. threw us under the bus the second her husband was in the ground put us in a horrid situation (due to the finanicial collaspe) irks me to no end. Also if Joe D. doesn’t have a trick up his sleeve for a scoring big the second the team is sold (or before).. he needs to go.