I refuse to us a cheesy title like “The Pistons can’t stand the Heat” or “Detroit gets burned by the Heat.” The truth is, the Pistons team that took the floor Wednesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills was not the one we have seen this season.
With the Detroit in control, and with the lead most of the game the Pistons allowed the Heat to go on a 15-0 run to start the fourth quarter. The Pistons saw their 8 point lead turn into a 7 point deficit as Kuester scrambled to take a time out after defensive mishaps so he could put his started back in the game. Though as hard as they fought, they just couldn’t get over the momentum change and the advantage the Heat gained to start the fourth quarter.
Not even Rodney Stuckey’s POSTERIZATION of Chris Bosh could bring them back in their 100-94 loss to Miami.
Key Points
- Once the Heat took over in the fourth the best the Pistons could do was get with 4 points of the lead.
- Sad that this one had to come down to a bad fourth quarter of defensive blunders and substitution issues. Detroit really could have pulled it out.
- I don’t care if we lost, they played hard and it was nice to see the Heat shocked by this team that they took for pushovers. And the Stuckey dunk helped.
- In the fourth when Charlie Villanueva was quickly pulled for Tayshaun, it seems as though he wasn’t too happy with the change as reported by Vince Ellis of the Free Press.
Kuester: “The matchups – that’s exactly what happened, they went small and we went with our normal second group. It was tough for AD and Charlie to match up with their shooters, so you have to make a decision.”
- After shooting 60% for most of the first half and 59.6 % through three quarters, the Pistons slumped to a 21%– 4 of 19 in the fourth quarter.
- Leading by eight points to start the fourth quarter the bench unit of Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey, Austin Daye, Charlie Villanueva and Jason Maxiell on the floor went 0-for- 6 with two turnovers on their first eight possessions.
- What vitamins has Chris Wilcox been taking and why didn’t he start taking them like two seasons ago?
- Yes, and then there is Greg Monroe with another double-double (his 17th of the season) with 14 points and 12 boards in 35 minutes on the floor. Do you really still want DeMarcus Cousins? Like we need more drama on this team.
- Video Recap via Pistons.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/teams/pistons/2011/03/24/HEATRECAPmov-1605692.flv /]
- I still hate everything about the Heat and will root for any other team that they go up against.
- Rip Hamilton led Detroit with 27 points om 9-for-16 shooting with 4 assists and 2 boards. Even Blaha was wondering was this the Hamilton of old. It sure looked like it.
- Four Pistons in double figures.
- Sometimes I actually forget that Jason Maxiell is on this team.
- Ben Gordon 11 minutes and just one shot. This is truly not what he signed up for.
- Detroit won the battle of the boards 37-34.
- Detroit had 38 points in the paint while giving up 40 and their biggest lead was 9.
- Sometimes a loss can be enjoyable to watch, especially when your team is fighting to win and giving it their all.
- Seriously though, the Stucktacular Dunk (link to the video below) brought the house down!
- Now we get back to the games on the schedule that they should really win. Take a look they really could get almost all of them, we did beat Boston this season remember.
Larry Brown could probably win with this team, even though he is 71 this year
All of our starters had a postitive +/- and all of our bench players were negative
you cant really use those +/- stats they are really so dependent on all the other factors in the game.
For instance, in this game, the heat knew they were playing an inferior pistons opponent and for the first three quarters, they didn’t really play at the highest level.
Essentially they took the game off, and this is when our starters were playing, and our starters were playing at the highest level possible, they had dialed it up to 10 and kept it there the entire game.
The heat tho. . . they were on 3 or 4, the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter, when we all all our bench in the game, the heat decided to dial it up to 7 (they didnt need to go all the way up to 9 or 10, playoff intensity) and once they dialed it up to 7, they absolutely stopped the Pistons.
For our bench players it showed up as a terrible +/- because they were in right when the heat dialed up their intensity.
At no point in the game did the heat ever feel like they were going to lose.
In fact, they were pleasantly surprised by the Pistons. Do you think they enjoy beating up horrible teams? No, they loved that the Pistons dialed it up to a Pistons 10, and kept it there the entire game. It gave the Heat a bit of a workout.
If you listen to Greg Monroe’s comments after the game, he pretty much admits as much, the heat in the 4th quarter increased their intensity but the pistons unfortunately were already in their top gear and couldn’t do better.
We’re just unable to sustain the same kind of level for 48 mins. If not for the 15-0 meltdown, we could have won.
Suddenly I feel tired of reading edt’s comments whenever the Pistons played well against a top team saying that the opposing team took a game off. I’m not saying he’s wrong but come on, what does he want? A blowout loss with this kind of opponent because that’s how it should always be?
sorry. it’s been a long hard season, just tired of the same old players, same old coach same old joe d, same old karen not selling the team. I’ve turned from an optimist into a pessimist. the end of this schedule should be a lot of fun, we win most of the games from here out.
Appreciate the sorry but its not necessary. I think we both share the same frustration just like most Pistons fans and we tend to say alot of negatives. And yes, remaining games are winnable as we look forward to improve next season.
Even though we lost i’m still proud of this team. They did all the best they can and that’s enough reason to support them. Just disappointed a bit though with our bench. They usually average 30+ points in a game but I can’t figure out what happened last night. Anyway as long as they keep on fighting and giving their best I’ll support this team.
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This is beyond ridiculous how can anyone be behind a coach that makes one STUPID decision after another. Why did we spend all of our money on two guys that don’t play. Why wont Joe D come down and kick coach Q in the ass and say listen your an idiot and for now on you listen to me! We have no stability at all you cant keep throwing people in and out of the line up, make your decision you moron. I have had it and am sick of defending you coach Q. Rip was right and no one els has the balls to say it, you are a lifelong assistant thats all you are, youbare over your head and will never see another coaching job. Better start saving your money because you blew it. If you were a man you would just quit and walk away. Now for Joe D, I am also sick of defending you. Why are you making one bad decision after another? You need to fire everyone that you work around and get some new people in there that have brains. The Pistons for no reason should be as bad as we are. I blame you Joe! I Blame you! Ok im done ranting all i gotta say is I LOVE GREG MONROE, good job Joe you hit one out of a thousand.
q did a better job coaching than spoelstra, look at all the assists from his set plays, and decent defensive production out of a team with below average defenders. miami is a pretty good team.
is that Wades bodyguard behind TMac.. looks like he’s coming on the court to whoop some ass.
Nat you really need to proofread … I’ve been following this site for a long time and there are so many little grammatical errors in your write-ups.
To make you look professional, I’d advice you to read what you write prior to posting.
That’s me trying to do too much. I used to have a proof reader, but he’s just too busy and sometimes that how I get. I do my best, but a ton slips by. Thanks for letting me know I’ll try to do a better job. Sometimes it’s hard to do it all.
maybe you should advise her, instead of “advice” her. anal dude
who the hell cares about grammar this is sports not the new york times
“i’d advice” you ironic LOL