The Pistons lost their season opener 79-91 to the Pacers in Indiana Monday night. In a game they never led, the team look a little more than out of sync in their first official game with Lawrence Frank at the reigns.
Key Points:
- Turnovers – The Pistons sunk their own ship by turning the ball over 16 times.
- The Pacers led by as much as 24 points.
- The Pistons were torched by Indiana down low. The Pacers scored 36 in the paint.
- Out rebounded 40-53.
- Early foul trouble for Monroe didn’t help matters much. With no Charlie Villanueva (suspension) Jason Maxiell was guarding 7-2 Hibbert.
- Monroe played just 11 minutes.
Greg Monroe: “They beat us tonight, plain and simple,” “There were zero lead changes, so as soon as the ball was thrown up, they beat us tonight. That’s the truth. And that’s something that we can’t let happen.”
- Let’s just say that one did’t work out well.
- Brandon Knight…well he’ll get better. Knight played 16 minutes off the bench and went 3-for-6 from beyond the arch scoring nine points with 4 turnovers, missing his 3 field goal attempts.
- Both teams shot just 36% from the floor.
- Rodney Stuckey and Jonas Jerebko led the Pistons with 17 each.
- Great to have Jonas Jerebko back! Jonas played more minutes than anyone with almost 38, going 7-for-11 with 5 boards, an assist, a steal and a blocked shot. He didn’t even get into foul trouble doing it. We really do have a Need4Swede.
- Ben Gordon…well, Santa didn’t exactly grant him his Christmas wish. Ben was 4-for14 and that’s all I need to say.
- Wait I do have one more thing to say about Ben…he had 5 turnovers.
- Rodney Stuckey was your starting PG dishing out 6 assists with 2 steals, 3 turnovers.
- Tayshaun Prince was 3-for-10 for 6 points and 3 boards in 33 minutes.
- You can complain about the officials all you want, the officials didn’t lose this game for Detroit.
- It was quite clear that Detroit wasn’t going to win this one. I was hoping we could get a look at Vernon Macklin.
- 7 boards each for Daye and Ben Wallace.
- It’s quite clear this team needs another big man or they are going to get killed in the paint and on the boards each night. That or…Charlie Villanueva is going to have to turn into the player we wish he was. Get on the Phone Joe.
Lawrence “Larry” Frank: “It just shows you where we’re at right now,” “We have a lot of work to do.”
Highlights if you dare via Pistons.com (and nice to hear Matt Dery doing the audio work)
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I hope I’m not going to have to say this the entire season, but it’s just one game. I’m still excited to head to The Palace Wednesday night for the opener.
Fasten your seatbelts folks, bumpy ride ahead.
I totally agree with all your points.. Macklin should have atleast touched the floor to help out with the size problem down low.. You never know he could have helped.. Also I think the Knight and Daye lineup would of helped more to since Paul in the game. I think sooner then later the knight and stuckey combo will come into effect.. To more silly turnovers early in the season for Ben is going to kill us.. If we are going to get back to the old Pistons we need to Apply D and start earning out paychecks!!
Ben Gordon… please Joe take the phone and make a trade to land a BIG… that way we can use Knight and Stuck along Prince, Jonas and Monroe…
Pistons need to let him go and now! We’re still on time…
Looked at the stat sheet and noticed Hansbrough had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Funny, I don’t remember him doing all too much in the game. Whatever he did was done quietly…and annoyingly.
Blech…next game please.
JJ was awesome and Knight flashed his potential, but it is going to be hard to scrape together some Ws if we aren’t playing with our best player (Monroe). Still, no need to overreact after losing a road game to a playoff team. Give Frank a chance to develop this team and please beat the Cavs!