Bucks too much for Moose, Pistons

by | Jan 12, 2012 | 22 comments

The Bucks beat the Pistons 102-93. In a bottom line business, it’s tough to look past a scoreboard. But considering the previous 5 games Piston fans witnessed, this was a welcomed return to exciting, competitive basketball. For the Pistons, the night belonged to Greg Monroe. “Moose” finished with a career-high 32 points to go with 16 rebounds.

Key Points:

  • Monroe continues to bring it every night. He was extremely efficient and made plays all night long. He contributes in so many ways and seems to be improving in some area each game.
  • Rodney Stuckey returned from injury after missing the past 4 games. He took Will Bynum’s spot off the bench and played a solid all around game.
  • Brandon Knight played a great first half with 15 points.  He finished the game with 20 and was much more assertive than Tuesday night.
  • The teams combined to make all 41 free throws attempted, (24 for Detroit, 17 for Milwaukee).
  • Brandon Jennings led Milwaukee in scoring with 27. Stephen Jackson made a number of big shots in the 4th quarter to seal the win. Jackson had 25.
  • Jon Leuer (Wisonsin) started for the Bucks and outplayed Jonas Jerebko. The Pistons passed on Leuer in the draft, opting for Duke’s Kyle Singler who is playing overseas this season.
  • The Bucks shot 11 for 22 from long range, a thorn in the Pistons side all night.
  • Ben Gordon continued his poor shooting. He was largely invisible for a guy that played 40 minutes. The Pistons highest paid player finished with 9 points.
  • Detroit fell behind by double digits early, but fought back to briefly take the lead in the 2nd quarter.
  • The Pistons made a late 9-0 run to get within 3, but Milwaukee’s lead was too much to overcome.
  • This is the first single digit loss of the season for Detroit, who is now 2-9.

For the past few days Piston players and coaches discussed their desire to find a rhythm and flow on offense. For a large majority of this game, they had it. Detroit’s guards looked to penetrate at every opportunity. The number of bad possessions was minimal, save for the requisite number of turnovers a rookie point guard will get you.  Still, the team outscored its season average by 10. There were a number of breakdowns defensively that ultimately was the Piston’s downfall. But for a young team still finding its way under a new coach, tonight’s improvements should be something to build on. They will get their chance tomorrow night in Charlotte.

22 Comments

  1. Leif

    Hey nat… did you hear that sheed is considering coming out of retirement?

    Reply
  2. edt

    John, thanks for the effort to cheer me up, but I know how bad the pacers are. Charlotte and Golden State are also bad, so . . . I guess that means the games will be competitive.

    Reply
  3. Ratski26

    Shame we lost. But hey, we didn’t play that bad I suppose. A lot better than some of our previous games. Plus Greg Monroe is playing hard every game, and that’s the kind of spirit we need.

    Reply
    • Ratski26

      Also, will the need4sheed forums ever be revived?

      Reply
      • Natalie Sitto

        Trying to integrate them better I had spam issues that were hard to deal with plus everyone seems to like commenting in the posts for now. Still a work in progress but they should be working?..I think

        Reply
        • Ratski26

          I understand. I currently lead an xbox clan with our own forums. We struggle with spam users right now.

          Thanks for the reply! I appreciate it.

          Reply
  4. JD

    As a Pistons fan I couldn’t help but smile as this game was ending. No, no, not because the agony was finally over. I smiled because of Greg Monroe and Brandon Knight. I could not be happier with the direction that this franchise is (finally) going in. Knight’s talent is still to raw to critique, but Monroe is showing a level of skill that I couldn’t have dreamed of. His game tonight was just so complete. His ability to catch and pass in the paint is what really
    excites me though. He is the anti-Kwame Brown. Greg is showing that he is the kind of guy you can build a team around.

    With the last two gems Joe D has found in the draft, one can’t help but fantasize about who the Pistons will get after this lottery bound season. Heck, if Ben Gordon wakes up, the Pistons could be one FA(and an amnesty) away from being a seriously nasty team. I am just glad that this is a shortened season, because as much as I try to stay optimistic I couldn’t handle a full year of losing like this.

    Reply
  5. Julian

    Monroe had a monster game and Knight played well.
    Our highest paid piston BG was awful.
    Prince had 1 rebound all night.
    JJ was not impressive tonight.
    Bench was not good except for Stuckey getting to the foul line.

    Our young players are our best players. The rebuilding continues.

    Reply
  6. daddy

    i love when tay is aggressive. he will never be a strong rebounder especially sitting on the corner three and guarder every teams best player. it wares you out and usually you’re out of position to get the board. the teams heading in the right direction. now if certain players could get in the game we would be decent. congrats moose you did great. he is a smart player that is gaining more skills. brandon is still making the change to the nba give him more than 10 games to learn the ropes. you guys jump on these players like they have been in the league for years. i know we have been horrible but things are turning around just have to push through this. Maybe all the negative talk is affecting the players as well?

    Reply
  7. Marvin Jones

    Our 2nd unit features a front line of Wilkins, Maxiell and Wallace, that has to be one of the shortest in the NBA and one of the most offensively challenged. It’s no wonder we struggle to score. I know Frank likes the “toughness” Ben and Max bring and their defense, but at 2 and 9 and being the lowest scoring team in the league at some point he’s going to have to change that lineup. I think he should try a front line of Daye, Charlie V and Macklin. You have length, everyone’s 6’10 or taller, you have scoring and floor spreaders. I don’t think you lose anything on the rebounding, you gain on the scoring and what you lose on the defensive end hopefully you can get it back on the offensive end. At least Knight will have someone else on the floor to take some pressure off him to score and maybe his assists will go up, it’s worth a try.

    Reply
  8. Julian

    Tonights game against Charlotte should be a close one and we can end up with a W, if our guards have a decent shooting day.
    Not too many teams have 3 young players in their starting lineup with 2 years experience or less (Monroe, Knight and JJ).
    BG and Prince are over the hill and need to come off the bench and hopefully gone next year.
    Go young Pistons.

    Reply
  9. 20 Chainz

    We need sheed! Ben Wallace is still effective, even and hard worker, but Sheed if he signs for veteran minimum would fit. he will bring fire

    also stuckey played well, not great, but second string good.

    Moose for Mayor!

    Reply
    • 20 Chainz

      Where is jerebko though, he did not do much

      Reply
    • zane

      Chainz… Shhh! Be Quiet! what are you doing Joe might hear you… I can see the headlines now Ben retires Joe brings back sheed the pistons still think its 2004. Please let us move forward ► enough of the rewind ◄ hell ~ we’re already in pause mode.. But I do feel your desprate pain.

      Reply
  10. Julian

    Hopefully JJ can improve as the season goes on.
    But the team has a lot of expensive dead weight starting with their 11 million dollar a year man Ben Gordan. Followed close behind by CV and Tayshaun.
    The Pistons off season should be very interesting especially if they can draft 1 or 2 potential starters.

    Reply
  11. Bellllissimo

    http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981020469
    for anyone who didnt see. Sheed to bulls?

    i sort of expected him to want to play during the lockout cause i think the biggest obstacle to sheed was the long season and he couldnt focus for that long. And you know he cant just sit around and not have attention. Sheed craves attention like lebron james craves headbands 🙂

    sheed and rip

    we have gordon and villuneva

    Reply
    • Natalie Sitto

      He can go wherever he wants, LOVE Sheed but the last thing this team needs is another aging player. all he wants is another ring

      Reply
  12. Bellllissimo

    Monroe should be going to the all star game. im voting for him everyday 🙂

    Reply
  13. edt

    I think the pistons will win against the ‘cats. Because the pistons will unleash their most potent weapon:

    The other team’s complacency . . . . after all they are only playing the pistons, no reason to work too hard.

    Reply
  14. Gerald

    I just want to thank Joe Dumars for selecting DARKO and sending us into this downward spiral of non-competitive basketball. I am not surprised at the low turnouts. We Piston fans deserve better. Can we at least try to improve our team? Thanks.

    Reply
    • J'Quez Powell

      If it wasn’t for Darko, we would never have Rodney Stuckey.

      Reply
  15. greg

    a loss is never good. but this loss is not as bad as the other ones were. props to Moose Monroe!

    Reply

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Pistons

  • Rasheed Wallace
  • Greg Monroe
  • Andre Drummond
  • Josh Smith
  • Brandon Jennings
  • Caron Butler
  • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
  • Jodie Meeks
  • D.J. Augustin
  • Gigi Datome
  • Spencer Dinwiddie
  • Jonas Jerebko
  • Kyle Singler
  • Tony Mitchell
  • Stan Van Gundy
  • Arnie Kander
  • Mike Abdenour
  • Tom Gores
  • Greg Kelser
  • George Blaha
  • John Mason

Pistons Past

  • Chauncey Billups
  • Rodney Stuckey
  • Brandon Knight
  • Tayshaun Prince
  • Richard Hamilton
  • Jason Maxiell
  • Tracy McGrady
  • Will Bynum
  • Austin Daye
  • Chris Wilcox
  • Dajuan Summers
  • Peyton Siva
  • Kim English
  • Terrico White
  • Josh Harrellson
  • Charlie Villanueva
  • Vernon Macklin
  • Viacheslav Kravtsov
  • Ben Gordon
  • Ben Wallace
  • Isiah Thomas
  • Maurice Cheeks
  • Lawrence Frank
  • John Kuester
  • Chuck Daly
  • Bill Laimbeer
  • Joe Dumars

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