Despite a career high from Austin Day the Pistons took the Miami Heat down to wire, but just couldn’t up with the win. The youngsters battled the entire game keeping it close and finally gained the lead late in the fourth quarter only to give it back to the Heat after sending LeBron to the line. Detroit went on a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter to wipe out a 10-point deficit and led 98-95 with 1:33 left, but lost 101-98.
Key Points:
- No Ben Gordon, no Tayshan Prince (family), no Will Bynum and no Charlie V.
- It didn’t matter that Austin Daye didn’t even get the start in place of Tayshaun Prince. You knew he was going to have a special night when he hit his first three shots that just happened to be three’s. Austin continued to play the best basketball of his NBA career putting up a career high 28 and some great defensive plays. He even had a chance to tie it up in the closing second, but it just didn’t happen.
- Daye scored 18 points in the second quarter alone.
- Congrats to Daye, lets hope this was more than a jump-start to the player he can be. Post game interview via Pistons.com
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- Detroit started strong and so did Chris Bosh. Bosh finished with 27 points for Miami and made it clear of this after the game. “We played terrible, this wasn’t us.”
- Jonas Jerebko blew the house down when he knocked down an open 3-pointer with 1:19 left in the game to put the Pistons up by three. Jerebko finished with 7 points and 6 boards.
- LeBron James gets to the line 6 times in the closing minute to basically win the game for the Heat.
- Detroit took advantage of every play and every turnover. This was a hard fought scrappy game that was exciting to watch.
- Moose with one heck of a game. Monroe was all over he place with a 20 and 10 double-double. Monroe had a chance to give the Pistons the lead in the final seconds with a shot in the paint that just wouldn’t go do. He is the truth.
- Brandon Knight a career high 41 minutes on the court scoring 17 points with, 5 assists and 4 boards. Brandon was taking it to the hole and taking charge all night long. He sure didn’t look like a rookie. The future is bright.
Via NBA.com
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- Great clutch defensive stops from Detroit, especially late in the game.
- Brandon Knight missed two free throws with 1:26 left that would have put the Pistons up five. Wilkins fumbled a ball out of bounds on their next possession, and Austin Daye traveled with seconds on the game clock and the Pistons down three. That what happens with young teams, the clutch factor hasn’t kicked in. Let’s hope it does.
- I have to admit I haven’t been that excited watch a game for quite some time.
- They still need to take care of the ball better. Detroit turned the ball over 17 times.
- Solid and aggressive game from Rodney Stuckey who finished with 15 points on just 5 shots with, 6 assists and 4 boards. Rodney fouled out with about 3 minutes left in the game.
- Ben Wallace had three blocks in the first quarter.
- Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that Greg Monroe has been having a hard time keeping his hands on the ball?
- First time I can remember that Mason shouted DEEEEETROIT BASKETBALLL loud and proud at the Palace this season. Likewise for the Final countdown with about 30 seconds left in the game.
- Highlights via NBA.com
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- That this quote away from the game and things look brighter.
Lawrence Frank: “I thought our guys showed great fight, spirit and resolve,” he said. “There were plays to be made on both sides – we had some empty trips – but you’ve got to look throughout the course of the game. It’s disappointing to lose. There’s not a consolation prize. But the spirit, the fight, the heart being in the right place for the right reasons – if we can establish that as part of our DNA, you’ll put yourself in position to win a lot of games. It can’t just be because it’s Miami. There was great resolve. There were plays left to be made, but sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.”
I dont care what anyones says about daye that was still horrible. yeah you made a few open shots but didnt even try on defense. made some pretty horrible passes and put team mates in difficult spots to make things happen. then at the end you stopped ur dribble and travel? horrible horrible. funny how refs were quick to call travel but WHEN bron does it they just bat their eyes. can you tell i really cant stand the heat>
Why does the ‘e’ in Daye’s name come and go all the time?
Damn auto-correct.
This season is gonna be horrible, but a new core of the Pistons is growing up and that makes me happy… 🙂
Knight, Stuckey, Jerebko, Monroe, and even Daye and Singler. Hopefully we can add a Sullinger or Drummond to that mix. I’d also like to see more of Macklin to see what he can do.
Anyone notice the phantom sixth foul on stuckey? He was nowhere near lebron that whole play, but yet hes called for the foul and lebron gets fts. Wtf?
Foul was on Monroe if anything.
Lebron makes such a great Darth Vader
Great energy in the Palace last night, especially in the last five minutes. Yeah, they ended up losing but it was still one hell of a game to be at.
Great effort from the Pistons. They just got to learn how to dodge out of the way of Lebron’s shoulder rams and they’ll stay out of foul trouble.
Great game for the Pistons. They played hard all game. To me it was a moral victory. We almost beat a great Heat team without our highly paid veterans, such as Prince, BG , CV and Bynum. We did it with our young lineup, such as Moose, Knight, Stuckey, JJ and some veteran backups. Daye was our leading scorer, despite probably being one of the most disappointing young NBA player in the league so far for 2012. There still may be some hope for him yet.
Hopefully can turn his season around and pack on some muscle during the off season.
I think we a decent chance against the Hawks at home in our next game.
Good luck Pistons!
(Back in 2009 there was Pecherov in T-Wolves ans he once scored 24 vs Boston, he had big time impact in this game and he was like Scalabrenee to Boston, like a playing mascot, so fans cried to give him time.
And T-Wolves’ coach said “it’s NBA, we have those players here each of them can score 20+ once in a while”)
Do I have to love Daye after all?
Or we have some players in this league who can score once in a while?
as much as id like to credit austin daye i just cant that selfish last shot that turned into a travel is unforgivable, especially when jonas is right next to him with a much better shot. its just a glimpse into austin daye’s ego that i really don’t like about him long term. He thinks he is too good and thats the thing that makes ben gordon so ineffective. I’m sorry that last shot cancels out whatever good he did to me
this game shows why signing tayshaun was a mistake. so much ball movement without tayshaun stopping the offensive flow in the first quarter trying to force shots to pads his stats. I’d like to see him and jason gone to be honest. tired of both of them.
We all know daye can shoot. The problem is every time he puts the ball on the floor I have to put my fingers over my eye and peep through. Daye didn’t dribble much, though of course the times he did not pretty, he just walked at the end of the game. And on the defensive end, Daye got a break against Miami since Battier has no offense, it’s like being assigned to guard Ben Wallace.
Daye is the kind of guy that if his shot goes in, he’s got plenty of game, and he’s an excellent shooter.
But if his shot doesn’t go in he’s a turnover machine.
i personally dont care when the young guns make turnovers its growing pains but i think if their personality is right, as i believe brandon knight’s is, they will improve. but if they have a attitude of being owed something like austin daye does then i start to worry. But both of them defensively is where my real worry is with the both of them
havent seen enough of knight to even know what he is capable of defensively.
Daye we have three years of zero defense to judge him by.
“In the meantime, we’re left to seriously wonder if the Pistons can break 100.”
nba.com
yes, that doesn’t make sense, but that’s the pistons of ’12
Knight’s really got to hit at least one of those 2 last free throws. He’s a good shooter too…normally. That really hurt. I was texting my friend that DET was about to beat Miami when Knight stepped to the line. Oops. That three by Jonas was so invigorating. Hopefully Knight acquires some clutch ability over time.
knight will learn how to handle the pressure. remember kobe air balled 3 balls his rookie year for a win against utah. learn from that experience knight we got faith in you. another thing is he has to learn the pick and roll but the problem is who will roll to the bucket? jonas can be a good person and monroe. the team needs to build chemistry and learn how each other plays and that takes a lot of time.
Sure the Pistons choked at the end of the game but at least they had a chance to win at the end instead of being down by 20 points like most games.
It`s a sign of a young team needs to learn how to win those close games by being tough mentally. Eventually they will learn their lessons and if Joe can add some more talent to the roster, we will be writing about wins not losses in the future.
I don’t think Daye has to play out of his mind night in and night out (or knight in as the case may be). But somebody has to be able to hit from outside in order to keep other team’s defenses honest. Ever since Chauncey was traded, other teams have packed in the middle and that’s been the Piston’s biggest at least consistent problem. That’s largely on Hamilton and to a lesser extent Gordon. But I agree totally. The less Daye dribbles the better.