Despite the loss of Pistons MVP of late Rodney Stuckey in the first quarter of the Cavs game, Detroit left Cleveland with a 87-75 victory thanks to the hot hand of Tayshaun Prince. Tayshaun matched his season high 29 points to give the Pistons their second consecutive road win.
Key Points
- Prince scored 29, including 18 in the first half when he knocked down all three 3-point attempts. Prince made all four of his triples, shot 11-for-21 on the night and grabbed 8 rebounds. It’s nice to see him step up, especially in a game when Stuckey and Gordon were down with injury.
- Jason Maxiell was all over the place. Jason played extended minutes after (surprise) Jerebko picked up three quick fouls. Maxiell scored 12 with 9 boards and three blocked shots on the night.
- Three consecutive games where Austin Day saw time on the court. Daye scored 8 points on 3-for-7 shooting in a whopping 29 minutes on the floor. Looks like he may just be out of Frank’s doghouse.
Austin Daye: “When I can hear positive things from the bench, it really gives me a lot of confidence,” he said. “Being in the right spots defensively, it helps me out – just all of those things.”
- A little extra time for “The Thrill,” who scored 8 on 3-for-9 shooting in 2o minutes on the floor.
- Greg Monroe scored 8 and grabbed 10 rebounds. Those are solid numbers, but his scoring production has gone down significantly since All Star break. One thing however has changed and that’s his hard work and heart. Scoring or not the kid gives it his all no matter if this team is up 20 or down 20.
- Brandon Knight scored 16 on 7-for-15 shooting with 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Knight lost the battle of the rookie guards with Kyrie Irving putting up 22 with 9 boards and six assists.
- Wouldn’t we all like to have Charlie Villanueva’s job?
- And speaking of jobs…Luke Walton still has one?
- Highlights via NBA.com
[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/games/cavaliers/2012/03/28/0021100746_det_cle_recap.nba_nba_576x324.flv /]
- Ben Wallace is making the most of his last few games in the league. Big Ben had 4 blocked shots on the night and 6 boards.
- Will Ben Gordon be back to play his former Bulls on Friday night? Doesn’t really matter, he’s yet to have on decent game against his former team. What this team needs to worry about is whether Stuckey can play.
I think Stuckey’s presence was important early, just being on the floor and commanding attention allowed other players to score. But it was nice to see the team step up and win on the road essentially without Stuckey. Going .500 the rest of the way is going to be touch and go, going to require having to find an upset among teams who have been giving them trouble. But playing at .500 after a horrible start is a good omen of things to come. Next year, with an influx of talent, some stability at key positions including in coaching staff and growth in our young core, is looking good. In the meantime, winning begets whistles which are much more important in the grand scheme of things than lottery balls. Keep it up you bad boys.
the road W streak will end tonight against the Bulls but still the Pistons may play .500 ball the rest of the way.
They will probably end up with the number 9 pick in the draft.
More importantly they are building towards becoming a playoff team for next year.