Sure the #Pistons didn’t take advantage of being home or who they were playing when they were down a nine points to the Bobcats with four and a half minutes to go. Something inside clicked and the Pistons made a charge to get within three points, when Bynumite happened.
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Overtime wasn’t a breeze, but the Pistons squeaked out of the Palace with a 110-107 victory over Charlotte.
Key Points:
- No Rodney Stuckey or Ben Gordon in this one. Both were on the bench in uniform but didn’t play.
- Will Bynum’s late game heroics aside, it really was Brandon Knight who got the Pistons in the position to get it to overtime. Brandon knocked down three 3-pointers in the final two minutes to get the Pistons back in the game and quite frankly send the crowd into a frenzy.
- Add a little credit to Jonas Jerebko, who played his heart out down the stretch. His tip-in late in the game on a Tayshaun Prince miss also played a part in the win. The Swede finished with 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting with 5 boards, 3 assists and a steal in 26 minutes.
- Tayshaun led the Pistons with 24 points, 4 assists and nine boards on the night.
- You really do have to give some credit to Lawrence Frank, who’s done wonders with this team.
Lawrence Frank: To show the fight and the grit, especially since we’ve been on the flip side of those where we’ve had some wins stolen from us,” Frank said. “To me, it’s how we got those buckets. You think about the trust we had – Will on a dribble handoff to (Tayshaun Prince), Tay making the next play to Brandon, and then the trust from Tay to Jonas, Jonas to Will. I just like how we found those shots. They weren’t forced shots; they were rhythm shots in pressure moments.”
- One of the reason why I like Brandon Knight, he’s not afraid to take big shots. When the Pistons needed buckets, and his shot wasn’t falling, he took and made the three’s down the wire. Knight finished with 12 points on 5-for-15 shooting with 6 assists and 5 boards.
- Hate to say this but one of the best parts of the night was a Byron Mullens missed dunk in which he collapsed to the ground in a heap after the shot. It seriously looked like a 7-year-old trying to dunk on his home Nerf basket and wiping out. The whole arena cracked up and a ton of Pistons fans in the lower level started chanting Mulllllins, Mulllllins over and over again for the rest of the night.
Highlights via NBA.com
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- Greg Monroe with 16 points and nine boards and his usual hustle that make this team go.
- Bynum, who is getting more burn since Rodney Stuckey and Gordon are out, finished the game with 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting.
- The defense looks better and better every game, but the Pistons allowed the Bobcats to finish shooting 46.5 percent and the 97 points they scored in regulation were nearly 10 over their average.
- Damion Wilkins had a dunk last night that made him look like his uncle. Wilkins scored 8 points on 4-for-7 shooting.
- Maxiell with 2 blocks on the night and probably one of the biggest surprises all season.
- Next up, the Magic at home on Tuesday.
Any road W is good even against a team like Charlotte.
4 out of the next 5 games will be tough ones especially without BG and Stuck.
I am glad to see Austin Daye getting some playing time. Maybe he will stick for 1 more year based just on potential alone.
Sure we are losing some lotto balls in the process of winning some games lately but it is a deep draft and any lotto pick will be a potential starter next year.
Looked like a really good turnout considering it was a Saturday night and this was a Pistons-Bobcats game!