A Knight to Remember in Detroit

by | Nov 24, 2012 | 5 comments

Greg Monroe - Pistons vs. Raptors

#Pistons fans haven’t seen a Knight of basketball like they did on Friday in quit some time. It was the Pistons youth core of Knight, Drummond and Monroe that helped power Detroit in their 91-90 win over the Raptors. With the Pistons down one, it was Brandon Knight’s dribble drive with 7 seconds on the clock that gave Detroit their third win on year.

Key Points:

  • I’m back on the Tayshaun Prince bandwagon for right now. It’s not that I don’t think he’d fit better off the bench on a contender, but he’s doing his part this season to keep the Pistons in games. As important as Brandon Knight was down the stretch of this one, so was Prince who got the Pistons right back in the game when they handed the lead to the Raptors. Prince finished with 16 points, seven boards, and three assists in 38:19 minutes on the floor.
  • Another solid game for Greg Monroe who led the Pistons with 19 points, 11 boards, a steal and a turnover in 38:24 minutes. He’s not only playing well, you can see him in every play and being a leader to this young team.
  • Monroe has grabbed five or more rebounds in 104 consecutive games, the league’s longest current streak. Are you voting for him?
  • I suggest you watch the highlights of this one just to see the last couple of plays unfold.
  • Highlights via NBA.com

[flashvideo file=http://nba.cdn.turner.com/nba/big/games/pistons/2012/11/23/0021200175-tor-det-recap.nba_nba_576x324.flv /]

  • Andrea Bargnani with 17 of the Raptors first 20 points, had one of the best games I’ve seen him play. He finished with a season high 34 on the night.
  • I also didn’t know how good Toronto’s Kyle Lowry was.
  • Very nice to see the Twin Towers on the court together for Detroit. You can see how productive that they can be. Drummond finished with 13 points and career highs of 13 rebounds in his first double-double of his career in 25 minutes on the floor. He had some nice highlights in this one, none better to me than when he hustled back on the defensive end to take a charge and as he lay on the floor he gave a nice fist pump when the call was made. He even was put back in the game with 16.1 seconds left in the game to help Detroit make a stop when the Pistons were down one.

Andre Drummond: “One of the knocks on me is that I don’t have a motor, that I don’t play hard every day.” “(Frank) just tells me every day, effort, that’s all you need to do. Give effort every single day, play hard and keep yourself going. So that’s what I do.”

Tayshaun Prince: “I saw a lot from him, the most important thing is when he made mistakes and he missed free throws, he just stayed the course, put his head down. Obviously it was tough for them to keep him off the offensive glass and he had key blocked shots and things like that, but I think his energy kept the crowd in the game. That’s what we need from him.”

  • Detroit started the second half strong, going on an 11-0 run after Toronto scored on its first possession of the half and expanding their lead to 10.
  • Brandon Knight comes out the hero in this one and rightly so. His layup to get the win wasn’t easy, but don’t forget the clutch shots late in the fourth either.
    This was just the kind of game that Knight needed to kick start his confidence in his shot. Brandon finished with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting with three assists and just 2 turnovers.

Photo Getty Images/Editing Need4Sheed.com

  • Let’s not forget about Jason Maxiell who continues to make play and bring the energy. I don’t have the clip, but did you see the sweet bounce pass from Monroe to Maxiell for the dunk?
  • Stuckey with 8 points on 2-of-9 shooting in 26 minutes.
  • Kyle Singler with 6 points on 2-of-5 shooting in 28 minutes.
  • Just 26 points in the paint for Toronto to the Pistons 52.
  • This game was tied 10 times with seven lead changes.
  • After losing double-digit leads and dropping their first three home games of the season, the Pistons have now won two straight at The Palace and the crowd truly did appreciate it.
  • A Sunday afternoon SHEEDtastic matinee against the Knicks. I’m all for it!

5 Comments

  1. ali bazzi

    I wasn’t too fond of tayshuan until this game. Those 2 hooks put us back in the game. Greg Monroe has to be the most consistent player in the leauge. And drummond is kicking away all that talk that he wasn’t NBA ready. the twin towers put up numbers. And drummond gives us that spark that we’ve been missing for quite a while. Then knight enters the game late 4th qt then hits that beautiful lay up of the high glass and drained a crucial 3. Then came back with that game winner in the end.

    Reply
  2. ali bazzi

    One of those knights (pun intended) your proud to be a pistons fan

    Reply
  3. Julian

    3 Ws in the last 5 games.
    At least Frank is starting to play AD1 more minutes even though he should be starting.

    Reply
  4. Alex

    I was watching the Toronto feed for the game and one of the things they mentioned is that Detroit is one of the few teams in the league that can go really tall putting out a lineup of Knight, Prince, Singler, Monroe, and Drummond. I thought that was pretty interesting, maybe they can exploit that in future games.

    Reply
  5. Jake

    Being a Kentucky fan I watched a lot of Knight in college. He was never afraid to take the big shot, he even hit the game winner against Princeton in the tourney. And Kyle Lowry can hoop, he’s a walking triple double.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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

Archives