edt here. Detroit wins by (looks at score) 117 Detroit, 99 Cleveland.
Nat is taking a vacation. Sitting on the beach. Sipping Mai-Tai’s watching the sunset. Cell phone turned off. A big floppy hat — you get so pale in Detroit in the winter, need to protect the complexion. She picked a good time. Right now the airplane disaster which has been the Detroit Pistons for the past four years is in a holding pattern, as we wait for a new captain to get helicoptered on board. Jose Calderon promises to be the first point guard we have had since Billups. But apparently USA is worried this Canadian is here to steal our jobs so we have to wait for his work visa. By the time it arrives Nat will be back, tanned and refreshed and ready to give us her take on the new look Pistons.
- But for tonight we played the Cavs. Starting lineup we had Stuck in for Prince, moved Singler over to the SF and for the first quarter we ran and ran. We ran like we have never been able to run with Prince on the team, who no matter how good he is, Prince is an I’m sorry an extra-large serving of molasses. Efficient molasses but still. Watching an uptempo game like this is fun. Of course this lineup is normally bad for Stuckey he doesn’t have the ball in his hands, reduces his effectiveness but the good thing is his efficiency seems to be a better with this setup, 14 points in greater than 50% shooting. Or it could be the Cavs are awful.
- There was certainly a battle, man to man, Kyrie against Knight, both going straight to the rim against each other. The difference is this Cav’s team is terrible. So Irving got no help. And this pistons team is gearing up for that 8th playoff slot. There is just no way the Cavs could win this game with attitudes like that. And Brandon took him to the cleaners too. Brandon had 20 points Irving a mere 14. Knight had 10 assists TWICE as many as Irving. Really outplayed him tonight.
- Recently the big penguin Andre Drummond is hearing comparisons about his game and the greatest center of our generation, Shaq. Love to see how humble he still is. Everyone loves the big penguin. Bynum and Drummond are awesome together, they trust each other. And the usual assortment of Bynum Drummond dunks. However, Drummond with reduced minutes here, but I’m happy with this decision by Frank, because Drummond is our Death Star, we didn’t need to play him huge minutes tonight. I think if the Cavs had challenged us we would have played him more than 18 minutes. The Big Penguin had 4-4 shooting with a mere 5 rebounds.
- With less Prince, we got to see a bit of Jerebko and some more of English. English is really just not ready for the NBA, needs more D-league, more summer league, 15 minutes for English. Jerebko needs his shot to go in, simple as that, until it does, or until he stops doing to Frank (come on Jerebko quit eating Frank’s donuts) it looks like he will be limited from here on out. 6 minutes for Jerebko.
- I do have to be honest I didn’t keep track of this cavs team other than to watch Kyrie because without “Sideshow Bob” Verajao this team has Kyrie and . . . are looking at a #1 draft pick that’s about it.
- It was kind of nice watching the cavs with this 2013 Piston’s team. Not much to worry about, we are just too much better right now. Relaxing even. Certainly if you felt thirsty no need to wait for a time out.
- Charlie is a funny guy he’s great at the three-point but 30 something percent at the free throw line. Forget hack a penguin, hack Charlie V, it’s way better.
- There was a Middleton and Kravtsov sighting in garbage time.
- Singler had an absolutely terrific game. His shot went in and because it went in he just kept shooting all night, 9 for 17, that’s Prince efficiency.
- Bynum was super efficient tonight. Bynum tends to play “hero ball” when we are behind (one thing I hate about his game) but when we are ahead Bynum is happy to create and only take good shots, 4-5 shooting, and 8 assists in only 15 minutes of play.
- Did you see the BYNUMITE February Schedule Wallpaper?
- Check out the highlights over a NBA.com
- It’s nice to be on vacation. But even nicer to be able to relax when you watch the Piston’s cruise to victory against the worst team in the NBA.
edt is vying for my job!
Great recap
no way this is too much work cant wait til u get back
Nice recap edt, wow we finally got a pg! Now lets get some wins.
We will c what wevereally got over the next 4 games.
We are really*
I hope Jose plays and torches the Lakers on Sunday. He always has amazing games against them!
what is the pistons opening intro song in the video called? its dubstep and i really like it
Nice W and great game by BK maybe he feels that he have to step up his game now that there are a real pg in the Detroit?
JJ looks nervous and a little bit confused out there but when he get his shot and hustle back hes going to be a spark for the bench. Lakes on Sunday a game a can see and not be upp to 3 in the morning =)
Nice recap. I wasn’t impressed by JJ’s effort tonight. He looked lost and didn’t hustled. I would rather see Middleton as a backup SF. He’s got a smooth jumper and a decent defense (JJ doesn’t have both of those). Middleton can certainly spread the floor for Bynum and Drummond to operate inside. I love JJ but if he’s not hustling Middleton will certainly take his spot.
Where my Charlie V haters at? If he and Kyle singler (in his natural position) continue to play like that the only thing we could possibly need to do is trade maxiell and stucky and target an athletic sf to back him up (Al-Farouq Aminu, Tony Allen) or a star veteran sf to start ahead of him, maybe an Andrei Kirilenko. I WOULD ONLY GO AFTER JOSH SMITH IF HE’S WILLING TO START AT THE THREE, IF SO JOE D SHOULD GO ALL OUT TO SIGN HIM AND THE NEW ERA OF PISTON CHAMPIONSHIPS WILL HAVE BEGUN! All mentioned are unrestricted free agents after this season. If i were to trade for one this season, a guy like Luol Deng comes to mind. Just fyi Carmello is unrestricted in 2014… but I dont see him leaving the big apple. All i’m saying is it’s time to think small… forward that is, and also clean up the logjam at the two guard and power forward positions.
Imagine a sterting line up of:
1. J Calderon
2. B Knight
3. J Smith
4. G Monroe
5. A Drummond
A bench of:
1. W Bynum
2. R. Stucky (easily tweekable if Stuck is unloaded)
3. K Singler
4. CV or JJ (whichever is on that night)
5. V. Kravtsov
NASTY!
i would actually be super happy with that until you look at the backup PF. cant trust CV or JJ right now with a 2nd spot. thats why i would not wanna see Jason get traded any time soon
u would go with josh smith on sf?get outta here…
I just loved watching Calderón taking notes! Who else has ever done that? I was so impressed!!
Thanks for the great recap, edt. You’re so right about how nice it was to finally relax while watching the game. Actually, it’s one of the only times I have all season.
anyway i could watch him taking notes?
Smoooth transition. for pistons and for the temp n4s writer 😛
I think jose is gonna bring good leadership. and VOCAL leadership.
We better see more of slava. he can play d hes tough and apparantly can shoot free throws.
He can easily take 5-10 minutes per game and be ready for playoffs if we need to sub andre with his poor free throw shoooting.
Wasn’t jonas’s best game but good to see him out there
Is it justme or is maxy kinda just fading out of my mind? i keep forget about him even when he’s on the floor. i really havent seen any improvement from max and if he doesnt graduate and become a vocal leader we need to let him go