It was a Sunday matinée in Brooklyn as the #Pistons beat the Nets 109-97. The star of the show was Rodney Stuckey, who has had the best start to a season of his career. Stuckey, who’s leading the league in points off the bench, scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, leading the Pistons to their best half this season.
Key Points:
- The Pistons outscored the Nets 65-46 after trailing at halftime.
- Take note: When Joe Johnson starts hitting his shot, double team him. Johnson couldn’t seem to miss scoring a game high 34 points while going 8-for-10 from downtown.
- The Andre Drummond show is becoming a hit in the league. Dre was a point shy of his 8th straight double-double. Did you know he’s added a freakishly good hook shot to his repertoire? You can see his tools coming together better each game. He finished with nine points and 10 boards in 27 minutes on the floor.
- The Nets went to the foul Andre and send him to the line strategy I’m sure issued by “assistant coach” Lawrence Frank. That’s the one department that Andre needs to improve on drastically.
- They were actually fun to watch on Sunday, especially after being at the game and watching them lose one they really should have won on Friday night.
- Give credit to the Pistons for sticking with this one. They trailed by 12 late in the second quarter before cutting their halftime deficit to seven points.
- Brandon Jennings, who’s had trouble of late with his shot, put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. This was one of the most intelligent games I’ve seen him play in a Pistons uniform. He didn’t force shots and he ran the offense well.
- Solid double-double for Greg Monroe with 18 points and 11 boards. With Lopez on the bench for the Net, Greg dominated down low. Add the hustle and a couple of sweet and 1’s to Moose’s highlight reel this season.
- Yes Rodney Stuckey has been brilliant. Whatever he’s taking or doing, he’s making a case for a nice contract and upping his trade value. Rodney with a season high 27 with 6 assists, 4 boards and two steals.
Photo Getty Images/Editing Need4Sheed.com
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s struggles with his shot continue. He was 2-of-10 for five points on the night.
- Shouldn’t they at least see what Datome can do? He’s not going to score by leaving him on the bench and giving him a minute or two here and there.
- Charlie Villanueva sighting. CV31 with eight points, two blocked shots, and three boards in 12 minutes.
- Josh Harrelleson has played himself in the rotation and is doing a heck of a job in limited stints on the floor.
- Josh Smith got his starting job back after missing practice, but his shot still isn’t there. He went 4-of-9 shooting for 12 points.
- Highlights Via NBA.com
- 56 points in the paint for Detroit and just 26 for the Nets.
- Busy week for Detroit starts Monday at the Palace against the Bucks.
Stuckey had a terrible season last year with the Pistons.
So far this year he has been hitting his outside shots AND getting to the foul line.
He has been one of the best Pistons if not the best player for Cheeks.
It will be interesting to see if they try to resign him for next year.
joe d is a buy high sell low kind of guy. Stuckey’s trade value will never be higher, this is the perfect time to trade him, which means joe will probably resign him to a contract that will cripple our future flexibility.
Can’t we trade josh in december? Yes please
that can’t happen. Joe D pretty much told gores that this team would be his genius move. So if he tinkers with it, that as much as admits he has no idea what he is doing.
Joe D is going down with the ship on this one. A lot depends on Mo Cheeks being able to manage an unbalanced roster. There is an encouraging sign, Cheeks was able to bench Smith without a player revolt, players seem to like him, he might be able to get away with rotations that turned the AI experiment into such a locker room stink.
If the pistons continue to play like this Joe D will not be resigned and cheeks will probably be fired. In other words, dumars needs to do something.
jake do you know how bad the eastern conference is this year? Indian and Miami have winning records sure but with a 5 and 8 record we are currently in the 8th seed. This is playoff basketball for the east! bucks are 2-10, nets 3-10 nicks 3-9 cavs 4-10, magic 4-9, celtics 5-10.
I think we can make the playoffs this year with 32 wins and 50 losses. Last year the bucks made it in with 38 wins and 44 losses, the nets got 49 wins last year that won’t happen again.
Of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, this means in the western conference you will need 50 wins to make the playoffs.
So yeah, if this sort of play continues, Joe D will stay on thanks to the luck of the weakest eastern conference in a decade.
Maybe Joe D will pick someone up, he has to know he needs more this team is not right and the problem piece is Josh Smith. he’s not good on the perimeter.
Even if they make the playoffs winning around 35 Games I will not be happy. I’m sure Gores wouldn’t be happy either. Smoove isn’t fitting as SF as (as we all expected) so something needs to be done. If Joe D stands pat and This kind of play continues I hope they get somebody more competent. And I am just not a fan of cheeks so just let him go to.