The 8-10 #Pistons are in Milwaukee for the second game of a back to back to take on the 3-14 Bucks. Detroit will try to make it three straight with a win against the Bucks after their convincing win against the NBA Champ Miami Heat on Tuesday night.
- The good: The Pistons are coming of their biggest win in quite some time will take on a struggling Bucks team that they blew out at the Palace November 25th.
- The bad: The Bucks had lost 11 in a row before beating the Celtics Saturday night. Former Piston Brandon Knight, who hasn’t been completely healthy all season, is averaging nine points and four assists per game this season.
- The unknown: Chauncey Billups is still listed as day-to-day and Will Bynum is doubtful. Can the Pistons keep their momentum and do what they should do against the Bucks?
Stat:Andre Drummond still leads the NBA in field goal percentage with 64.8%
Stat: Rodney Stuckey leads the Eastern Conference in bench scoring, averaging 16.9 off the bench.
Fact: The Pistons shot a season-high 53.8% from the field and a season-high 41.4% from beyond the arc against the Bucks.
Tip off is at 8:00 pm and will be broadcast on Fox Sports as well as NBA TV . If you can’t catch the game on TV, catch it on the radio over at 97.1 The Ticket.
a milwaukee bucks has 3-14 record??? go pistons dominate this team!! like what we did in our last meeting!!!
nice win team played hard, especially after a difficult miami game back 2 back on the road. Everything was looking good, except for two things, 1) stuckey’s game is off, hope that he’s not done for the season and it’s just one game and 2) josh smith must want us to hate him. That’s why he takes so many bad shots. Why do you think you aren’t guarded josh? They want you to take that shot that’s why you’re open!
Yeah, Smith continues to take poor shots and it seems his selection is getting worse. However, one thing I want to point out in this game is not individual performances, but how this game exemplified this group becoming a team and picking each other up. Its not a big 3, and Dumars is doing this the Piston way. Smith always makes up for his knucklehead plays on the defensive end. If Drummond is in foul trouble, Moose is reliable or even Jorts now. The game is slowing down for Pope and Singler found his stroke. Jennings did not have the best night (not surprised) but the guy is truly becoming and elite point guard. He is gifted beyond belief and is still learning the NBA at a championship level. Dumars snagged this young man at the correct time and he has already been a joy to watch. We are lucky to be able to watch his game grow into a complete player and I could not be happier having him lead this team. These guys are big, strong, fast, young and highly skilled. Not to mention hungry and all have something to prove. Deadly for the NBA. As frustrating as they can be..I love this team. Lets not forget, Sheed used to piss all of us off. Some nights, that ’04 team couldn’t hit the side of a barn. For you old school heads, Mark Aguirre used to be frustrating as hell also. It doesn’t happen much on this site, but people nit pick at this team, and I cannot figure out why. Would you rather be the Knicks? How about Chicago? What does their future look like? I wouldn’t even want to be Cleveland or Washington either. I HATE John Walls game. Talented beyond belief, but I’ll take Jennings all day. I do not think you can win with Wall.
Oh and some may rip on Dumars for over paying for Smith, but Dumars NEEDED to make that happen at all costs.
Why
smith has been pretty bad on defense with 2 exceptions, he did well against lebron james and carmelo anthony. He is always caught ball watching, sags of the man to camp on the lane gives up threes loses track of his guy allows easy layups. In short he has no understanding of perimeter play. Does he have the physical tools to defend at small forward? yes. It’s all mental just like his inability to control his barrage of 3 pointers and long 2’s.
Mo Cheeks needs to slide him over to PF. I’ve been reading some of the keith Langlois letters and it is clear that there will be trade of moose, drummond, stuckey, jennings this year we are holding on to all of them for the playoff run.
So it is up to Mo Cheeks to create a rotation that gives Josh more and more time at power forward instead of small forward but does not decrease either Monroe’s or Andre’s minutes. The bad part is I don’t trust Mo Cheeks he doesn’t seem to be especially brilliant, the only person I saw him outcoach is Jason Kidd.
The good part is Cheeks seems to be well liked by the player and is known to experiment (except when it comes to Datome and Mitchell those guys are glued to the bench).
What you see is what you get, a lot rides on how Mo Cheeks manages this misfit roster. The win against the bucks is evidence that we can do it because make no mistake every team in the NBA can play ball and it is very difficult to win after flying back from Miami to Wisconsin on a back to back.
You lost me at the “there will be a trade of. .. “Part elaborate.
if it were possible to make the salaries work I would trade middleton the former piston straight up for josh smith. There’s a guy who has a beautiful smooth stroke.
Im not as down on smoove as a lot of Piston fans in this early going but I would definitely consider trading him for that young rookie out of Greece Amendakolawhatever. I think Smith will settle into his new role sooner than later though. He needs to develop a consistent mid range jumper to make it work, then he like Monroe can space the floor a bit more and open lanes for slashing guards and lobs to Drummond.
it would be really shame to loose moose specially over that knucklehead smith i mean really u expect from a 28-year old player to start and develop consistent shooting??????dude!
Josh is almost 30 this dog ain’t learning nothing new
there will NOT BE. Typo, sorry jake!
Oh gotcha.
EXACTLY!!
He gives us a chance…Its hard to put a price on telling a guy go irritate the best offensive basketball players night in and night out. Yes, the man is an absolute knucklehead. The definition! But overpaying for talent is just the way of sports now a days. You just try to stay within the cap, stay away from the luxury tax, which Dumars has done, and try to be smart overall. It seems to sting a little more because Dumars’ biggest blunder was overpaying for Gordon and CV. But Smith will come around. Will he ever be worth what we paid him? Probably not. But im ok with it. We need him…
Smith has been terrible on defense.. He can’t guard the perimeter to save his life. He camps in the lane on defense and chucks on offense. He is not what we need. He is the exact opposite of what we need.
we already have a guy that is going to be an all star. name aint josh smith it’s andre drummond. What we need isn’t a “name” but pieces that fit around our superstar.
We need a 3 and D small forward.
Pistons will try to extend win streak in Chicago next. The starters are looking better. Looks like the key off the bench for Cheeks besides Stuck is Singler with his potential to hit some 3 pt buckets. Team defense will be mandatory to beat the Bulls. Dre cannot get into foul trouble early either.
actually 30 is right around the age where athletic power forwards tend to start developing their shooting touch a bit more after years of wear and tear on the back and knees force them to adjust their games and extend their careers. Sheed oughta help in that department.
‘sheed always had a 3 point shot even as a rook. over the years he has shot it up and down, between 42% in 2000 and a mere 19% a year later in 2001, but never really improved his 3 point shot he always shot it somewhere around 35%. Josh shoots the ball about four times as much as ‘sheed used to and only shoots it around 28%. Power forwards do develop a jump shot but they develop a 15 foot jumper, not a 3 point shot. This is what Moose has been working on and he has done it at a typical time, in the 3rd and 4th year. The person who has improved the most on 3 point shooting in the NBA is probably Michael Jordan who started out shooting the 3 point shot at 15%, decided he needed to develop his 3 point ball, and got his average somewhere around 35% which is not great but allowed him to take the 3 point ball if he had to. In 1997 Michael Jordan shot the 3 ball the most 4 times a game with a decent 37%.
Jordan got his 3 point shot going when he was 25 years old. Lebron James by the way has always been able to shoot the 3, he developed that shot in high school or before and as a sophmore shot it 4 times a game at 35%. The last few years James shoots it at between 41% and 46%, so he has indeed improved his shot.
Josh had his chance to work on his 3 point shot for 8 years in Altanta in the offseason. If he wanted to develop a better shot he already would have. I think Josh Smith thinks he is really really good at shooting the jump ball so he doesn’t need improvement. I don’t think he looks at the stats and has a selective memory.
Josh Smith is one of those frustrating players, so much potential. But I don’t think he’s going to become Kyle Korver any time soon.
Sheed was actually amazing. Not only he could shoot the 3 which is unheard of for a guy his size not being white, but also he could do pretty much everything. He would play good D; block, rebound, his passing was good, great post moves and fadeaway shots that were unblockable Complete package talent wise at least.