Detroit Pistons at LA Clippers Wednesday February 24 10:30 pm Local TV: FS Detroit Nat'l TV: Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
I won't be able to stay up for this one. Chat is open now... Chat is open!!!! http://www.pistonsforum.com/playoff-chat/
That was one total stink game. Under 50% from the FT line. BG going scoreless. Stuckey couldn't hit a shot in the 2nd half. Tay playing great, so we totally went away from him. Jerebko gets 17 minutes of PT. The team totally handed this one to a bad Clippers team, and turned Butler into a folk hero. Really bad effort, IMO.
Lot of positives to take out of the game. Tay is back, Rip was back in the 1st half and then came back at the end. He ended his 51 FT streak by missing 5 or 6 FT's in the 4th. CV was playing better D and overall the front court matched up well against their larger line. Nothing from Ben Gordon ( too bad we can't send him back to the Bulls ). Maxiel has strung a ton of games of consistent play and has been shooting great. Just could not execute down the stretch. Rip almost saved the Pistons with 4-pt play but ended up missing the shot and missing all 3 FT's. Stuckey's drive was so bad that the local announcers kept playing back the tape trying to figure out what he was trying to do. 3 Defenders collapsed on Stuckey as he had no intention of passing out of it. Should not get dissapointed about these losses but I really thought they would win that one.
Just got home from the game..most of you are sleep....let me sleep on this one and give my game recap in the morning
That was just bizarre. 2-of-8 after 40 something in a row? Is the tank officially rolling down woodward? PS *In before "Stuckey Choked"*
The good. Daye played well for the first half of the 2nd quarter. The bad. Daye did not get rewarded with any further playing time. Not that Prince had a bad game, but he looked virtually lifeless out there to start the 4th quarter with no rest - as compared to how lively Daye looked in that 2nd quarter. Just bad coaching. Real bad. Rip had a complete melt down at the line in the 2nd half. And shot poortly most of the game. The good, he did hit 3 triples late, and just missed hitting a 4th that could have tied the game up. (If he had made his free throw since he also got fouled on the shot. But he actually then missed all three free throws. And badly.) Very bad. Ben Gordon had no shot. CV maybe made one. Our usual punch off the bench was missing but JMAX and Will both did lots of scoring in this one. Can't blame the loss on the bench. Very bad. The coaching. Too much small ball. Although I must say, with some made free throws we still win this game. However, with JMAX hitting everything in sight, why could he not have played down the stretch. What Kuester did instead is play Will Bynum as a part of small ball, with Tay at power forward, making us very small indeed. Why Bynum with a bum ankle. Sure he did well earlier in the game, but how can you expect a guy with a bum ankle to keep that up. And did I mention JMAX could not miss? We have won games with JMAX and Ben Wallace finishing them out together. Is that why Kuester won't use it anymore? Just 6 1/2 games out of 8th spot entering last night. We could have really used a win. Really, up until the 4th quarter, where a lifeless Tay was marched out there with no rest, I thought Kuester was coaching a good game. Would he have used JJ if JJ had not hurt his ankle the previous game. JJ did have 4 fouls, but as far as I could tell, he was doing just fine. He was getting offensive rebounds and managing to score around the basket readily. So as far as I can tell, not only was Daye available, so was JJ. There was not reason at all to march Tay out there at that point. Just bad coaching, no excuse for it. Bad news. Embarrassing news really. Wilcox out yet again with a bad back. And he only played in one half of one game before coming up lame again. Dumars got damaged goods apparently, and he had to give away both Afflalo and Amir Johnson to make room for the guy. Really, really embarrassing. About Stuckey. Started out fine. Some say he had a poor 2nd half. But really, Bynum was out there most of the 2nd half, so the ball was not in Stuckey's hands much. About the 2nd quarter. We had five bench guys out there for the first 6 minutes. Bynum, Gordon, Daye, JMAX, CV. And they really could have stayed out there the whole 2nd quarter, because they were doing quite well. Back when Carlisle coached us, he would have let them stay out there. He knew if the starters stayed off the floor the 2nd quarter, they could often come with a lot of energy in the 2nd half. Kuester needs to learn this lesson yet. Especially for back to back games. We did end the 2nd quarter well enough, with small ball, Tay at power forward. But this is a gimmick, not something to overuse. Summers was dressed, since Wilcox was not. This means of course we had yet another option to use other than playing Tay so much. Darn, we would all have liked to see a win. Got to give credit to their guy, Butler, who made that 3 late to put them in the lead, and who made several threes for the game.
actually, afflalo made room for gordon and hiring CV made amir expendable. At this moment they had only one C -Kwame Brown ( BigBen was projected as lockerrom leader.) Going to the season with one true C is always bad idea - as a result JoeD decided to try Wilcox - low risk, but maybe 2nd chance will work for Wilcox? Kwame and Wilcox have not produced as hoped but they never were designed as a part of "final solution".
Totally agree about the second quarter. At one point, I was struggling to figure out what the line up. Bynum...OK...Gordon...OK...Daye?...GREAT...CV...OK...MAX...OK. Max played Kaman well in that span too, and I thought CV did a decent job on a hot Gooden as well. I would have liked to see more of that line-up, as you said Tay looked like the tank was empty. Stuckey too to an extend. Once again, BG could not get any rhythm, and it absolutely showed.
WTF? Is he trying to be ironic? How does he say that with a straight face after looking like I would have looked out on the court last night. (BTW, even in my "heydey" I wasn't much of a player).
Some of Dumards moves lately are perplexing at best. He traded Billups for cap space while simultaneously signing Rip to a long extension. He then signs Gordon meaning they have to play small at the 3 while also drafting 3 SF's to add to the team. It is hard to figure.
at the time of signing Rip he had no idea whether Bengo will be available or not. The fact that Bengo did not sign extension with Bulls was actually surprising. Rip's contract is the problem but he has played well, making himself actually tradeable. Daye can also pay 2, Summers suits for 4 as well and Tay either will be traded next year or his contract expires. Not the problem at all. the biggest issue for me will be C position: next year will be the last for Wilcox and probably for BigBen too.
Next season we'll likely be selecting a center with a premium draft pick. Also, right now, one of the best players to trade next year in terms of his being able to bring value back in return is Tay. Pray he stays healthy. When he is, he's clearly an outstanding player - one of the best complimentary players in the game. He's a terrific piece for a championship level team and he'll be on a nice juicy expiring contract. No way that he won't bring a very nice piece or pick back in return.
So this theoretical championship contender is going to have a good young player sitting around un-wanted or we can maybe snag a late 1st round pick? Sounds good to me...........
