At NewJersey Dec 26 7:30PM tv: WDIV For some reason the 12-15 Nets have a better record on the road (6-5) than at home (6-10). They either could be due for a home win or the Pistons can keep the trend going with their 6th win in a row. No injuries to report other than Kristic but thats something thats more the norm now.
We may see more of the Pistons lock down defense in this one as the Nets have been offensively challenged this year - they avg about 91 ppg, worst in the NBA! Ok, all who picked the Nets to come out of the east this year, raise your hand!!!!! Only one out of these three teams will make the playoffs; NJ Nets, Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers...........Wouldn`t that be nice??
That would be entertaining. However, I expect that NJ and Cavs would make it. Can't say for sure, but if the health holds up, they'll be there when it is all said and done.
The Cavs are still playing shorthanded. Marshall has only played two games this year. While he is not going to get anyone's sixth man of the year award at this time in his career, he still poses enough of an outside threat, including 3 pointers, to open up the defense a bit when he is on the court. Of course with the Cavs if Bron Bron gets injured they are a total lottery team.
I know the game's not over, but it really bothers me that Hayes can play through his mistakes, and generally suck and never get pulled yet Afflalo had a not so good 1st half, and is now glued to the bench. A bad couple of min takes precendent over how well he has been playing.
Vets generally get a longer leash from coaches. I think it's safe to say Hayes will continue to play. It does bug me quite a bit just how much PT Arron's lost already. Once Stuckey gets back into the groove of things, that might change, though.
Alright, good win tonight. The second quarter was mostly brutal, with the bench playing poorly and everyone forcing stupid jumpers. Somehow the Nets let them stay in it, though, and the Pistons went on a nice run to end the half with Rip getting it going off some curls and screens. Then the third quarter was a breakout, with everything working: CB driving to the hole, Dice hitting Js, Rip staying hot, and strong D forcing bad shots by the hapless Nets. Pistons started the 4th quarter up 14, and in a very welcome development, Stuckey played almost the entire period as CB sat down. He forced one or two plays but showed lots of promising signs: a tough basket on a double clutch finish at the rim, a couple of jumpers, a few nice passes, and some impact plays on D at the perimeter. And he did a lot of it against the Nets' first unit, as Lawrence Frank left his starters out there until only 2 minutes were left, despite the fact that they could never get the lead under double digits. JMax made up for what had been a mostly unproductive game (no rebounds in his first 18 minutes) down the stretch by assaulting the rim on a devastating throwdown and crashing the boards a few times.
I hate that approach especially when the vet in question isn't playing well. I'm not too hopefull it will change. Just look at Amir. Flip just doesn't like to play the young guys even if they are better.
In fairness to Hayes his defense has picked up and he is hustling. AA made some defensive mistakes out there tonight and Flipper wasn't too happy about it.
It was still bad when CB came back in because he started jacking up stupid Js as well. But it started turning around with maybe 3 or 4 minutes left in the quarter.
Pistons went through a bad stretch from the end of the 1st qtr to midway through the second before closing it out on nice run. buWe can blame the second qtr drought on Hunter and second unit who put up several jumpers and refuse to come into the paint. Even Billups came back to continue the jump shooting contest. (but he redeemed himself in the 3rd qtr) Second half all Pistons and Stuckey put Flip on notice that he might be ready to play in the second qtr instead of 4th qtr garbage time. Yeah he missed a couple of shots, but he was agrressive and scored on some tough layups, fast break and a jumper. The Nets announcers said that Stuckey resembled rapper 50 cents, so a new name for us to throw at him..... Good win...could have rolled off 15 in a row if not for the breakdown in Houston and the loss to the Bulls at home a couple of weeks back. Still 21-7 and the second best record in the NBA and under the radar is stiil good.
That is correct, but Hunter had screwed things up so bad in six minutes that it took C-Bill a few minutes to right the ship.
Hot Rod will probably never be a good shooter. He is a scorer among other things, but he is not a shooter.
I don't like it either, but it's the way the ball rolls. LB was actually even worse in that regard. I think Arron is a little better equipped to handle that kind of inconsistency in PT, though I don't think it's fair. Only 2 minutes for Amir tonight a well - can't do much in 2 minutes, and he didn't.
