Charlotte January 10th, 7:30PM TV - FSN (Local) NBALP The Pistons play the second half of a back to back against the Bobcats at the Palace. Charlotte will be without two starters, Brevin Knight & Gerald Wallace. Charlotte has lost 6 of the last 9 games, however, the three victories were impressive, against the Lakers and Jazz at home, and the Pacers on the road.
I don't get tonite's game. Last night's game was scheduled to be on, and wasn't. This is malarky. Go Pistons and have fun in chat tonight folks.
Short answer, no. My provider just got league pass last month and they only show half the games. While I am less than 100 miles from the Palace, it is not easy following the team from the south side of the river.
Quick scouting report: Raymond Felton is a quicker, smaller Carlos Arroyo: he excels at pick-and-roll basketball but can't shoot very well. He has 3-point range if he's very hot or he's given all day to shoot. Derek Anderson was once a multitalented perimeter player with a quick first step, a respectable jumpshot, the handle and vision to play point guard, and solid defense. That was many years and injuries ago; now he shouldn't do too much damage but might be able to irritate Rip on the other end. Adam Morrison's an excellent shooter with a full bag of mid- and short-range tricks in an empty gym. Doesn't look nearly as impressive with NBA defenders on him. But, he has the ability to score if nothing else, and he's dangerous if you let him get hot. Emeka Okafor is a force in all aspects of defense and on the glass. He has an up-and-under and a couple of hook shots now, too, as well as his quickness and power. No jumpshot, though. Primoz Brezec: he's huge and he has a sweet standing jumpshot from 15 feet and in as well as a fadeaway from the post. Good rebounder, bad defender. Matt Carroll is probably Charlotte's go-to scorer now. An excellent shooter standing and coming off screens. Can create a little off the dribble. Not much else. Sean May's a little bigger than Maxiell, but more butterball than Brahma Bull. He's undertall and not very athletic but has a full offensive repertoire, is a good rebounder on both ends, and can swat the occasional shot. Melvin Ely is still better than Chris Wilcox, but hasn't gotten his contract and is looking for a trade. He has an excellent hook shot with either hand, can rebound and play some defense. Not really an above-the-rim player, though, and probably won't play much. Jake Voskuhl: he's a 7-footer with decent size whose job it is to pick up fouls after the other bigs have picked up too many. Can shoot a little and o-rebound. Not a shotblocking threat.
Lets not forget that in addition to those impressive victories, they have beaten the Spurs, Cavs, Magic and our own Pistons back on 12/3. In that game the Pistons let such alstars as Matt Carroll, (16 pts) Sean May (17 pts) and Derek Anderson (11pts) come off the bench to to torch us for 65% shooting as we took them for granted. (the Cats shot 49.3% overall that night). Tonight we take no one for granted (are you listening #36). Come out and stomp them early and put this one away be halftime. In other words, let's smoke these guys
Inexcusable loss tonight. Pistons made a big run at the end of the first to end that quarter up 9, but then they played what was probably their worst quarter of the season, 27-8 in favor of Charlotte in the second. Pistons made a good run at the end of the third to cut it to 3...only to promptly let the lead get back to double digits in the first few minutes of the fourth. They got back within 5 at one point, but couldn't complete the comeback. Really a terrible loss, one of the worst of the season, against a lottery team that didn't even have two of its starters.
Flip Murray: Player Of The Game. He wasn't the worst I've ever seen him, but he was closer to that than yesterday's Flip Murray. He got worked over by Felton and McInnis and accumulated more FGAs than points. Rip Hamilton: played aggressively. Another good game. Picked up two technicals for some unbelievably stupid reason with a 6-point game and more than a minute to go. Tayshaun Prince: 44 minutes, scored well, some decent defense and some bad defense, bad rebounding Jason Maxiell: played the best game of his career in all aspects Nazr Mohammed: 4, 2, and 1. The "4" is fouls. Rasheed Wallace: several airballs, but other than that shot the ball well. Good defense. Dice: McInvisible Delfino: bad game on defense in 2Q, good all-around game in 4Q, bad rebounding. DD: 3, 1, and 1. The "3" is fouls. Blalock: decent. Disgusting performance overall, but nothing as disgusting as listening to Blaha stroke Flip "somehow I hit two 3s tonight and only was credited with two turnovers" Murray.
You know it's bad when Flip Murray is player of the game. The Pistons just seemed listless for most of the game and again Flip Saunders just doesn't play all the pieces correctly on his chessboard. He drives me crazy playing Tay and Rip mucho minutes and then Delfino gets so little playing time. At least Flip Murray is getting showcased and I want him to be traded in the proverbial New York minute. He can hit shots but big deal there's so little ball movement when he's running the point. What's up with Dice that he just seems so happy go-lucky whether the Pistons win by 20 or lose by 20? I'm not ready to hit the panic button yet but it will be nice to have Chauncey back at the controls and the Pistons can then find their game again.
Stones give up 35 points in the 4th. No more lockdown in crunch time with this team. Nice 8-point second quarter, too. They actually scored a lot in the second half to make up for the horrible second Q, but they can't stop anyone. Somewhere, Big Ben wears a tiny grin.
Flip Saunders on Flip Saunders: I don't like to talk after games. Flip Saunders on the Pistons: I don't know ... we're old? Flip Saunders on Murphy's Law: what bad can happen, kept on happenin' bad.
I guess they didn't have time to read my post, as they lost another game in the second qtr after leading at the end of one by nine. Another team that they seem to have taken for granted allowing them to smoke us for 27-8 whipping in that qtr. After making a decent comeback in the third, the defense gives up 35 points in the 4th to the team that averages an NBA low of 19 pts in the 4th qtr. Sheed scored 13, but still didn't seem interested in the 1st half. Flip took a game high 19 shots, hitting only 7 of them. Delfino was cold in the 2nd qtr, but definitely provided a spark in the second half. prince had a quiet 19, but Dice and Nazr were just plain nasty. I know C-webb is hurting, but Joe give his agent a call and get him in a Piston uni. Then send D2 and Flip jr packing for a decent PG. Blaylock, Hunter and Murray will not cut it as back-up PG's. either way this team will not win a 'ship with it's present mix and Joe is fooling himself if he thinks it can. By the way get rid of Flip sr too. Rip WTF is all I can say.
1 defensive rebound in 19 minutes isn't great for as good a rebounder as he is. Obviously nobody was very good on the d-glass - Nazr and DD combined for only two themselves in 20 minutes, and Tayshaun a pathetic two in 44 minutes - but he is the fifth best rebounder on the team and considering how invisible he was in the 2nd I don't think it's an invalid criticism. Bigger criticism: pick-and-roll defense.
