Detroit 3-0 Sacramento 1-2 November 8th 10:00pm EST at Arco Arena FSN Detroit -- NBATV -- WDFN-AM 1130 Injury Report Detroit Pistons Lindsey Hunter G Out Nov 5 ankle Out indefinitely Sacramento Kings Francisco Garcia G/F Out Nov 6 ankle Day-to-day Pistons Stats Kings Stats Team Comparisons Game Preview: Sacramento will be playing their first home game at Arco arena this year. The Pistons have not won their in the last 8 meetings. The Kings are coming off a 118-117 victory in Phoenix. Four of their starters have played in the all-star game. All prolific scorers. Players added: Bonzi Wells, Jason Hart, Sareef Abdul Rahim, Fransisco Garcia. This is not an athletic team with very little defensive presence (no player averages 1 blk p/game). On offense they like to use Bibby in high Pick & rolls with various players. They utilize a lot of off the ball movement with back screens. Miller is capable of drawing our bigs outside freeing up the cutting lanes. Peja loves to shoot the trey over his opponent. This will be more difficult with Prince providing the perimiter defense. Rahim likes to face the basket and use his spin moves and hook shots. Bonzi likes to back lighter SG's down and use his turn around jumper... he has a history of lighting up the Pistons. The Pistons should be able to use their size and quickness to get inside often. Corliss has only played 6 minutes without scoring a point. Comments on this game?
they won't look that good after we're done with them. I want to see us play maurice he probably wants to play more than usual.
Sacto We've always had a hard time with Sacramento. We're gonna have problems with Wells, Bibby. Not worried about Reef with Sheed and Miller with Ben and Peja with Tay, so much coz they can play good defense the last time I checked. But hopefully they don't go off. Wells concerns me coz Rip might not be able to guard him. Chauncey and Bibby are about even. I say Let Mo Loose! Anybody who gets traded from any team always wants to get some measure of revenge and he could get this game for us. I'm optimistic we can win this one. GO DETROIT!
Minutes and Points For The Bench Tonight Will Flipper give many minutes tonight to anyone past the first six and maybe Arroyo? Will the bench other than maybe Dyess be able to produce 10 points tonight in total? I expect Mo to be fired up tonight. Hopefully he will get the minutes to pour in few including a couple of long ones. Stay tuned
it'll be interesting to see how Mo wants to show his game to the Kings. it's been too long between games!
Pistons will rotate 8 plus Darko will get 3-4 minutes. Delfino will sit it out unless they open up a big lead. or... what about darko on Peja? Mo on Bonzi?
Good test tonight Yes, it will be a good test in many ways tonight. We always seem to have trouble with Sac; long trip and time change out there; west is usually tough on us (until year before last). But we took one of the players who gave us a lot of trouble, away from them. Evans played us very tough. I would like to see him return the favor. Yes, I would like to see Darko on Peja. I would like to see him on anybody and for sure, I would like to see him make some use of his offensive talents; maybe earn a few more minutes. I think the Pistons will make it worthwhile staying up later for the game, though. We will pass the test, tonight.
I think it helps that they got out there early and had a practice yesterday... jet lag should not be an excuse. I've seen the Kings play 3 times already... man they are really slow footed on defense.... I hope we use a lot of motion. Yeah the Bonzi matchup is kind of a concern... maybe Rip can run him to the ground... give him a case of Bonzi wobble legs Tayshaun should use his handles and go to the rack early & often... once we get Miller in foul trouble they're sunk inside.
Flip Flops Anybody up for switching up CB and Rip, and putting Billups on Wells (CB's strength would be useful on Bonzi in the paint) and Hamilton on Bibby (he seems to do a better job on quicker points and his length could interfere with some of Bibby's passing lanes).
I know what you mean, himat, to me it's almost like only the more devoted fans are going to stay up later watching, and so I feel like I'm in a more elite group. It's a fun ego trip.
Some of us gotta work at 6:30 am. These midweek late games are a killer. Mind you, I loved living on the left coast. You could watch the early games and still go to a movie...
Road Trip This should be a very telling road trip. Saunders has talked often about the need to be deep, make use of the bench. Will Flipper walk the walk. In our only road game (albeit a close one) he cut the bench PT significantly, looking much like his predecessor. Dare I say he showed a WIN-NOW mentality in playing several starters 40+ minutes. Warms the heart doesn’t it, but I digress. Will he trust the second unit this time??
I agree. Its still early, but I haven't been impressed with his lack of minutes for our bench. Maybe he wanted to get comfortable (and whats more comfortable than a 3-0 start) before he started giving the bench heavy minutes. Its a new system for most and maybe he wanted to get the starters comfortable before getting the bench going. Lets face it, our bench isn't terribly experienced. Maybe this is the best approach. Just as long as this isn't a pattern, but an exception to the norm.
