• Stuckey on the injury update (gotta love the kids’ attitude):


  “I’ve been patient,” Stuckey said. “My time is going to come. My team’s doing well, so there’s no reason to rush back.”

• If Lindsey Hunter just wanted to be an observer this season he didn’t do himself (of Afflalo) any favors by providing a spark in the game against Cleveland
• Flip Saunders adds a log to the rivalry fire against the Cavs
• Maxiell thinks Dice could be a supermodel
• Saunders thinks Rasheed would be a good coach. Hey maybe down the line he could be Lindsey’s assistant?
• Sammy Mejia was let go by the Mad Ants after being unable to shake an ankle injury. There’s talk that he’ll most likely find his way back into the league after some overseas seasoning.
• Download yourself some Piston logo desktop icons
• Ex-Piston Jon Barry agrees with most of us. Writing for ESPN.com, Jon doesn’t buy the Cavs as a legit contender
• Pistons.com did a Q&A with the only ESPN contributor that picked our Pistons to win it all this season, Chad Ford
• The Pistons think Cleveland is better with out that flop top Varejao
• Dave Bing is taking a risk in hopes of furthering the rejuvenation of Detroit’s riverfront

Former Piston press clippings:

• Matt Wurst writes for NBA.com on how Grant Hill’s still playing at a high level and helping Phoenix keep pace in the West. Man, I’m sick of hearing about Grant Hill.
• Delfino is settling into a nice niche with Toronto. So is Jarvis Hayes here, so everyone’s happy.
• Smush Parker is inactive for the Heat while he’s being investigated for roughing up a valet over a $12 bill. I’m sure it’s not about the money, it’s the principal. He lets one valet get over and he opens the floodgates ’till these parasites nickle-&-dime him to death. Right Smush??

Here’s a treat for all you Ronald “Super Dupe” Dupree fans out there, and candid interview with Elie Seckbach. Want to know what’s the only non-basketball related job Dupe has held? (finder’s prop’s to DBB)

Roll film…

From Chris McCosky:

Rodney Stuckey is not going to make it back in the original six-week time frame. He had his left hand re-examined Wednesday and was not cleared for contact.

“He will get another evaluation next Friday,” Saunders said. “So, two more weeks.” The Pistons were hoping Stuckey would be back by next Friday.

So he’s doesn’t possess Wolverine’s ability to heal with the super quickness, he’s human. It’s a no-brainer to say not to rush an injury. You want it completely healed so it doesn’t become a chronic nagging type thing. The new timetable for Rodney will be how long does it take for him to get re-acclimated into the lineup. How long before Flip will be confident enough to give him regular and consistent minutes behind Chauncey?

Oh, and I can already hear the casual Pistons observers around town “didn’t the Pistons draft another guard”?

[box score] The Cavs kept it relatively close for half the game, that is the half that they had the league’s leading scorer LeBron James on the floor.

LeBron James didn’t come out of the lockeroom with the Cavs after the half and when he finally did it was in street clothes and a taped up sprained finger on his left hand. LeBron’s absence confirmed how much the Cavaliers rely on his production as the Pistons went on to route the Cavs by 35, their largest win of the season.

The Pistons led at the break by five, 43-48. The game looked like it was going to be a good one, but without LeBron Jimmy on the floor the Pistons did what they wanted when they wanted and it made for a pretty anti-climatic second half.

The Cavs Daniel “Boobie” Gibson played the spoiler in last year’s ECF, but in this game he was the weakest link. Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Flip Murray, and Tayshaun Prince all took turns abusing Gibson with post up moves on the undersized guard. Maybe that star Gibson had shaved into the back of his head was a bit premature?

The large second half leads gave Flip Saunders the chance to give extended minutes to primarily second unit lineups. Unlike previous games the bench did not relinquish the lead but rather added to it. The Pistons bench outscored the Cavs bench 45-24. The Pistons bench also accounted for 20 of the Pistons 43 team rebounds.

Richard Hamilton took a step forward in moving past his early season slump in this one. Rip led the Pistons in scoring with 18 on 8 of 14 shooting. Rip also had 6 assists. One thing that might be overlooked when talking about Rip’s slump is that his assist totals are up. Rip is averaging 5.1 apg, up from his 3.8 from last season. So, even though his offense has not been there in every contest he’s still helping put points on the board.

GAME NOTES:

• Solid contributions by everyone off the bench.
• Lindsey is still a ballhawk
• Maxiell led the team with 10 boards (3O/7D). He wasn’t just grabbing them, he was ripping them down.
• Cavs 40% FG, Pistons 58.4%
• Rebounds: Cavs 23, Pistons 43 (13 offensive)
• Assist: Cavs 14, Pistons 30
• Dice: 14 pts (6/8), 8 rbs
• Pistons had 9 blocks & 9 steals
• James didn’t play after halftime and still led Cleveland in scoring with 15
• Drew Gooden has traded in his hideous ducktail for an Al-Queda style beard. Appearently he and the Wizard’s DeShawn Stevenson have a beard growing contest.
• NO Cav had a positive +/- stat
• Pistons only 2/11 from beyond 3pt arc

QUOTES:

Flip Saunders on not letting up on the LeBron-less Cavs:

“This isn’t a sympathy league, but we would have liked to see LeBron stay in, because I thought we were pretty tuned in,” Saunders said. “I think we were ready to take it over in the second half.”

MORE RECAPS:

• Detroit News: No James, no chance
• Cavs News: LeBron injured in blowout
  

(9-6) Vs. (8-5)

7:30 est @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
Local TV: TV20 Detroit

The Pistons will get the opportunity to avenge the ‘bad dream’ that was the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. The only way for the Pistons to finally wake up from that is to hold LeBron James, who starred as the Boogie Man, in check. LeBron Has been nothing short of phenomenal this season carrying Cleveland on his back while becoming a triple-double machine.

Hopefully LBJ will have tired legs tonight to help the Pistons defense slow him down. The Cavs are playing their 3rd game in 4 nights which included an overtime affair with the Celtics last night in Cleveland. The Cavs are riding a four game win streak and are 5-3 on the road. The Pistons are currently #1 in the Central followed by guess who…the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Pistons expect to have the services of both Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton in the starting lineup. The Pistons will not have to contend with the antics of Anderson Varejao who’s a contract hold out and has recently told ESPN’s Chad Ford that he wants to be traded from the Cavs.

Lindsey Hunter on the Cavs as a rival:

“Ninety percent of the teams that play us could be considered rivals,” Hunter said. “Everybody hates us. Everybody wants to kill us.” (via: The Detroit News)

Rasheed Wallace (from preseason game #2) on jawing with Gooden & James:

Just the usual, young punks thinking they really did something,” said the always outspoken Wallace. “So now we gonna have to put those young-ass cats in their place. You know, he got a little bit out of control with his mouth; that’s all. The normal junk talk.”

• Sheed/Hamilton update from A. Sherrod Blakely: “Rasheed Wallace practiced today, and is expected to play Wednesday against Cleveland. Rip Hamilton was at practice, but did not practice. He’s considered questionable. If Hamilton doesn’t play, look for Arron Afflalo to get the starting nod“
• Disturbing trend pointed out by the Free Press’ Krista Jahnke: “In all but one of the Pistons’ five losses, opposing point guards had breakout games. Together, those guards — Utah’s Deron Williams, Sacramento’s Beno Udrih, the Lakers’ Jordan Farmar and Portland’s Jarrett Jack — scored a combined 74 points. Each also sparked game-turning runs.”
• McDyess has been on the last three games since coming back from a strained shoulder, it seems the only thing that can slow him down is Neoprene?
• The one thing your Pistons memorabilia collection is missing? A refrigerator signed by all the Pistons!
• Looking for a tiiight Tayshuan Prince wallpaper? Piston Post has you covered.
• Never to early for player evaluation, DBB has your 13 games in Pistons grades.
• Not all Piston players have been class acts, such was the case of Marvin “Bad News” Barnes. Bad News was such a talent that the Pistons selected him over a 21 year old Moses Malone in the ABA dispersal draft, but, as Pistons.com explains, that didn’t quite work out.

Pistons’ players model the team’s winter collection. Fierce!

I’ve given it awhile to grow on me but I’m still not a fan of the Pistons’ shooting shirts. It’s not the colors, because let’s face it, you can’t go wrong with red, white, and blue. It’s just that they’re not basketball enough. These are soccer jerseys imitating basketball shooting shirts. I don’t like cross-sport jersey mojination (Austin Powers 2 term btw).
I like my basketball apparel looking like, well, basketball apparel. That shiny material that the red sleeves are made of, the trademark Adidas 3 stripes running down the arms, the Adidas logo front and center…the Euro invasion knows no bounds.

Even though teams aren’t wearing them (yet) the same rule applies to those Pistons baseball jerseys. It’d be the same if it was a Detroit Tigers basketball jersey. Cross mojination is wrong.

_____________________________________________________________

Totally unrelated, but I’d like to send the Taylor family our deepest condolences, R.I.P. Sean Taylor 1983-2007

From Chris McCosky’s blog:

We were talking to Flip Saunders today, and Sherrod Blakely asked him if he has thought about the idea of bringing Richard Hamilton off the bench. Remember, I had suggested this in a recent column as a bail-out plan if Hamilton’s struggles were to continue for another 30 games or so. Here’s what Flip said.

“No… We are trying to get Rip focused, but he’s just not in a rhythm right now. He hasn’t been healthy, and when he got healthy, then he got sick. You can’t totally judge him now. If a guy’s healthy and he’s been playing, that’s one thing. But if a guy is not healthy and you do something, then you are making an adjustment that you might not need to make. I am not going to overreact to this.”

Hamilton did not practice again Monday. He’s still fighting the flu, but Saunders expects both Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace to be in the lineup for the Cavs game Wednesday. Wallace (sore left knee) did a little bit, but not much, at practice Monday.

I have to agree with McCosky on this one. If not for Rip missing games with injury and the birth of Richard Clay Hamilton II and now battling the flu then it might be something worth maybe thinking about with the way Rip has played.

I’ve read a lot of fans wanting the Pistons to use Rip off the bench like San Antonio uses Manu or Jason Terry in Dallas. That’s fine if it’s done before the season starts as a way to bolster the bench scoring and not as a demotion for poor play 13 games into the season. Rip has earned his starter’s role with this team and deserves to be given the chance to play his way out of this funk. It’s way to early to have hands all over the panic button. We’re in no threat of missing the playoffs right now.

We’ve all been frustrated with Rip’s play but benching him in the first month of the season would send the wrong message and would potentially do more harm than help.

Just a quirky little note, all the Pistons injuries have come on the left side.

Sheed’s knee, McDyess’ shoulder, Chauncey’s knee, Rip’s ankle, Amir’s ankle, Nazr calf, & Stuckey’s hand. How’s that for team continuity?

We’re getting closer to seeing just how Rodney Stuckey can help solidify our rotation. Rodney says his hand is pain-free.

from the Detroit News:

Saunders also said that Rodney Stuckey (broken left hand) would start taking part in half-court drills starting today. He still hasn’t been cleared for contact. He will get another opinion from the doctor after the Pistons host Cleveland Wednesday.

Also…

• The Mad Ants were in action on Sunday, losing to Darvin Ham and the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. The Ants are 0-2
• Rasheed to team yesterday: “(Bleep) all those jumpshots, go to the basket!”. If not for Sheed’s play so far that might have been the most ironic statement in quite awhile…
• Dennis, Dennis, Dennis. That’s just the Worm being the Worm.
• Isiah’s still got it at age 46. He might actually run the point better than Marbury.