PistonsNationBlog.com » 2007 » November

Nov 15

Vote Pistons! / Chauncey & Dice update Posted by pistonsnation at 4:01 pm

It’s that time again, time to reward the Pistons for all their hard work with your vote for the 2008 NBA All-Star game.

The Detroit Pistons yet again have a strong presence on the All-Star ballot, which was announced Wed., Nov. 14. With five All-Star candidates on the ballot, the Pistons are tied for the most in the Eastern Conference with Chicago and New York. In the West, Phoenix is the league leader with six candidates, followed by Dallas, Golden State and San Antonio, which each have five.

Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton are both two-time All-Stars. If they make their third consecutive appearances together in New Orleans, it will mark the first time Detroit has sent its starting backcourt to the All-Star game together that many years in a row since Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars went four straight years from 1990 to 1993.

Also, concerning Chauncey and Dice’s injuries:

LOS ANGELES — Pistons guard Chauncey Billups (left knee) and forward Antonio McDyess (left shoulder) had MRIs done here Thursday. Results were negative for both players and the Pistons said they are questionable for Friday’s 10:30 p.m. game against the Lakers.

That’s great news, but at the same time last night’s action has peeked my interest for seeing more Afflalo/Maxiell/Amir

Nov 15

NBA All-Metrosexual First Team Posted by pistonsnation at 11:09 am

Wikipedia defines metrosexual as “a neologism generally applied to heterosexual men with a strong concern for their appearance, and who display many of the lifestyle tendencies of stereotypical gay men“. I wouldn’t say the NBA is a hot bed for Metros like, say, soccer? But, here is a list of the six individuals you’re most likely to see in a club over cologned, four buttons down giving the wink/shooters point/ mouth click-click.

[SF] “Pretty” Ricky Davis - Even more eye catching than Ricky Flair’s shot selection is his carefully crafted facial follicles. This is where funk meets metrosexual.

[PF] Jeff “Blue Steel” Foster - Jeff parlayed his sour pucker into the big screen biography Zoolander, a story about the trials and tribulations that beautiful people face.

Natalie Postman on Jeff: “He’s almost TOO good looking. That would be my… my main deterrent to you know, considering a relationship.”

[C] Andris “Sonic the Metro Sexual Hedgehog” Biedrins - Where has you seen Andris before? He was Romance on VH1’s I Love New York season one. This Latvian is the list’s only import. He took what fellow countryman, Andre Kirilenko, did to the HNL (hole nofva level). Is he standing still or flying down the court? His hair will never tell.

[SG] Dwyane “Miami Sweet” Wade - Take commercials, the magazine covers, and a certified man crush courtesy of Bill Walton and it all adds up to the leagues most dangerous metrosexual triple threat.

[PG] Damon “Look at Me” Jones - What’s lacking in substance is more than made up for with unparalleled style. Bug eyed glasses, and suits that range from fire engine red to leopard, he’s fashionably reckless and we love it!

Damon’s fashion faux pas: 1. Wearing white before Easter 2. Wearing linen other than in the summer 3. Wearing belts and shoes that don’t match 4. Wearing over sized clothes

Coach, Reggie “Hang Time” Theus - Maybe he’s born with it, or maybe it’s Maybelline?

There you have it, the brave men filling the metro void left in 2004 when Rick Fox put up the Vidal Sassoon for good.

Nov 15

Game #8: Ain’t nothing but a Sheed thang baby Posted by pistonsnation at 1:58 am

[box score] If you stayed up you were treated to a pretty memorable and improbable Pistons victory vs. the high octane Golden State Warriors. The Pistons came from 22 points down to beat Golden State 111-104. With Chauncey and McDyess out with injuries it took a total team effort amplified by the brilliant performance turned in by Rasheed Wallace down the stretch.

It didn’t look good early. The Pistons were missing open looks while the Warriors were bombing from down town and hitting the offensive boards hard. Baron Davis was going off in the first quarter finishing the quarter with 16 points. The Warroirs ended up with 40 points for the quarter, a season high for them, and that’s saying a lot for a team like G-State that scores in multitudes.

The Pistons found themselves down 51-64 at half.

The third quarter the Pistons really got it going. They turned up the defense that was mostly MIA in the first half. Tayshaun stepped up big scoring 10 of his 22 in the quarter. Detroit was able to get Golden States lead cut down to 3, 82-85 by the end of the quarter.

Rasheed Wallace went to work in the fourth quarter. He commanded the ball down low and facilitated the offense beautifully. Sheed’s big three pointer is what really put the Pistons over the hump. He scored 13 of his 22 points in the quarter. This performance in my mind was much more impressive than his 36 point game vs. Chicago. He never lost his composure and really led by example. He took the game over and the rest of the team responded running the offense through the big fella. The end result was the Pistons biggest road comeback since the 2002-03 season.

Other outstanding performance’s came from Jason Maxiell who had his first double-double of the season (14pts & 14rbs) getting 43 minutes in place of the injured Antonio McDyess. Max did a great job on the defensive boards (10) taking advantage of the Warrioir zone, and let’s not forget the 3 blocks. Maxy really made case for himself being inserted permanently into the starting line up. Flip Murray who even though had his erratic moments did get a career high tying 12 assists to go along with his 15 points starting in the place of Chauncey Billups.

GAME NOTES:

When was the last time the Pistons were with out 2 starters in one game?
With the win Flip Saunders moves into sole possession of #3 all time wins for a Pistons coach (123)
The Pistons lost twice last season to Golden State by an average of 25 points
All starters scored in double figures
Rip, Tay, & Sheed all scored 22
Sheed also grabbed 9 boards
30 team assists
Arron Afflalo was solid.
Amir Johnson played well in early minutes
Lindsey Hunter seen his first action of the season. 3 points and 1 assist in a little under 7 minutes of play
Bad free throw shooting by both teams. Pistons 68%, Warriors 61.9%
Why does Warriors’ center Andris Biedrins spike the sides of his hair back like that? Is he trying to create the illusion that he’s going faster?
Baron Davis finished with 29 points and 9 assists
Golden State is the league’s only winless team at 0-6

GAME QUOTES:

Rasheed on ~~taking over~~ executing down the stretch:

“Just executing, that’s all it was,” Wallace said. “It’s not a matter of taking over or nothing like that. You just execute. We started getting stops in the second half that we should have got in the first half.”

Matt Barnes on the loss:

“It’s very frustrating. We didn’t play two halves tonight, that’s the bottom line. They are a veteran team and that’s something you do can’t with a team like that. This is a game we had a chance to win but we just didn’t get it done tonight”