[box score] Three days after routing the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Palace the Pistons visited the Milwaukee’s Bradley Center and got another blowout win, this time at the hands of the struggling Bucks.

This game gave the Bucks their fourth loss in a row. This comes on the heels of them winning 5 in a row and briefly leading the Central Division. They’ve been a Jekyll and Hyde act so far beating teams like Dallas, the Lakers, and Cavs, but then getting L’s to teams like Philly, Atlanta, and New York. The Bucks have actually been pretty good on their home court this season coming into the game 6-1, and averaging over 100 ppg in Milwaukee.

It wasn’t really a matter of the Bucks playing a bad game (that came the night before in a loss to the Knicks). The Bucks actually shot 55.7% for the game with 25 total team assists. You usually don’t lose too many shooting that way and if you do happen to lose it’s not by 27. It was more the Pistons executing on both sides of the ball. The Bucks just got overwhelmed. Like the cliche goes; they were “hitting on all cylinders”. Every Pistons who entered the game put points on the board.

The Pistons played well really the whole game. They had a 14 point lead after two quarters of play and then blew the game wide open in the third quarter and cruised to an easy victory.

The Pistons are really starting to click as a collective. The starters asserted themselves and the bench filled their particular roles. Rasheed played great down low, Chauncey was dishing and swishing, Lindsey Hunter has been solid backing up Chauncey setting teammates up for easy dunks, Jason Maxiell was beastly in attack mode every second of every minute he was on the court.

The large leads gave the starters much needed bench time as this was the first of 4 games in 5 nights in four different cities. Chauncey Billups was the only starter to log over 30 minutes in this game. The Pistons have won the last two games by a combined 62 points. It’s too bad the NBA doesn’t offer rollover points like some cell phone plans do with minutes.

GAME NOTES:

• Rip Hamilton got into two verbal battles in this game. One with Desmond Mason in the third for which both players received technicals and personal fouls and the other as Chris McCosky of the Detroit News is reporting, was with Flip Saunders: Hamilton tried to dribble through traffic twice, turning the ball over each time. Saunders pulled Hamilton from the game. The two exchanged words in front of the Pistons’ bench with Saunders ending the argument by saying, “Just make the simple play.”
• Rip wore a protective sleeve because of a hyperextended elbow
• The Pistons scored 28 or more in every qtr
• The Pistons forced the Bucks into 19 turnovers
• Every player for the Pistons had a + stat in the +/-
• The Pistons have won 4 of the last 5 at the Bradley Center
• Flip Murray scored 16 points in the 4th qtr
• 7′ Bucks rookie Yi Jianlian was nice enough to pose for a Jason Maxiell poster dunk. Say Cheese!
• Bucks forward Dan Gadzuric suffered a bloody nose from a Chauncey Billups accidental elbow on a lay-up attempt in the first quarter, he did not return to the game.
• Maxiell collected 2 assists which put him at 16 for the season, 2 more than his previous season high total of 14
• Rasheed with a 15 point 10 rebound double-double
• Chauncey: 18 pts, 9 asts
• Tay led all scoring with 20 (3/4 3ptrs)
• Maxey had 13 pts, 9 boards (5 offensive), 2 blks
• Maxiell, Dice, & Amir Johnson held a block party in the 4th swatting 4 of the 5 total Pistons blocks for the game
• The Pistons shot 88% from the line which includes Maxiell’s 3/3
• The Pistons won the board war 37-30 with 15 coming on the offensive glass
• 25 team assists for the Pistons
• I was thinking while watching the game that if Milwaukee would have ponied up the big bucks (pun intended) this might have been our first time seeing Mr. Big Shot. Bad thought, outta my head bad thought!!
• In the Pistons pregame they did a segment on Michael Curry and his son Deon who plays football for the MSU Spartans. Am I the only who didn’t know this?

QUOTES:

Flip on the Ripcindent:

“He hasn’t practiced much, and he said he wanted to stay in the game to get his rhythm. But games aren’t the time to get your rhythm. You do that in practice. He has had injuries and other situations, and he is trying to playing himself back. He is going to get opportunities. But we are playing a lot of people, and we are going to be doing that all year. We aren’t going to be playing guys 40 minutes every night.”\

Hamilton’s P-O-V:

“It’s hard to get into a flow,” he said. “I am used to playing the whole first quarter, and now I am getting taken out in the first quarter. It’s tough. I am used to playing 40 minutes, and now I am not playing anywhere close to that.

“But I know it’s going to benefit us at the end.”

MORE RECAPS:

• Detroit News: Pistons plow past Bucks
• Brew Hoops: Sunday Bucks Notes