The Pistons (13-6) are taking on the Bobcats (7-11) tonight at the Palace. The game starts at 6pm est and will televised locally on TV20 Detroit. The Pistons split last seasons series with Charlotte 2-2. Detroit has won four out of the five meetings with the Bobcats at the Palace.

Bobcats snapshot
Road record: 1-6
Last game: 12/8 (Sat) - W 93-96 @ home Vs. Cavaliers
Last 10: 3-7
Injuries: Sean May, Adam Morrison

Forget Gerald Wallace (18.8 ppg) or Jason Richardson (17 ppg) the Pistons need to keep an eye on Piston killer Matt Carroll. In the four games last season against the Pistons, Carroll averaged 13.3 points against Detroit while shooting 54.8% from the field, and 55.6% on 3-ptrs. “We helped him get his contract last year,” Flip Saunders said of Carroll, who signed a six-year, $27 million deal with Charlotte over the summer. “We’ve got to make sure we’re very conscious of him. I mean, he’s one of those guys, he plays off other people. He can really shoot the ball well. There are certain guys against certain teams and they just play well. He’s one of those guys who when he plays us, he seems to have a lot of confidence.” (via Pistons.com)

Flip Saunders will also have to contend with game planning for another team that plays “small ball“, due to two of Charlotte’s big men (May & Morrison) out with injuries.

• Compassion over fashion. Jason Maxiell didn’t shave his head to make himself anymore intimidating. The OH-BEAST! one decided to cut his hair shortly after learning that a close family member was beginning chemotherapy. “It’s something that I have no idea what they’re going through,” Maxiell said. “So I did this to show them my support.” Do you need another reason to think this dude is the cat’s pajamas? Me neither.
• It seems that new Tiger’s hurler, Dontrelle Willis has somewhat of a ‘man crush’ on Rasheed Wallace. I can just see the next time he’s at a Pistons’ game they’ll have him and Sheed on the smooch cam for sure.
• Flip Saunders takes another jab at the Zen Master: Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson blamed his fellow NBA coaches for agreeing to be miked up for some nationally televised games. “He wasn’t at the meetings, so he doesn’t know what was talked about,” said Saunders, who added the coaches did not agree to anything at the time.
• In the dubious tradition of “Prime Time”, “Neon” Deion Sanders, Flip Murray has given himself a nickname. “Fourth Quarter Slaughter”
• Arron Afflalo ranks #17 among rookie according to John Hollinger’s PER ratings, Hollinger also calculates that the ‘Stonz have a 100% chance of making the Playoffs. I’m not a betting man, but I like them odds.
• Hey, where’s Bill Davison? Chris McCosky answers.
• Here’s a nice McDyess article from a Yahoo blog
• This Thursday is Pistons Night down in Ft. Wayne
• Check out blogger Brett Edwards of The Association’s impressions of his first trip to the Palace
• Forbes Magazine ranks the Pistons the 4th most valuable NBA franchise
• We won’t be seeing Rodney Stuckey until next year…
• In news that isn’t news: Joe Dumars hasn’t ruled out trades. Does that like mean he’s the GM or something?

FORMER PISTON PRESS CLIPPINGS:

• Jimmy Walker remembered
• Rodney White is kill’n it over in Asia averaging 36 ppg
• Kenny Smith named commissioner of the Premier Basketball League
• Dolan to Isiah: your job is not in jeopardy


Miscellaneous:

• Check out Will Ferrell’s new basketball movie Semi Pro:


  Will Ferrell stars in Semi-Pro, an outrageous comedy set in 1976 against the backdrop of the maverick ABA - a fast-paced, wild and crazy basketball league that rivaled the NBA and made a name for itself with innovations like the three-point shot and slam dunk contest. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a one-hit wonder who used the profits from the success of his chart-topping song “Love Me Sexy” to achieve his dream of owning a basketball team. But Moon’s franchise, the Flint Michigan Tropics, is the worst team in the league and in danger of folding when the ABA announces its plans to merge with the NBA. If they want to survive, Jackie and the Tropics must now do the seemingly impossible - win.

• Some NBA wives are very open with their hubbys. First it comes out that Andrei Kirilenko’s wife allows him one infidelity per season and now we learn that Kenyon Martin’s wife got him a “groupie phone”. I guess when you’re rich anything goes?