• Morley Candy Makers has come out with the Hooper Bar and the Mini-Hooper Bar. Does anyone else remember the Isiah Bar they had years back? That thing was awesome, it had everything.
• The win over Memphis gave Flip Saunders his 800th career win as a professional basketball head coach. That total also includes his 253 wins in the CBA
• Flip Saunders tells WDFN that the Celtics were better than he expected in some areas (also audio on the bench)
• Pistons pass Celtics as #1 on Yahoo sports
• Kenny Smith lists Chauncey Billups as #5 on his top 10 PG’s this season
• Pistons and Shock players college bowl picks from Pistons.com
• TNT crew: Pistons are the best in the East
• Reggie’s Mailbag: Richard Hamilton
• Ron Artest does a Q&A with the blog The Starting Five and answers questions about the Palace brawl.
  

Former Piston Press clippings:

• The departure of Cheikh Samb and Jeremy Richardson allowed the Mad Ants to sign Pistons ‘07 second round draft choice Sammy Mejia.
• Nazr Mohammed did something in the Bobcats 105-95 victory over the Knicks that he never did as a Piston, he scored 20 points, he also grabbed 14 boards. The trade looks like a win-win. Bonus: Nazr…not a stiff.
• Chuck Daly: Isiah should move upstairs

Odd & Ends

Who the hell was Eddie Jones trying to pass to?

It appeared as if the Pistons might have had some big game hang over in the first half of the game as they clung to a 4 point 38-42 lead, but things turned around for the Detroiter’s in the 2nd half spurred on by the team’s youth.

Behind the energized play of Arron Afflalo and Jason Maxiell the Pistons defense bullied the Grizzlies into a mere 29 second half points. Memphis was held to a season low field goal percentage at 33.8 and their point total was also a season low. The Pistons forced the Grizzlies into 22 turnovers for the game.

Arron Afflalo had his best game of his young career with 12 points (on 3/4 from the field), 5 boards, and 2 assists in 20 minutes of play.

Rodney Stuckey made his NBA debut with a little under 7 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. He quickly go into the scoring column grabbing a rebound off his own missed shot and putting it in 19 seconds after he entered the game. Stuckey finished with 2 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists. “It was good to get a couple minutes under my belt,” Stuckey said. “I need some practice, though. I’ve got to get my wind back.”

Game Notes:

• In typical Rasheed fashion he heckled Afflalo after the game as the media tried to talk to him prompting Arron to ask “Can we wait until he leaves?“
• Primo Brezec, who enetered the game with Rodney Stuckey, also scored his first Pistons’ points in the 4th qtr. He finished the game with 4 on 2/2 shooting
• Flip Saunders on Afflalo; “He’s got one great talent – he plays hard. And that can be a talent as much as anything. The intensity, how hard he plays and the passion he plays with, that becomes very catchy”
• Amir Johnson played almost 13 minutes. He grabbed 5 boards and had 2 points on a sweet dunk that was assisted by Aron Afflalo
• Dontrelle Willis was at the game and Ryan Fields grilled him about his “man crush” on Rasheed Wallace. He’s going to get sick of that real quick.
• Rudy Gay missed two open dunks after missing two in the first meeting on Dec. 11th
• The Pistons have beaten the Grizzlies 6 straight

[Box Score] munchies:

• Darko had as many first half turnovers (4) as the entire Pistons roster
• Got Defense? The Pistons had 16 steals and 6 blocks
• The Grizzlies never scored more than 20 points in any of the 4 qtrs.
• only 2/12 from beyond the long line for Detroit
• 80% free throwing (Chauncey 10/11, Maxiell 4/4)
• Dice with an 11 pt / 11 board double-double
• 10 of Chauncey’s 14 point came off free throws
• No starter logged more than 31.5 minutes
• Tayhsuan atoned for 2 point (1/10 shooting), 2 rebound performance in Boston with 16 points and 6 boards


More recaps:

• NBA.com: Prince, Pistons rout Grizzlies
  
• Detroit News: Pistons clobber Grizzlies
• 3 Shades of Blue: Post Game Thoughts - Detroit