Game #63: Pistons rebound for a win over Chicago
Posted by pistonsnation 
[Box score] So it seems the secret to the Pistons getting the dub over the Bulls is to hit the glass. After being badly out-rebounded in the first three meetings the Pistons got to work on the boards using a 42-28 rebounding advantage to hold Chicago off last night.
Watching this game it seemed to me that the Pistons were winning handily until I’d check the score and the Bulls kept hanging around until the closing minutes when the Pistons were able to make the key plays to secure the victory over the Bulls, in turn leaving the ‘Stonz owning a win over every Eastern Conference team.
Despite the high score this game seemed like one of those Detroit/Chicago Central Division grind-it-out type of games. That was probably due to the fact that there were a total of 49 personal fouls called resulting in 69 combined free throw attempts.
Chauncey led all scoring with a season high tying 34 points (4 asts). Twenty of Chauncey’s points were scored by halftime as CB was abusing Ben Gordon. It’s a good thing he did because Gordon had the touch last night. Ben Gordon scored a very efficient 27 points going 10/12 from the floor (3/4 3pt) and 4/4 from the free throw line. Gordon was limited to 29 minutes because of foul trouble and eventually fouled out of the game. If you think about it Ben Gordon is the opposite of Ben Wallace. Gordon can light up a scoreboard but he’s a defensive liability and that’s why he doesn’t start for Chicago because he can’t handle other team’s starting guards.
Tayshaun followed up his 28 performance vs. New York with a 21 point (6 reb, 6 ast) game against Chicago. Prince gave the Palace crowd a scare in the 3rd quarter when he went down clutching his elbow, an injury that turned out to be a funny bone stinger that left Tay’s arm numb. The ironic thing is he played his best basketball of the game after that happened.
“I couldn’t feel my hand, and I knew that wasn’t good,” said Prince, who was injured on a third-quarter foul by Larry Hughes. “I thought I was going to have to shoot my free throws one-handed, but I got enough feeling back to make the shots, and then I hit a 3, so I figured I would keep going. (ESPN)”
Theo Ratliff is proving to be a sweet pick up. Again filling in for Rasheed, Theo scored 10 (4/6 FG), blocked 3, and grabbed 8 boards. I’m a sucker for a sweet jump-hook and the Rattler has a sweet one. He’s not really here for his offense, but he’s good for a few buckets if we need it.
NOTES:
The Pistons connected on 87.9% of their freebies, 50.6% from the field and 41.7% from three-point land…Chirs Duhon was benched for sleeping through the team shoot around…This win clinched a playoff birth for the Pistons…Joakim Noah thinks the 25-38 Bulls are a better team than Detroit: “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have beat that team, I think Detroit is a great team, but I still feel like we’re better than them, really.“…Pistons’ greats John “Spider” Salley and James “Buddah” Edwards (also former Bulls) were in attendance at the Palace for the taping of a 50 seasons special…
Allen Einstein / Getty
This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 10:21 am and is filed under Bulls, Game recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
That Noah kid has a lot of guts to say something like that. He’s not afraid to say what he thinks. I admire that. He needs a good butt whipping from the Pistons for what he said. Like a 30 point blowout would be nice.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:24 am