At the end of 48 minutes the Pistons were 12 points behind the Celtics.  I only wish it were that close. {box score}

For all practical purposes this game was over in the second quarter.  A ten point quarter.  The Pistons made 3 lousy shots in the whole quarter, shooting under 20%.   Meanwhile the Celtics had 30 in the quarter.  Tony Allen outscored the Pistons himself with 12.  Allen ended up with 23 (11/16 shooting) off the Boston bench.

Some of the low-lights form the sell-out Palace crowd endured: more tunrovers (16) than assists (14), Rip Hamilton going 0/8, Rasheed 4/17 (3 TO’s), Iverson 4/11 (4 TO’s), Jason Maxiell 0/5 (3 TO’s) 34.7% shooting, the bench being outscored 43-23, no field goals in the last 7:33 of the first half, Celtics outscored Pistons in the paint 32-16.

I’m not going to say the Celtics didn’t play real good defense last night but it’s a little more than that.  This team has some work to do.  I don’t think the Pistons expected Iverson to fit like a puzzle piece from the jump but I’m sure they couldn’t have anticipated how out of sync the team would be last night.

(The only area the Pistons looked good last night was in Tay’s imaginary hand mirror)

Tayshuan Prince and Will Bynum were about the only bright spots last night.  Tay led the scoring with 23.   He was the only starter over 50% shooting going 9/16 (2/2 3pt) and 3/3 from beyond the arc.  Tay also grabbed 8 boards.

“What I love most is that Tayshaun is still staying aggressive,” Curry said Sunday. “Tay has to stay aggressive, even as Iverson and Stuckey continue to get more aggressive.” -Free Press

Will Bynum’s 11 points were the second highest on the team despite only playing 12 minutes.  Will did most his damage in the 4th keeping the score looking half way respectable.  Two of his 11 points were courtsey of a couple of Kevin Garnett broken ankles.

The early returns on the Iverson trade are a frowner.  The team is 0-2.  They were beat by a struggling Nets team, then were embarrassed on their home floor by a rival.  Before the trade the defense needed a little fine tuning, after the trade both sides of the ball are suffering.  This team over the years have been most potent on offense when the ball moves, which is a contradiction to most of the 23+ thousand points Allen Iverson has amassed.  Michael Curry has a real test of his coaching abilities in trying to mesh the team concept offense the Pistons have used to get to 6 straight ECF with the improvisation and wizardry Allen Iverson has used over his career to average over 27 ppg.

GAME NOTES: Rodney Stuckey was treated at half time for dizzy and light headednessand didn’t return for the second half, but is expected to make the 4 game west coast trip … Piston great and Detroit Mayorial candidate Dave Bing said he’d like to see Isiah Thomas return to the Pistons … The National Anthem was done by the Four-Tops … DBB: Iverson’s debut leaves fans wanting … Doc Rivers and Paul Pierce picked up techs in the first quarter … Rip went without a field goal for only the second time as a Piston, the first time was Jan ‘05 against Memphis (ironically though in that game he led all Pistons scorers with the 14 points he got off free throws) … BDL: not confident in the A.I. effect … Chauncey had 16 pts / 10 asts in a win over the Grizz last night …