Who knew Andrew Bogut was such a card? That’s some pretty funny stuff.

[Box score] Ok PN, it’s alright to exhale, we’re back on track.

Unfortunately for Milwaukee they handled us pretty good (for three quarters at least) a couple days back. I’m sure they would have rather played most any other team two nights later, especially on the road where the Bucks seemingly can’t win.

Since the 2001-02 season the Pistons have the highest winning percentage (.928) when scoring 100 or more points going 154-12. I’d be willing to bet good money that none of those 12 losses came in games where the Pistons had 100 by the third quarter like they did last night. Detroit also put up its biggest point total in regulation since beating Denver 130-116 on March 8, 2000.

Chauncey Billups led six Pistons in double figure scoring with 21 coupled with his 12 assists. The Pistons had 33 team assists with only 6 turn overs.

Amir Johnson continued to solidify his place in the rotation providing energy and hustle. Amir’s greatest strength right now is his enthusiasm for the game. He runs hard on every play. Amir scored a season high 13 points and pulled down 6 boards with 3 assists. He’s really starting to look more comfortable out there.

“I know what I can do on the floor, so I just bring it on the court to help our team win. I just work hard every practice and bring it on to the court.” (via Pistons.com)

Arron Afflalo also continues to look more and more like a steal at the 27th pick. He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to stuff a stat line but he’s the kind of player every team needs. He does the little things and very rarely will do anything that hurts the team, meaning he’s a good decision maker out there.

It was an all together great outting for the Zoo Crew. The Pistons bench outscored the Milwaukee bench 48-30, out rebounded 20-15, out assisted 11-6.

GAME NOTES: Juan Dixon made his Piston debut with 3 minutes to go in the 4ht in a #8 jersey scoring on the first shot he took, a three pointer…All Pistons who entered the game scored at least 3 points… The Pistons were wearing white sweatbands as opposed to the usual red or blue. Does anyone know if it’s a league rule that the team all has to wear the color sweatbands?…

The Pistons (39-15) will host the Bucks (20-34) at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Tip off is 8:00 pm est and can be viewed locally on TV20 Detroit.

Bucks’ Snapshot
Road record: 6-23
Last game: 2/20 (Weds) W 98-103 Vs. Pistons
Last 10: 3-7

The Pistons nearly came back from 21 down two days ago against the Bucks in Milwaukee. But, let’s be serious for a second, the Pistons had no business being down 21 to the Bucks in the first place, that’s the same team we beat by 45 on New Year’s ever. You should not need a Herculean effort out of Rasheed Wallace from three point range just to get within striking distance of the Bucks. Especially since the night before the ‘Stonz got thumped by Orlando.

The Pistons have to be over their all-star hangover by now. Wake up guys! It’s still cold and grey here in the Mitten so there’s nothing to be distracted with outside.

The Bucks are tied with the Timberwolves for the most road losses (23) in the league, but they’ve also played four more road games than Minnesota.

• Also see Brew Hoops’ game preview
• The Freep Press has a new look, check it out!

The Pistons started the month of December by blowing out the Bucks and that’s how they ended it in yesterday’s New Year’s Eve Palace matinée. In front of the 200th consecutive sell out crowd at the Palace the Pistons treated their fans to a display of dominance for the ages handing the Milwaukee Bucks their 3rd worst loss in franchise history.

There were a couple of bad omens for the Bucks right from the start. Three of their first four possessions were turnovers. They coughed the ball up 9 times in the first quarter alone with the Pistons converting 8 points off those turns. The Bucks were held to 39% shooting only scoring 15 points while the Pistons were connecting on 55% of their shots and doing a great job of sharing the rock racking up 9 assists in the quarter.

To compound the Bucks problems Rip Hamilton was Sénior Perfecto in the opening quarter scoring 8 points on 4/4 shooting. This was a trend that stayed with Rip the entire game with him going 9/10 (2/2 3ptrs, 2/2 FT) on his way to scoring a game high 22.

The Bucks continued to turn the ball over in the 2nd. They ended the half with 14 turnovers with the Pistons converting 19 points off those turnovers which is the margin the Pistons lead by at half time.

Jarvis Hayes continued his recent bad slider induced hot shooting. Jarvis shot 6/9 scoring 14 in his 17 minutes off the Pistons bench.

After the half the Detroit continued “Pistoning” away (term credit: IndyCornRows) at the hapless Bucks. You know it’s out of hand when Chauncey Billups dunks on a break away as part of a dunk total contest with rookie Arron Afflalo.

“I had to do that, because a lot of the rookies probably didn’t have TVs yet the last time I dunked,” he said after the game. “We still have no evidence that Afflalo can even do it.”

Michael Redd is a 23 ppg scorer and was averaged 34.5 in the Bucks previous two games but Detroit held him to just 18 which is actually an upgrade over the 11 he hung in the books back on the 1st.

The bench or the “Zoo Crew” as Billups calls them didn’t let up on Milwaukee. They combined for 47 points. Everyone on the Pistons bench scored, and only Primo Brezec scored less than 6 points.

“They’re like caged animals out there, and it’s just so much fun to watch,” Billups said.

Game Notes:

• Rip Hamilton needs 5 points to surpass Gene Shue (8,034 points) and move into 10th place in franchise history in scoring
• Rip on Chauncey’s dunk:“That dunk was so old school. He was telling all the young guys he can dunk. They should’ve given him a technical for hanging on the rim that long. He told me, ‘I’ve got to let all the cameras get all their snap shots in and let them know I can still get up there.’ ”
• Flip Saunders was right. Primo Brezec is borderline out-of-control. The “gansta” dove for a loose ball with 28 seconds to go in a 45 point blowout. I’m just glad that maniac is on our side.
• This was the 200th consecutive Palace sellout, but we still have a ways to go for the record.  The Palace sold out the first 245 of its history
• This was the Pistons biggest win since a 52-point victory at Boston on Jan. 31, 2003.
• The Pistons finished December with a 15-2 record, the winningest December in franchise history. The 2005-06 team went 13-2 while the 1988-89 Pistons had the highest winning percentage for the month when they went 11-1. The Piston record for any month is 16 (16-1, March 1989).
• With the Trailblazers 13 game winning streak ended by the Jazz yesterday the Pistons 9 game streak is the longest current winning streak in the NBA


[Box score] munchies:

• The Pistons shot 58.4% for the game, just shy of a season high on 58.9% (11/2 @ Orlando)
• The “Zoo Crew” outscored Milwaukee’s bench 22-47
• Every Piston had a + +/- stat. None lower than +7
• Chauncey: 13 pts-12 ast double-double. ZERO turnover in 24 minutes
• Dice 10 point 10 board double-double
• Walter Herrmann 8 points in 6:39 of play
• Stuckey: 6 points, 7 assists
• 33 team freak’n assists
• 53.3% behind the 3 pt line
• Free throwing: MB 57.7% / DP 76.2%
• Turnovers: MB 21 / DP 12 - The Pistons got 30 points off Milwaukee turnovers
• 0 ties, 0 lead changes
• Yi Jianlian had a -30 +/-
• Tough night in front of the friends and fam for Flint native Charlie Bell who went 1/8 scoring 4 points

Also see:

• Detroit Free Press: Rip leads another blowout as Pistons end ‘07 with 9th straight win
• Detroit News: Pistons pummel Bucks
• ESPN: Pistons extend win streak to nine after clobbering Bucks by 45
• Pistons.com: Pistons 114, Bucks 69
• Brew Hoop: Pistons 114, Bucks 69: Recap

The Pistons (19-7) will host the Bucks (11-18) at the Palace this afternoon at 3:30 pm est. The game can be viewed locally on Fox Sports Detroit.

Bucks’ Snapshot
Road record: 2-14
Last game: 12/29 (Sat) L 97-95 Vs. Nets
Last 10: 3-7
Injuries: Desmond Mason (sprained left thumb), David Noel (sprained right wrist)

The Pistons played the Bucks in Milwaukee back on December 1st, which the Pistons won easily 117-91. The Bucks caught the Pistons in the midst of a blow out streak. To Milwaukee’s credit they didn’t really play a bad game. They shot 56% for the game and had 25 team assists but it would have taken an all-star team to hang with the Pistons that night who scored 28 or more in every quarter and were getting contributions from the bottom to the top of their roster.

If you look at the recent track records the Pistons should close out 2007 with their 9th straight win in a row. 2-14 gives the Bucks the most road losses in the East (2nd most in the league behind Minnesota’s 1-15). While the Pistons (12-2) have taken care of home this season.

*Also see Brew Hoop’s Bucks/Pistons: Preview

Happy New Year!

[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