Pistons look to sweep Hawks

http://hotlantahawks.blogspot.com/2008/02/breaking-chris-mccosky-sucks-as-writer.html

I found this post from last week on a Hawks blog. The entire thing lambastes Chris McCosky for suggesting Mike Woodson doesn’t suck.

Luckily, McCosky has nothing but respect and admiration for sports bloggers and would likely respond to this piece by NOT bursting a blood vessel in forehead.

Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!

Bench playing verrry well. Great adjusted shot by Stuckey… WHEW!

Can anyone explain why I can’t watch this game on channel surfing.net? I tried IE and Mozilla and can only get audio.

The signal’s been flaky all night on the local broadcast… if that info helps at all.

Wow.

Atlanta brought the energy in the 3rd, and Detroit ran out of gas at the wrong time. This game got close in a real hurry.

End of 3rd . . . this ish is bananas. Atlanta’s getting more than enough 2nd chances. It’s balls to the wall into the 4th.

Angry time for Sheed… let’s see if he takes over the game.

Sudden shift from no blood no foul to a flurry of Detroit touch-fouls and a quick T on Rasheed!

Detroit’s not quitting though . . . the refs, including Danny Crawford, well, they’re going to have to do better than a lopsided push for Atlanta with the fouls. Try throwing Rasheed and Rip and Billups out of the game. Actually, clear our bench, Danny. Go ahead, make Detroit’s day.

Suddenly, you can’t have any contact off-ball under the basket. It wasn’t that way all night . . . and now it is! Go Detroit! Beat the refs AND Atlanta!

B-B-B-Billups!

Mis. Ter. Big. Shot.

Anyone notice Harford has that shit grin on his face every time he gets a foul, like he just won the lottery. I suspect Harford throw punches wildly every time he successfully dresses himself too. Al Harford the new Alonzo Mourning. Ok I feel better now.

Bedlam. Photo finish time.

Clutch Billups 2 – jumper over Anthony Johnson with less than a minute to go – 92-89!

THAT BALL DONT LIE!

“Ball don’t lie, bitch! That ball don’t lie”

Grin.

The lady in the Pistons jersey on the tv 20 feed . . . the one giving the “L” sign to Atlanta . . . THANK YOU.

I saw that… she was great.

94-90 DETROIT W

HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT DANNY CRAWFORD

SUMBITTED FOR YOUR DISAPPROVAL DAVID STERN

WHOOOO!

Mmmm, that was fun.

I would like to give thanks to a Mr. Chauncey Billups for an outstanding performance in shooting a basketball down the stretch.

2nded, Steve.

Also, without Stuckey, Billups isn’t that fresh late in the game . . . the kids did all right again. B+ for the bench effort.

A+ for Rip getting in the game and sticking it to the food poisoning man.

I didn’t get to see it. It looks like Flip used the bench a lot the first half but I didn’t keep track. It looks like rebounds (Horford is among the best in the league) and missed free throws were the only things that kept it close.

Is Afflalo leading the league in stepping out of bounds?

Those who thought Flip was lying when he said Amir fouls too much… Hopefully we can put to rest all the “Why doesn’t Flip put Amir on (Lebron/Kobe/Wade/Nash/Shaq/Yao/etc.)” posts. He’s got a bright future, but he’s a very weak on-the-ball defender right now.

Will Stuckey ever have to attempt a three pointer for the rest of his career?

Did you hear the crowd groan as soon as Chauncey attempted that third three pointer? The one that went in and out?

Chauncey – 16 pts (12 in the 4th), 8 assists, 4 boards, 0 turnovers in 29 minutes.

Stuckey – 12 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 board, 1 steal in 19 minutes.

Combined – 28 pts (11-25 shooting), 10 assists, 5 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover.

Nice performance at the 1 spot tonight. Stuckey definitely let Chauncey come out on fire down the stretch.

I heard it QD.

If Stuckey is the first real breather Billups has had in about 2 seasons, then Detroit is going to be a nasty team down the stretch.

Easier schedule . . . plenty of experience/time for the kids . . . every starter has a reliable sub . . . healthy . . . wealthy . . . wise . . .

Chauncey was raving in the post-game about Stuckey spelling him… how he hasn’t felt this since 2004. And, um, we all know how terribly that season turned out.

Good things lie in the future, my Pistons friends.

It seems likes it been too long since Chauncey has took over a fourth quarter. Stuckey continued hsi recent good play tonight. The starters need some tight game situations like that to keep them sharp. 9 in a row with Indiana at the Palace tomorrow night before the break, things are looking good…

*his

Lovin’ Stuckey now, but imagine how good huge he’s going to be once he starts getting the respect of the refs ‘round the league. There were several times he went hard at the basket and didn’t get calls that players like Dwyade or even Chauncey would get 99% of the time.

PS -

In case you all didn’t know, I actually would spend 40 minutes of my free time creating a .gif for Amir Johnson Superfans.

It’s a .gif animation which takes a photo of an Amir dunk . . . transitions to an NBA silhouette.

Enjoy.

http://pics.livejournal.com/sauce1977/pic/000ha070

Sauce the picture is badass, nice work.

Sauce,

That’s friggin sweet… thanks for sharing. I’m gonna forward it along to Nat at Need4Sheed so she can see it.

sauce, love it.

how did the bench do individually? stuckey was strong again, what about maxy? espn.com has amir shooting 3-4, with 4 rebounds and an assist in 7 minutes, is that true?

Stuckey was simply dominant. Afflalo was solid. As was Jarvis and Maxiell (who just doesn’t seem to get enough touches to get in rhythm anymore). Amir was Amir. Active on the offensive boards. Still not there defensively.

Kyle – Amir was good at getting putbacks and scoring easy baskets in his limited time. However, he struggled to defend Atlanta’s Bigs, including Josh Smith who was going off on Dyess and Sheed too, so I wouldn’t feel terrible about it.

The game was real close in the second half, which is probably why Amir didn’t see more time. Max had 2 plays where Atlantic had to foul him under the basket to stop him. Overall, detroit’s Bigs struggled to block out Horford and defend Smith.

Luckily Joe Johnson was reduced to a non-factor. Great game for the bench, especially Stuckey and Afflalo. Stuckey made a very talented, stop dribble, double clutch, switch to his left land bank shot as the shot clock winded down that was very reminiscent of Dwade. It was very impressive. He knocked down several basket drives, and even a jumper.

AMIR!!!!!

Nice work Sauce.

lovely work, sauce.

dude, quick d, you’ve gotta stop bringing people down with yr anti-amir sentiment. buy in, my man.

and this game was 48 minutes of evidence of why our bench can be what puts us over the top this year. giving chauncey the rest going into the 4th where he just took over on an exhausted hawks squad was the difference. incredible play by stuckey.

anyone know what the other 4 of the big 5 were bitching about/pointing out to chauncey during that one 4th Q timeout? it was after billups hit a huge shot and atlanta called a timeout. i expected a bunch of chest bumping and hi-fives, and instead, everyone started pointing at the defensive end and yelling at billups.

and janitor, horford was annoying me during the 2nd half of this game too. i think his time with joaquim noah at f.u. might have had an ill effect. all that yelling and pumping over drawing a foul? relax, rookie. i know you’re on the hawks, but sort of act like you’ve been there. and by “there” i mean the free throw line.

the hawks have been so pitiful for so long that it’s hard for me to hate them, but all i have to do is think back to the ‘99 playoffs where they ended joe d’s last playoff run.

Sauce — that’s friggin’ awesome, and just begging to be made into a t-shirt. Hit me up on email.

Sauce is true for Billups,when we got title he didnt
get 2 min of benchtime neither did Sheed,Prince or Rip
played for 40 min per game only rotation was Hunter,McDyess
i almost forgot Big Ben,he gave his best that season
Now we have bench but we need to get them into game
Stuckey is good but maybe little selfish,Aflalo is too shy
and Amir needs more game time,we are on a great path,we’r gettin there
Deeeetroit basketball

The good deal for all the Pistons kids . . . having the ability, unlike Atlanta’s kids, of less pressure with guys ahead of them who have been together and know what they’re doing. Atlanta’s youth doesn’t have the luxury of a Rasheed or Billups in front of them.

Atlanta did well with Anthony Johnson for veteran leadership, but with regard to Joe Johnson, Joe never struck me as much of a leader when he was with Phoenix.

If Atlanta nabs some more leaders during this offseason, any leaders, among their youth, then it will expedite the progress of their kids.

QD’s got the right idea – hesitant praise with the Pistons youth. They must keep progressing their skill, tightening up their overall game . . . because this group of kids likely will improve their individual and overall quality. What better and more nutrient-rich flower-bed for these young players to grow . . . other than here.

Anyone EVER see this kind of progress possible with Delfino? Ever?

But like I said, if they don’t want to keep improving, Minnesota <—— that way.

And Atlanta sucks.

PPS = more Fabio Herrmann, please.

@JackDutch – Its possible they were yelling at Billups cause he was jawing at Tyron Lue’s cousin (who apparently had been trash talking Chauncey during his cold spell) after he heated up and hit those shots at the end of the game.

JackDutch, I’ve gotta agree with you on Horford’s spaz-out over a possible three-point play. I’m glad you mentioned Noah, it reminded me of a game the Bulls had against the Warriors (their 1st meeting of the season) when Noah got an offensive rebound and got fouled, earning himself two free throws. Instead of a couple of high-fives with teammates, he spazzed out, waiving his arms everywhere and shaking with intensity. Best part was, he missed both free throws with that awful release he has! I loved it, plus the Bulls lost. I was thinking, “Damn kid, at least make the gimme’s if you’re going to get so excited about them!”.

I really enjoyed this game. I didn’t like how close it ended up being, but the bench played great. Stuckey is really looking like the real deal. He’s vastly improved on my two inital issues: turnovers and getting blocked. He needed to wake up and realize he can’t take it upon himself to get inside and score whenever he wants. Afflalo is great too, his role just isn’t as much of a highlight. Everything of Amir has already been said. I’m a happy fan right now as most all that I’ve noticed has been sorted out. The last on my list is just as Sauce said: more Walter Herrmann please. I don’t see why backing up Tayshaun isn’t more even between Hayes and Herrmann. He’s demonstrated that he’s just as capable at shooting long range. And he’s just as good of a defender, if not better, and quite possibly more versatile offensively.

Why all the hate for Amir’s defense? You guys should re-check the box score b/c he only had one foul in 7 minutes which is pretty dang good.

His defense is a lot better than any of you give him credit for. I’ll have to re-watch the time he was on the floor, but he did a great job of keeping his man in front of him and beating him to the spot.

The shots that Josh Smith hit over Amir were not made because Amir failed to play good defense, they were made because Josh Smith played like a beast last night.

One of the made baskets was an extremely high arc shot from behind the backboard with 1 second on the shot clock, the other was a ridiculous flat hook shot with the shot clock winding down and a hand in his face.

Amir is also doing a solid job of stepping out on screens which people rarely notice in a game but can make the difference between a team looking like Nash/Amare and a team looking Starbury/Eddy Curry.

I enjoyed this game a lot. I didn’t like how close it was, but seeing the bench do their thing and Billups light it up down the stretch was nice. Stuckey is really looking like the real deal. He’s tightened his game in a hurry and dealt with my biggest issues in the beginning: turnovers and getting blocked. He definitely woke up and realized he can’t take it inside completely at will, and is much more selective. Afflalo is great too, his role is just less pronounced. And everything about Amir has been said, I’m just happy he’s getting playing time and improving. Most everything I’ve thought has been addressed in the last few weeks. I just agree with Sauce that Herrmann needs more time. I don’t understand why he and Jarvis aren’t sharing Tay’s backup minutes more evenly. He has demonstrated that he’s capable from long range. And he’s just as good, if not better, of a defender, with more offensive versatility I’d say.

Apparently I retyped the same thing for nothing. University wireless is playing tricks on me.

I agree with James B.

I’m not worried about Amir’s defense, he had some tough assignments last night but still managed to make a difference, (even the Hawks announcing crew pointed out he was a “shot blocker”). I’m not saying he has perfected his defensive play but I think the guy is learning at a good pace and should be something special come playoff time, (that’s if Flip keeps playing him).

I watched the NBA TV feed last night with the horrible ATL announcers. Close game and I’m glad we were able to pull it out. One thing of note: the NBA TV post game show interviewed Stuckey and he was very humble and made a point to say how much Chauncey is teaching him. He also gave a shout out to a forgotten member (by many) of the team, Lindsay Hunter. I know Hunter isn’t getting much burn, but you know he is going to be a great asset during practice and when the playoffs start. (after all, he still has the lock-down, on ball defense)

Here is hoping that Sheed goes off on the Pacers like the last game against them!

Although the starters actually had to finish the game lst night, Indiana did have to play Boston last night, so fatigue shouldn’t be a disadvantage for either team. If anything, with the Pacers missing Tinsley and O’Neal, you’d think they’d have less in the tank. They do shoot a lot of three’s and if they are making them, the Pistons might have a long night ahead of them, but overall, I really like Detroit’s chances to get the 2nd 10-game winning streak of the season.

Does anyone know if any other team has gone on 2 10-game winning streaks this year? Boston’s the only team I can think of but I’m really not sure. Regardless, January seems like a distant memory and this Pistons fan couldn’t be happier.

So, apparently the Mavs are putting together a package for Jason Kidd.

Devin Harris, DeSegana Diop, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, Maurice Ager and First Round draft picks and cash. That’s the second WC team to stick the gun in their mouth in as many weeks, and it suddenly makes NJ a potentially dangerous 7 or 8 seed.

In the interim, the Bulls have to be lighting up the phones to see what they could get for Big Ben. Kirilenko and Millsap? Detroit needs to pick up a famous 35 years old so we can ship them off to the West for real talent.

The Nets are expected to buyout Stackhouse’s contract. Anyone thinking what I’m thinking? Slap together a couple expiring contracts and…tada, we’ve got ourselves the perfect compliment to our bench from the three spot, much better than Mr. Hot and Cold Jarvis Hayes.

The best part about all of these big name old players going to the Western Conference is that they’re going to end up beating up on each other trying to get to the NBA Finals.

My anti-Amir comments were so that Sauce wouldn’t feel so alone.

I think Amir has a bright future, but I don’t think he’s at the point that Maxiell was at last year. It’s all about the off-season weight training for Amir. Once he can start absorbing contact when he drives to the basket, he’ll be more than just a putback dunker.

I like what Flip is doing with him though. A six minute rotation in the first half and blowout minutes in the second. Teaming him and the other youngin’s with Sheed is a good move too. Sheed’s seems rejuvenated with them.

“Slap together a couple expiring contracts and…tada, we’ve got ourselves the perfect compliment to our bench from the three spot, much better than Mr. Hot and Cold Jarvis Hayes.”

Is he much better? He is a much worse 3-pt. shooter, and his ability to get to the basket is substantially diminished. Further, Hayes has been completely healthy, whereas Stack is a huge question mark.

Re Amir and Josh Smith, just want to echo the comment that Smith had a monster game last night — for much of it, nobody Detroit was throwing at him could stop him. Sometimes good players have great nights, and you just have to tip your hat. I’m mainly glad I can admire Smith’s excellent play from the vantage point of a fan of the team that won.

If they’re buying him out, all the Pistons have to do is put up an offer sheet, probably using its midlevel (not sure how much that is, I’m pretty sure there’s a couple million on it). That said, based on his production this year, I’m not convinced that he’s actually an upgrade on Hayes. Hayes is shooting, rebounding, and has fewer turnovers than Stack, and Stack just hasn’t had the same jump in his step compared to the past few years. Stackhouse is just as streaky, but I would be all for nabbing him if he reverted to last season’s production.

Dumb trade by the Mavs, BTW.

Stack wouldn’t be nearly the defensive liability that Hayes is against the taller SFs out there.

Stuckey has shown an ability to get to the basket and Afflalo can do so as well. If Jarvis can become more consistent, then he is the perfect 2nd string complement to Stuckey/Afflalo. A spot-up shooter whos ready to take any of the kick out passes from the driving guards.

Are the Mavs serious!!!!!???? What the hell is happening to this league? So all it takes for teams to be gutted is an unhappy superstar? Some of these so-called “professionals” should seek endorsements from the most popular tampon makers.

As for Stackhouse, I’ll stick with what we’ve got. Things are going well right now with the promise of better things to come. I don’t see Joe D. getting swept up in the trade frenzy that’s been taking place. Might as well see what Hermann can do before signing an injury-prone guy like Stack.

I was getting ready to make this epic post about how Joe Dumars is going to convince the Pacers that they want to part ways with Jermaine O’Neal for a large package of players that included Antonio McDyess, Hermann, Brezec, Flip Murray, and Lindsay Hunter, plus some draft picks…but apparently the trade is pretty much impossible to make.

Oh well.

one more note about the hotlanta game: severely disappointed that tyron lue lost his cornrows. he was the starting point guard on my all nba-who-look-like-they-belong-in-the-wnba team. going to have to rebuild around kwame brown. what a downer.

sauce, you should do that amir nba logo thing for the rest of the young guys on the zoo crew i.e. stuckey, spellcheck, max.* i would put hard-earned money down on that t-shirt. in addition to the simply amir t-shirt. make it happen!

*if you read the above sentence, sauce, i get a 15% cut on sales of the tee.