A gravitation toward futility: Rockets 97, Pistons 83
by Packey on Dec 8, 2010 2:49 AM EST
in Detroit Pistons Recaps
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PrintWelp, I just finished re-watching the first three quarters of tonight's game and, after watching the final 10 minutes of the Michigan State debacle, I'm just about ready to pop the rest of these Extra Strength Tylenols and wash it all down with some Scope. I've certainly exhausted my tolerance of sloppy basketball for the night.
But we've seen this before. I've documented before how the Pistons struggle to close out quarters (and halves and games), so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see the Pistons allow the Rockets to close out the first half on a 20-2 run in the final five-plus minutes and the second half on a 19-6 run in the finishing seven-plus minutes.
That's 39-8 in just over a quarter of play. Nope, not going to win any games getting outscored like that in a quarter of the game.
It also doesn't help to let a certain Argentinian drop 35 points on 16-25 shooting.
Let's follow up the shortest, least informative recap ever with some of the lengthiest - also uninformative - bullets ever, after the jump:
- Like most NBA teams, the Pistons are capable of putting together enough runs of their own to keep things interesting. What preceded the 20-2 Rockets run to close out the second quarter was a 19-5 Pistons run, which was sparked by an interesting, NEW John Kuester lineup consisting of Tracy McGrady, Ben Gordon, Austin Daye, Chris Wilcox and Greg Monroe. Yes, in the 22nd game of the season, Kuester managed to piece together yet another rotation, and a good one at that. Striking gold, albeit temporarily, is not bad for a coach whose top four utilized units this season are all in the negative in point differential, the only team besides the MFRaptors who can say they have such a futile top four units.
- 18 turnovers, 14 assists. I'd be willing to bet my law school loans that any time their turnovers are more than their assists the Pistons lose. Yup, I checked after making the bet -- the Pistons are 0-8 when they turn it over more than they service themselves. Pay up.
- Austin Daye was the most efficient Piston, scoring 12 points on 4-6 shooting (2-2 downtown). He played 18 minutes.
- Tracy McGrady was good in his homecoming (3-6 shooting, 11 points - his second highest point total this season - 3 assists/3 turnovers and 1 steal in 23 minutes), but he wasn't great. I don't think we'll ever see great T-Mac again, and, thus, it hurts the Pistons when he tries to be great T-Mac. For example, after being called for a ticky-tack foul on a Shane Battier made runner, T-Mac got angry and tried to take over. However, instead of displaying vintage T-Mac grace, or even the wily vet T-Mac presence, he looked more like a possessed Stuckey and ran over Luis Scola for a charging foul. The Pistons were within 5 still at that point and couldn't really afford that.
- Greg Monroe has seen at least 24 minutes in the last 5 games (26 mpg) and he hasn't disappointed. He's shooting 17-26 in that span, averaging 8 points, almost 5 rebounds and a block per game. Perhaps most importantly, he's active on defense and making hustle plays.
- Richard Hamilton was ejected in the 2nd quarter when he (purposely?) allowed his frustrations to boil over after a couple misses and no calls. That's now three ejections in 22 games. For some perspective on that, Rasheed Wallace was ejected 7 times in the 2000-2001 season when he racked up an NBA single-season record 41 technical fouls. After 22 games, Rip's on pace for at least 11 ejections. Nice segue into my two favorite comments of the night:
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- At least Ben Gordon took advantage of the extra minutes, NOT! He was 3-11 shooting tonight and is 10-36 in the last 3 games, games he's seen 30+ minutes.
- 3rd quarter collapse no more?? The Pistons average 3rd quarter margin in the last three games is ZERO (hallelujah!) and the Nets have surpassed them as the worst team in the NBA in the third quarter (in terms of 3rd quarter margin). Let's touch hands.
- Best news? No time to dwell on this one, as the Pistons head to N'awlins to take on the 7th, or so, best team in the NBA in less than 24 hours. Can't wait.
- Roll Call: freywagg, Toledo Joe, Mike Payne, The Boourns, madpoopz, Wheaties, Shinons, Packey, -PS-, brgulker, mcflies, Rotten Atom, V., Biz Markie Moon, Roll The Dyess, dandresden, bone31crusher, Trout Jefferson, DetroitSports, bugman222, Taiwanese Tora, Ra's Head, OK from J, heWizard, curlyfries, Fadel, RedHopeful, Grant E., alaskanpistonsfan, aussiepiston, HEY!, don'tworryaboutit, gordbrown, DBB Diablo, joejoejoe, WaveOcean, Mac-
Total Users: 37
Total Posts: 359
Total Threads: 1Name # of Posts dandresden 60 bugman222 22 Ra's Head 19 Wheaties 18 -PS- 18 Shinons 17 Packey 15 Fadel 14 DetroitSports 14 alaskanpistonsfan 13 The Boourns 12 heWizard 12 WaveOcean 10 Taiwanese Tora 10 Mike Payne 10 DBB Diablo 10 brgulker 9 Toledo Joe 9 madpoopz 8 aussiepiston 8 V. 7 Biz Markie Moon 6 Grant E. 5 mcflies 5 Roll The Dyess 4 Mac- 3 HEY! 3 OK from J 3 freywagg 3 RedHopeful 2 curlyfries 2 bone31crusher 2 Trout Jefferson 2 Rotten Atom 1 gordbrown 1 don'tworryaboutit 1 joejoejoe 1
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Paying Up on a Bet
If you bet your law school loans and I put up something of equal value, say my grad school loans, and you win the bet, does that mean you are now responsible for my loans?
Paying up and thank you.
I had the second most comments of the night
despite missing the entire second half. Apparently I didn’t miss much.
There's no justice like angry mob justice!
Put most simply
This team is bad on offense and it’s bad on defense.
On offense, I’ve never seen a team that so frequently looks as if it has no idea what it’s even supposed to be trying to do. No post offense, doesn’t really look like they run a lot of plays. A ton of drives into the lane by Stuckey, and jump shots from everyone else. And what the hell is wrong with Ben Gordon and, for that matter, Bynum?
On defense, obviously size hurts them, but who besides Ben W. and Tay on good days would you call an above-average defender on this team?
Regarding Ben Gordon, here’s a theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean
He was shooting the ball brilliantly to start the season, and now he’s shooting the ball poorly. It was bound to happen.
lol...funny side story regarding the law of averages
So when I first moved out to the Seattle area back in 2006, I was desperately trying to find a job after completing a year with AmeriCorps. Upon arrival in the Seattle area, I found myself heading to an all-day interview/job shadowing experience for a seemingly savvy sales and marketing firm known as “Aris Marketing Company” which was practicing revolutionary marketing techniques commonly referred to as “Hands-on Marketing”.
I arrive at Aris marketing in full business suit on a typical Seattle day – light rain, slightly overcast, and hellacious traffic – to find 4 other individuals of which all are wearing some form of khaki type pants (varying colors) with tennis shoes. Needless to say, my level of professionalism may have exceeded these candidates by a slight margin.
I am greeted by the “Regional Sales VP” who sells me on the values of Hands-on marketing and hints at their exceptional marketing analytics tools before introducing me to two nice girls who I will be shadowing for the day. So what are we doing you ask?
Door to door sales of “10,000,000 candlelight spotlight/flashlight combos” and University of Washington Doormats! We take off to an area north of Seattle common for RV sales lots, industrial complexes, and strip clubs and start going door-to-door walking into businesses peddling our merchandise which had been loaded into the back of the ford probe that I was forced to cram my 6’3" frame into. While walking from business to business, I am informed of their real marketing tactic, “The Law of Averages.” Never before had marketing been made so simple and clear to me. Simply put, the more people you offer your product to, the greater the likelihood someone is to buying that product.
So for example, when Girl A sold a total of 0 flashlights and 1 UW Huskies mat in the morning, while Girl B used her feminine wile to sell 3 flashlights and 5 UW Huskies mats, the law of averages SHOULD account for this and adjust in the afternoon enabling Girl A to sell just as much product as Girl B. Sadly, Girl A lacked the necessary cleavage and pretty face to peddle her wares and at the end of the day, the Law of Averages (at least in this application) was proven to be false.
Of course the best part of all this was when we strolled up to a place called “Honey’s” with no windows and a fine young lass smoking Slim 100s in platform heels standing out front and attempted to sell spotlights to strippers. This was, in fact, my first time crossing the threshold into a strip joint.
Ultimately the entire thing turned out to be one helluva sketchy pyramid scheme where the “Regional Sales VP” paid his “Sales Managers” in cash at the end of the day and their “product” seemed to change on a daily basis as if it was completely up to what fell off the back of the truck the night before.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
by The Boourns on Dec 8, 2010 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 6 recs
Rec'd
I don’t know why, but I feel like you should get something out of that experience other than a nice story to tell.
Despite your name, you'll always be just Matt to me, Other Matt.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
Thanks!
All the other Matt’s from back in the day have gone away, except for Watson.
I dig the avatar by the way:
Its my own personal tribute to Jonas Jerebko
Bork indeed.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
I thought that story was going to end with...
“So even though I got suckered into wearing a suit for a day while selling door mats to sleazy strip clubs and the used car salesmen who frequent them, I ended up doing some “Hands-On Marketing” with Girl B. It was a pretty average day."
This signature is false.
haha that would have been way better
sadly I moved to the Seattle area encumbered by the confines of a whore of a girlfriend. That tramp slept with her god damn acupuncturist for the last 3 months of our relationship and then had the nerve to dump me on my birthday.
Not to worry though since I got the last laugh. She got preggerz and is now living with her mother with her child. I got a full time position and stock from Microsoft and am about to propose to a beautiful highly intelligent lady.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
I’m with TJ. This team is just bad, plain and simple. Miraculously, we managed to win the battle of the boards (only by one, but still), and while we committed 18 TOs, we forced Houston into 16. At the end of the day, their +10 FTAs and our inability to make shots resulted in an embarrassing loss. And love him or hate him, Kuester didn’t cause Rip and BG to combine for a brilliant 6-20. At some point, the players either make plays or they don’t.
Hey maybe Houston would make the following trade before the deadline...
Rip Hamilton + Chris Wilcox for Yao Ming straight up.
Assuming that Yao is likely to never play again, wouldn’t Houston at least appreciate something in return? They wouldn’t have to worry about Rip competing for minutes with Kevin Martin since Rip prefers to be ejected in the 1st half opening up plenty of time in the 2nd half for Martin to get going.
Meanwhile, Yao would draw fans to the Palace with his halftime show wrestling Boris the happily trained Black Bear.
Win Win Win for everyone.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
Check in
I’ve been on the road a ton lately, but reading the game recaps have been enough for me to emotionally check out. If I were actually watching the games I’d probably be in the fetal position by the 2nd quarter. Somebody wake me up when the team is sold and management has the power to do something about the debacle its assembled (interestingly, JoeD deserves to watch this abomination for the full 82 games. WTF was he thinking? 14 SGs and a feckless head coach, I can’t lose! Sigh).
See that is what is so infuriating about this team...
They suck ass, then they keep it just close enough going into halftime to say, “Okay, if they come out firing on all cylinders in the 3rd, they can get back into this thing no problem.”
Then they come out in the 3rd and they either suck ass just enough to maintain a distance of 10 or 12 points or they keep it slightly closer to keep you engaged.
Honestly, if this team is going to lose all these games, I’d rather see them down 20 at half so I can go on to playing AC Brotherhood. Instead, they lead you on through the entire game making you think that there is still a chance only to give up a 19-5 run in the final 7 minutes.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
I was intrigued early
By Stuckey’s box scores. I’ve been a big fan of his since the beginning and was hoping this would be the year he broke out. Now I find myself pessimistic about everything right down to his play. He could throw up a few 24-12-8 lines on 8-12 shooting with 2 TOs and I’d be like, “great, he’s too expensive now.” Once the new year hits and I’m not on the road so much for work/holidays maybe I’ll be able to find joy in watching Moose grow up, but this is a boring ass team with a dead coach walking and 2 former beloved stars that everybody would like to see move on. There’s very little to be excited about right now and it makes me a sad indfifferent panda.
With Stuckey on my Fantasy team there are two things that I pay particular attention to
1) Attempted Assists – That is to say, Stuck makes a lot of good passes to open shooters who subsequently miss said shot. This is infuriating to me knowing that more consistent shooting from his starting shooting guard position (Rip) would immediately result in an increase in his assist average
2) Late game shots that don’t matter – Last night Stuckey was 6 of 12 with 5 minutes left in the game. He’d hit 1 for 2 from beyond the arc and didn’t force either long ball (both occurred in the last 5 seconds of the shot clock). However, in the final 2 minutes after Detroit was already out of the game, Stuck opted to launch 1 more 3 and one more highly contested runner dropping his shooting % from 50% to 42.9%.
I’ve seen this happen in a number of games at this point and I’d love to know how many missed meaningless shots Stuck has at the end of lost games this season. Its kind of like the opposite of Rip Hamilton selfishly holding onto the basketball during a game where the Pistons are up 5 or 6 and the other team is still fouling to send us to the line. He only holds onto the ball so he can increase his own point average instead of passing and running more clock off.
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
To push you a little...
He only holds onto the ballso he can increase his own point averagebecause he’s the best FT shooter on the team, instead of passing and running more clock off.
Late game shots that don’t matter
Presumably, this happens to more players than Stuckey, right?
Attempted Assists
Is this something Fantasy tracks? I’d be curious how often it happens to elite PGs and how Stuck compares to them in this respect.
All fair points gulks
Regarding Rip’s FT% – He’s not technically the best free throw shooter since Bynum, Gordon, and Daye all have better FT stats than Rip. The difference in FT% between Rip and Stuckey is negligible (86.5% vs. 89%).
And yes, presumably late game shots that don’t matter just like halftime heaves affect all players. My point being that at the end of games already lost, Stuckey seems to shoot a higher than normal volume of shots and often misses them.
And I doubt fantasy basketball tracks attempted assists, but I would think Synergy Sports does. As for my unspoken assumption that as Rip Hamilton shoots well, Stuckey creates more assists well…that definitely doesn’t prove to be true.
In games 2, 6, and 20, Stuckey had his 3 highest assist totals. In those games, Rip played an average of 22 minutes and 8 points per game.
In the games where Stuckey had his lowest assist totals (7, 14, 16, 18), Rip averaged 26+ minutes.
And after all that, I’m no closer to proving my point than I was before. Cheers!
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
well duh...
ignorance is bliss you a-hole! IGNORANCE IS FUCKING BLISS!!!!!
Jonas Jerebko once killed a charging female rhinoceros in heat protecting its young with nothing more than a hook shot.
You what struck me during the game
Especially in the 2nd quarter, is that Kuester reminds me a lot of Ricky Bobby’s dad Reese in Talladega Nights. Things start to go well and then he panics. “this is going to well.. i need to sabotage it somehow!” Thus he swaps a few players out and the game goes to complete and utter dogshit in a matter of literal seconds.
Don't be callin' me dog cause I want ya to say it backwards - Tech N9ne
by MaxiellEatsLittleOnes on Dec 8, 2010 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
No....
He said, “you better eat that salad while you still can”
I'm sad as Jonas
by alaskanpistonsfan on Dec 8, 2010 4:50 PM EST up reply actions
I like this line of thought. It means we aren’t as bad or stupid as we appear. But rather, are intentionally trying to lose games in favor of a high draft pick… or knowledge in that trade for Yao occuring leading to the following scenario, Jonas and Yao return fully healthy and begin to brutally assault opposing players as the Pistons become the first team to win the Title with a sub .500 record!! Hurray!
To experience the consequences of my own choices. This is why I live
The team isn't really bad to watch
Just skip the start of the third quarter, and tune out right when we pull it to within 2 in the closing minutes
Yeah, they ought to be taking a step forward this year. I’m a White Sox fan and quite also optmistic.
Ahhhc'monguyyyss...
tis the season to be jaarrry, far rah rah rah rah rah rah rah rah.
I'm sad as Jonas
by alaskanpistonsfan on Dec 8, 2010 4:57 PM EST up reply actions
Jason Heyward is trying to make me like baseball.
by Biz Markie Moon on Dec 8, 2010 6:23 PM EST up reply actions
It's a sad day in December
When Pistons fans are looking forward to baseball.
This signature is false.
It’s a sad day in any month when I’m talking about baseball. That’s how numb I am.
by Biz Markie Moon on Dec 8, 2010 6:31 PM EST up reply actions
I’d complain about the lack of company, but then I’m not really watching the game either. I’m listening to snippets as I am pretending to work.
There's no justice like angry mob justice!
I'm an idiot
Please ignore my last three posts. I was in the wrong thread. Feel free to give me a red panda.
There's no justice like angry mob justice!
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Is it Rip's goal to get ejected every game?
Seriously, I would trade him for a few janitors from Oakland and a bag of popcorn.
"The Lions to me is like being a father of a son who is always locked up. You love him to death because he's your son but he has always been a disappointment." - Yours truly.
by DBB Diablo on Dec 7, 2010 10:48 PM EST reply actions