What Happened:
The Pistons were destroyed by a mediocre team in spite of owning the boards and generating more turnovers. Seriously, how often does it happen that a team gets eight more shots and still loses by 24? Well, for the third time in four games, the team failed to crack 40% from the field. That helps.
The Good:
Ben Gordon scored 26 points in 25 minutes. That's phenomenal. If he can keep that up, there is some hope for turning this ship around, sorta.
The Bad:
Well, the frontcourt scored 25 points in 132 minutes on 8-32 shooting. I would hazard to guess that breaks some sort of team record for futility. That partly explains why three of our guards combined for 0 assists in 81 minutes.
Oh, and the Pacers made most of their shots. That hurt.
The Darvin Ham Unsung Hero:
Jason Maxiell. On a night when the frountcourt had more or less left the bulding, he posted a tolerable five points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. Also, while I refuse to get excited about the Tinsley-esque stat line, MFWB (which, for new readers, stands for Mangled Foot Will Bynum) had 70% of the team's assists.
The Takeaway:
This team has serious gaps on offense and defense. There is no low-post scoring threat, nor is there an outside scoring threat, which means the team lives or dies on contested two-point shots. On the other end of the court, there is no clamp down defender on the wings, so the Pistons also live or die on missed open shots by the other team. Surprisingly, this combination has not resulted in too many wins this season.