Archive for January, 2006

Chauncey Billups earns Olympic invitation

Published by Matt Watson on January 31, 2006 in From the news. 2 Comments

According to this brief report from the Detroit News, Chauncey Billups can have a spot on the Olympic team if he wants one. It will mean committing to the World Championships this summer, which was previously thought to be a problem considering Billups’ wife Piper is expecting to deliver their third child in July or August. But given Billups’ outstanding play this season, Jerry Colangelo, who’s assembling the team, has indicated that the team would be flexible to Billups’ family obligations.

This has clearly been a career season for Billups, not just in his performance on the court but also in the recognition he’s received for his play. For a guy who was once drafted third overall, you wouldn’t think that he’d have to constantly prove himself, but that was before he was shuttled around to five other teams before landing in Detroit. Even winning the NBA Finals MVP award in 2004 wasn’t enough, as it’s taken an MVP-caliber season this year just to get him close to his first All-Star game (and it has to happen, right?). And while I’d like to nitpick at the fact that he’ll be a reserve despite the fact he’s been the top point guard in the East, All-Star Game voting has always been little more than a popularity contest (B.J. Armstrong started in 1994?!).

Given Billups’ level of play the fact that he’s in the prime of his career, I think he’s an obvious choice to represent the U.S. in Beijing in 2008. But will he also be representing the Pistons? Billups has the option of becoming a free agent following the 2007 season, and even if he activates his player option for the next year, he’ll still be an unrestricted free agent the summer of 2008.

U.S. wants Billups [Detroit News]

Detroit Pistons: media darlings?

Published by Matt Watson on January 30, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Around the Internets. 0 Comments

Who says they’re underrated? The Pistons have definitely felt the love from the national media lately. Sports Illustrated’s Kelly Dwyer is ready to concede the East to Detroit while Fox Sports’ Mike Kahn is trumpeting Chauncey Billups as the MVP while lauding the efforts of Joe Dumars, “from one generation to the next, the most underrated man in the NBA.”

Update: I almost missed USA Today’s adoring article.

Midseason grades for the Pistons

Published by Matt Watson on January 30, 2006 in Around the Internets. 1 Comment

As a team, the Pistons have clearly blown away everyone’s expectations. Individually, Chauncey Billups has played like an MVP, Rip Hamilton is averaging a career-high 21.6 points per game and Rasheed Wallace may end up being a reluctant All-Star starter. But how would you grade the rest of the team?

The guys over at PistonsForum took an in-depth at each and every member of the team, grading their performance thus far. Considering the team is 37-5, you’re not going to find many bad grades, aside from the obligatory (and well-deserved) potshots at Darko. But there’s some good insight and observations — kind of like listening into five hard-core fans talking at a bar.

Check it out: Grading the Pistons at Mid-Season [PistonsForum.com]

Sewer backs up at the Palace

Published by Matt Watson on January 30, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Around the Internets. 2 Comments

I found this little gem at the bottom of today’s Pistons Corner in the Free Press:

After the Pistons beat the Lakers on Sunday, the team ran into a stinkier problem than trying to stop Bryant. The sewers had backed up in the locker room.

I don’t want to point fingers at Kobe Bryant, but this does sound awfully familiar: 6’6” Snake Found in Bradley Center Toilet

The Lakers: just another mediocre team

Published by Ian Cameron on January 30, 2006 in Sheed said it. 0 Comments

Apparently I’m not the only one who was underwhelmed with the Pistons/Lakers matchup. Rasheed Wallace, on the Pistons’ supposed “rivalry” with the Lakers.

“What rivalry?” Rasheed Wallace asked. “It might have been one back in the day with Joe D, Magic, Kareem and those guys.”

With the Shaq/Kobe Lakers disintegrating so soon after the 2004 finals, there really never was time for a rivalry between the two squads to develop. Nowadays when the Lakers are in town, aside from the Kobe curiosities, they’re just another team in purple. Kobe agrees:

“Rivalry?” asked the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant. “If we want to get this back to the old days of Pistons-Lakers, we have some catching up to do.”

Pistons 102, Lakers 93 recap [ESPN]
Kobe can’t match Pistons [Detroit News]

Pistons, with an assist from Lamar Odom, defeat Lakers

Published by Ian Cameron on January 29, 2006 in Games. 0 Comments

Matt is sans Internet this evening, so I’ll do my best to sum up tonight’s 102-93 Pistons win over the Lakers in similar form.

Very little stands out from what was mostly a formulaic Piston win against a so-so opponent–gradually build a ~10-point lead, go on a defense-led spurt that pushes the advantage to ~20, and coast to the finish line. A few items of note:

1) Kobe Bryant, aka Mamba, got his points (39 of them) but never seized control of the game for any extended period of time (even the ESPN announcers asked whether it was possible to have a “quiet” 34 points early in the fourth). I’ll give ESPN some credit here (begrudgingly)–given Kobe’s relatively quiet night, they never force-fed the Kobe montages. Instead, with the Pistons comfortably ahead, they chose to focus on the Pistons’ pursuit of the 1995-96 Bulls.

2) A Detroit Bad Boys favorite, Carlos Delfino, returned to action tonight after missing the last couple games with the flu. In only four minutes of action, Delfino grabbed three boards, dropped one dime, and played great defense on Kobe. While Delfino and Maurice Evans are very close in terms of offense, I continue to be impressed with Delfino’s quickness on defense. Whereas Evans was caught in the air a few times by Bryant, Delfino played Kobe tight on his jumpers while staying in front of him on drives. The Pistons are a more versatile team when they have the ability to call on both Evans and Delfino for a spark off the bench.

3) ESPN announcer Greg Anthony is convinced that the Pistons would defeat the 1995-96 Bulls were they ever to face off. Anthony cited Detroit’s balance, as well as the quickness and athleticism of Detroit’s defense (which, Anthony points out, is playing in an age where hand-checking has been disallowed–unlike the Bulls D). As usual, ESPN’s Tim Legler balanced every compliment he paid Detroit with a comment on how “lucky” the Pistons have been with regards to health. No surprise, Legler also argued the case of Jordan’s Bulls in the discussion of the hypothetical matchup between the current Pistons and 1995-96 Bulls. Those who have followed Legler’s comments know that he has championed Miami since the beginning of the season, and he seems reluctant to back off from that allegiance (even though Miami is a solid 0-6 this season against the NBA’s top four teams–Detroit, Dallas, San Antonio, and Phoenix).

4) Oh yeah, in regards to the title of this post, Lamar Odom–one of the most athletically gifted players in the Association–provided 9 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 8 turnovers. The Pistons, as a team, had only ten turnovers.

For those counting, that’s 11 wins in a row. The competition gets a bit tougher heading into the All-Star break. A road game at New Jersey on Tuesday starts a string of 9 games in 15 days (6 of the 9 are on the road, 7 are against likely playoff teams). For any other team, six wins in this stretch would be remarkable, but these Pistons are capable of much more. Expect them to rise to the occasion.

Pistons 102, Lakers 93 box score [ESPN]
Experts: Can the Pistons win 70? Will they? [ESPN]

Steve, meet Chauncey. Chauncey, Steve.

Published by Ian Cameron on January 28, 2006 in Alley-Oops. 0 Comments

“The big difference is Michael saved us about 15 times that season, when he would take over a game,” Kerr said. “Detroit doesn’t have one guy like that. ”

This quote is from Steve Kerr, explaining why he thinks the Detroit Pistons will not match the 1995-95 Chicago Bulls record of 72-10 (to the Rocky Mountain News).

For being a TV talking-head, Steve Kerr sure doesn’t know much about Mr. Big Shot, does he?

What will the final record be?

Published by Matt Watson on January 28, 2006 in Alley-Oops and Miscellaneous. 0 Comments

With 41 games in the books, we’re officially at the halfway point. Don’t forget to make your prediction on the Pistons’ final record! So far, we have everything ranging from a conservative 64-18 to a it’s-so-crazy-it-might-actually-work 74-8. Tell us what you think!

Chase for 70 on NBA.com

Published by Matt Watson on January 28, 2006 in Around the Internets. 0 Comments

Maybe some of you saw already saw NBA.com’s Chase for 70 feature, this already, but I just happened to stumble upon it tonight. It’s the schedules of the ‘06 Pistons and the ‘96 Bulls side-by-side, updating after each game. After beating the Grizzlies on Friday, Detroit is 36-5, on pace for a 71-11 err, 72-10 record. After 41 games in 1996, the Bulls were 38-3.

Don’t fret, though, as Detroit has a chance to catch up during games 45 and 46, in which the Bulls suffered back-to-back losses. Of course, that will require five more wins, including four wins in a span of five days. But, if by chance the Pistons do pull it off, expect another wave of attention from the mainstream media to start the morning of February 5.

I admit, it’s nice to look at what the Pistons are doing from such a historic angle, but what I’m most concerned about at the moment is the Pistons shutting down Black Mamba on Sunday. Because, he’s been, you know, scoring a lot of points lately.

For our viewing convenience, I’ve added this link to the Reference Sites on the sidebar.

Pistons make tacky bearskin rug out of Grizzlies

Published by Matt Watson on January 28, 2006 in Games. 2 Comments

Just like they did the first time these two teams met, the Grizzlies played the Pistons very tough on Friday. The lead kept going back and forth, back and forth, until Chauncey Billups simply took control of the game in the fourth quarter. He scored 10 points in a span of 97 seconds, and would have had an 11th point were it not for a rare free-throw miss.

Billups’ pure efficiency is simply incredible: he scored 34 points on just 13 field goal attempts. How so? He nailed all five of his three-pointers and shot 11-of-13 from the line. He finished with only four assists but obviously made up for it by almost single-handedly winning the game. Rip Hamilton scored 19 with seven assists, but Rasheed Wallace was ice cold, shooting just 4-14 from the field, including 1-6 from beyond the arc. At least he made up for on the glass, grabbing 13 boards. The bench was pretty much useless, with no one making more than one shot. It was nice to see Darko Milicic get in the game to finish the second quarter, but all he did in 1:07 was commit a foul.

I was glad to see Detroit win the battle of the boards, and while the constant turnovers (16 in all) were annoying, it’s probably to be expected against such a tough defensive team as the Grizzlies. (Man, I’m still not used to saying things like “such a tough defensive team as the Grizzlies.” It still kind of freaks me out this franchise has been to the playoffs the past two years — visions of the late 90s and early 00s are too fresh in my mind.)

All in all, I’m still scared of Pau Gasol, but not quite as much as before. He scored 31 with seven rebounds, but helped spark Detroit’s late-game surge when he was whistled for a (phantom?) traveling call late in the fourth.

Pistons 95, Memphis 89 box score [ESPN]

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