Orlando has this one circled: For the Pistons, tonight is just another match, the second of a back-to-back before they head back to Detroit. For the Magic, though, they’ve been waiting for this for a while. John Denton of Florida Today reports that Stan Van Gundy put a big “8″ on the dry-erase board in the locker room, a reminder that the Pistons beat the Magic all four times in the regular season and four more in the playoffs:
“The fact that they swept us for the year, this season we’re coming in, and when we play Detroit, we’re going to try to destroy them,” Howard said boldly. “There’s no way a team should beat us eight times in a year.”
Brash talk, indeed, for an Orlando franchise that has lost 12 of its last 13 games to the Pistons. And in Howard’s three-plus seasons in Orlando, the Magic are just 2-13 against Detroit. The Pistons won by an average of nine points per game in both the playoffs and regular season against the Magic.
Still no Rip: From Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press:
The Pistons told us at least three times that Richard Hamilton would play tonight in Orlando after missing Thursday night’s season-opener in Miami because of a “family emergency.” Well, the dry-erase board in the media room makes it quite clear he’s not. “Richard Hamilton will not play tonight,” it reads.
The reason for his absence? The birth of his son: Richard Clay Hamilton II, who came in at eight pounds, 21 inches. Congrats!
Random Reggie Miller footage If you watched the game last night you saw this, but no, he’s not over “The Block.”
Rookie update:A. Sherrod Blakely talked to Rodney Stuckey before last night’s game:
Before Thursday’s game at Miami, Detroit rookie Rodney Stuckey strolled onto the court with his left hand firmly gripping a sports drink bottle. When asked about how the broken hand was feeling, he said, “good, real good.”
[…]
“I hope to be back out there in a couple of weeks,” he said. “We’re not going to rush it, but it’s definitely feeling a lot better.”
I’m not sure what “back out there” means. If he means actually playing games and not just practicing, he’d have cut his expected recovery time in half: he had the surgery a week ago and was originally expected to miss six weeks. That seems optimistic, even with Detroit’s training staff, but it’s good to see he’s ahead of schedule regardless.
Also, in that same article Blakely confirms that Sammy Mejia signed with the Ft. Mad Ants. That’s where the Pistons probably would have put him for most of the year even if he made the team, but in any case it must be reassuring to Cheikh Samb to know that there will be a friendly face as well another Spanish speaker on the roster.
As usual leave any thoughts or observations in the comments — the game is at 7pm on TV20.
alot of sharp-shooting from the Orlando Magic
Maxiell is going to work late in the 2nd, anyone witness that block off the glass? Maxiell has been waiting to get a block off of Jameer Nelson all first half, he had one on him the first quarter but it was taken away from him cause he “fouled” Nelson.
Also, very impressed by the inside work the Pistons are giving the Orlando Magic on the offensive end.
Why is Bogan trying to rip Aaron Afflalo’s arm off? lol
See, this is why you keep Ronald Dupree, for moments just like this. NOBODY is better at protecting a 22 point lead with 3 mins to go in the 4th! LOCK-DOWN BABY!
*grins*
This season is looking grand so far, admittedly it doesn’t look like we’ve played anyone yet, but whatever…
WITH OUT RIP we played pretty damn good on the offensive side of the ball and really played great defense too.
Amir got 2 POINTS!
Well, that was embarrassing. I shudder to think of what the carnage would have been like were Rip Hamilton available.
Jarvis Hayes is great. It feels so good to see our backup sf come off the bench and when he shoots the three you think it’ll actually go in, unlike our last backup sf…
Amir Watch 2007! He got a few minutes? I didn’t see the game.
So, this team is starting Keith Bogans and Hedo Turkoglu, and they are supposed to win 50 games?
The Raptors, on the other hand, are starting to scare me. They put a beat down on the Nets, holding the best player in NBA history to 2 points and 6 assists.
Oh Kevin S. Lets just hope the rest of the DBB fam has a good memory. Your humor is not lost on me, my friend
I agree with you, however, and I know you were being serious about that part- the Raps are a scary team…
Detroit can handle them, but they are the true sleeper this season. that is, for anyone stupid enough not to be ready for them.
You’re kidding me! Jordan came out of retirement again? No? Oh, then Magic did. What, no?!? Bill Russell actually got on the court? Wilt came back from beyond the grave? The Mailman? Larry Legend left the Pacer’s front office? Kareem’s back in game shape? Hakeem’s back in Houston now? Dr. J? The Big O? The Glide? The Iceman? Baylor? Havlicek? West? Isiah? Stockton? Moses Malone? Walt Frazier? NONE OF THOSE GUYS?!? Then you obviously meant the greatest in history currently playing. The Raptors played Shaq? Duncan? Or even Kobe? I don’t recall this. Eh, my schedule must be off. Well, this is just darn weird. They only played the Sixers and Nets. There’s not a player on either roster that comes even CLOSE to the greatest player in NBA history. So I honestly have no idea who on earth you’re talking about, Kevin S. Absolutely, positively none.
Jimmy: Relax, it was a joke. Kevin was referring to Jason Kidd, and he most definitely wasn’t being serious.
The Pistons look great. I thought they would be flat early in the season with all the new personnel and some unsettled rotations at G and PF-C but I was wrong. Everyone is playing Detroit Basketball and I love it.
Chris Mccosky says you aren’t a journalist. Chris Mccosky is a journalist, who has a blog. Chris Mccosky posted this on his blog: “It’s a boy (not a girl as I incorrectly reported yesterday).” See?? He went to journalism school so that he could screw up basic reporting! Oh and don’t forget this chestnut: http://www.wtfdetroit.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4526.html
Chris Mccosky needs to spend less time fighting strawmen and more time checking his facts and doing his job. You know, being a journalist.
Kevin, Keith Bogans isn’t that bad of a player. I know it’s early, but he hasn’t missed a shot yet this season. It’s Hedo Turkoglu who screwed us up last night with his poor shot selection and his inability to guard anybody.
As for 50 wins… I’m not ready to expect that from Orlando. Not yet. And they’re deluding themselves if they expect that.
Keith Bogans is a shooting guard who has shot less than 40% for his career. If that’s not sucking, I don’t know what is.
And, yes, KIDDing about Kidd, but not the Raps. Bargnani, Bosh and their PG tandem are looking poised to challenge the Celtics for the division.
He’s looked good so far under Stan Van Gundy, both in the preseason and the regular season. He should be okay.
I agree with you on the Raptors, though. Most teams would be happy to start Calderon.
Bogans was shooting the lights in the first half of the game and so was Turkoglu, it wasnt till the second half both started to cool down. And btw, neither one of them can play defense.
Bogans is the Magic’s best on-ball defender, which is the whole reason he’s starting. He never cooled down because he never missed a shot. Turk is the one who stunk up the joint last night. Well, he and every Magic bench player.
I don’t know what Trevor Ariza did to get in the doghouse in Orlando but last year he averaged 22 minutes per game and this year he’s under 10 per. I’ll never understand teams that go out and get new talent that buries existing prospects. Two 6-10 forwards who play weak D (Turkolu, R. Lewis), a 5-10 PG, Keith Bogans would be a bad team surrounding Wilt let alone Dwight Howard. Ariza had Orlando’s second best Roland Rating in ‘06 and now he’s not playing. What’s up with that Coach Jeremy?
Trevor is coming off left-foot tendinitis he suffered in the preseason, so there’s that. Add to that his lack of an outside shot and Stan is leery of using him; the plan is to surround Dwight Howard with a bunch of three-point shooters, and Trevor doesn’t have that shot. But once Stan realizes how important Trevor is on defense and on the offensive boards, he’ll get more playing time.
the biggest thing i took from that game was bench, bench, bench, bench, bench. FANTASTIC play off the bench. and it should only get better. love the minutes we’re getting from the lost cause brothers, flip and nazr. jarvis is patented joe dumars thievery. having a reliable bench is going to pay off huge.
anytime tay is running the show on the floor, he should be running it from the post. that set was unstoppable. kudos to saunders for putting our smartest player in his comfort zone to pick apart the d. (don’t expect me to write “kudos to saunders” again anytime soon. i could barely make my fingers type it the first time.)
Great game. Sheed played some mean low post defense, scoring both inside and outside. I loved him blocking Howard in the paint. Perfect game for Sheed, played just how I want. Prince had another solid game. I know we don’t want to bench a scoring player, but I hope they don’t overplay Prince. Prince probably isn’t going get much rest until Stuckey is back to resume backup PG.
Afflalo has been was struggling some, but I don’t blame him. Being a rookie, on the bench, and being asked to start the first (and second) games of regular season in Hamilton’s position had to make him nervous. He didn’t really do bad at all (minus stepping out twice). I think Amir still needs to take it easy, he looked stiff running down the floor and I don’t want the injury to get any worse.
Hayes has a great shot when he’s open. As someone else said, I’m much more comfortable with Hayes at the 3 line compared to Delfino. Murray is best while not at point guard (doesn’t share the ball enough), but he’s been great with someone else at the point.
Re: Maxiell
Can someone explain to me why a 65% free throw shooter in college suddenly becomes a 48% shooter in the NBA? If that doesn’t turn around, the dude’s gonna have some hard fouls coming his way.
I watched Amir pretty closely on this one. Having League Pass here in Iowa City (I’m a temporary transplant here with my lady) is a godsend, especially since I can rewind and review individual performances. My “hetero man-crush” on Amir gives me focus on his game. Here are my thoughts…
Amir was either in pain from his injury or not yet comfortable with early-season NBA garbage time. He had Sure Thing dunks which he botched, turnovers which shouldn’t have happened, and defensive goofs that don’t seem befitting of him. Don’t get me wrong- his 40 minute stats are intimidated for this last game– he’d have 40 rebounds, 20 points, and 10 blocks per 40 minutes. But his numbers don’t show what ailed him in this game…
Anyone with a DVR, League Pass Broadband or Tivo can see these issues for certain:
- at 1:50 on the clock, Amir missed a rebound which turned into a blocked shot (that should have been another rebound), yet the Magic player in question got the second offensive board and put up the layup. If Amir had been on his man, he would have had that board beforehand…
- on the next possession, Amir should have had a dunk. He drove toward the board with a defender in front of him, but he hesitated– and was called for the travel.
- There was another miscellaneous play that I didn’t get the timestamp on, where Amir went for the defensive board but stepped out of bounds, Orlando ball.
- after some time, Amir looked a little more comfortable. At 33 seconds left, he had a strong rebound (fought with his man for it) and an immediate pass to Murray which led to a basket on the offensive end. He looked strong, hungry.
- at 10 seconds left, he cleaned up the offensive glass and put back the ball for a nice basket against two defenders.
I know I’m micro-managing here, and paying a little TOO much attention, but every second that kid has on the floor is golden to me- I believe that within 3 seasons, he will eclipse the player he’s most compared to, Jermaine O’Neal. If not, I will have successfully wasted more time than I should have… Like this re-cap? Let me know, I’ll be sure to comment more after my own little “amateur scout report” from each game…
Okay, I know we thoroughly thrashed the Magic, but allow me to impart some Bill Belichick-esque overly picky criticism. On Thursday we slowed down Miami, frustrated them offensively and managed to win despite shooting under 40% and actually shooting worse than our opponent. The reason for this is that we dominated EVERYTHING else regarding statistical categories and ensured that poorer shooting than our opponent wouldn’t cost us the game.
Against Orlando, we torched the net off the hoop, but we really didn’t dominate any other facet of the game. We had more turnovers than them and less offensive rebounds. If we don’t shoot an INSANE 59% from the field, we don’t produce a blow out. I really felt perplexed juxtaposing the offensive rhythm of the two games.
In game one, we slowed it down, played excellent defense and won the game using the type of strategy the 03-04 Pistons would’ve imparted. I half expeced to see LB and/or Ben out there when I was watching the season opener. Our victory on Friday seemed textbook Flip Saunders, extremely fruitful offense at the cost of extremely strong defense. I’m not saying this team can’t win doing it Flip’s way, it has before (especially in the regular season), and clearly it did in this game. But when I think of Flip failing to make adjustments, this isn’t the type of “adjustment” that satisfies me. To me, it looked like we got sucked into Orlando’s penchant for uptempo basketball, we just destroyed them at their own game. Anyone care to add their perspective and/or reassure my fears as a result of game 2?
Also, is it possible (it tears me up inside to even suggest this), this team is better without Rip Hamilton?
LawyerBoy - Rip plays both kinds of ball you describe, lockdown D and efficient offense. Over time (more than 2 games) the team will be far less consistent (meaning less wins) without Rip at SG. Do you think Flip Murray is going to go for 19 pts and 5 ast every night on 57% shooting with only 1 TO every night? Me neither. Congrats Papa Rip!
Come back soon.
LawyerBoy!!!!! What are you talking about? Did you watch the game against Orlando? You are sadly wrong by saying we did not dominate any other facet of the game. Yeah they had one more offensive rebound than us, but we out rebounded them 42 to 34.We did this when many were saying we are soft inside. We had more steals and blks than them. That smells like defense to me. I undestand many of you may not like Flip, but please its getting old. I been a fan of this site since 2005, and every year we talk about the adjustments Flips makes. Lets leave him alone guys we will be fine because we have Joe D. LawyerBoy here are a few things to make you feel better.
1. We won without Rip. Yeah this does not mean much against the Heat, but it means a ton against the Magic. This is a team that added Lewis and has one of the best big men in the game. What did we do we out rebounded them 42 to 34.
2. We are much deeper than last year. We are getting everything we need from Jarvis Hayes that Mo Evans and Delfino could not over the years. 11pts 6rebs 2stls against the Magic. Flip Murray seems to know his role this year and is playing well.
3. Joe D. We all know if we are not doing well he will make a move. I think however the best moves are always the ones you don’t make. Just think if he made the Smith trade for Flip Murray. We all would be sick with Stuckey out for six weeks.
4. Sheed has no Techs !!!! lol All jokes aside is this a sign that he and Flip have a better relationship or that Joe D put his foot down and showed him how it hurts the team.
5. Tay is playing like an all -star.
Relax LawyerBoy we will be fine. What I love about this year is that everyone is jocking Boston. Guess what I still think we have the better team. While everyone is focusing on the so called big three our big four will be helping a new guys prepare for another run at the Shipp!!!! Plus I think that Sheed is just as good or better at times than the Big Ticket. Hey I will take Rip over Ray Allen. Tay is almost at the same level as Paul but we all know Tay plays way better D than that cat. Mr. Big Shot is way better than Rondo at PG. Stay cool bro !!!
Carey
Ben Q. Rock
If Bogans is their best on ball-defender, than that gives an explanation to the horrible defensive play by the Magic as a team…makes sense.
doesn’t have a lot to do with this story but nba.com stats have a new column for BA. so BS is blocked shots (and spare me the jokes….)
what does BA stand for?
BA = Blocks Against. It’s how many times you got your shot blocked. I had to google it, I wasn’t sure either.
I would also note that the NUMBER of offensive rebounds is not as important as the PERCENTAGE of misses rebounded. The Pistons had nine offensive rebounds off 30 missed FG, or 30% while Orlando had 10 offensive rebounds off 46 missed FG, or 22%. Four of the O-rebounds were by James Augustine in garbage time.
No, we are not better without Rip.
Kevin S.- interesting stat. How did you calculate that? Simple box score FG margins vs. number of o-rebs?
It’d also be nice to see the number of o-rebs that were converted to baskets…
Mike P: here’s a good primer on rebounding rate from Tom Ziller on FanHouse:
You can tell how well a team is rebounding by looking at their offensive and defensive rebound percentages. For offensive Reb%, you take the team’s offensive rebounds divided by the sum of the team’s offensive rebounds and the opponent’s defensive rebounds. For defensive Reb%, it is the team’s defensive rebounds divided by the sum of the team’s defensive rebounds and the opponent’s offensive rebounds. It’s almost as easy as field goal percentage, which we see on a very frequent basis during games.
No, we are not better without Rip. - Agreed. ESPECIALLY now that he’s finally developed into a defender on par with the rest of the starters.
Unrelated but am I the ONLY one having trouble rationalizing the fact that the Lions are about to be 6-2?
We got the Lions doing great. We already had good hockey, baseball, and basketball teams for a while, now the Lions are doing good too. We know the Tigers didn’t pan out as good as last year, but they still aren’t bad. The Red Wings have 11 wins and 2 losses. And our Pistons are off to a nice start at 2-0, not a bad city to a sports fan, eh?
DEEETROIT SPORTS!!!
Gotta love our teams now.
Okay… but I’m STILL not forgiving Lloyd Carr (EVER) if we don’t beat OSU and win our bowl game… just sayin….
Thanks Matt!! *grabs calculator*
Carey - Outrebounding a team by 8 isn’t domination. The Heat got DOMINATED in the opener, so much so that as even a diehard Pistons fan, I was bored watching. The Orlando game did not strike me the same way. Of course we’ll have 8 more boards than them because defensive boards are easier to come by than offensive ones and we weren’t missing enough (we missed 30 FGs, Orlando - 46) to give them any advantage on sheer numbers from the defensive glass.
Regarding Flip, I’m not a staunch hater, I’m just conditioned to recalling that Larry won us a title doing things his way. The Miami game was textbook Larry and the Orlando game was textbook Flip. Both games were won comfortably, the former was way more boring, but to me, way more dominant/impressive in so many ways. That’s all I’m expressing in regards to uneasiness with Flip and the team. Will we be switching identities/strategies or will we settle on one, and if so, which? A win is a win, but I get nostalgic and feel more confident when we win Larry-style.
Jarvis has been sick, and it’ll probably continue. Let’s at least hope it does. And yes, that’s a huge key to our success. I wouldn’t crown Tay and all-star yet, but he rules, no doubt. I will say that the fact that Sheed has no techs now, doesn’t mean he won’t get them in the future. He averages about 1 tech/4 games, so if we’re well into next week and he doesn’t have any, I might be swayed that he’s turned over a new leaf. Hopefully that’s the case, but it’s way too early to tell especially when he could’ve very easily been called for one in the Orlando game had the refs been running a tight ship.
I agree with a lot of what you said in your 5 points, and I absolutely love what you said about Joe D. and found it to be a wise insight that I had lost track of to some degree as of late. Thanks for the reassuring reminder.