I kind of feel bad for the Raptors. Last year they were scrappy division champs, perhaps the only bright spot in an otherwise bleak Atlantic Division. With a legitimate All-Star in Chris Bosh surrounded by a solid nucleus featuring the likes of T.J. Ford, Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, and Andrea Bargnani, this looked like a team on the rise.
And then, Boston happened. The Raps are suddenly the second-est fiddle in the entire NBA — the Celtics already sport an 11-game lead, the most of any division-leader in the league. Not only that, Bosh has regressed (albeit slightly), Ford and Garbajosa are sidelined indefinitely and the team is hovering just two games above .500. Adding insult to injury, Kevin Garnett’s arrival to the East means Bosh is no longer a shoe-in as an All-Star game starter, leaving him to beg for votes in cheesy, home-made videos.
That’s not to say the Pistons should take the Raps lightly — they shouldn’t (and probably won’t) — but TO’s star has clearly lost a bit of luster from the end of the season last year. Last year’s success does still have residual benefits, though; I’m guessing it’s the main reason why tonight Pistons/Raps game is on ESPN. I’d usually advise sticking with the local broadcast if you’re in Detroit, but the chance to hear Sam Mitchell mic’d up means I’ll be going with the Worldwide Leader.
Ball tips at 7pm — as usual, leave your thoughts in the comments.
If this were any other team, I’d say this was an obvious trap game. But I have faith in the Piston’s veteran wherewithal. I could see Boston falling into one against the occasionally dangerous Grizzlies, though.
Hehe, Grizzly Trap. Get it?
I know I’m “mailing it in” at work - hardly putting in an effort. But I hope the Pistons don’t do the same…
Looks like flip is keeping the starters rested up for tom. night in Boston… heavy burn for the reserves today and they giving detroit the lead. Always great to see!
good beginning of the game… Max almost rips the backboard down… Stuckey playing most of the 2nd quarter… sweet
Lookin solid so far… Jarvis is still on fire and Stuckey’s already got about 10 minutes with a nice play under the rim and 2 dimes. 11 point lead with 2 to go until the half.
Toronto’s playing really well (only one turnover) and they are still losing. Definitely a weak defensive team.
This is my first chance to watch the team in a long time and my first chance to watch Stuckey. He’s a better defender than I expected. Needs to do a better job of finishing though.
Very effecient offense from the ’stons. Only one bad shot.
Oh yea, Dyess has 7 boards (and just had a great offensive grab while falling out of bounds) so far in the half.
sorry Matt…
how much shit does Brezec have to wear? jesus christ… looks like he’s been hanging out with Dwyane Wade
Bill Walton sure has jumped on the bandwagon.
pistons pick up where they left off…lets see how the thirds gets goin
The team’s not really playing well, and they nearly had a double digit lead going into the half. A function of dominance, no?
bill walton is as insightful as an eight sided dice
I wouldn’t say the Pistons aren’t playing well. They look great on offense. They had a little trouble with the pick and roll and Sheed had foul trouble but they have looked ho-hum in their dominance.
I must say it fun to watch the Pistons.
Don’t you guys miss delfino?
I love to see the young guys play….
Sheed for three!!!!!!
nice outside shooting by wallace
jmaxx nibbled a baby (near dunk)
WOO stuckey!
he’s money
Bargnani’s one shot away from his career high. He’s got Toronto on his back. And still, the Pistons pull off one of their trademark 2 minute runs and are up double digits.
Bargnani’s got a smooth stroke. Looks like Nowitzki. First time really seeing him play.
Dixon just got Stuck!
Unfortunately, Bargnani rebounds and plays defense like Nowitzki too.
luckily the bench has passion because the starters look disenganged.
besides chauncey that is
starters getting more minutes tonight than lately? Any thoughts on if they end up playing a bit more tonight for how they fare tomorrow?
felt odd watching a game that seemed like it was getting ‘close’ a bit there in the third.
just me or does jmaxx seem a bit lackadasical? like hes been in scoring so many times during blow outs lately that hes not giving it passion?
well that dunk sorta just ripped that thought up.
go jmaxx!
detroit has their mind on tomorrow, best explanation for thier lapse in effort I can come up with at least. I like the confidence of expecting to win, but you have to make it happen. Complacency is a problem at times (usually at the worst possible times) with the pistons, but it was good to see Stuckey and the bench push the lead back up to double digits in the fourth. Chauncey has also locked in and you can see Toronto beginning to get desperate.
dayum sheed’s 3pt shooting is !!! tonight
SHEED!!!!!!!!!!
Our bench outscored theirs 27-5… ’nuff said there about the best bench in the NBA.
11 in a row and Boston tomorrow… now THIS is one heckuva Pistons weekend!
I love Stephen A. and his astounding facts at halftime.
“Toronto’s 15-0 when they’re shooting better than the other team. And they’re 2-15 (starts yelling) WHEN THEY’RE SHOOTING PERCENTAGE IS WORSE THAN THEIR OPPONENTS!!!! TO WIN GAMES, YOU GOTTA HAVE HIGHER SHOOTING PERCENTAGE THAN YOUR OPPONENT!!!!!!”
Really, Stephen A? Thanks. Where would we be without you.
^ lol … I watched that and had the same thoughts
Cheeze Doodles!
Nina called from the ACC and asked me to say she was going out for dinner and then on the way home from the game. She sounded pretty excited about yelling “Rasheed I Love You!” surrounded by “the enemy”.
- a friend of PG4L
you know my favorite part of watching a hubie brown-called game? whenever he commends a coach for calling timeout when his team’s starting to get run out of the building. “that’s an excellent timeout by sam vincent.”
i would love to hear him say “that was really a stupid timeout. what a dumbs***.”
The NBA has to kicking themselves for not making tomorrow’s game against Boston nationally televised. Neither team has lost since their last meeting, both play the league’s best defense, and of course, both are almost assured to meet in the conference finals. I guess Mr. Stern is taking Rips’ approach with, “It’s just another game…”. I can’t get league pass and my broadband is iffy at best, so I’ll miss tomorrow’s game. Damn shame!
Some of my thoughts for the night:
- I think that was arguably Stuckey’s best game as a professional. Not saying his offensive performance was mind-blowing but his defensive play was the best I’ve seen from him. He was quick on his feet and he made sure he got a hand in everyone’s face. For instance: He was getting atleast a hand in Jose Calderon’s face even after having to fight through the “pick and roll of doom”.
- Did anyone see Stuckey put Juan Dixon on lock-down?
- I’m a little confused, a week ago or so, it was said the Piston’s bench would be called the “Zoo Crew” but on ESPN they had an interview with Rip and he said they were the “Zoo Squad”. Can we get a some clarification on this subject?
- Is it just me or did Bill Walton say the Piston’s have the best Starting 5 along with the BEST Bench in the NBA? And to add, I think he even gave Rasheed a complement. I think as I speak hell is freezing over.
Good game. I just picked up tickets for the March 26th rematch at the ACC. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Pistons live! Maybe I’ll bring a DBB sign or something and take photos.
Even better: maybe I’ll buy a Jason Maxiell Eats Babies t-shirt…………
Stuckey looks great out there, more comfortable than he has any right to be. At one point in this game he missed a shot or made a turnover and the intensity with which he soon stole the ball back was something to behold.
Dam, this is too good, Pistons are playing excellent ball, I can’t wait till tomorrows tilt vs the Celtics. I really gota start watching more Celtics games, this has the making for a great playoff match up.
Does anyone know where i can pull stats for bench scoring, I know our boys are on top but i would like to see how other teams stack up.
Also, I think we have somtin special in Walter “Fabio” Hermann. Flip should give him more time. And when is the other Flip going to morph into a draft pick or maybe another bench player, or maybe another trade like the sheed trade way back, or a spot for C-Webb, I maybe getting ahead of my self but I know, Joe D is not done cooking this one, even tough it looks good. In Joe D we trust!!!
So the game isn’t on national TV tomorrow? Crap in a box… What is with the NBA and rationing games anyway?
This late in the season, what is the best combined record for two teams playing each other? 54-10 has to come close to topping the list.
Little worried that when its a close game, our starters play major minutes.
But whatever. Celtics vs Pistons tomorrow. I can’t wait to go. Its going to be a sick game. Anyone else going?
Marty DiBergi: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.
Let’s make it 12 tomorrow. Thank heavens for League Pass!
Q Dog
I think the starters minutes are a function of wanting to preserve the streak at this point. I think if we hadn’t had 10 straight on the line, the bench would have gotten more burn.
I see that Hollinger’s latest rankings has the Pistons at the top. And the playoff predictor (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds) now shows the Pistons more likely than the Celtics to make the Finals and be the champs! I wonder if he’s trying to add fuel to Boston’s fire…
i have reasonable league pass fear that (aside from being on the same time as the steelers-jags game), they’re going to be showing the celtics feed, which means heinsohn…which means tommy points…which means murderous rage unfairly directed at tv. matt gibson - i’ll give you a c-note to trick heinsohn into a closet in the basement of the palace and lock him in there for the duration of the game*. shouldn’t be too hard since he has the i.q. of a bowl of chowder.
*i’ll leave it to your discretion if you want to put anything else in the closet with him: starving wolves, mike vick’s pitbulls, bill laimbeer. use your imagination. if you want to fly in johnny red kerr and throw him in there as well, i’ll triple the fee.
i’m honestly not worried (at this point) about the starters playing big minutes in the few closer games. to me, it’s all about averages, and as long as the averages stay low we’ll get the accumulated effect we want come playoff time. stuckey, cookie jarvis and max have earned enough respect that they’ll get good minutes in major games. i wouldn’t even be surprised to see afflalo for a couple tonight.
What, no trash talking, bad rapping Celtics fans have visited DBB yet??
…or are they a little scared.
Forget heinsohn, throw David Stern in a closet with whatever ungodly beast you can think of for not making sure the third best regular season matchup of the shot clock era is nationally televised! Not being able to watch this game is like going on a date with the world’s hottest invisible woman. All in all however, I really would like to see Detroit win this and keep the mental scales tipped in their favor against their conference rivals, but a loss isn’t the end of the world. Besides, with the way the Mavs and Spurs have been playing, I see that Texas double-header as a very winnable pair of games.
waltonlikesmen1- http://channelsurfing.net/ says it’ll have the game. So try that.
for those not in detroit and without league pass, what is stopping you from going to sports bar for beer and victory? wife? kids? 12 step program?
Here, here, JDutch. Get you to the bar.
OT: I live and work in DC, and one thing that really irks my co-workers is when I toss up a paper ball into a trash can while saying “Jarvis!” They say, “But that’s wrong - the ball went in!” And I say, “Exactly!”
Not a Pistons fan. But came here to see what’s being said about the Celtics-Pistons game. I’ve despised the Celtics for 25 years - longtime Lakers fan - and the hatred has finally resurfaced this year, so really cheering for the Pistons tonight. Had to write about Heinsohn. It’s my first year with League Pass and I’ve been tempted many many times to throw a shoe through the TV. Last night was a classic against the Grizz. Rudy Gay gets a tooth knocked out and there’s no foul call. Heinsohn of course says nothing. A minute later, Rondo commits an obvious charge and is called for it. Heinsohn goes nuts, can’t believe what “these guys” are calling. AAAARGH. And to think he was the national color guy during the 80s. The worst part is that the play-by-play Gorman is really good, but he’s stuck with Heinsohn.
Anyway, go pistons.
Welcome aboard, Shawn. Boston haters welcome!
“for those not in detroit and without league pass, what is stopping you from going to sports bar for beer and victory? wife? ”
Bingo…
Also, I’m not sure any bars will be showing the game. Many of the less intelligent football fans here will want to watch Steelers-Jags to see who the Vikings will be playing next week.
I’m half-joking. There are a lot of people here who think Minnesota made the playoffs.
The NBA, where never televising any of the !@#$%^& games happens.
in my experience with channelsurfing.net unless it says live, the game is not shown live but at a later date.
Also, for me, only IE worked, not firefox
GO PISTONS
I’ve tried that channelsuring.net and had mixed results, I’m really hoping it comes through tonight. I’m not 21 so I can’t go to a bar to watch, though I’m sure most bars would be showing the NFL games going on tonight. It’s hard being a Pistons fan that lives in California. It seems like there’s no one that appreciates the Detroit brand of basketball. Phoenix and Golden State, all you hear about over here.
BTW…I hate the professional sports media. I’ve already noticed many previews trying to sell this game as a “king of the hill” type of matchup. Now I’m not saying this to try to cover my tracks or because I’m predicting a loss tonight, but if Detroit did happen to drop this game, as long as it’s not a blowout, wouldn’t that makes these teams EVEN in the Boston vs Detroit spectrum? Just a thought. I honestly feel the Pistons will make it 12 straight tonight.
Anyone in LV today, I should be watching the game from the coffee shop and/or sportsbook at the Palms.
“Anyone in LV today, I should be watching the game from the coffee shop and/or sportsbook at the Palms.”
When I originally read this, I registered this as “if anyone is in Las Vegas, I’ll be at the coffee shop,” and snickered at the idea that Las Vegas may indeed only have on coffee shop.
YES!!!! That channelsurfing website doesn’t work for me but it had a link to download something called the TVU player, so I tried it out and it appears to be working great! Has a lot of channels I’ve never heard of, but all seem to work. Here’s to hoping one of those channels will be showing the game tonight. Lastly, here’s to hoping my efforts to find a way to watch this game will be rewarded with a double-digit Detroit victory. Hey, if your head’s in the clouds, why not leave it there?
Kevin, actually, the best coffee shop in town is probably the Mirage’s, has been for years, but Hard Rock has good food and a bunch of plasmas, Palms has ok food, but has a bunch of screens at the counter(but for me, the price is right). If the Wings were playing tonight instead of earlier today (Dominator got his 78th career shutout, 3-0), you could watch the Pistons on one TV and the Wings on another.