Okay, so Chauncey took a few liberties with the letter of the law with an extra step or two, but you have to admit that was a damn good shot. (Video via FanHouse.) I admit that as it left his fingertips I actually started shaking my head in disbelief that he settled for such a poor look, but in hindsight, I know nothing.
Of course, that was followed up by Rashard Lewis doing his thing, which is a shame, since it means that Chauncey’s highlight will be quickly forgotten instead of played over on those end-of-season montages we’ll inevitably see come April.
It was mentioned in the comments, but what was Rip Hamilton doing on Lewis in the first place? If you remember, Hamilton was initially guarding Hedo Turkoglu (the in-bounder) before the Magic called a timeout and drew up another play. He did a good job, jumping up and down right in his face while denying him the easy in-bounds pass.
After the Magic drew up a new play, the Pistons opted to leave Turkoglu wide open with Tayshaun Prince just kind of drifting in space near the top of the key. Hindsight is 20/20 (see: my reaction to Chauncey’s shot), but wouldn’t it make more sense to keep someone right in Hedo’s face, especially since Prince was obviously concerned about a quick pass back to Hedo? (Watch the vid again, you’ll see what I mean.)
But hey, the Magic are a respectable team, and probably even a good one. And even though this loss was Detroit’s third in a row, there’s no shame in losing to a fellow division leader, especially when there were some positives the team can take.
For one, the offense seemed to be clicking. Entering this game, Rasheed Wallace had failed to crack double-digit scoring or collect more than seven rebounds in any of his last four. Against the Magic, he had 15 points, 15 boards and five steals against perhaps the best center in the league. Dwight Howard, meanwhile, was held 23 points and eight boards (seven fewer than his average).
And while some members of the bench are still struggling (sorry, don’t mean to point fingers Jarvis and Rodney), it was nice to see Jason Maxiell break out with 11 points and seven boards in 21 minutes, easily his best performance since at least the Boston game. (Semi-random link: my HOOPSWORLD colleague Joel Bringham recently did a Q&A with Maxiell.)
While there have been a few bumps lately, the coaching staff isn’t ready to deviate from the “Rodney Stuckey is a point guard, honest!” company line … probably because they’re not allowed to. From the Freep:
Pistons coach Flip Saunders considered but did not activate point guard Lindsey Hunter on Monday as rookie Rodney Stuckey continues to struggle. Saunders said the issue was up to team president Joe Dumars.
“That’s something we’ll sit down and see,” Saunders said. “We knew we’d go through this. There’s no other way. We can’t just say we’re going to throw away his rookie year because he didn’t have it.
“I think he’s strong enough as a kid to fight through it, and if he has one or two breakout games, it’s going to get his confidence up.”
Before you get too down on Stuckey’s performance, consider this: he has exactly 16 games under his belt and has played 20 minutes or more in a game only four times. He’s still green as hell and trying to figure out what the defense is throwing at him. From the DetNews:
“He was having some success and then teams made an adjustment to him and he’s struggled,” Porter said. “He has to find out how he can attack out of a zone set. It’s more difficult, but he just has to keep believing in himself and continue to be aggressive when he has his opportunities.”
Porter said Stuckey will learn to find creases in zone defenses, just like he does against man-to-man defenses.
“He will learn once you swing the ball and get the zone moving, there will be creases he can attack,” Porter said.
That kind of recognition can only come with time, especially when you consider Stuckey hasn’t even been able to practice for most of the year.
As for the starting backcourt, Billups and Rip Hamilton remain locked in. Rip hit 8 of 17 shots, which means he’s dangerously close to shooting .500 for the year: he’s technically at .498 with 299 field goals in 600 attempts. For a guy who does most of his scoring outside of the paint, that’s extremely impressive.
The Pistons continue to give Jarvis Hayes a long leash. He went 0-for-4 and is shooting just .228 over his last seven games, not to mention just 1-for-17 behind the arc spanning his last nine. Is it a slump or a regression toward the mean?
Hayes shot over .400 from three-point land the first two months, and even with his recent struggles he’s at .363 for the season, better than his career average. Same goes for his regular field-goal percentage — he’s at .424 for the year, .404 for his career). I think early in the year we were too quick to assume his hot start was actual improvement from being in a “better” situation. Instead, it seems he’s more or less the player he always was. Shocking, I know. Also disappointing.
Last but not least, this was Orlando’s first win in 10 tries against Detroit — and don’t think that didn’t mean something to the Magic. Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel said the game “had the same electricity of a playoff game” and Rashard Lewis was waiting for this all season:
Lewis hasn’t been here for most of the torture inflicted by the Pistons, but he heard his new teammates talk of exorcising their ghosts shortly after signing this summer.
“It has been talked about since the day I got here,” Lewis said. “I was just trying to do what I could to get us over that hump against these guys.”
So yeah, unbeknownst to you, me or the Pistons, the Magic viewed this game as their own little Ohio State-Michigan. How many people in Detroit’s locker room do you think were waiting for this game since the start of the season, and how many do you think didn’t even realize they were playing Orlando this week until the coaches told them to pack warm-weather clothes for the road trip? For Orlando’s sake, here’s to hoping they left something in reserve: they’ll be coming to Detroit for a re-match on Friday.
Long time reader here, first time poster. Matt, love reading your blog and all, but could you really please not put the result in the headline of the post? I get an RSS feed of DBB and that is ahead of me being able to watch the game due to me being overseas and having to do the whole download the game a day later and watch it thing.
I thought I was doing well today, staying off ESPN and DBB until the RSS feeder showed the result. Just a suggestion for those of us not lucky enough to be able to watch the Pistons in real time. Thanks.
There’s no shame to losing by a buzzer-beater on the road to a division-leading team. I’m not even panicked about losing 3 in a row, or being .500 in the last dozen games or so.
But it’s not that “some members of the bench are struggling.” It’s everyone on the bench is struggling, except Maxiell. Thanks for the shooting percentage numbers for Hayes; there as bad as I thought. And yeah, Stuckey is a rookie, will have his ups and downs, needs more experience, etc. He may be really good some day. But the question is, will he be good enough this year to be trusted with significant minutes in the playoffs? If not, that’s certainly understandable, but will the Plan B be to play Lindsey a lot more?
If Detroit goes into the playoffs with one good big man coming off the bench, Lindsey as the most trusted reserve guard, and a big question mark at backup SF — well, that’s they way it’s been for the past two years, and that didn’twork out so well.
I’m not giving up on this group of bench players, and I’m even willing to lose some more games to develop them, but it’s been a bit discouraging lately.
I have confidence in Stuckey. He’s got 40 more games until the playoffs and he’s got Chauncey Billups, Lindsey Hunter and Terry Porter to mentor him.
Jarvis worries me more. More his defense than his offense. But, I think his shot selection is a little poor as well. What I do like though is that he’s a decent post player.
Having Hermann is a godsend. He matches up really well with those 4’s that are too quick for Sheed and Dyess. And the 3’s that are too physical for Hayes. (Nowitzki, Nocioni, Deng, Rashard Lewis, Turkoglu, etc.)
Well, they are still lax on any penetration – Chauncey could take ANY of their guards to the hole 24/7 – that’s why we FN traded arroyo…. Bogans, dooling, come on? - we settle for jumpshots
They don’t trap the lousy ball handlers, when brian cook is running the offense go get his a$$, same with dooling and arroyo – if ANY team knows arroyo cant create his own shot, it should be us
The WHOLE world knew Lewis was taking the shot (except Tay) – leave dooling to stand there and stop the 118 million dollar “STAR” from getting where he wanted…
Stuckey is not ready defensively or offensively – Lindsey cannot come back too soon
somebody give Javis Food Posioning please!!
At one point IN THE 4th, they had Maxiell, Brezec, Stucky, Affallo and Tay on the floor – geese I wonder whose gonna shoot it??
Theres a reason Saunders didn’t win anything in Minnesota and the last 3 games shows why –
and finally …
When did Hedo Turkolou become Dwayne Wade – they gave him so many calls – it was making me sick
I love how the ESPN Anchor reacts to that travel like he’s never seen Lebron, Kobe, or Wade take an extra step before…
Mark B — and that’s exactly it. The league allows travelling constantly, as long as it’s done as part of a drive through the lane (and if it’s done by a confirmed superstar with highlight potential, then so much the better). At this point — at least publicly — the league shows no signs of asking refs to tighten the readings on those sorts of steps. Kind of like how Shaq was allowed to commit left shoulder low post fouls everytime he got the ball.
When that shot CB took went off, I thought, “my god, it’s gonna be two feet short of the rim.” I don’t know how he hit that.
That was NOT a traveling violation on Billups. He took only 2 strides after picking up his dribble, which is legal. That guy counted every step Chauncey took before releasing his shot, which is wrong. Look at it again and you’ll see it’s just like when taking a layup.
HE DID NOT TRAVEL!
Nope. He traveled. Four steps after picking up the dribble.
Reading the Magic papers I see that Stan Van Gundy sees the Pistons as a rival from his days with the Miami Heat.
From the Daytona Beach News-Journal: “I have a little bit of history with that team,” Van Gundy said, referring to when he coached the Miami Heat against the Pistons in the 2005 Eastern Conference finals. “When Chauncey Billups raises up to shoot the ball late in the game, I know it’s going in. You just have to stop him from shooting the ball. It was an amazing shot.”
And Keith Bogans: “I don’t think I’ve ever beaten Detroit my whole career, whether it was here or anywhere else,” said Keith Bogans, who had eight points and eight rebounds off the bench. “To get a win like that is big.”
Keith Bogans has been plotting revenge against Detroit for 6 years. He finally got it.
Only problem I had with the game was that it was clear from the first possession Jarvis couldn’t check Hedo, and that no adjustments were made.
I think Stuck will be ok. I agree with how Flip and Joe are handling him. Tough to develop while in a suit.