The Pistons host the Hawks tonight in a rare back-to-back game at the Palace (did you realize teams never play home games on consecutive nights in the regular season? I just found that out this week). Breaking from the preseason tradition, this game will actually be televised — tune in to FSN Detroit at 7:30 for the tip.
Considering this is the preseason finale, don’t expect much from the starters tonight after halftime. In fact, Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton won’t even play at all, nor is Joe Johnson for the Hawks.
Instead, expect to see a lot from the law firm of Walter & Walter, not to mention Bynum, Acker and Affalo. (That said, after what happened in last year’s finale, here’s to hoping Rodney Stuckey picked up a four-leaf clover and/or lucky penny on the way in from the parking lot today.) For the Hawks, it’s a homecoming sorts for Mo Evans and Flip Murray. Yay. As usual, leave your thoughts in the comments.
Does anyone know a site with a live feed of the game so I can watch it at work? Please and thank you.
Kay Wan…
I found this site…but it’s not a very good picture. If I find a better one I’ll post it.
http://www.justin.tv/johnholmesbcn
I’m watching streaming video of someone pointing their video camera at a television set playing a pre-season basketball game.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
Boy oh boy that O is ugly when all the starters are out
NOW THAT WAS A RUN!!! AFFLALO!!!! Reverse dunk, followed by a steal and then a three from the corner.
Afflalo with the reverse dunk! What a run by this bench crew…with a front line of Maxi, Herrmann and Sharpe.
holy crap??? u guys watching this? afflalo lightin it up… nice reverse dunk, and then hits the 3 next possession like it’s nothing… earlier in the quarter he also went coast to coast for a dunk
pistons are also causing lots of turnovers
Spellcheck’s continuing his strong offensive showing. I really hope that at least part of this will carry over into the regular season.
spellcheck? haha… where did that nick name come from for afflalo?
Alright, let’s start the season!
Check out this email from Joe D…very interesting.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081023/SPORTS03/81023108/1051/rss16
Mannie32 - you’d have to research this blog in the days after he was drafted. His other nickname is “Count that baby and Afflalo”.
88-87? Are you kidding me? I thought the f%#ing up was supposed to end a game or two ago? what happened? Everyone on the team played. It wasn’t like Sheed or Billups were in suits and ties tonight.
TIME TO BLOW UP THE TEAM or hire Bill Laimbeer to get involve in some capacity like coaching the team that can get to the Finals.
I was just about to write a sarcastic HB-esque blow up the team rant.
I think it’s pretty clear that HB is the new Phil Saunders. Good show.
OMFG!!! TRADE HB!!! PLEASE!!! TRADE HB!!!!
Alright, now it’s obvious what HB is doing. Don’t feed the troll.
We need an “ignore user” feature here. If you’re going to keep up the act HB, at least check the box or read the post. Sheed and Rip sat out. Unless of course, being dumb as hell is part of the act. In which case, bravo sir.
“spellcheck? haha… where did that nick name come from for afflalo?”
Try writing 600 words about the dude. I have literally added him to by MS Word Dictionary. This coming from a guy from whom the name Zydrunas Ilgauskas comes trippingly off the tongue.
Spellcheck has made the strongest possible case for a rotation spot. I’ve been a doubter, but I want to see him play.
Amir on the other hand… It might take half the season for him to overcome his fouling tendencies. I have no problem with this, since it will cost us all of 1-2 regular season games, but will Curry be tempted to prove his hard-nose bonafides by benching him?
Amir had 6 fouls in 15 minutes?!
I haven’t been around the internet this past month but i saw the stats from the cavs game and felt good he didn’t foul out.
Is this a glich or is he still having foul problems?
somebody please calm me down
He had three fouls in the first six and a half minutes alone — that was frustrating. His sixth foul seemed a bit ticky-tacky from my angle, but I didn’t see the replay.
The two previous games proved that he’s capable of playing extended minutes without always fouling, but this game suggests it’s going to be a learning process.
That said, I’m not sure fouling a lot is a bench-able offense, especially if you’re otherwise productive and only expected to play 20 minutes in the first place. It was under Flip, but it never made sense to me.
“I’m not sure fouling a lot is a bench-able offense” - I agree. It depends on what those fouls do. Do they intimidate gaurds and bigs in the lane? Is Amir fouling while swatting shots? There’s such a thing as good fouls.
I think it proved actually why he needs to start and why maxiell is coming off the bench. Amir plays better with the starters on the floor… i feel that he fouls less than… just my observation… especially when he’s playing with sheed
maxiell on the other hand has more experience than amir and can hold his own, even coming off the bench and playing with the likes of stuckey and afflalo… it will come for amir, but for now he’s best served being surrounded by veterans on the floor who can take some of the pressure off of him
oh and also… should be noted that amir had 7 rebounds in his 15 minutes of action… consider that the next leading rebounder was maxiell with 8, but he played less than half of the time (15 minutes compared to 36 min)… and he shot 50% from the field and had only one turnover… more impressive was his defensive rebounding… 6 out of his 7 were defensive rebounds…. flip always said he felt maxiell and amir only did the offensive rebounding but needed to work on the defensive end (maxiell had 6 offensive rebounds to two defensive ones last night)… so it’s nice to see that amir is working on his defensive rebounding and continues to shoot a high percentage whether he takes a lot of shots or not (last night he only took 4)… the fouling has already improved minus last night, but as i said in my previous post im sure as he plays more time on the floor with the starters it wont be as big of an issue
Amir is going to have troubles because guys are going to be driving on him to take him out of the game by drawing fouls.
He’s getting better, but young guys have issue with physical post play because they get battered around and then feel like they can get away with ticky tack fouls because their man is banging them down low
How about 3-18 by stuckey? Only went to line 3 times, too. didn’t watch, but that’s not the kind of performance that’s making me think he could handle starting. Sounds like way too many jump shot, or that he isn’t able to finish at the hoop. Only preseason, but that stood out the most to me.
Amir and Stuckey are going to have some bad games like last night, but they’ll also have some very good games like the night before in Cleveland. The more PT they get in the regular season, the more consistent they’ll be come playoff time.
I agree, Matt. Flip hyper-emphasized fouls and turnovers, though the latter emphasis helped shape our offensive identity.
But most coaches are frustrated by fouling, and most subscribe to the ridiculous notion that it is important to bench players once they get two fouls. It is debatable whether the practice makes sense at all, but certainly it doesn’t make sense in Amir’s case.
Craig- I only watched the second 1/2 & never would have guessed HotRod’s stat line was so poor. He didn’t stand out to me offensively, but he was aggressive on D and I thought he out played Bibby.
Some other things that stuck out (no pun intended)- Amir still has poor tempo & awareness (he almost fumbled a wide open dunk b/c he 2 hand slammed the single dribble drop step) Afflalo is solidifying himself as my favorite piston (he’s a big part of why I’m on the rip’s trade bait wagon). AA got caught defending Marv Williams in the post & made what should have been a mismatch look like a defensive assignment. Detroit’s bench outplayed most of the Atl’s starters in the 3rd.
ATL- Bibby looked lazy. I’m real happy Stucky’s a stone & Acie’s a hawk.
Go Blue! (its obnoxious, I know) Just representing even when were down
Great preseason - everyone important is relatively healthy
Isiah Thomas overdoses on sleeping pills. Check out the headlines folks.
http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/isiah.thomas.overdose.2.848132.html
Overall Stuckey had a good pre-season. I need consistency though. We don’t need 18 pts one night and 8 the next. Just consistently give me 13 pts. Amir has a lot to learn. All teams have to do is take it to the rack and they can almost be assured to get him in foul trouble. Once he learns good defense is more than just trying to block every shot. It also involves denying position, not letting a guy get to his favorite spot or allow him to get comfortable and shoot his favorite shot. You can’t block every shot and if Amir thinks trying to block EVERY SINGLE SHOT is good defense, he’s kidding himself. I mean it takes more than jumping to attempt to block every shot to be considered a good defensive player. Timing is very important. Ben’s and Olajuwon’s timing was ridiculous. Maximus gave about what you expect from him. Now Mr. Afflalo. Wow. He’s really impressed me this summer and preseason. That kid needs 15 mins a game. Period. Find him some darn minutes somewhere. I love that kid!!!
Yeah E-Dub! Welcome to the Afflalo love fest (disclaimer-loving his multiple dunks last night(one of them being reverse style) isnt grounds for admission). You cant play tough defense like he does on a “defensive first” team and not see regular minutes. Oh, and anyone that can make me forget he went to UCLA must be doing something right.
ZEEEEK! I’m OD’ing on sleeping pills right now just from reading about him.
“Amir has a lot to learn. All teams have to do is take it to the rack and they can almost be assured to get him in foul trouble. Once he learns good defense is more than just trying to block every shot. It also involves denying position, not letting a guy get to his favorite spot or allow him to get comfortable and shoot his favorite shot”
E-Double…I don’t know if you saw the Cleveland and/or Dallas games, but Amir played nothing like he did last night. He guarded Dirk (held him to 5-13) the whole time he was in (19 minutes) and only fouled once. In the Cleveland game he only fouled twice in 23 minutes. Both teams tried to post Amir up but he did a very good job of denying them position and making the entry pass very difficult.
He still has a lot of work to do to become more consistent, as last nights game shows, but I definitely feel the guy is making progress. With a consistent 20 mpg I would expect his fouling rate to be much improved by the end of the year.
The good thing is that Amir is seeing different players every night. He has to step up and guard someone who might be a banger, or more of a finesse guy, or whatever, and that’s the experience he needs. Just going up against real live competition is going to get him in good shape for the second half of the season.
@craig: actually i’m not worried about a bad shooting night. everyone can have one of those. you can’t expect players to give their average ppg every night. but getting 6 fouls in 15 mins? you have to really work for that one.
It’s like Rodman’s free throw percentage - he really had to work on not caring about it to get it that low (well shaq did it as well but he really seemed to try…)
I love this board.
You go over to MLive, the sky is falling, we’ll have trouble making .500, Curry’s a failure, AJ’s window of development is over/nonexistent, we’re old, Stuckey’s a non-stop bricklayer, etc.
It’s like 45 HBs posting over there.
The Detnews board is basically people swearing at each other, and not even arguing over the team.
-”Shut up!”
-”You shut up!”
Walter fouled out in 14 minutes, beating out Amir in a photo-finish. But I kid because I love.
considering it was the kids outplaying the hawks regulars i thought it was a solid finale.
i think spellcheck has made quite a statement this preseason. the statement being “i am really good and am ready to make the next step and you’d be damn foolish not to give me 15 minutes a night.”
“Amir has a lot to learn. All teams have to do is take it to the rack and they can almost be assured to get him in foul trouble. Once he learns good defense is more than just trying to block every shot. It also involves denying position, not letting a guy get to his favorite spot or allow him to get comfortable and shoot his favorite shot”
==============================
From todays Detroit News
Amir Johnson fouled out in 15 minutes.
“That was the Amir from summer league,” Curry said. “He hadn’t practiced that way or played that way since. He just wasn’t focused tonight.”
I said we were giving some of the starters the night off and maybe he thought that meant him. We told him that he doesn’t have the luxury to have a day like that. But he will regroup.”
MC clearly has a sense of humor though I don’t think he was laughing the way that Amir played last night.
At this point in his career he can’t take any nights or even quarters off. He hasn’t earned the vacation time. In fact from sitting on the bench for most of 3 years he is way in the negative when it comes to taking nights off.
Thanks Jim. Good to know that Amir played much better the few previous games and the Atlanta game was an exception to the rule. I can’t wait to see him play though. I’m in the ATL and haven’t seen any preseason games. Thank God the season is right around the corner. Literally. Amir, Max, Stuck, AA, make me proud guys. Your development needs to be the difference for us this year. Hell, it has to be actually. I predict between 55-60 wins. But thats like picking Barrack to win the election at this point
. Can you guys believe the season is finally here. OMG, its been a long 4-5 months. Lets go Pistonsssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
p.s. Did you guys run Lawyer Boy and PG4L off? I haven’t seen them lately.
Personally, I’d use limit Prince’s minutes and try a lineup with Rasheed at SF, Amir at PF, Cheikh and Kwame at C.
New on NBA Gauntlet- Tayshaun Prince vs. Luol Deng. Who’s better?
http://www.nbaguantlet.com.