I hit up YouTube a little bit ago hoping to find a good video from a fan who attended last night’s game. Instead, I got what’s above. The audio sucks and the focus is blurry. It’s so bad, in fact, I almost didn’t post it. But I thought about it a second, and you know what, who cares? I can see enough to understand what’s going on, and I can hear enough to get a feel for what the atmosphere felt like. A blurry, muffled video is better than no video at all.
If you watched the game, you might already know where I’m going with this, but last night’s game was like the video above: it was ugly. The Pistons shot 44% against a bad team and waited until the final minutes to put the nail in the coffin, despite the fact that the Pacers were missing Mike Dunleavy, last year’s second-leading scorer, due to injury. But c’mon, we waited all summer and into the fall to get that Game 6 loss out of our collective mouth, an ugly win is still a freaking win!
Plus, unlike in years past, this year’s squad has handy ready-made excuses that are actually valid: namely, adjusting to a new head coach, new offensive sets and new rotation. And when you look at the progress made in each of those areas, well, there’s nothing really to complain about. Michael Curry did a solid job managing his roster, playing 11 guys before halftime and giving 10 players at least 14 minutes on the night.
Remember how he promised Tayshaun Prince would be more assertive? He wasn’t lying: Tay led the team in points (19) and attempts (15). (Of course, the questions remains: can he do this and play tough defense? Danny Granger lit it up for 33 points on just 16 shots.)
Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups are as rock solid as they come, but they shot 5-13 apiece while Rip turned the ball over five times. That’s not going to happen most nights, and when they bounce back the team’s shooting percentage will climb. Rasheed Wallace shot 4-11, but hey, that’s better than the 23.6% he shot in the preseason, right? Besides, he gets a pass in my book simply for starring in this awesome picture.
What about the crowded frontcourt? The Amir McMax PF Monster combined for 21 points, 15 boards and five blocks (albeit in 58 minutes). Amir Johnson tallied just a single foul, and all three of his makes were from at least 18 feet out:
Eat it, Asst. Coach Negative Nancy. Turns out the guy’s range extends to more than just above the rim.
Arron “Snowflake/Showbe/Spellcheck” Afflalo did his job as a defensive stopper (three steals) and also flexed a little range himself with one triple. After watching him shoot just .208 from beyond the arc as a rookie, seeing him tear it up (7-of-10) through eight preseason games + one regular season game is a little exciting. This is somewhat of a fluke (he’s not going to shoot 70% all season, duh) but it’s probably also the result of tens of thousands of jump shots he took this summer. If he keeps bringing that defense and becomes a legitimate threat from three-point land, he’ll be starting one of these years.
Okay, time to rein it back in — the excitement and “newness” of the season has me getting a little ahead of myself. But that’s the joy of opening night. Basketball is back.
I agree that we should have whooped the Pacers but you know what everybody got good minutes in and I think that was the plan going into this game. I’m sure Curry was like, “Hey Indiana shouldnt be a problem so lets get everybody in the game and go from there.” It will be different team to team and it was the first game so the rust is coming off from the pre-season. I’m very excited about this year and dont think we should have any problem tearing off 55+ wins.
God I love this team. “From the gritty city of Compton!”
From the getdown playground of Philly
“Basketball is back.”
You got that right, I don’t know why but this year feels different than from previous years. And it is exciting.
With game 1 in the books, we still have a chance at winning the rest of the 81 games played this regular season.
Indiana is just good enough that they don’t quite completely suck. They’re a fringe playoff team, and we can’t expect to beat every team at that level by 30. We controlled the game, never gave up the lead, and definitely was the team that deserved to win.
One thing that stuck out to me was a clip of the Pistons-Pacers from 2003. Gee, Larry Bird sure has done quite a job with that team!
Also, I think I’m scared of the Lakers. What’s that? Portland and the Clippers should be greatly improved? Yikes. I’m not worried about Boston or Cleveland, I think they’re both around the same level as us, but LA…
No mention for Hermann?
And yes, the Lakers look scary. Bynum doesn’t seem to have lost a step coming back from his injury and he gives them a whole new look.
They’re playing more aggressive defense too. If they can develop a consistency in that level of intensity. They’ll win it all.
Does anyone know what percentage of shots taken last year were three pointers?
Last night the Pistons took 91 shots, only 13 were tramps.
I kind of felt like I was watching another pre-season game. Everybody played good minutes, the starters didn’t put up all the points, and the entire second quarter was, to me at least, the Walter Herrmann show. At least we know that the bench is capable of scoring, and I think Arron Afflalo looked phenomenal, both on defense and then also on offense. He was assertive, looked to make things happen, and he just looked more comfortable on the floor (compared to last season, when he just roamed around looking for the occasional open jumper).
Overall a nice victory, but I’m looking forward to a game where Curry tightens up the rotation a bit.
I see where you’re going with that, QD. Less three pointers, including from my man Sheed. While he didn’t score very well, most of his shots were post-ups. He was playing like LB was coaching. I likes it.
QD: yeah, I should have mentioned Herrmann — he was great last night. Between him and Snowflake, I’m suddenly *very* comfortable about the backup SF spot.
QD: 20% of their shots were 3s last season. This is actually pretty mild compared to some other teams.
i´m scared of jordan farmers legs
Hopefully Spellcheck can blossom into Bruce Bowen with less of the “dirty player” accusations. Play defense, hit wide open jumpers and you will make a considerable amount of money playing basketball for quite a long time.
What are all the intro lines? That’s ‘Sheed and Amir but I can’t think of the others off the top of my head.
Finally some real basketball!! Love the win, didn’t see it but the box score looks impressive. Rip, Chauncey and Sheed’s shooting sucked, but we won. It’s great Amir has developed a little jumper but before I start doing cartwheels about that, don’t we have enough damn jump shooting big men? Get your ass on the block young man and develop a jump hook or something. Go Stones!!!!!!!!!!
Herrmann did play a tremendous game, but I was more impressed with Snowflake, even though he only put up half the points. He just looked more relaxed and he’s starting to develop that Pistons swagger that we have seen with the starters, Maxiell, and ‘Dice.
Maxiell signed his extension. 4 years, $20 million.
Wait, we’re calling Afflalo “Snowflake” now? Snowflake is the nickname of someone’s prison bitch. No dice.
As far as the game goes. We matched the spread against an average team with our reserves logging 1/3 of the minutes. I have no problem with this. Also, Amir was brilliant. Jeff Foster has killed us in the past, but not tonight.
Not feeling the negative vibes here.
@E-Double - Amir was on the perimeter to set a pick. He rolled, the Pacers doubled the ballhandler, didn’t rotate, and left him wide open. And the crowd goes wild.
Another thing I noticed was when Amir and Dyess were out there at the same time, we battled for every offensive rebound. There’s a lot of springs in those two fellas’ legs.
Max signs an extention!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AvqkYDPt2uLASCI3KH4CFCo5nYcB?slug=ap-pistons-maxiell&prov=ap&type=lgns
Maxiell signs extension! 4 years, $20 million (all guaranteed).
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/10/30/jason-maxiell-changes-mind-signs-extension/
@Shinons: Thanks for the info, good to know. I would hate to have an entire team of jump shooting big men. Can’t wait to see my first game this year.
They all count baby!
Sure it wasn’t what I’d hope for vs an adjusting Pacers team I expect us to kill later in the year but honestly, winning game 1 at home is good enough for this fan.
Things will sharpen up quickly..