Archive for November, 2008

Pistons host Blazers

Published by Kevin Sawyer on November 30, 2008 in Guest Writer, Previews and Trailblazers. 204 Comments

I’ll post some pictures from Friday’s DBB Suite Night later today, but for now here’s a nifty game preview from Kevin. Ball tips at 3 PM on Fox Sports — do your thing in the comments. — MW

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By Kevin Sawyer

Trailblazers: 11-6 (4-6 away)
Margin: +5.1 ppg (2.8 away)
Last 10: 7-3 (margin +11.0)

Pistons: 10-5 (5-2 home)
Margin: +0.9 ppg (+1.0 home)
Last 10: 6-4 (margin -1.9)

Oppo research:

So far, so good for the Blazers, who boast the second best record in the Western Conference. They’re on a roll after dropping the Hornets by 16 on Friday night. Don’t let the road record fool you either; the Blazers are outscoring their opponents by nearly three points per game away from Portland, and have seen little drop-off in production despite a tough road slate.

Coach Nate McMillan uses a deep rotation, with only two starters averaging more than 30 minutes per game. Part of this is a function of necessity – his two centers average 6.4 fouls per game in 44 minutes of play. But Portland has the talent to pull it off. Ike Diogu and coveted rookie Jerryd Bayless have been tethered to the 11th and 12th man spots.

Portland has seen improbable success from a trio of rookies: Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum. They are also shooting a ridiculous 42% from the three point stripe, and Joel Przybilla is shoot 83% from the field. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge will keep doing what they do, but a regression to the mean may well be in order. No time like the present, eh?

Still this is a talented team of dangerous shooters, which keeps fresh legs on the court at all times.

Keys for Detroit:

Keep the ball away from the bigs:

For Oden, this means getting him off the court with foul trouble. For Przybilla, this means exploiting his high turnover rate. Rebounding has been a problem for the Pistons, and we can expect these two to easily win that battle, so the goal is to limit their effectiveness in other areas.

Stop the three:

The Pistons are among the league’s best in making teams put the ball on the floor. While some teams have exploited the Pistons’ lack of help defense, Portland doesn’t have the personnel to make Detroit pay at the free throw line. Let Brandon Roy get his, and make the rest of the guys earn it.

Annex the paint

Portland’s interior defenders are tall, but they don’t defend particularly well. Feeding Sheed, Maxiell, Brown and Amir in the post will take Oden out of the game, opening up the lane for Detroit’s dribble penetration.

Question of the game:

Allen Iverson was very productive in limited minutes. While he will almost certainly take back the starting job after a quick hiatus, Michael Curry had to like what he saw between Iverson and Walter Herrmann. Will we see more of Iverson with the second unit?

Pistons host Bucks

Published by Matt Watson on November 28, 2008 in Bucks and Previews. 168 Comments

DBB is in its fourth season of existence and I still don’t have a solid game preview formula. One thing is for sure, though: BrewHoop does it up right, offering a balanced look at tonight’s Bucks-Pistons game.

I’ll be at the Palace tonight with DBB readers Fadel, TW, Stuck and Tiny watching the game in the Pistons.com suite. I’m all for Michael Curry putting his foot down and benching Allen Iverson for the start of the game, but for the sake of everyone heading out tonight, I hope he gets into the game at some point.

The ball tips at 8 PM on Fox Sports — as usual, leave your thoughts in the comments.

Iverson decides to practice

Published by Matt Watson on November 28, 2008 in From the news. 29 Comments

From A. Sherrod Blakely:

“I don’t have no excuses,” Iverson said. “I apologized to my teammates, first and foremost, coaching staff, the organization and definitely our fans. It’s something that shouldn’t have happened. And it won’t happen again.”

[…] When asked whether it could be a hindrance moving forward, Iverson said, “it can be a problem, especially if it continues. I talked with my teammates. They let me know they’re still with me. I let them know I’m with them. It was just a mistake, something that shouldn’t have happened. I’m totally responsible for it. It’s unacceptable and I have to deal with it, and move on.”

Tayshaun Prince said the team accepted Iverson’s apology and is ready to move on.

“It’s a situation where he (Curry) penalizes you for it, and fines you or whatever, and we’re just going to move on and act like it didn’t even happen,” Prince said. “We’re going to take care of it right then and there, but after that it’s history. And hopefully, y’all do the same thing.”

If it was any other player on the roster who decided to stay home, I wouldn’t care. But the fact remains that the only reason the team needed the practice was to get more familiar with AI. It’s like planning a birthday party for your best friend, and at the last second your friend decides he has other plans. Yeah, you can still have the party and eat the cake, but why bother? Prince gave a diplomatic answer, but when has Prince not given one?

Also, you’ve probably heard talk about Michael Curry levying a “hefty fine” — it’s still being teased in the headline on the front page of ESPN — but it’s not going to happen. Article VI, Section 2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement states:

Section 2. Practices.
(a) When a player, without proper and reasonable excuse, fails to attend a practice session scheduled by his Team, he shall be subject to the following discipline: (i) for the first missed practice during a Season — $2,500; (ii) for the second missed practice during such Season — $5,000; (iii) for the third missed practice during such Season — $7,500; and (iv) for the fourth (or any additional) missed practice during such Season — such discipline as is reasonable under the circumstances.

(b) Notwithstanding Section 2(a) above, when a player, without proper and reasonable excuse, refuses or intentionally fails to attend any practice session scheduled by his Team, he shall be subject to such discipline as is reasonable under the circumstances.

I did the math for FanHouse yesterday:

For a guy who makes nearly $22 million a year, $2,500 is ashtray money — it’s the equivalent of an everyday joe making $40,000 a year being fined $4.56.

In other words, “hefty” = $2,500 = “not hefty at all.” Sure, the Pistons will bench AI for the start of tonight’s game, but even that’s a mere slap on the wrist. Curry left open the possibility that Iverson might not play at all, but why bother? It’s not like the Pistons can withhold a game check ($267,530), so the only people that would actually punish are the 22,076 people in the stands who paid to see AI play.

Iverson lives up to his stereotype so hard it hurts

Published by Matt Watson on November 27, 2008 in From the news. 41 Comments

I saw Skeets’ tweet and figured it was a joke. But no.[1] From A. Sherrod Blakely:

When coach Michael Curry opted to have the Detroit Pistons practice on Thanksgiving, just about every player grumbled about it.

Still, all but one player showed up for Thursday morning’s one-hour practice. The one no-show? You guessed it, Allen Iverson.

Curry made it clear that Iverson’s absence would not go unpunished.

“He’ll be fined, and he won’t start (Friday against Milwaukee),” Curry said. “Whether he plays or not, we’ll make that decision internally.”

Because this is Iverson’s first missed practice with Detroit, he is subject to a $2,500 fine in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the player’s association.

When asked whether he had a chance to speak with Iverson, Curry responded, “I haven’t talked to him. I was at practice today.”

I mean, really? This is just … ugh.

They’ll be time to moralize later; I’m going to eat some more turkey.

Update: The high horse beckoned; my extended take is at das FanHaus:

In fact, I’ll go so far as to say Iverson is the only reason this team needs to put in extra time on a holiday. By skipping practice, he’s slapping his teammates in the face, telling them their time isn’t worth his need for a few hours of extra sleep. There’s no point for this team to practice without Iverson; he’s the lone wild card since the rest of the roster spent hours upon hours and days upon days going through the same drills in training camp that they went through yet again this morning. Going through the motions without Iverson is pointless.

It’s weird: I find this both hilarious and extremely distressing at the same time. (As for DBB reader Rob G’s mad Photoshop skillz, though, those are 100% hilarious.)


  1. In fact, it’s already been discussed parodied for several hours in the Knicks’ game thread.

Poetry in motion

Published by Matt Watson on November 27, 2008 in Alley-Oops. 2 Comments

I’m thankful for animated .gifs. (Yes, I’m a couple of weeks late, but better late than never.)

Pistons host Knicks on Thanksgiving Eve

Published by Matt Watson on November 26, 2008 in Knicks and Previews. 165 Comments

The Knicks are in town, and with a 7-7 record, they’re not the same team everyone laughed at last year. Hell, after trading Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph, they’re not the same team they were last week. You know all those chemistry problems the Pistons have had trying to adjust post-Chauncey? Expect to see a lot of that from the visitors as Mike D’Antoni tries to integrate Tim Thomas and Al Harrington on the fly.

To make matters worse, the Knicks should be extremely short-handed — Cuttino Mobley (heart), Nate Robinson (groin) and Stephon Marbury (sanity) are all sidelined, meaning the only healthy guards the Knicks have available are Anthony Roberson and Chris Duhon. With the Pistons riding a two-game losing streak, this game should taste better than tomorrow’s turkey.

The ball tips at 8 PM on FSN Plus (that’s 901 on Comcast — see here for other cable providers). As usual, leave your thoughts in the comments.

What channel is FSN Plus?

Published by Matt Watson on November 26, 2008 in Alley-Oops and The Media. 2 Comments

The Pistons-Knicks game will be televised on FSN Plus tonight. Where can you find FSN Plus? It depends on your cable provider. Below the jump is a list, courtesy of Fox Sports. Continue reading ‘What channel is FSN Plus?’

Chauncey’s shoes

Published by Matt Watson on November 26, 2008 in Alley-Oops. 1 Comment

Just in case you’re pining for some gold-dipped Chauncey Billups sneakers, here’s your chance to win a pair. As for me, I’m holding out for a pair of custom-made bronze Cheikh Samb’s.

Memo likes Turkey, then turkey

Published by Matt Watson on November 25, 2008 in Alley-Oops and Former Pistons. 0 Comments

From Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune: “Great quote from Mehmet Okur, who was asked if he celebrates Thanksgiving at the pregame shootaround. ‘No we don’t. I like turkey, though,’ he said, before adding. ‘Country first, then bird.’ ”

DBB is macho

Published by Matt Watson on November 25, 2008 in Alley-Oops. 7 Comments

Pistons blogs are macho, though surprisingly, DBB is less manly than Need4Sheed. Figure that one out. (via Henry Abbott)

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