Running late, not time for a proper preview, but the Grizzlies are at the Palace. Check out my thoughts at HOOPSWORLD, and of course, leave your thoughts in the comments.
Archive for the 'Grizzlies' Category
Here’s to hoping Darko Milicic shows some of that same fire and grit in tonight’s game against the Pistons. (I’m not saying I want the Grizzlies to actually win, but I’d at least like to see Darko play well.) As for the Pistons, they may be without Rasheed Wallace, who’s feeling ill. If he does play, says Sherrod Blakely, he’ll come off the bench.
I’m still on the road so I won’t be able to watch this one, so help me out and keep the comments lively tonight, eh?
The Pistons had an odd weekend. Rasheed Wallace sat out both games as a precaution, and his teammates were only able to muster a split on their brief two-game road trip through Miami and Memphis.
First, the Miami game.
Dwyane Wade is still sidelined indefinitely, but Shaquille O’Neal exerted more energy on Friday than he did for the entire month of February. Without Rasheed in the lineup, Flip Saunders moved Chris Webber to the four and started Dale Davis at center. The intent, I’m guessing was to use Davis’ muscle to slow Shaq down.
Unfortunately, it didn’t come close to working: Shaq simply abused Davis (and later, Nazr Mohammed) to the tune of 16 points and 12 boards before halftime. As MJD wrote on the FanHouse:
He had almost the entire arsenal back. He had the spin moves working, he had the (sort of) jump hook working, he definitely had the push-off working … the Pistons frontcourt was powerless.
I’m not sure I agree with the decision not to double-team. It semi-worked in the past, but that was when Detroit not only had Ben Wallace but also needed to worry about Dwyane Wade … and obviously neither was the case on Friday. Clearly having Rasheed help out in the post would have helped slow the bleeding, but the performance of the other big men was a little disappointing when you think that conventional wisdom says the only reason Joe Dumars didn’t trade Davis or Mohammed at the deadline was because of a potential meeting with Shaq in the playoffs. But I digress …
Despite heading into halftime with a 19-point deficit (28% field goal shooting will do that…), the Pistons made a game of it in the third quarter by holding the Heat to just 11 points while scoring 26. They had their chances late in the game in the fourth, but a combination of cold shooting, generous (generous) officiating in Shaq’s favor and a little bit of sloppy late-game execution on Detroit’s part allowed the Heat to hold onto victory.
Don’t put too much weight into this game, especially as some kind of indicator for future success should the Heat manage to stumble into the playoffs and face the Pistons in a seven-game series. For one, this was Shaq’s best game of the season by far, and he just doesn’t have a whole lot of these types of performances left. And secondly, the Pistons were not only without Rasheed but also without Chauncey Billups for the first three quarters.
Not literally, of course, but Billups’ 0-for-11 performance through the first three frames was very uncharacteristic. With even an average performance in the first half, the Pistons probably could have emerged with a win. They didn’t, of course, but I’m not altogether unhappy about the Pistons having a bad taste in their mouth the next time they face the Heat at the Palace (which, incidentally, I will be attending, and hope you will be, too).
Then, the close call in Memphis.
After shooting 37.5% on Friday, the Pistons came back with a 48% performance on Saturday. Of course, this came against the Grizzlies, one of the worst defensive teams in the league, and a squad who also played the night before and entered the game without a single win all season on the second half of a back-to-back series. But hey, a win is a win, right?
After a putrid 2-14 night in Miami, Chauncey rebounded with a team-high 19 points (5-11 shooting) and nine assists. Rip Hamilton finished with 12 points, in part because he failed to get to the free-throw line even once. Jason Maxiell started in place of Rasheed, but he failed to make the most of the opportunity with three turnovers and four fouls (to go with five point and two boards) in 12 minutes.
The Pistons established an early lead but let it slip away early in the third quarter. On the heels of an 8-0 run with less than five minutes left in the game, the Pistons pulled ahead for good. Tayshaun, more than anyone, helped put this game on ice, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the final seven minutes, including a pair of three-pointers which kept Detroit safely in front.
As little as there is to be gained from a win against the Grizzlies, a loss on the heels of Friday’s game would have been extremely disappointing, so it’s only fair to give the Boys in Blue their due credit. The Pistons return home for a quick two-game home stand this week against the Warriors on Monday and Cavs on Wednesday before heading out West on a five-game trip. With any luck, they’ll have their regular starting lineup intact, though Rasheed Wallace’s situation appears to be day-to-day.
Heat 85, Pistons 82 boxscore [ESPN]
DBB game thread: Fall down seven, get wheeled off eight?
GameFlow [PopcornMachine.net]
The Pistons travel to Memphis tonight to face inflatable Pau Gasol and the Grizzlies. Ball tips at 8pm on FSN — as usual, leave your game thoughts in the comments.
Blue over Green: Pistons 101, Celtics 88
It took six quarters, but the Pistons finally grabbed hold of their first lead of the season when Tayshaun Prince opened the third quarter with a fast-break dunk. Within minutes Detroit pulled away for good. Compared to the season opener, it was like night and day, especially when it comes to protecting the ball: Detroit finished with just six turnovers, 16 fewer than Wednesday. They also allowed just 34 points in the paint, less than half of their total from the opener.
But something else was different for Detroit after six lackluster quarters to open the season: Rasheed Wallace finally showed up. He had no points in the opener and just two in the first half on Friday, but in the final two quarters he scored 16 to help Detroit put this game well out of reach. When he’s into the game — not just in the game, but actually into the game — this is a completely different team.
Other observations:
- Another very solid night for Nazr Mohammed: 14 points, eight boards and two blocks in 22 minutes. That’s efficiency, people.
- Antonio McDyess, who had just two points in the opener, shot 4-9 to finish with eight in 27 minutes on Friday. Perhaps more importantly, he was once again active on the boards with a team-high 10 boards.
- Flip Murray: 22 minutes, 0-5 from the field, zero points. Carlos Delfino: 15 minutes, 1-2 from the field, four rebounds, no turnovers. Sigh.
- Rip Hamilton led the way with 27 points. More on him below.
As for the Celtics, I surprised with how Wally Szczerbiak kept finding a way to score down low. He finished with 18. On the other hand, he also had six turnovers, so it’s not like he was really carrying the Celtics. Also, point guard Sebastian Telfair started but was outshined by rookie Rajon Rondo — I’ll be surprised if they don’t switch roles by the end of the year.
Last but not least: Boney is right. Sadly, Delonte West wasn’t even born very ugly — he did it to himself with all those ill-advised neck tattoos. (Not the best shot, but here’s a partial view.) Be careful heckling him, though: as a rule, it’s not a good idea to mess with someone whose idea of a good time is having someone else repeatedly stab his neck with a needle. And ladies: if rich guys with neck tattoos are you thing, well, Delonte is lonely and looking for love.
Pistons tame Grizzlies: Detroit 95, Grizzlies 86
The Pistons lost the first quarter yet again but pulled away at halftime with a dominating second quarter. Things got a little tight in the second half — the Grizzlies briefly tied the game in the fourth quarter — but a 14-3 run to finish the game allowed Detroit to put the game on ice.
Five players scored in double figures, which is all the more impressive when you realize that did not include Chauncey Billups or Antonio McDyess. Billups, saddled with five fouls on the night, struggled with just seven points on 1-9 shooting from the field. However, he still got the job done getting everyone else involved as he finished with 10 assists and just one turnover.
McDyess played just 13 minutes in part because of four fouls, and he missed both of his field-goal attempts. Fortunately, the rest of the bench picked up the slack as Jason Maxiell scored 13 (5-9 shooting) in 20 minutes. Detroit missed McDyess’ rebounding (Maxiell had just two) but Detroit still won the battle of the boards with a 40-36 advantage.
Other quick observations:
- Nazr Mohammed, yet again the model of efficiency: 13 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks in 22 minutes. Whoa, deja vu.
- Like Maxiell, Carlos Delfino was active off the bench: seven points (3-6 shooting) with two rebounds in 16 minutes.
- Flip Murray only scored four but played his best game of the year with efficient shooting (2-3 from the field) and five assists in 21 minutes.
- Lindsey Hunter, who entered the season dangerously close to being pushed out of the regular season rotation, failed to score in 11 minutes of action. In fact, he’s yet to score in 22 minutes overall this season. Granted, he’s only attempted four shots, but still… he’s making it easy for Flip Saunders should Saunders decide to shorten things up.
- Rasheed Wallace, who scored just five points in the first three quarters, earned his third technical of the season after arguing a foul call early in the fourth. Fortunately, instead of compounding his errors by pursuing it further, he channeled his inner rage and took it out on the Grizzlies: he scored 10 more points the rest of the way to finish with a respectable 15 and 13 boards. You know what I liked best about his scoring? He only attempted one three-pointer (he missed) and went 7-8 with the rest of his attempts. Wallace has already indicated that he knows he can’t drift beyond the arc as much this year without Ben down low, so hopefully we’ll see more games like this.
I’ve already mentioned this at least once before, but this time I crunched a few numbers so bear with me: Rip Hamilton made a conscious attempt to establish his range last year, and as a result he led the NBA in three-point shooting by hitting 45.8% of his attempts. The downside, though, was just 3.8 free-throws per game — his lowest average since his rookie year when he was playing fewer than 20 minutes a game.
In three games this year, Hamilton has made a conscious attempt to drive the lane, and as a result he’s already attempted 23 free throws, hitting 20 of them (he went 6-6 on Saturday). That’s an average of 7.6 free-throw attempts per game. Why is that important? Because in three games he’s been able to average 25.3 points per game on just 16 field-goal attempts. To put that in perspective, he averaged 20.1 ppg on 16.5 field-goal attempts last year. Obviously, a huge caveat: sample size. But if he keeps going to the hole, he could easily average a very efficient 24 (or more) points per game. Start paying attention to his free-throw attempts when you look at the box score, this should be interesting.
Pistons 101, Celtics 88 box score [ESPN]
Pistons 95, Grizzlies 86 box score [ESPN]
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