Detroit Bad Boys

On most days, the drive to the Palace takes me about an hour, give or take a few minutes depending on traffic. But after spending more than an hour in the car on Sunday, I had traveled all of 15 miles before accepting defeat and conceding to Mother Nature. Believe me, I really wanted to get to the game — I was eager to see newcomers Primo Brezec and Walter Herrmann, and besides, the Warriors are always fun to watch — but I just didn’t have the stomach to continue fishtailing through turns and sliding through red lights.

Live to fight another day, right?

It seems I wasn’t the only person who adopted that attitude. No, I’m not talking about how the Palace was literally half empty, but rather Don Nelson throwing in the towel soon after halftime. After Detroit closed the second quarter with a 30-7 lead to give them a commanding 23-point lead at the break, Nelson benched his starters for most of the second half, likely thinking about the fact this game was the first of a back-to-back. From the Contra Costa Times:

“I pulled the plug early on this one,” Nelson said. “You have to think beyond one game sometime. I was going to give the starters five minutes in the third period. If I didn’t see any light, I was pretty much going to play my bench. … I rested the starters, played my bench, got a loss — but we were going to get that anyway. We weren’t playing well enough to beat these guys.”

The second quarter was truly the difference — the two teams were deadlocked with 74 points over the other three frames. The starters looked good (Chauncey Billups scored 19 on five shots, Tayshaun Prince led the team with 23 and Antonio McDyess tallied a double-double) but what really impressed me was the play from the bench.

Just like the first time he faced the Warriors (when he went 14 and 14), Jason Maxiell was an absolute force, scoring 11 with four boards and a career-high six blocks. That, my friends, is a lot of babies. Arron Afflalo also showed up to play, scoring a career-high 11 points with four boards. What’s most impressive but doesn’t show up in the box score is the fact that both Maxiell and Afflalo were on the court during Detroit’s entire 30-7 run in the second quarter.

Amir Johnson has been a bit tentative (on offense, at least) during spot duty in the past, but he quickly got into a groove on Sunday and made the most of his 15 minutes of action: he finished with six points, seven boards, three blocks and a steal. His athleticism and agility is what sets him apart from most players his size, and it was on full display while making several nice hustle plays. From Chris McCosky of the Detroit News:

Johnson made a spectacular block on a lay-in attempt from rookie Brandan Wright. Johnson scored on a putback and then again on a nice lefty-scoop shot in the lane. Later he dived onto the floor to make a steal. He was, to say the least, active.

“Amir, a lot of times he looks like he’s going to make a mistake but he winds up turning the mistake into a great play,” coach Flip Saunders said. “It’s just a matter of him being more consistent. He does a lot of things off instinct, which is good. He just has to understand more about what we are trying to do.”

It’s too bad Saunders’ compliments sounds so backhanded (or am I still sensitive?), but whatever — if Amir keeps playing like that, he’ll force his way into the picture. And it’s obvious that Amir sees Detroit’s recent trade as an opportunity for more minutes:

“I definitely see it as an opportunity,” Johnson said of the trade. “Nazr’s gone and we’ve got two new players who need time to learn our system. I just have to keep playing hard and working hard and maybe I will get some more minutes.”

Even so, it sounds like Amir isn’t against helping the new guys get acclimated. From A. Sherrod Blakely:

Johnson’s growth isn’t limited to how he plays, either. There were moments Sunday in which Johnson was giving Brezec tips on where to be on the floor. That’s usually what Johnson’s teammates do with him.

“I just try to help every dude that comes in,” Johnson said. “I do what Sheed does, try to help guys, mentor guys, even though I am the (youngest).”

Pistons 109, Warriors 87 box score [NBA.com]

The Warriors whupped the Pistons for the second time this season. Just like the first time, the Warriors scored 111 points, though the Pistons were at least able to trim Golden State’s margin of victory from 32 in November to 18 last night. Progress!

The Warriors entered the game third in the league in scoring, and though they were riding a six-game losing streak they were also finally getting their entire lineup healthy, welcoming Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson back into the fold. Davis missed 13 games and Jackson four, but you couldn’t tell from their performance against Detroit. The Pistons, of course, were playing their third game in a row without Rasheed Wallace, who’s thankfully considered probable for Wednesday’s tilt against the Cavs.

Watching the game, it was incredibly obvious when this game was lost. After a Carlos Delfino dunk with just under 90 seconds left in the first half, the Pistons were leading 55-50. After giving up a three-pointer to Jason Richardson, Al Harrington tied the game with 15-footer. One Chauncey Billups turnover later, Richardson put the Warriors up by two with thirty seconds left. And as if that wasn’t enough, Chauncey and Flip Saunders proceeded to each get a technical — Baron Davis hit both shots to put the Warriors up by four. After Rip Hamilton misses a jumper on the other end, Jackson hustled down for a layup with eight seconds left.

That entire exchange happened in less than a minute and a half and it resulted in an 11-point swing against the Pistons. Going from being up five to down six entering halftime clearly rattled Detroit, and all it took was a couple of quick buckets by the Warriors to start the third quarter and the Pistons were facing the dreaded double-digit deficit.

The Pistons were goaded into trying to match the Warriors’ high-tempo style of play, despite the fact Golden State was finally healthy and itching to run. Detroit just couldn’t keep up, certainly not defensively without Rasheed and not offensively on an off-night from the guards (Rip and Chauncey combined for 17 points, 10 assists and seven turnovers, with only one three-point attempt between the two of them). Flip Saunders could only watch from the sidelines as his troops played directly into his counterpart Don Nelson’s game plan. From the Detroit Free Press:

“All of the sudden, we start throwing lob dunks, and we started to try to play like them,” coach Flip Saunders said. “The game changed,” he snapped his fingers, “just like that.”

Instead of slowing the pace, the Pistons tried to keep up.

“That’s my fault,” Billups said. “I saw the tide changing a little bit, and I didn’t step it up or lead the troops, so to speak, and not let it get too out of hand.”

Time and again, the Pistons just failed to finish at the basket — there was a three-possession stretch in the third quarter where they missed two layups and a floater in the paint. The Pistons scored just 16 points in the third quarter as the Warriors extended their lead to 18. By the end of the game, the Warriors finished shooting 54% from the field; Detroit, just 43%. Mission accomplished, Don Nelson.

Tayshaun Prince (18 points) was the only starter to finish with more than 11 points, in part because he and Jason Maxiell (10 points, eight boards, two steals in 33 minutes) were the only starters to play more than 27 minutes. As Natalie pointed out over at Need4Sheed, Saunders waved the white flag entering the fourth: he let Lindsey Hunter, Carlos Delfino and Flip Murray play the entire final quarter and Ronald Dupree more than six minutes. It was a smart move: you may as well limit your losses and save the starters to fight another day, especially with the grueling March schedule the rest of the way.

Lindsey Hunter made the most of his 21 minutes of action, shooting 7-13 (4-7 from beyond the arc) to finish with 20 points. Believe it or not, it was the first time he’s scored 20 in a game since doing it with the Raptors in 2002. Carlos Delfino scored 11 with seven boards in 28 minutes but shot just 5-13 (38%).

If I were to gleam one positive from the game (and it’s difficult to do), I suppose it was encouraging to see how well Maxiell played early in the game. He’s building a solid rapport with Rip Hamilton, who fed him a couple of ripe babies on two vicious dunks in the first quarter. He didn’t block any shots but is still a presence down low, even if he sometimes loses his man on defense.

If you’re a Spartan fan, it may have been somewhat entertaining to see Jason Richardson play well in his homecoming, though personally I’m just happy to see him leave. Richardson clearly had a lot of friends and family in attendance (one of the guys from Golden State of Mind was at the game and ran into J-Rich’s brother in the bathroom…), and he certainly put on a show, especially in the second quarter when he scored 17 of his game-high 29 points.

Fortunately, Rasheed Wallace should be back for Wednesday’s game, which at least will give the Pistons a bit more defense down low. And while dealing with LeBron James is always a handful, the Cavs have suffered through problems of their own on offense, and the Pistons should have the advantage playing a predominantly half-court game.

Or at least one can hope.

Warriors 111, Pistons 93 box score [ESPN]
GameFlow [PopcornMachine.net]
Warriors outrun Pistons for 2nd time this season [Detroit Free Press]
Warriors have Pistons number [Need4Sheed]
Warriors 111, Pistons 93 - We are good at math! [Golden State of Mind]
DBB preview: So that’s who Monta Ellis is …

Right now I have the same attitude about this game recap as I think the Pistons did entering last night’s game: “Alright, let’s hurry up and get this over with.”

Once again, the Pistons opened the game utterly and completely flat. How flat? At the midpoint of the first quarter Detroit was down 23-6, and with a minute left it was 32-12. How does an alleged playoff team go down 20 points in the first quarter? It’s easy to write it off as a fluke, but not when it keeps happening again and again…

Say what you want about Detroit needing time after adding four guys to the rotation, but in the first quarter we’re talking about four starters who have played with each other for almost three years. Detroit’s defense hasn’t been all that great early (or late, for that matter), but I refuse to believe that losing Ben Wallace is hurting this team on offense, too.

Call it lack of focus, call it lack of urgency, I don’t care. All I know is that the first quarter sets the tone for the entire game, and so far this year Detroit has been outscored 178-144 in the opening period, and only once in seven games have they held the lead after 12 minutes.

For the moment, I refuse to get too wrapped up in these early-season losses — like I’ve said before, sooner or later the starters will come around, and as long as the bench keeps producing, we should be in good shape when it does finally come together. But holy crap is where we’re at now frustrating to watch. Continue reading ‘It’s like the tortoise and the hare, only the hare keeps winning’