- I didn't get to a recap of Wednesday's win over the Nets as planned, but Natalie from Need4Sheed did, as usual.
- John Schuhmann of NBA.com looks at Wednesday's game as an example of Detroit's offensive efficiency. (courtesy of DBB reader Tim)
- From SLAM's Ben Osborne's Game Notes:
... Pistons trainer Mike Abdenour is nuts. I’ve seen him harangue refs plenty of times, but now his target is the bus company that shuttled the Pistons to the game; apparently, the driver left the arena while the bus still had some players’ belongings on board. He is currently cursing up a storm on his cell phone about this driver. Funny.
- You know how a strong third-quarter effort by the Pistons is becoming routine? Rasheed Wallace says it's by design. From Chris Silva of the Detroit Free Press:
"We don't want it to be close for the refs to try to call some crazy stuff in that fourth quarter. So we've got to go out in that third quarter, no matter if it's the first part of the third or the middle of that. We've just got to try to open up at least a 10-point lead in that third quarter."
- Chauncey Billups elaborates -- from Chris McCosky of the Detroit News:
The Pistons have outscored opponents in 13 out of the last 15 third quarters and haven't allowed a team to score 20 points in five games.
"That's crazy," Chauncey Billups said. "We don't look to lock in like that, but we know that's a critical quarter."
- From the same link as above, Flip Saunders empathizes with Scott Skiles:
Saunders left a message on Scott Skiles ' phone after the news broke Christmas Eve that Skiles had been fired as coach of the Bulls.
"I told him he would be 82-0 if he just played us," Saunders said. "His teams beat up on us pretty good. He took an organization that was on the bottom and made it respectable very quickly."
Seriously -- if Chicago got up for every team like they did Detroit, they'd be giving Boston a run for their money. Instead, they're mired in Lottery-ville.
- Jonathan Feigen, who also writes for the Houston Chronicle, nailed the Pistons' mindset in this recent column for HOOPSWORLD: "Pistons want to be slighted."
- Last but not least, I've received a request for all Portland-based Pistons fans to out themselves in the comments. Between Q-Dog, PDXpistonsfans and piñon lopez, it seems DBB has its share of Rose City residents, so feel free to connect with any others in the comments if you're interested in meeting up to watch a game or whatnot.
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