Some comments from Monday's game thread late in the fourth quarter:
Ree at 9:56 pm
man this is sooo wrong. we were up 15 but i guess you cant win the game in the first periodJackDutch at 10:00 pm
the knicks better beat the magic or i will be all kinds of pissed.Matt Watson at 10:00 pm
On the bright side … The Black Donnelly’s is about to start.
Then this happened:
And then this happened:
Ree at 10:01 pm
SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!Matt Watson at 10:01 pm
HOLY CRAP!Matt Gibson at 10:01 pm
RASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCEEEEEEEEQ Dog at 10:03
OH MY GOD!!
Of course, the Pistons went on to win in overtime. The meat of my recap is up at the FanHouse, so go read that first. Once you do, I have a few additional notes after the jump.
Rasheed was the hero, of course, but how about the yeoman's effort by Chauncey Billups? He played 47 minutes, scored 34 points and handed out 10 assists. He scored seven of Detroit's last nine points in regulation to keep this close enough for Rasheed's shot to even matter.
Flip Murray had a forgettable game, but most of his struggles seemed to be in the second quarter when it seemed every one wearing white suddenly forgot how to make a crisp pass. Murray finished with 10 points and six turnovers. He didn't score much, but he didn't miss a shot, either: he finished 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from the line. All in all, it's not a horrible night for a guy who had a 103 temp before the game.
Plus, Murray had a hand in containing Denver's starting backcourt: Allen Iverson was held to 16 and Steve Blake didn't score a single point. Granted, J.R. Smith scored 21 off the bench, but it's hard to stop a guy from scoring when he breaks free for a bunch of fast breaks and then goes 5-10 from three-point land.
With Murray and Jason Maxiell both starting, Antonio McDyess was the only guy on the bench who contributed ... literally. He scored all 20 of points bench points with 11 boards. If you haven't been paying attention, Dyess has been playing out his mind lately -- it was his second game in a row with 20 points and his fourth with at least 16. He's averaged nine and a half boards in that span, too.
Jason Maxiell couldn't match his career-high totals from Sunday but he still played well, scoring eight points with five boards, three blocks and two steals in 25 minutes. He was in foul trouble for much of the night but looked liked he belonged when he was on the court. Tayshaun Prince was also nails for the Pistons -- in addition to tipping the in-bounds pass to Rasheed for that last-second shot, he scored 19 with eight boards. He finished with three blocks and two steals.
Rasheed's Prayer is Answered From Beyond Half Court [NBA FanHouse]
Pistons 113, Nuggets 109 box score [ESPN]
Flu-like bug punches Pistons [Detroit Free Press]