As previously mentioned, Rodney Stuckey re-joined the team yesterday but for some reason won't be playing. The Warriors, meanwhile, are expected to get Corey Maggette back from a hamstring injury. Most of Golden State's offense is funneled through Maggette (18.5 ppg) and Stephen Jackson (23.3 ppg), so this will be a nice test for Tayshaun to see if he can be aggressive on both ends of the court in the same game.
The Warriors are known for being an extremely athletic up-tempo team, but Andris Biedrins is a double-double machine (16.8 ppg, 14.3 rpg) with a career 60.8% field-goal percentage in the middle. Kwame Brown, making his first start of the season for the Pistons, has his work cut out for him.
I'm curious to see how Rasheed Wallace responds to the switch. So far this year, Rasheed has averaged just 11.4 points (the fewest since his rookie year) and 8.6 boards (the most in his career). If he's sliding to the four, will we see fewer boards and more points?
Despite Curry's promise to get Rasheed on the block more often, 38.7% of his field-goal attempts have been from beyond the arc, his highest rate since camping out behind the line for over 40% of his attempts in 2005-06. If he establishes himself in the post tonight, he could obliterate Brandon Wright. Sadly, I'm guessing he'll interpret the switch as a green light to roam as far as he wants. I hope he proves me wrong.
For those of you still reeling from the big trade, you have to love how TNT is giving us Denver/Cleveland in the early game and Detroit/Golden State for the nightcap. Chauncey Billups vs. Ben Wallace is already underway, and the Pistons should tip-off against the Warriors at 10:30 -- feel free to leave your thoughts on either game in the comments.