Leading by just one point a little over half way through the second quarter, I returned home from my night pre-trial class, turned on the game, and immediately witnessed Will Bynum throwing down a thunderous slam dunk over Tyson Chandler that woke the neighbors.
With that, the Pistons offense ignited.
The Pistons ended the second quarter on a 17-7 run, sparked by the Bynum dunk, to go into the locker room with an 11 point lead. They didn't miss a single beat after the break, outscoring the Bobcats 29-12 in the third. Charlie Villanueva outscored the Bobcats himself in the frame with 18 points.
A 28-point lead going into the fourth was enough for the Pistons to coast the rest of the way, but their shooting didn't really fizzle until the the late garbage minutes -- after another Will Bynum dunk. They led by 35 points with eight minutes to go in the game.
Charlie Villanueva led the Pistons in scoring with 30 points on 13-17 shooting in just over 31 minutes. Ben Gordon recorded 22 points on 10-16 shooting. Bynum and Rodney Stuckey each put up 16 points, making that 54 points between the three guards on a scorching 66% shooting.
This was a night where the Pistons really put everything together. They played tough defense, outrebounded the Bobcats, outshot them, and surprisingly, out-assisted them. Detroit had 26 assists on the night, 19 of them coming from Gordon (8), Stuckey (7), and Bynum (4).
More notes and thoughts after the jump:
- The Bynum dunk from the 2nd quarter is somehow still not up on NBA.com as the dunk of the night, but I'll be sure to post it when it is. For now, the 1st half highlights will suffice for now, with the dunk coming near the end: UPDATE: Natalie from Need4Sheed with nifty video work has put Bynum's two dunks together. Head over and check 'em out.
- After the game, Charlie Villanueva said he hasn't seen a guy that small "dunk like that in a long time." He must have missed Nate Robinson in the slam dunk contests, but Bynum definitely brought every Pistons fan out of their seats with his two dunks tonight. Very impressive for the little fella'.
- Congratulations to DaJuan Summers who scored his first bucket in his NBA career. He scored with about a minute left in the game. He ended the game with two points, two rebounds, an assist, and a turnover in just over 10 minutes.
- Ben Wallace All-Star watch: 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, and 3 assists in 30 minutes.
- Once the Pistons made their 2nd quarter run, they were shooting above 60% for most of the rest of the game. They finished the game at 56%, but that's due to a drop off during garbage minutes.
- Bynum wasn't the only one with a dunk highlight. Check out this alley-oop from Ben Gordon to Jonas Jerebko:
- Bobcats shot just 27% from beyond the arc and were 44% overall. I know it's the Bobcats, but Detroit's defense continues to surprise. Perhaps I'll be issuing a mea culpa soon if they keep this up.
- Detroit gets to the .500 mark at 4-4 and will travel to Washington for a game on Saturday. Tip off is at 7:00 PM EST.