What Happened:
The Heat got it going from downtown, and the Pistons got it going from nowhere at all. Detroit turned in one of its most anemic offensive performances in, well, days I guess. The team shot 39% from the field, made only one three pointer (in four attempts), and made only 12 of 19 free throws.
Worse, and extremely uncharacteristic of this team, the Pistons were destroyed on the boards. Miami grabbed 52 rebounds the Detroit's 25, even though Detroit missed only two more shots. Nobody on the Pistons managed to grab more then four rebounds.
More gory details? Charlie V. led all Piston scorers with 15, and only after dropping six points in the meaningless final three minutes. Had he sat, the Pistons would have topped out at 10 a piece from Gordon and Tayshaun Prince. Dwyane Wade played only 24 minutes, and managed to take down 22 points anyway. Joel Anthony outplayed all of the Pistons big men combined.
The Good:
Ben Gordon had 10 points on six shots in only 13 minutes, yet came up -14 for the game. Wow.
The Bad:
Rodney Stuckey, Chucky Atkins, Kwame Brown, Jason Maxiell, and Austin Daye combined for five points, four rebounds, and five assists on 1-10 shooting and 3-8 free throws in 73 minutes. In related news, the Pistons don't have anyone in the all star game this year.
The Phil Hubbard Unsung Hero:
The Takeaway:
Joe Dumars recently remarked that he would be hesitant to make a trade without knowing what he's got. We're starting to get a picture of what he's got. Flatly, these are the types of losses reserved for bad teams.