A little less than a year ago, the Pistons were shamed on their home floor when they scored a franchise low 64 points against one of the worst defenses in the NBA, the Toronto Raptors. Last night, the Toronto Raptors futile defense was exposed, but ultimately the Raptors did IT again to the Pistons on their home floor, as they mounted their biggest comeback in franchise history--from 25 points down--to beat the Pistons, 120-116,
It looked as though the Pistons offensive talent was finally shining, or at least taking advantage of a porous defensive team, as they scored an astronomical 72 points in the first half; 43 of them (!) coming in the second quarter (on 15-25 shooting with 10 assists). But, once again, the second half was lackadaisical and had the all-too-familiar feeling of yet another Pistons collapse. The Pistons entered the 4th quarter with a 16-point lead, but it almost felt like a deficit (from my perspective). Sadly, given the complacency they showed in the third quarter, and knowing how this season has gone so far, it honestly felt like the Pistons would find a way to lose.
Ugh, and they freaking did.
The Raptors continued their hot shooting (above 60% all game) through the fourth quarter and the Pistons scored just 17, making for a difference of 20, and a final difference of four, in favor of the Raptors at the end of 48 minutes. Although there was still over a minute remaining, Jerry Bayless' three-pointer to give the Raptors a 113-110 lead was the kiss of death.
Hilarious and unfunny, both at the same time.
A loss like this brings out far too many knee-jerk emotions, so it'd be unfair to start pointing any fingers other than the middle one, right? I have a pretty good idea where the blame starts and where it doesn't end, but I'll save that for a time after some sleep has been had (right after I curl up into the fetus position and have a good cry session...again).
- In addition to the Pistons terrific second quarter, veteran Ben Wallace's career high 23 points, 14 rebounds, five steals and four assists were completely and utterly wasted.
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Actually, Kriz says it all:
Assist war? wonRebound war? won
turnover war? wonStuckey with 23 and 12
Big Ben with 23 and 146 players in double figures
Shooting .52%
This team can’t even lose properly.
Jonas, jag älskar dig! Du är vacker.
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Boney makes a funny and Ben Gordon responds (read bottom up):
- Box score
- Roll Call: garrettelliott, handsomerob1, TDP, Roll The Dyess, OK from J, The Boourns, kenshi, bugman222, Kriz, Mike Payne, Grant E., tads, dandresden, Trout Jefferson, Thom_not_Tom, HEY!, madpoopz, heWizard, Fadel, curlyfries, Kevin Sawyer, W. Stones, Toledo Joe, Trysdor, brgulker, Taiwanese Tora, Roco, -PS-, mcflies, Packfill, JumpingBlob, Mac-, Biz Markie Moon
Total Users: 33
Total Posts: 389
Total Threads: 1Name # of Posts Roll The Dyess 48 handsomerob1 40 Trout Jefferson 38 kenshi 38 Kriz 34 madpoopz 29 Thom_not_Tom 24 OK from J 19 tads 17 TDP 17 bugman222 13 The Boourns 12 HEY! 11 Grant E. 10 Fadel 9 Toledo Joe 4 brgulker 3 Mike Payne 3 garrettelliott 3 Biz Markie Moon 2 dandresden 2 -PS- 2 mcflies 1 JumpingBlob 1 Mac- 1 Packfill 1 curlyfries 1 Kevin Sawyer 1 heWizard 1 W. Stones 1 Trysdor 1 Taiwanese Tora 1 Roco 1
