What Happened:
Roughly 258 people at the Palace saw the Kings come in and steal one from the Pistons, 103-97, ending the Pistons brief, but fun while it lasted, two game winning streak.
It was a relatively back and forth game. The biggest lead the Pistons had was eight in the first and the Pistons led by just two, one, and one after the first three quarters, respectively. Unfortunately, the Pistons came out on the wrong side of things after the most important, and final, quarter. That's what 7-23 shooting (30%) and just 18 points in the final 12-minutes will do for you, though.
The Kings took advantage of p-poor Pistons defense to shoot 51% from the field (47% from downtown) and score 100 points for their sixth consecutive game. The Pistons 97-point effort was the first time in eight games Sacramento has held their opponent under 100 points (and first time in their last six games under 110).
The Good:
Tayshaun Prince. Emphasis on the strong performance with the trade deadline looming and all -- 23 points on 11-15 shooting and five rebounds. If a trade is going to happen, the Pistons might want to use this game as the selling point and get'er done before Tuesday.
The Bad:
Ben Gordon. In his 430 NBA games, Ben Gordon has failed to make a shot just seven times. One was earlier this year when he missed his only attempt and had to leave the game early due to an injury. Before that it was 2005-2006. The other four were during his rookie season in 2004-2005. The seventh was tonight (0-8). He was awful, but I will say, he needs to be seeing more than 17+ minutes consistently.
Rodney Stuckey's 4th quarter. Before the fourth quarter, Stuckey had 17 points on 4-8 shooting (71 TS%!), seven assists, and two turnovers. He finished with 17 points on 4-13 shooting, nine assists, and five turnovers. For those not very good at math, that means he was 0-5 shooting with three turnovers in the fourth quarter. No thanks.
The Junkyard Dog Unsung Hero:
Jonas Jerebko. He's found himself here, or in 'the good,' more times than not. Constantly hustling and creating problems for opponents, Jonas finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, and one steal (including one really loud dunk).
The Takeaway:
Any momentum the Pistons could have had heading into the All-Star weekend was completely washed away with this loss to a team that was 4-22 on the road coming in. This loss was an annoying wake-up call for any dreamers who actually thought the Pistons had a chance at salvaging the season and making the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Pistons can't play the Nets twice every five days for the rest of the season and even when they were presented with these lowly Kings, they simply couldn't take care of business.
Let's just hope the team does some soul-searching over the All-Star Weekend and comes back Tuesday against the T-Wolves playing with some killer instincts, or any instincts at all that will make this team bearable to watch for the rest of the season.