San Antonio Spurs: 31-22 (12-12 away)
Detroit Pistons: 19-35 (13-16 home)
Oppo Research
The Spurs are on an eight-game road trip that will come to a close after they play the Pistons this evening. And seeing as they are just a .500 team on the road, I'm sure they're just about ready to get back to the Alamo City for the first time since January. They're coming off a tough 12-point loss to the 76ers, so they won't be taking their one-time NBA Finals opponent lightly tonight.
Hanging on for dear life in the 7th seed of the Bestern Conference, the Spurs will be sans Tony Parker ce soir. He is sidelined with a hip flexor injury.
The Spurs play at a snail-like pace similar to the Pistons. A lot of dribble penetration from the likes of Parker and Ginobili lead to countless open threes, which they jack up roughly 18 times per game. Never too many when you hit 37% of them -- 5th best in the NBA. Even without Parker, Pistons fans need to be ready for a healthy dose of those along with more from Duncan and Blair against Detroit's weak front court.
Drama:
With every point, rebound, assist, steal, block, MINUTE, DeJuan Blair logs tonight Pistons fans will cringe, as DaJuan Summers twiddles his thumbs on the pine.
Most importantly, the return of Antonio McDyess to The Palace should result in a very nice ovation from the Pistons faithful. 'Dyess has been nothing but a class act and an extremely hard worker during his solid NBA career, so he definitely deserves a warm welcome back.
Keys for Detroit
Ball movement -- The Pistons win more games than they lose when they have 25+ assists. If they put a big number in that column tonight, they'll win. It's science.
Defense -- Until the Pistons figure this out, it'll be hard to generate winning streaks.
Tony Parker is not playing
Question of the Game
Which Detroit team shows up tonight? I have a feeling we can cut and paste this as the question of the game for the rest of the season - especially with home games.
Valuable Links
Pounding the Rock: Where More Thorough Previews is Not a Shock