I returned from a nice little vacay tonight and was obviously not boastful about the Pistons chances against the Spurs, but I was not expecting to be greeted so rudely. The Spurs did not miss the bottom of the net for, ohhhhh, nine minutes. 14-14 to be precise. While it was tough on the eyes for hardcore fans just returning home from a brief, Pistons deficient trip, that was a brilliant nine minutes in NBA basketball that may not again be repeated for decades. When Richard Jefferson missed a 25-foot three-pointer to break the streak that was clearly headed for Wilt the Stilt's consecutive field goals made record, the Spurs' announcers let out a chuckle and jested that Jefferson should be released immediately. Seriously, F those F'ing guys.
The Spurs would wind up shooting 81-percent for the first quarter, score a season-high 40 (!), and take (only) a 14-point lead into the second. The rest of the game was mostly Pistons, though! -- just not enough.
You really have to admire the Pistons' effort. A team who had no right being on the same court as the Spurs, fighting for more lottery balls a last playoff spot no, I had it right the first time, more lottery balls and they still didn't roll over after the Spurs had their way with this group in the first quarter. Detroit outscored their cultural cousins 78-71 in the final 36 minutes and even trailed by a mere five points in the final two and a half minutes of the game before the Spurs got serious again and rode Tony Parker and the Spurs brand of basketball to a 111-104 win.
Keep reading, friends. It's not a long one, but most certainly interesting.
- Rodney Stuckey was benched for Tracy McGrady tonight. Good call, Kuester/management/whoever is running this team. Stuckey was only averaging 21 points, eight assists, and six rebounds over his last four games. What's the reasoning behind this move? EVERYONE was joking pre-game that McGrady must've had a few great days of practice and Stuckey not. But, seriously, I'm really curious. All signs lead to Stuckey being a Piston in the future and, as for Tracy McGrady, no-- he will not be back next season. MeanWilllllll, Will Bynum (you know, the guy who signed to a three-year deal this past offseason?) was the odd man out entirely. McGrady played great (15 points, nine assists, seven rebounds), but still, man. C'mon!
- Did you know the Spurs hit their first 14 shots?
- Greg Monroe. You may not have even noticed him if you weren't paying close attention. You probably saw him shake hands at the beginning of the game, and then next thing you knew he had a double-double. 16 and 10 with two steals. He's so sneaky good.
- Speaking of quiet, Jason Maxiell had six and six in 12 minutes. [pulls up calculator from Accessories] That's 18 and 18 per 36! Speaking of not-so-quiet, Charlie Villanueva's three missed three-pointers were probably the loudest clanks I've heard all season.
- Richard Hamilton and IsoTayshaun combined for 36 points on 35 shots. Not young, not bad.
- Spurs were shooting 80-percent at half, 70-percent after three, and finished at 64-percent.
- Ice for Dyess had eight and five in 16 minutes for the Spurs. I tell you, if the Spurs win it all this season, DetroitBadBoys will be alive with celebration for our old pal Tony.
- Box Score
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Total Threads: 1Name # of Posts The Boourns 93 WaveOcean 34 bugman222 33 silverandblack_davis 31 garrettelliott 30 Mike Payne 30 tads 30 Kriz 29 Hipuks 28 Shinons 26 SpursfanSteve 23 Toledo Joe 20 -PS- 16 DrumsInTheDeep 15 Jordan Leithart 13 kenshi 11 heWizard 10 Gabe F-B 8 rbanner 7 Packey 7 jollyrogerwilco 7 Taiwanese Tora 7 Skylar 4 big_p.a.w.z. 3 alaskanpistonsfan 3 MrHappyMushroom 2 spurscitizen 2 gordbrown 1 Trysdor 1 OK from J 1 Trout Jefferson 1 Boney 1 mcflies 1 Colin M 1