I don't think I can call a loss in the third game in as many days on the heels of a 32-point embarrassment in another city a tank job with a straight face. This was mostly an ugly product of the NBA lockout mixed in with the team we saw start 4-20.
Even though the Timberwolves were probably the most welcome sight possible given the Pistons' situation, one who knows how rare it is for teams to do well on the back-end of back-to-backs, let alone back-to-back-to-backs, should've known that the Pistons being five-point favorites was maybe a trap, even if it was against a team who hadn't won a game in April since 2009.
There was still some entertainment value in the the fourth quarter, though. One of the freshest Pistons, Will Bynum, almost single-handedly brought the Pistons back from a 23-point deficit in less than eight minutes. The game got as close as five, but there wasn't enough time for Bynum, who scored all of his 17 points during that admirable little run.
The Pistons had no answer for Nikola Pekovic, though, who scored a game-high 23 points. Jose Barea and Anthony Randolph both added double-doubles for the Kevin Love-less Timberwolves to help snap their 11-game losing streak.
- The most important thing! Detroit's still No. 9, but they are only one win ahead of three teams (New Jersey, Toronto and Golden State). Sunday against Toronto is HUGE. Should be a sell out crowd. I'm amped.
- Good to have Tayshaun Prince back. 7-for-17. He was 6-for-12 at the half.
- Monroe was eaten alive by the Montenegrin.
- I thought Charlie V. played some pretty decent defense, actually, and he had 12 rebounds in under 24 minutes -- a game-high!
- Macklin had a really nice block on Pekovic late in the game. He only played 14+ minutes, though.
- Daye with a DNP-CD, rightfully so. If the Pistons were tanking, he would've played.
- Jerebko had his third straight strong game in limited action.
- Knight and Stuckey were a combined 4-for-20.
- The T-Wolves allow opponents to score 100 points per game. So what happened?
- Only thing missing from this stretch was a punt and an interception:
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Roll Call: Packey, The Boourns, Shinons*, bugman222, Kriz, Cynical Jason, blubomber17, Mike Payne, curlyfries, JoeDip, Fadel, Fuad Shalhout, tads, garrettelliott, Supa Dupe, TDP, grantlp13, MSUDersh, brgulker, Bob Mcflallergy, Rban
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Total Threads: 1Name # of Posts Shinons* 11 tads 10 curlyfries 8 Kriz 8 blubomber17 7 Mike Payne 6 grantlp13 5 brgulker 5 Rban 3 garrettelliott 2 The Boourns 2 bugman222 2 Cynical Jason 2 TDP 2 Bob Mcflallergy 1 MSUDersh 1 Fadel 1 JoeDip 1 Packey 1 Fuad Shalhout 1 Supa Dupe 1
"There was a lid on the basket," said Jason Maxiell
Since #Pistons timeout: travel, travel, blocked shot, bad pass, fumbled ball
— Keith Langlois (@Keith_Langlois) April 20, 2012