Wednesday's trade that sent Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to the Grizzlies was greeted with surprised celebration among DBB readers -- enough so that the expected loss to the Pacers was a distant afterthought.
Then again, most of us didn't travel to Indianapolis, buy a ticket right next to the players' tunnel, and wear our lucky Kentucky Wildcats t-shirt under a Prince jersey only to be confused by Prince's absence during pregame warmups ... and then have our "shucks, guess I don't need this anymore" look on our face caught on camera as we take the jersey off upon learning of the trade.
Or at least, that's what I'm guessing happened here:
Most depressing GIF ever? It has my vote.
Prince's ex-teammates seemed to be just as distracted early in the game, missing their first eight shots (including a pair of free throws) before getting on the board. The Pacers led by as many as nine points in the first quarter and extended that lead to 18 in the second quarter. After holding serve in the third, the Pistons trailed by as many as 23 in the fourth, ultimately allowing the Pacers to cruise to a 98-79 victory.
To be fair, this was never supposed to be a win -- the Pacers have lost three times on their home court all year, while the Pistons were on the wrong end of a back-to-back, and that was before they dealt two rotation players hours before tipoff.
The good news is that Andre Drummond continued to do Drummond-y type things, scoring only four points but grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking three shots in just 24 minutes. For a teenager coming off an 18 and 18 performance (and a cold!), that's damn impressive. Young Andre shot just 2-10 from the free-throw line, which is bad even for him, but still, those eight points wouldn't have made a difference in this trainwreck.
By our unofficial count, he played roughly 12 and a half minutes with Greg Monroe, during which time the Pistons scored exactly as many points (21) as they gave up. In a game in which the Pistons trailed by double-digits for much of the way, that's a huge accomplishment.
As for the rest of the team, Rodney Stuckey returned to the starting lineup but felt the urge to attempt six three-pointers. He should stop doing that; he made one. He needed 16 attempts to finish with 14 points. Monroe led the way with 18 points, adding nine boards.
I'd continue, but, hell, wouldn't it be more fun to hang out in the trade StoryStream? Yes, it would be. See you there!
Pistons vs Pacers coverage | Indy Cornrows