Pistons Links: Knicks-Pistons thoughts; every team's New Year's Resolution; NBA attendance figures so far

Knicks 108, Pistons 96: "I can't believe we won this one." -- Posting & Toasting

Long and miserably entertaining recap.

- It struck me tonight that Ersan Ilyasova looked like Iron Balls McGinty from the movie,The Jerk. Then I realized he looked more like Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in a couple James Bond flicks. Kiel, oddly enough, was born in Detroit.

- I've got nothing but love for that classic Van Gundy family exasperation. Stan properly sussed out a plethora of Knicks SLOBs and BLOBs only to watch his players anticipate poorly and react slowly. If they kept stats for the amount of times your coach just threw his hands up or turned on his heel in disgust, the Van Gundy's would be on my Mount Rushmore. In my alternate NBA reality Mount Rushmore is in the Andes and it's Stan and Jeff Van Gundy, Hubie Brown and Luke Walton.

I should note: Robin Lopez and Kyle O'Quinn -- recent topics of trade conversation by several DBB commenters -- were disruptive and efficient with their performances.

When was the last time that could be said about Tolliver and Baynes?

A Lot to Like in Knicks' Skid-Stopping Win Over Pistons -- NY Sports Day

LOPEZ AND THE REST OF THE KNICKS' DEFENSE BOUNCING BACK AGAINST A TOP BIG MAN

Eight days after center Robin Lopez and Fisher (for leaving Lopez in) were lambasted for allowing Nikola Vucevic to pretty much do as he pleased during a 107-99 Orlando Magic victory at the Garden, Lopez and his teammates did as good of a job as anyone has all season on 20-20 man Andre Drummond (he of the five 20-20 games this year, while the rest of the NBA has one combined such game, courtesy of Dwight Howard).

One New Year's Resolution for Each NBA Team in 2016 -- Bleacher Report

PISTONS

Link here. Get to it. It's an unpopular take on Brandon Jennings I would think. But, not totally off-kilter. Not totally.

Resolution: Find a shooter.

The Detroit Pistons have had a lot of the right ideas this year. Unfortunately, many have been foiled by the wrong execution.

BUCKS

Link here.

Resolution: Stay positive.

It's understandable if the Milwaukee Bucks are feeling a little down these days. The 2015-16 season has been a profoundly disappointing step backward after an encouraging playoff berth a year ago.

The defense, among the best in the league last season, has disappeared. The Michael Carter-Williams trade was a flop. The excitement surrounding the construction of a new arena feels artificial, which happens when the team set to inhabit the new building doesn't look nearly as promising as it once did.

The only two players who truly matter in their rebuilding effort, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker, are still ridiculously young -- €”21 and 20, respectively. As long as they're still developing (and they are), this season can still count as a success.

I was one of those on the Bucks' bandwagon prior to this season, and hard. Michael Carter-Williams has been overall pretty ordinary, same for Greg Monroe. It goes on and on.

Check out that box-score from the Bucks loss at OKC last night. Defense -- optional.

RAPTORS

Link here.

Resolution: Seize the day.

This resolution could apply to a handful of East teams that could potentially scare the Cavaliers and their seemingly sewn-up top-seed status, but there's just something about the Toronto Raptors that makes them feel different.

Somehow, they seem particularly capable of making a run.

Maybe it's Kyle Lowry's career-best season. Or perhaps it's the depth that lends itself to varied styles of play they can tailor to specific opponents.

It could be DeMarre Carroll's lockdown defense or Jonas Valanciunas' post scoring.

It might even be DeMar DeRozan's pump fakes.

NBA Attendance report 2015-16 season -- ESPN

Go fiddle around with it and become a bit more miserable.

Spoiler: Detroit is dead last in percentage.

Pistons Q&A: Joel Anthony on converting to a vegan diet, his nickname from Shaq -- MLive

The more I learn about Joel Anthony the more I like him.

MLive: Any hobbies you like to do away from the court?

Anthony: I'm a pretty simple, low-key guy. Living out here, it's relatively easy. I don't need much, I don't do much. I've been reading a lot more.

I've always been healthy, and I wouldn't say it's a hobby, but the closest thing would be my lifestyle change to being healthy. I'm trying to turn toward a vegan diet, so I've been doing a lot of research on a lot of things health-wise. What's good for me, what isn't good for me. Trying to change some of the things I've been programmed to eat and take. That's what I've been trying to focus on.

MLive: When did that change start?

Anthony: Really, it's been a transformation over the last two years. It's really about getting more healthy, and then last year was the change from the vegan side of things. It's been going pretty well.

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Happy New Year's Eve Eve, everyone!