Injuries

Both the Pistons and Wings have been hit hard with injuries this year, but they seem to have affected the teams in opposite ways. Put simply, injuries are helping the Stones but crippling the Wings.

Last night, the Pistons somehow beat the Denver Nuggets (2nd best team in the West). The usual suspects all sat out again with injuries, but they were also joined by Will Bynum, who finally decided to rest his ankles. Yes, you read that correctly - Bynumite sprained both ankles. And he had a bloody lip last game to boot.

For a team that was going to rock the league with their vaunted 3-guard set, they didn't even have 3 guards on the roster. Stuckey and Atkins played most of the game with Austin Daye (6'11) and Dajuan Summers (6'8) filling in at the 2 spot occasionally. Now, the Pistons don't register as an elite team just because they knocked off Denver. The Nugs were on their last game of a road trip, and, as George Karl said, "I didn't think we took them seriously in the first half." But you must give the Pistons credit for making them pay. That's the difference between the '08 and '09 Pistons. They come to play. What they lack in talent, they make up for in tenacity. Witness Ben Wallace late in the 4th quarter - the Pistons kept missing but Ben wouldn't give up the ball. Charlie V missed a free throw, and Ben grabbed the offensive board. Then Chucky missed, but Ben scored on a put-back. Stuckey missed on the next possession, but Ben stole the rebound right out of Nene's hands. Incredible.

With all the players missing, all three rookies got plenty of burn. While Dajuan Summers only notched 8 minutes, he did get to guard Carmelo and even registered a nice steal in crunch time. The bench players stepped up. Charlie V carried the offensive load most of the game, along with Stuckey, who outscored Billups. The one black-eye on Stuckey's game was 5 turnovers, but he was saved by Atkins who had ZERO. In 35 minutes! Very nice.

Yet, the Red Wings? Nobody is stepping up. The youngsters are getting plenty of opportunities. Ville Leino - 27 games, 3 goals. Abdelkader - 27 games, 3 goals. Helm, 25 games, 3 goals. And the veterans aren't making up for it. Zetterberg is averaging a point/game, but, after him, nobody is close.

The Red Wings are really hurting in scoring from the d-men. Lidstrom and Rafalski have 1 and 2 goals, respectively. Ericsson and Stuart aren't any better with 3 and 2. Last year, Lidstrom scored 16, but now he's on pace for 3. I should note, though, that the defense has actually improved to 9th in the league in goals-against. Last year, they were 19th. At this point, though, the defense is a secondary concern. They need scoring and the injuries suffered by the forwards exposed the Wings' lack of depth.

It's possible that the extra ice time for the youngsters will eventually pay off. Unfortunately, they've already played 30 of 82 games. Time will soon be running out. For the record, the Wings now sit as the 11th team in the West. Ouch.