Detroit is going to work

Had the rare pleasure of watching this weekend's Pistons game with my Pop. He's the one most responsible for instilling this love/hate relationship with Detroit sports. It's mostly love, except for a bit of hate reserved for the team that just lost 48-3, but I digress.

My Dad and I were pretty disappointed with the first half performance. Against a 7-15 Golden State team (missing Biedrins), the Pistons were thoroughly outhustled and outshot. Golden State took a few minutes to heat up, but, once they did, they didn't cool down until half-time. It took a herculean effort for the Pistons to stay within 10pts. Monta Ellis showed why he's one of the best scoring guards in the league with a variety of impressive hoops. Rookie Stephen Curry pestered the Piston backcourt, notching 4 steals in the game. The Pistons had a ton of uncharacteristic turnovers (Stuckey the worst culprit - 7). Fast break points were 10-0 in favor of GS at the half. With that said, it was great seeing Rip back on the court.

Rip was definitely a bit rusty. His jumper was not fluid, and he seemed a step slow. Yet, when he left the court in the 1st period, Golden State went on a run. Coincidence? Perhaps. Rip returned in the 2nd quarter and led a brief flurry of Piston points, as Kuester opted for the 3-guard set to counter Golden State's speed. Chucky Atkins and Charlie V were key off the bench as they both settled the game down to the regular Piston pace. Without Biedrins, Golden State had nobody to guard Charlie V. He had a field day against Vladimir Radmanovic, scoring 24 on a stellar 9-14 shooting.

In the third quarter, the Pistons turned what seemed like a sure loss into a win. The defense locked down Golden State. After scoring 30 in the first, 25 in the second, GS only put up 12 in the third. Part of the Pistons' success, I should note, was poor 3pt shooting. GS had plenty of open 3s in the 3rd period that simply didn't go down. Golden State was playing the 2nd night of a back-to-back, and they may have hit a wall. Nevertheless, credit the Pistons for doing just enough to get the win, even on an off-night. Stuckey, despite his turnovers, scored a ton of points (29) on 10-18 shooting. I was critical of his poor shooting percentage earlier in the season, but the young guard is knocking down 49% this month - up from 40% in November. As an off-guard, Stuckey is turning it over more (4.2 vs 2.2 as a point-guard), and I wonder if that's a symptom of the Pistons' system. Last season, Rip turned it over a ton for a shooting guard, and that trend continued this year with both Stuckey and Gordon. But, Chucky Atkins, for his poor shooting woes, has definitely taken care of the ball - only 0.8 turns/game as a starter.

With players getting healthy, it should be interesting to see what Kuester does with all his guards. Chucky Atkins may find himself back on the bench in a few days, as Gordon and Bynum get healthy. Both those guys bring such unique scoring talent to the court, it would be hard to sit them. Yet, Chucky meshed great with Stuckey, and Kuester loves his on-court leadership. If the Pistons start to lose with Chucky on the bench, Coach Q would be a fool not to make a change. Chucky may be that perfect "glue" player for this team. The schedule stiffens the next few games - @ HOU, @ NO, @OKC, and home against the Lakers. It'll be a good test to see if the Pistons are truly improving or merely feasting upon weak foes.

Break on through

All it took was a doomsday No Frown Motown post for the Pistons and Wings to end their losing streaks, and both did it in dramatic fashion. I spent the prior four days in Chicago (without access to beloved Fox Sports Detroit), so I missed much of the action. I did see that the Wings, down a goal, pulled Jimmy Howard with 90 seconds remaining. With the extra skater, the Wings kept possession in the Blues' zone. Zetterberg, from behind the net, flicked it in front. The puck ricocheted off a Blues player into the goal. Check out these highlights:



I did have the pleasure of watching the Pistons glorious win over the 12-4 Atlanta Hawks yesterday. It was a vintage '09 Pistons win. There haven't been many. Thanks to a string of high draft picks and solid free agent signings, the Hawks have slowly built an excellent roster with talent at every position. Gone are the days of Zaza Pachulia as their main offensive weapon. With Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, and Josh Smith, these Hawks are primed to challenge for a title. The Pistons countered with a mish-mash lineup of Chucky Atkins, Stuckey, Jerebko, Maxiell, and Big Ben. On paper, a huge mismatch.

It was a bizarre but excellent decision on Coach Q's part to shake things up. Without Rip and Gordon, Stuckey must be the primary scorer. With Atkins on the court, Stuckey could shift to the 2-guard. The more surprising move was Maxiell over Charlie V. My guess is that Coach Q wanted Charlie V's offense off the bench to compliment Will Bynum in the second unit.

As the game began, it didn't seem to matter who was on the court. Despite missing so many key players, the Pistons wanted the win. They wanted it bad. They absolutely crushed the Atlanta Hawks on the boards. Coming into the game, the Hawks were a top 5 rebounding team in the East. Yet, they only pulled down 27 boards to the Pistons 53. The rebounding edge resulted in 17 more shots for the Pistons, and they needed it, considering Atlanta shot well (50% - almost exclusively from outside).

Stuckey was a force throughout. Playing perhaps his best all-around game of the season, the young guard scored 23, with 8 assists, and only 2 turnovers. More impressively, he limited All-star Joe Johnson to 5-19 shooting. Jerebko and Big Ben cleaned up the boards, tallying 11 and 18, respectively. Atlanta still stayed within 10pts the entire game and, at times, threatened to take the lead. With eleven minutes to go, Atlanta tied it. Bynum then hit a shot and Charlie V hit another. Up four, the Pistons had a chance to extend the lead when Charlie was fouled hard on a layup. At the end of the play, Charlie collided with Big Ben. The collision caused a massive bloody nose for poor Charlie V, and he calmly nailed the two free throws with gauze stuck up his nostrils. Unfortunately, he had to leave the game and did not return... but it didn't matter. The Pistons make-shift lineup did not falter. Their effort, grit, and determination was enough to win on this day.

After suffering through the dreadful, uninspired '08-'09 season, it was truly refreshing to see the Pistons win with heart.