[Kstat]

Slo-Mo has 10/4 after 1 quarter. Spurs up 1, but we're playing really well.

Rodney is back, but off the bench. Wonder if that will stick?

[Kstat]

Stuckey actually has room to attack with Daye and CV31 spacing the floor.

[Kstat]

Shit, we look pretty good. The Spurs are playing pretty well, but we're playing a little better.

[Kstat]

...and here comes Gary Neal to light up Will Bynum.

[Kstat]

...and we switch Will on to Goerge Hill, and the Spurs run consecutive ISOs for Hill. Smart team.

Also kinda sad that Will is so bad that the other team will run plays for anybody he's guarding. Repeatedly.

In fairness to Will, his shot is falling tonight, so he's been a plus so far.

[The King]

Gary Neal is a solid player. I like that guys game a lot. Ice water in his veins, too.

[Kstat]

Will's in full ball hog mode now. Just leave him in there too long....

[Kstat]

Tim Duncan with an "I'm a hall of famer and you're a rookie" call there.

[Kstat]

The Spurs just never let up. They score on just about every defensive mistake.

Richard Jefferson looks like Glen Rice out there. I don't think he's taken a shot inside the 3-point line yet.

[Dwight Schrute]

We're up 48-43, so we run ISO Stuckey, ISO Tay, ISO Tay. 3 forced shots and 3 S.A. buckets on the other end and we're down 50-48. Just stupid.

[Kstat]

Good first half. Spurs only lead by 1.

When we run ISOs, we look like shit. When we run curls or pick and roll, we look great.

[Billl]

Pistons with their best half of the year. Besides for a few isolations, they really played well together on both ends. If they did this every night, they would be a playoff team.

[Kstat]

Manu and Ben Gordon, who lit each other up last time we played, have combined for 3 points on 1-10 shooting.

[Dwight Schrute]

It's easy to see how the Spurs are 42-8. We're not getting any easy looks off screens or even shallow cuts. The Spurs are always jumping the ball. Fundamental defense at its best.

We play a pretty damn good half of basketball, and we're still behind. I think that's a testament to how good--and disciplined--the Spurs are.

[Kstat]

both teams are ice cold in the 3rd. Need Someone to catch fire.

[Dwight Schrute]

Ben Wallace needs to retire.

He fails to step up and help on Manu (could've easily blocked the shot), and follows it up with a reverse lay-up attempt, nearly breaking the backboard.

[Kstat]

Welcome back, Rodney Stuckey.

[Kstat]

Total ignorance there not closing out on Gary freaking Neal, who is in the NBA for the sole purpose of shooting 3-pointers.

So much for our brief momentum. went on a 7-0 run to tie it then gave up a 5-0 run in the last 30 seconds of the 3rd.

[Kstat]

Spurs stretch it to an 8-0 run, but we come right back with 6 straight.

Spurs suddenly making some silly mistakes.

[Billl]

Bynomite making an appearance.

[TJPiston]

Not sure why Max and CV were in together for so long.

[Billl]

Spurs raining 3's. Pistons missing layups. Stuckey looking rusty on those finishes.

[Billl]

Well, the pistons hung with them for 3 quarters, but the Spurs are damn good. They made all the plays down the stretch and hit a bunch of 3's to put the game away.

[Santos]

this should be one of those "feel good about yourself" losses. Spurs, the best team in the league so far, needed to shoot 53% from 3-point to beat us (9-17)! With Monroe's clear improvement, it raises the question: are we that far from being good again? Contending is a different problem because Miami put together a fantastic trio in a completely artificial way, but at least winning playoff rounds should be within reach if we managed to add a real point guard and another front court player to the team.

If JJ comes back playing like he was last year, if Monroe and Daye keep improving and we added a real point guard to this team, we could be back on track faster than some people realize.

[Charlie]

Get a good young point that is pass first and can hit some threes.. then I think we are looking good. Stuckey, JJ, Monroe, and Daye isn't a bad start.

[Dwight Schrute]

I liked tonight's rotation, Big Ben excluded. His minutes need to go to CV and Wilcox.

We could sneak into the playoffs and surprise some people. Especially if we can flip Rip for a halfway decent big man.

[Stefan S]

what everyone said
~posting from the time warp~~

+
CV cannot stay with his man
he was involved in nearly every bad D play that would give them an easy shot
(or, at least, in most of those) I am not a hater, but today he actively hurt us
Boner just exploited his lack of mobility and he was involved in nearly every pick and roll

also, if Gordon makes an easy layup early
and if Stuckey makes his, it is +6, and its a different ball game
also, ISO were mostly for Tay and he ended up having good looks that he frequently makes.
also, I love Moose and his progress. The rookie can play!

[Kstat]

CVs shitty defense is what opened the damn game up for the spurs.

[Stefan S]

and he missed most what the Spurs gave him
but that's not the point, his D was atrocious

I was listening to the Spurs commentators
(it's the Spurs country, the advantage is a kick ass screen, HD)
they were commenting on Q's using zone on the Spurs shooters for a while
as an example of "what may many coaches would have chosen to do (for an extended period)" or something like that.

Ultimately, the Spurs are a great team.
So, it was like pick your poison.
Throughout the game they had slightly easier looks so they were bound to capitalize. Their TOs kept us in the game, and Bynumate was explosive.

Definitely a fun game.

[Kstat]

Tom Gores was watching the game with KD in the owner's suite. Hope that's good news...

[Stefan S]

You thing KD is trying to trade CV?
Not sure Gores is interesting in this sort of spare part.

BTW, it turns out that we were even with him on the floor.
Funny, because to my eyes he was D (un-)involved in almost every SA play.

[detroitsportsfan]

The Will Bynum hate is just incredible. He scored 8 points in the 1st 5:23 of the 4th to bring the Pistons within 2 of the Spurs. Led the team in scoring with 21 points (9/13 fg, 3/3 ft). Guy can't get any credit. I'm sure there are a number of guys that deserve more blame for tonite's loss than Will but "Will The Thrill" gets knocked in EVERY single game in this forum. Incredible. At least the fans @ The Palace seem to appreciate what he brings to the Pistons. Hopefully, the new potential owner Gores will too.

Originally Posted by Kstat

Will's in full ball hog mode now. Just leave him in there too long....

[Kstat]

I know I appreciate the second he come into a game the other coach runs the entire offense through whomever he's guarding...

[Money23]

Heh heh, I was curious to see how you would spin his nice game.

Bottom line, he ran out of gas. Should have pulled him with a couple of minutes to go.

[Kstat]

Not much to spin. He was on fire, which is about the only time he helps us because he gets broken down defensively on the other end. Him and CV left Neal and Bonner wide open all game long.

[Billl]

The spurs are one of the best 3 point shooting teams for a reason. Their spacing is perfect. They have guys who can break down the defense and get into the lane. They have a premier back to the basket big. They always make the extra pass. They are going to get some open looks.

The spurs are a great team, so this should have been an L. They just wore us down. They missed 41 shots, but we only grabbed 26 defensive rebounds. CV and Max were just bad and our guards didn't help much. As the game went on, they kept executing their offense. We scrambled on D and rotated decently, but they just play really smart basketball. Offensively, Wil got it going late, but we basically quit on our offensive sets. The spurs would take away our first option and whoever had the ball just tried to make a play themselves instead of continuing on to option 2,3,4 etc. It is really hard to beat a top defensive team that way.

[DYNOMITE]

Yeah, it isn't by luck that they only have 8 losses this late in the season.

[DYNOMITE]

Just found this. The Spurs first 50 games is tied for the 5th fastest start in NBA history. Amazing they get no national attention. I hate ESPN for this.

[Mainevent]

Is the Heat Tracker thing still up?

[detroitsportsfan]

Kstat, you knock him every single game. Other guys played worse than him in last nights game and you seem to focus on knocking him. It's almost like you have an obsession to knock the guy. Give him some credit when it's due. He's not as bad a player as you make him out to be and he's actually one of our guys who's capable of taking the game over.

Originally Posted by Kstat

I know I appreciate the second he come into a game the other coach runs the entire offense through whomever he's guarding...

[hack]

Also, according to you, he's our best on-the-ball defender since Lindsey.

[tin mad dog]

I didn't catch much of this game but I heard some of it on the radio. Who does the color-commentary on the radio?

[Money23]

Originally Posted by hack

Also, according to you, he's our best on-the-ball defender since Lindsey.

LOL, so it's sink or swim.

[Money23]

Originally Posted by tin mad dog

I didn't catch much of this game but I heard some of it on the radio. Who does the color-commentary on the radio?

Rockin' Ricky, I believe. Haven't caught a radio game in a while though.

[detroitsportsfan]

He was when he 1st joined the Pistons. I think Bynum's play had something to do with the Pistons letting Lindsey go. I was very impressed with Bynum's defense when he 1st joined the Pistons but since the injuries idled him, he doesn't seem quite the same on defense.

Originally Posted by hack

Also, according to you, he's our best on-the-ball defender since Lindsey.

[Money23]

I don't remember ever being particularly impressed by his defense at any point. But he's never been Chucky Atkins bad like some people want to think.

[hack]

Pistonpowered did a pretty laughable breakdown of his defense last year based on some stat/video service. IIRC one could count on one hand the number of times he fought through a pick. But for me it's not that he's a horrid defender. He sucks on D and that's an argument for keeping him off the court, but he's a ballhog. He's the kind of player a contender can handle -- bring him in with guys he knows he has to defer to and maybe you harness that energy properly and he does what Nate Robinson did in a few games for the Celts in the playoffs last year -- some energy and some big buckets until he overreaches and has to be sat. On our team, however, that kinda selfish game shouldn't be condoned or tolerated.

[detroitsportsfan]

I still will say, from what I saw earlier on, he impressed me with his defense (when he 1st joined the Pistons.....he used to ballhawk like Lindsey). I don't know what happened in the process (I would think injuries have something to do with it) but he sometimes gets lost on defense now. I think the ability is there and he certainly has the quickness but the know-how seems to be missing. (Maybe the Pistons need an assistant coach who can teach defense to the guards?) Yes, I do agree he can be a ballhog on offense. That could be said of many of the Pistons players actually. This team, like any team, plays best when there's ball movement. That said, he's one player that can impact the game by putting up a bunch of points in short minutes.

With Bynum, you can see why he had trouble making the league in the 1st place but then you also see some raw talent that needs to be groomed. He could still be a very valuable role player for the Pistons but maybe he just needs better coaching to make him a more consistent player.

[hack]

``Sometimes''.

Anyways, Bynum's 28 -- it's not like he hasn't had the time to learn already. And as we saw from that episode where he suddenly started passing once Atkins was a threat to take his minutes, he knows what he needs to do. Just isn't a team-oriented player.

[detroitsportsfan]

so what are you saying? should we just dump the guy? obviously, he's not a natural point (who on the team is? mcgrady is the closest thing) but he has been proven valuable. bynum seems to get knocked in this forum more than any of the other Pistons guards but they all have their flaws. has gordon been the player that we expected him to be? no. has stuckey developed into the type of guard that we wanted him to be? no. is mcgrady the t-mac of old? no. is rip the same rip from the championship years and does he seem to fit with this team anymore? no. i just don't understand all the will bynum hate. the palace fans seem to love him. i think he could still be a valuable role player for the pistons going forward. maybe you don't. i don't know.