MVN - Most Valuable Network

Its a Rap; Pistons Lose 89-82

The Pistons have a huge problem.

I’m talking about what could be considered a meaningless loss to a possible first round playoff opponent. To me, no loss is meaningless. I’m a sore loser. Detroit is going to lose games. The bottom of the East’s playoff picture is up for grabs and the teams the Pistons are liable to run into, the team cannot get up for. After beating the Raptors in two previous meetings averaging 102 points per game, the lose an ugly game in Toronto 89-82.

Beat San Antonio. Defeat Phoenix again. But lose to the Sixers, the Wizards, and the Raptors, all teams who have taken turns being in the seventh spot in the East and the first round opponent for Detroit. Give them the confidence to make the first round more difficult that it should be, which drains the team for the tougher opponents as the playoffs advance. The Pistons, who have notoriously in the past played without urgency, seem to be content with where they are in the East standings (which granted, the will finish second) and are waiting out the season to get serious.

The Raptors, Wizards, and Sixers have been serious for weeks now. The are rising and honing their focus while Detroit has lost three of four and are playing uninspired. Turnovers. Detroit has been at the top of the league all season in committing the fewest turnovers and tonight gave away 15 possessions. Flip Saunders isn’t making adjustments when need be and seems stubborn to show he’s right for too long of periods and by the time the team gets in gear, they are down 17.

The third quarter doomed the team tonight, a period in which they usually play well in, but lost by 12. Their assistant staff of Terry Porter and Dave Cowens play a big roll in what needs to continue and what changes are needed, but its Flip’s call during the game. Its my amateur opinion that he sits players too long and who was once hot is now out of sync. Why stick to a zone defense when you are getting burned by the penetration of the Raptor point guards, who then either go all the way to the rack for an easy lay-up or kick it out to shooters who play for the NBA’s best three-point shooting team and the number two free throw shooting squad? Mix it up yes, but adjust when things aren’t working.

T.J. Ford returned tonight and after the team was called out by center Chris Bosh, they made the change of sitting Jose Calderon (his idea) and starting Ford, who started slowly but came on to torture the Pistons with his floor game. The pair combined for 26 points, 13 assists and only a turnover each. Chauncey Billups (24 points) didn’t get rolling until late and he and Lindsey Hunter combined for 24 points, 10 assists, but seven horrible turnovers.

Rasheed Wallace sat too long and couldn’t get it going again until late, and scored 15, with only one field goal inside the arc. Rodney Stuckey was the lone bright spot with his career-high 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and one turnover. Antonio McDyess did not score until the third, then hit four straight jumpers. He has played terrible in all phases and seems confused on offense when not just spotting up. His hands have stunk and he is never ready for a pass and passes even worse. Tayshaun Prince (4-11, 10 points) led the team with 8 boards and Amir Johnson had 7 in 19 minutes.

The team was still without Rip Hamilton, who is still resting a sore hip. While Arron Afflalo did an exceptional job on the Suns’ Steve Nash, he could not stay with Ford and was in foul trouble all night long. While they could periodically exploit Ford down low with Billups, they went long stretches without going to it and by the time they did, they were down too far.

With Toronto being the third worst rebounding team in the league (the Heat and Clippers are 1 and 2), the Pistons decided to clog the middle and allow them to get rolling from the outside. Flip was pairing Jason Maxiell with McDyess and Theo Ratliff, all the same dynamic of player, with only slightly different strengths on offense. Makes no sense, and makes an anemic offense stand even more still. And we wonder how the team can go stretches of missing 12 of 14 and 17 of 21?

Bosh finished with 21 points, new starter at center Rasho Nesterovic played solid with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks and former Piston Carlos Delfino had a nice run of minutes scoring 10 points and hit 2-4 from three.

Detroit has a home game against the Heat at the Palace on Thursday night. Being out of the playoffs, you have to wonder which Piston team will show.

Being a sore loser sucks.

Piston Points

Detroit (50-21, 22-15 on the road) falls to 30-13 in the conference and 9-5 versus the Atlantic Division. Toronto (36-35, 21-14 at home) are now 8-7 against the Central Division and 24-18 in the East.

The Pistons are 36-13 all-time against the Raptors, 2-1 this season with one more game to be played at the Palace in April.

Toronto had lost 11 of 14 games coming in and 4 of their last five with two losses in a row.

Jason Kapono, Jose Calderon, and Anthony Parker are #1, #5, and #7 in the NBA in three point percentage.

Detroit couldn’t handle T.J. Ford or Jose Calderon separately and Toronto added a new wrinkle to their attack by playing them extended minutes at the same time with Calderon at the two guard spot.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Arron Afflalo, Jason Maxiell, Chauncey Billups, Rodney Stuckey, Carlos Delfino, Jose Caldron, Amir Johnson, tayshaun prince, Richard Hamilton, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, NBA, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Basketball, San Antonio Spurs, Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.