Tonight vs the Nets

Looking forward to watching tonights game. I have been having the opposite effect on the Pistons lately, as I have been turning them on while they are down, and they instantly go on fire while I am watching. I guess my curse is now over, so back to watching full time.

I got a few comments that I was a bandwagon fan during my time I stopped watching them. This is not the case at all. I have been a huge fan since as long as I can remember, and that was back in the day when they had kelly Tripuka and Terry Tyler. I suffered through the horrible "teal blue horse jersey" years, the Sean Elliot years, the year before Grant Hill, the Lindsey Hunter years (don't get me started), the Michael Curry years.

Since I can remember (approximatly 22 years), I only stopped watching the Detroit Pistons a couple of times. I was really pissed when they traded Dennis Rodman and I boycotted for a stint. When they let Alan Houston go I boycotted again. Other then that I have seen just about every game that they have played on TV.

There are just some things that the best fans will do in the best interest of the team. I was jinxing them so I stopped watching. It worked.

20 game report card

13-7 and in first place. That is more like it. I will take full credit for the turnaround. I have been catching a few minutes here and there and I like what I see. Especially from Rasheed Wallace. That guy is finally getting it that he needs to play well for us to play well. He hasn't had to for the last couple of years. And he has played better then I ever thought he would again.

9-2 in the conference with the two losses being to the Charlotte Bobcats and the Milwaukee Bucks, Bucks at home. Both of those games SHOULD have been won.

6-3 at home, losses to the Bucks, New Orleans Hornets, and the Portland Trailblazers. Again, all very winable games.

7-4 on the road, very strong record. Along with the losses to the the Bobcats other losses were to the Jazz, the Warriors, and the Kings.

Big wins -
at Dallas by 10 - awesome game, dominated, was not that close of a game
at Lakers by 14
at Miami by 2 - ugly game

Tough losses / Close games
New Orleans by 1 - bad loss at home
Utah by 2 - Very good game
Portland by 3 - frustrating, horrible loss

Bad games -
Warriors by 32 - brutal
Bucks by 8 opening night - wasn't that close of game

It is working!

Look at that! I stop watching the Detroit Pistons and they start winning. Everyone can thank me later, and the Pistons better send me over something or I might start watching. Luckily I have my Nintendo Wii and my T.M.X. Elmo to keep me company.

I don't like the Pistons falling behind every game, but they have been finishing games very well. I hope Rasheed Wallace can keep playing like he is.

Way to get of the schnide Pistons.

Snore

Halftime against Washington losing at home. At least Sheed is playing good. This is not what I had in mind this year. I think I am jinxing them.

I started out the year not missing one second of the first 8 games of the year, but I can't take this crap right now. This is not a good team right now. They are a soft, tired, jump-shot shooting team that cannot stop anyone when they need to or otherwise. They need 3 guys to score 20 a night, and even still the games are close. The Pistons cannot afford to give away points every game, and they constantly do.

I am going to watch them, but not update for a little while. I might play my PS3 instead, make some money making websites, I am not sure.

I turned off the game, lets see how this works.

Kings 99-86

2-3 record, 0-2 on the west coast trip. This game was as ugly as I thought it would be. The one real bright spot was Chauncey woke up and had 25 points, 4-9 for threes, and had a dozen points in the second and the third quarter each.

Rasheed scored 0 points, but had 15 boards. Rip ended with 20. Our starting front line (Sheed, Prince, and Mohammed) scored 8 points total. The whole team had problems in the 4th. Game was tied at the half 39-39 and we got outscored 60-47 in the second half. They cannot give up 60 points in a half and expect to win.

Two more techs. Surprise surprise. We seem to really enjoy getting down early and trading streaks the rest of the game. This is getting a little old fast.

Brutal 2nd quarter

Why am I watching this crap? Just a bunch of runs and droughts. Tough to watch at times. Just when we finish with a 7-0 run in the first to get back in it, the Kings start out the second on a 9-2 run and it is back to a 14 point lead, 27-13. Then just when we need it the Piston run off 10 straight and an 18-4 run themselves.

Jason Maxiell is looking mighty beastly. Must be fouled to be stopped. Funny seing Corliss Williamson out there alive and kicking. Looking at Maxiell reminds me of a bigger, stronger, faster version of Williamson. He is still very raw and very young and has a lot of learning to do, but there is a lot of potential.

I can't believe the game is tied at 31-31 with 3 minutes left in the quarter. The bench really sparked the whole thing. Even still, brutal game to watch so far.

Game 5 vs Sacramento

Wow what a late game. Game is on FSN and ESPN and both are showing the ends of other games. Looks like I did not miss anything because the time the game comes on it is 8-2 Sacramento, and before you know it is 18-4 and the Pistons have two more T's. This is getting very old.

Rip scores first 8 in the quarter and the Pistons end the quarter on a 7-0 run to make it 18-11 at the end of 1. Ugly. Refs suck again. Chauncey gets called for double dribbling when he didn't, and then gets a tech for talking to the ref. This is going to be a brutal game, I can feel it.

Random thoughts

Just watched that Jazz game again, man what a good game. Even with the poor officiating the game was very exciting. Tough one to lose but hey, it happens.

If I still had a choice between signing Big Ben or signing Okur, I sign Okur and it is not even close. Big guy, can shoot 18 footers and three pointers very well for a big man, and surprisingly can take the ball to the hole.

Thinking about that, I remember that they told us that we could not sign both Rasheed and Okur. A main reason of this was the saving for Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups. We made it back to the finals and could have easily went either way, so the choice worked out keeping Rasheed.

Last year we traded Darko Milicec for absolutely nothing. It was another move to make cap space for signing Ben and Chauncey. Obviously they were not willing to make the offer to Ben, which might well be the correct move. But everything leading up to that moment shouted that they would, that was the plan, and now they abandoned ship.

The Pistons are in this weird stage as a franchise. They collected all these throw away players from various teams and made it work. None of these guys were max contract guys when we got them (maybe Rasheed was) and it looks like the Pistons are not willing to make any max offers.

So what if Chauncey wants a max contract? Will they sign him? There are rumblings already that if Billups is not cooperating with an extension they will try to trade him. If this happens, my respect for Joe Dumars will go down the toilet quickly. He has made many poor draft picks, and these last couple of trades and non signings are making me worry. Hopefully everything works out.

Game 4 vs Utah

Utah 103, Detroit 101.

What a game, back and forth all night. Rasheed was unreal in the 4th yet again. 3 nights in a row. Actually he has not had a bad 4th quarter all season since he T'd out in the first game. I have been waiting a long time for Rasheed to play like this, and it is awesome to see. Rasheed finished with 25 points, 12 boards, and 4 blocks.

Down 10 to start the 4th, the Pistons went on a 7-0 run capped by a 30 footer from Carlos Delfino.

The game was tied with 9 minutes left.

The Pistons were in the bonus with 8 minutes left in the quarter.

They had the lead with 6 minutes left.

Game was close the rest of the way, until a foul on Sheed and a tech on a Pistons bench coach with 2 minutes left, and all of a sudden we were down 5 with 2 minutes left. Cut it to one with a minute left and then Chauncy got called for an offensive foul that was some home cooking for sure.

Refs were terrible tonight. Can't complain too much because we shot about 204 free throws.

Okur was fouled with 33 seconds left and hit both to make it a 3 point game. Chauncy gets fouled with 31 seconds and hit the first and missed the second. Utah runs the clock down and then an incredible finish. Missed shot, Sheed rebounds, gets stripped, Utah pass gets deflected, Tayshaun steals the ball, almost gets stripped, Chauncey picks it up, passes to Rip who tries to go one on 3, drives and gets stuffed. Buzzer, game over.

Forget what I ever said about Flip Murray. The guy was on fire tonight in the first half and kept us in the game. I really like to see him at the point backing up Chauncey. Chauncey again struggled shooting the ball. He also passed up multiple wide open 3's. But he did hit a huge 3 with 4 minutes left.

Utah did not struggle shooting. The whole team was money the entire night. They hit a ton of long jumpers and were very hot most of the night. It is sad to see Okur in a different uniform. I really liked him a lot, and was sad to see him go. I am glad he is doing well, just don't want to see him make us eat it. Well he made us eat it tonight. Gordon Giricek did not miss all night.

Rasheed another T, Flip Saunders got a T, Rip got a T, and the bench got a T. Flip and Sheed got theirs on the same play. The next play Flip yelled "3 seconds" for about 5 straight seconds, whcih resulted in a 3 second violation called against the Jazz. Rasheed continued to not get any calls and continued to talk most of the game. This is a sign of things to come, and it is going to cost the team some games. Come to think of it is possibly cost us this one. Sheed, go get some anger management counsling or possibly try using some common sense and shut up already.

Tough start to the road trip. Good luck with the rest of them guys.

Game 3

Detroit 95, Memphis 86

Getting ready to watch the Utah game and see I forgot to post my thoughts on the Grizzly game. Good game by the Pistons. Game felt like they used to feel and the Pistons looked great.

Memphis would not go away, and they were shorthanded. They were down 11 late in the third quarter, and tied it with 5 minutes left. Pistons go on a 14-5 run to end the game. No Gasol and they made it interesting most of the way. Had a good look at Hakim Warrick and see what kind of potential this kid has.

Notes:

Rip had another great game. 3rd in a row, if he keeps this up we will have a very good season. 24 points, very strong in the 4th. Good game Rip, you look like an All Star right now.

Sheed picked up another T, 3rd in 3 games. It was weak, but Sheed you have to know better. It inspired him though as he scored 10 points after he got the T late in the third quarter. That's 2 very good games, and in particular 4th quarters, for Sheed in a row. If he plays like this consistantly, we will be very tough to stop.

Chauncey is quietly becoming a true point guard. He only scored 7, but had 10 assists and really ran the show. Third straight nite of poor shooting. He was 1-9 and 0-4 for threes, I think his not caring about scoring is affecting his shooting. He only played 29 minutes, and sat most of the third out. We will need you to snap out of it Chauncey.

13 each from Maxiel and Mohammed. They fed Mohammed in the beginning of the game, and he hit the first three shots for the Pistons. Looked good too. He makes his free throws too. Maxiel is only going to get better.

Carlos Delfino outplayed Flip Murray again, but I saw something that is very promising. Flip played some point guard and played pretty well. Had 5 assists. If that means that Lindsey Hunter stays on the bench, then I am excited.

About 15 minutes before game time, go Pistons.