Pistons beat Celtics; spoil Sheed’s homecoming

Amid the buzz and anticipation of Rasheed Wallace’s return to the Palace, the Pistons pulled off one of their best wins of the year, upsetting the Boston Celtics 92-86. Keyed by Rodney Stuckey, a staunch defensive performance in the 2^nd half and clutch shooting by Villanueva in the 4^th

quarter, the Pistons pulled out one of their best (if not the best) wins of the season.

Here are the 3 keys to the Pistons win:

Rodney Stuckey: Rodney Stuckey had one of his best all around games of the season, posting a line of 27 points, to go along with a career high 11 rebounds, 6 assists (only 2 turnovers) and 2 steals. Even the boxscore doesn’t do him justice; had he not blown several point blank layups he would have gone for at least 35 points. The Celtics had no answer for Stuckey all night, and he came up big in crunch time, scoring 6 points in a 13-0 Pistons run late in the 4^th quarter to put the game away. Rondo had a very solid game (21/8/7) but Stuckey won the war here.

Stuckey seems to have finally put the knee injuries and flu-bug behind him.

Zone Defense: Zone defense was a staple of the Pistons defensive schemes in the Flip Saunders years, but it has rarely been used by the Pistons last two coaches. After giving up 56 points in the first half, they held the Celtics to just 30 points on 27% shooting in the 2^nd half and forcing them into 10 turnovers.

"(Assistant coach) Brian Hill put that zone in the other day and we had talked about using it," coach John Kuester said. "We had a chance to practice it the other day and it was important to get this win. It enabled us to contest a lot of their shots."

Jason Maxiell had the highlight of the night, emphatically sending back an attempted Rasheed Wallace dunk to bring The Palace crowd to its feet. Big Ben also stuffed a Rasheed Wallace layup late in the 4^th that helped extend a Pistons run.

But the Pistons could not have set up the zone if the Pistons had not taken control of their own turnover problems. After turning the ball over 15 times in the first half, the Pistons turned it over just twice in the 2^nd half against the Celtic ball-hawking defense.

Overall, the Celtics shot just 43% from the field and turned the ball over 19 times.

Controlling the Glass:

This game was ultimately won on the glass. The Pistons out-rebounded the Celtics 45-35, including 13-5 on the offensive glass (Stuckey had 6). The fact that the Pistons were still able to keep the Celtics off the offensive glass despite playing a ton of zone in the 2^nd half, was impressive to say the least.

Next Game: Friday, January 22, 2010, vs. IND

NFL: Divisional Weekend Predictions

My 2009 NFL Regular Season Record: 150-86 (63.5%)

My 2009 NFL Playoff Record: 1-3 (25.0%)

Arizona Cardinals (10-6) @ New Orleans Saints (13-3)

My Prediction: Cards 34, Saints 31

Baltimore Ravens (9-7) @ Indianapolis Colts (14-2)

My Prediction: Ravens 10, Colts 27

Dallas Cowboys (11-5) @ Minnesota Vikings (12-4)

My Prediction: Cowboys 21, Vikings 24

New York Jets (9-7) @ San Diego Chargers (13-3)

My Prediction: Jets 17, Chargers 24

NFL: Wild Card Weekend Predictions

My 2009 NFL Regular Season Record: 150-86 (63.5%)

My 2009 NFL Playoff Record: 0-0

New York Jets (9-7) @ Cincinnati Bengals (10-6)

My Prediction: Jets 20, Bengals 24

Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) @ Dallas Cowboys (11-5)

My Prediction: Eagles 20, Cowboys 27

Baltimore Ravens (9-7) @ New England Patriots (10-6)

My Prediction: Ravens 17, Patriots 30

Green Bay Packers (11-5) @ Arizona Cardinals (10-6)

My Prediction: Packers 24, Cardinals 10

Pistons Finish Decade on a Flat Note

The 2000’s certainly was a decade to remember for the Pistons and Piston fans, but the way it concluded was very much forgettable. With a 98-87 defeat to the Chicago Bulls, the Pistons’ losing streak was extended to 9 games, their longest since the 1993-94 season.

All the losses aside, things looked really bleak when the Pistons suffered not one, but two ankle injury scares in the first half against Chicago. First, Big Ben turned his ankle and had to be taken out of the game, but just 3 minutes later Stuckey awkwardly turned his left ankle trying to catch an outlet pass and he fell to the ground writhing and turning in pain. At first look, this injury appeared to be serious; Stuckey would be out for several games at the very least. He would later re-aggravate the injury late in the second quarter, but again, Stuckey returned in the 2^nd half and played Derrick Rose to a stall… 22 points on 50% shooting, 6 assists and 4 steals. Not bad for a guy who admitted to playing through a lot of pain.

"It hurt a lot -- it always does when you sprain your ankle -- and then it just gave out on me the second time," Stuckey said. "I was going to play though it if I could even walk, though, because we need to get something going.”

Stuckey was just about the only bright spot in yet another loss where the Pistons were thoroughly dominated in the second half, having never held a lead and losing by as much as 20 at one point. There have been some disturbing trends in this 9 game losing streak.

By the Numbers

• The Pistons 9 game losing streak is the longest since a 13 game skid in 1994
• The Pistons have lost by an average of 13.2 points in the streak
• The Pistons are averaging 85.7 points during the stretch; not scoring 100 once.
• In the 3 games back, Hamilton is shooting 13 for 54 (24%)

Going Forward

Well, where do the Pistons go from here? Despite the 9 game losing streak, the Pistons are still right in the playoff race (2.5 games out of the 8^th seed) in the woeful eastern conference. Right now, the Pistons just need to get the young guns (Daye, Jerebko, Summers) as much playing time as possible, but with Prince and Hamilton back, Jerebko figures to be the only one to get consistent playing time, which is unfortunate. This season should be about developing the young guys, NOT overplaying the veterans.

Many Piston fans (like myself) are enamored with the idea of getting rid of our big contracts (Prince, Hamilton, Maxiell) and trading them away for Tracy McGrady, upon hearing of his disapproval of his playing time in Houston. The Pistons motivation for acquiring McGrady is pretty simple - the $23 million dollar expiring contract that would make Detroit players in the 2010 free agent market, which is loaded with top end free agents (LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Joe Johnson, Bosh). And while that article says the Rockets would be willing to take on a long term contract, is an aging shooting guard like Hamilton really that enticing to a team like Houston? They could just sit McGrady for the rest of the year and keep that $23 million dollar expiring contract and they’ll probably get much more with that money in free agency than they could in a trade for McGrady – certainly more than the Pistons can offer.

I am a big supporter of getting rid of both Hamilton and Prince. Hamilton is hurting the team on the court and his contract will prevent us from contending anytime soon. He has to go. Prince is probably more attractive to contending teams since his contract expires in another year. But I think, realistically, we can’t expect any move to be made until the trade deadline… and perhaps not until the summer. But this team seems poised to set themselves up for a nice lottery pick. Hopefully Dumars puts it to better use than the last time the Pistons drafted in the lottery.

This will be a long and painful season. Rebuilding usually is.