Game #31: Magic @ Pistons Dec. 29th 7:30 p.m.

[mhectorgato]

His post game conference sounds like what he said during the playoffs - rebounds and TOs.

[Drwho17]

Pistons are more physical than Magic.
McDyess-Wallace-Maxiel more physical and can shot >>>>> Howard-Gortat-Battie.
Very difficult for the Magic against this team.

Agreed.. And this is why I'm all for a Joe Smith trade.. Having Howard/Battie/Smith/Gortat to throw at the Pistons would help alot.. I hope something can be done soon with that.. We need tweaks to further place us in the playoffs.. I really think Joe Smith can help out play wise and character wise..

The Pistons beat Orlando, because Orlando's back court is sub par. Orlando also only has 1 interior player who can be shut down, playing two small forwards leads to their problems, Rashard Lewis at PF is a joke. Detroit beat Orlando without Hamilton, and playing a guy who has mostly been CDNP'ed 20+ minutes. The Pistons are just now getting going, they lost most of their games without McDyess, and before Stuckey was inserted into the starting lineup.

[MoGrAdY]

Sadly enough I realized something. No matter how good we are doing on the whole Im just not happy untill we show we can get over on Detroit. On the bright side its only a regular season game but Im tired of losing to them. We really didnt play that well in the first half, and for the love of God can we please please please get a decent freakin backup PG. I cant stand it when AJ is on the floor.

[Drwho17]

Ok well I tried to watch this really hard without thinking that the calls were one sided, but it just seemed like detroit was getting away with hack after hack. Howard was hacked on almost all if not every shot, and yet got barely any calls. To an extent I agree that detroit out hustled us at times but as a former player I can tell you when call after call is going against you it takes you out of the game mentally. No matter how good our shooters are if they are mentally frustrated they are not going to make shots.

It may not even be the officiating crew, because I notice it every time we play the Pistons. They are very physical, and they do foul a lot. The Magic are a "softer" team and usually do play cleaner. So the officials dont want to call everything they pick and choose the fouls committed by the Pistons, and call any little thing the Magic do. I think by fourth quarter we should have started making them pay for everything. If we are going to get called for petty BS lets really foul hard and bring up our physicality level to that of the Pistons. Continuing to play like the "Magic" against physical teams like Detroit is not going to help us get any foul calls.

The Pistons are much more aggressive, 4 of Orlando's players stand out around the free throw line shooting jump shots most of the time, how are you supposed to draw fouls that way.

[eyriq]

Damn those Pistons! They are so frustrating to lose to, because like Stan said it comes down to having the toughness to get the extra positions. I thought both Hedo and Shard played great games and everyone else just ok. The Pistons just played very good offense and defense and toughed this one out. I will say that they are not as good without Billups, that much is clear. AI stunk up the place. All in all a sorry loss.

[Hairy Midget]

Detroit got the helping hand from the refs, but the Magic still have to play harder. They can't breeze through Detroit like they can with most teams, and it seemed like they thought they were still playing the Wolves.

All in all, we played probably our worst game in a month and it was still pretty close in the end on the home court of a team that has our number.

[HeyIt'sMe]

Ok well I tried to watch this really hard without thinking that the calls were one sided, but it just seemed like detroit was getting away with hack after hack. Howard was hacked on almost all if not every shot, and yet got barely any calls. To an extent I agree that detroit out hustled us at times but as a former player I can tell you when call after call is going against you it takes you out of the game mentally. No matter how good our shooters are if they are mentally frustrated they are not going to make shots.

It may not even be the officiating crew, because I notice it every time we play the Pistons. They are very physical, and they do foul a lot. The Magic are a "softer" team and usually do play cleaner. So the officials dont want to call everything they pick and choose the fouls committed by the Pistons, and call any little thing the Magic do. I think by fourth quarter we should have started making them pay for everything. If we are going to get called for petty BS lets really foul hard and bring up our physicality level to that of the Pistons. Continuing to play like the "Magic" against physical teams like Detroit is not going to help us get any foul calls.

The Pistons are much more aggressive, 4 of Orlando's players stand out around the free throw line shooting jump shots most of the time, how are you supposed to draw fouls that way.

Detroit is a huge jump shooting team. Hell, their best best two bigs, McDyess and Wallace, shoot primarily jumpshots.

[MoGrAdY]

Pistons are more physical than Magic.
McDyess-Wallace-Maxiel more physical and can shot >>>>> Howard-Gortat-Battie.
Very difficult for the Magic against this team.

Agreed.. And this is why I'm all for a Joe Smith trade.. Having Howard/Battie/Smith/Gortat to throw at the Pistons would help alot.. I hope something can be done soon with that.. We need tweaks to further place us in the playoffs.. I really think Joe Smith can help out play wise and character wise..

The Pistons beat Orlando, because Orlando's back court is sub par. Orlando also only has 1 interior player who can be shut down, playing two small forwards leads to their problems, Rashard Lewis at PF is a joke. Detroit beat Orlando without Hamilton, and playing a guy who has mostly been CDNP'ed 20+ minutes. The Pistons are just now getting going, they lost most of their games without McDyess, and before Stuckey was inserted into the starting lineup.

Thanks for making it clear you dont know anything about the Magic

Damn for Shard being a joke at PF we sure are lucky to have the 4th best record in the league. Check your opinions untill you know what your talking about big bruh. Orlando lost because we played a horrible first half an made too many mistakes with the ball. Our starting PG is getting 17/3/5/1 which last time I checked had him in discussions of making the AS team.

[HeroicKennedy]

I'm hoping after tonight that Orlando fans start to see what we see in Stuckey. I understand there's probably a lot of anger and frustration over swapping out that pick (which netted us Stuckey) for essentially a one and a half year rental of Darko Milicic, but you have to admit: dude can ball. This was an off shooting night for him, too (his jumper wasn't falling as consistently).

Watching the game, I admit there should have been a foul on Dice on that Iverson jumper that basically sealed it.

[FFBlitzace]

What is there to concede with Stuckey. He's obviously a good player, nobody ever said otherwise. And tonight, I'm not going to go nuts over a 7-19 shooting night. So I don't really know what kind of comments you're looking for about Stuckey.

[MoGrAdY]

I'm hoping after tonight that Orlando fans start to see what we see in Stuckey. I understand there's probably a lot of anger and frustration over swapping out that pick (which netted us Stuckey) for essentially a one and a half year rental of Darko Milicic, but you have to admit: dude can ball. This was an off shooting night for him, too (his jumper wasn't falling as consistently).

Watching the game, I admit there should have been a foul on Dice on that Iverson jumper that basically sealed it.

I wasnt aware that we didnt know Stuckey was good. I think anyone with half a brain cell realized dude ws legit when he filled in for Big Shot last yr during the playoffs.

[Moe_B8]

Detroit got the helping hand from the refs, but the Magic still have to play harder. They can't breeze through Detroit like they can with most teams, and it seemed like they thought they were still playing the Wolves.

All in all, we played probably our worst game in a month and it was still pretty close in the end on the home court of a team that has our number.

you should know that the pistons have a point differential of 0.4... meaning every game they play is close. whether they be the thunder or cavs or lakers.

[zeebneeb]

Stop trying to force Stuckey down our throats or I will consider it trolling.

Trolling? Wouldnt that be rape?

[Optimus_Steel]

LOL so we lost. Im not about to let one game in December dictate my feelings on the team. We have a very very good team. Some of the comments on here about the Magic by our fans and their fans are kinda dumb.

[vege]

For all those Magic Fans high on Nelson. Saying Nelson > Stuckey.

J.Nelson G 29:06 4-12 1-5 0-0 +7 2 0 2 0 5 0 2 0 1 9
R.Stuckey G 40:33 7-19 0-1 5-6 +11 2 3 5 4 1 0 1 0 2 19

Rodney Stuckey says Hi.

[Force9024]

For all those Magic Fans high on Nelson. Saying Nelson > Stuckey.

J.Nelson G 29:06 4-12 1-5 0-0 +7 2 0 2 0 5 0 2 0 1 9
R.Stuckey G 40:33 7-19 0-1 5-6 +11 2 3 5 4 1 0 1 0 2 19

Rodney Stuckey says Hi.

I don't see your point, Jameer Nelson played 10 less minutes and point up almost identical stats, minus the 19-9 point differential..

[AdamTheGreek]

^^^Sprained wrist. X-Rays negative.

Hell of a dunk:




I think Rasheed farted:

[Optimus_Steel]

Whats the Pistons fans obssesion with pointing out that Stuckey is good?

[FFBlitzace]

And again, he got his points on 37% shooting, so it's not like he was even really schooling anybody out there.

[legacyinthemakin89c]

Hey I just wanted to say good game guys. You guys have a hell of a team and as long as you have Dwight you guys are always gonna be in the discussion. GL till we meet again