Game 24: Utah @ Detroit // Fri. 8pm on FS Detroit HD

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 80359/1127

The Pistons did hit first Wednesday, building an 18-point lead in the first half. But the Jazz stayed on their feet, started punching back hard in the third quarter and turned the fourth quarter into a full-fledged donnybrook.

But it was former Piston Mehmet Okur who delivered the knockout blows. He hit three 3-pointers from the same spot at the top of the key, leading the Jazz to a 103-95 victory.

Okur finished with 24 points as the Jazz won their 15th straight at Energy Solutions Arena. "Memo caught fire, man," Carlos Boozer said. "That's the Memo we had all last season and that's the Memo we are going to need the rest of this season."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/DETUTA_ ... recap.html

Utah plays at Energy Solutions Arena, but the Pistons found no solution to their energy crunch. They ran out of gas. After building an 18-point lead, the Pistons lost to their most dogged nemesis as ex-Piston Mehmet Okur drained three 3-pointers down the stretch just when it looked like the Pistons were about to win their open their four-game road swing with a third win in four days against a Western Conference heavyweight. But Utah, where the Pistons haven

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... ame_1.html

STUDS: Rip Hamilton forced a few shots he probably shouldn't have, but he still had a good night overall with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists. Former Piston Mehmet Okur stepped up in a big way, nailing three, 3-pointers in the fourth as part of a game-high 24 point, 7-rebound, 4-assist performance.SOLID: As the team's fifth scoring option, Antonio McDyess did what he had to do to help the Pistons win, scoring eight points to go with 10 rebounds.

DUDS: Rasheed Wallace was brutal shooting the ball (2-for-12) all night, and his defense down the stretch against Okur left a lot to be desired. Andrei Kirilenko was a non-factor all game, scoring just four points to go with two assists.SUPER SUB: Jason Maxiell did his part, tallying 11 points which included a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. Without question, Utah's Paul Millsap was the difference-maker tonight. He had 19 points, 16 of which came in the second half.

UP NEXT: Saturday at the Los Angeles Clippers. With the Clippers' season going nowhere fast, this is an ideal getaway game for Detroit. I anticipate we'll see a better effort and more focus from the fellas, especially in the second half. A win over the Clips will indeed make this a successful road trip.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 28001/1051

The Jazz outscored the Pistons 25-18 in the third quarter, going on a 15-2 run late to cut the lead to two points. Detroit didn't score for 4 minutes as Millsap led the Jazz on a comeback after it appeared Detroit was on its way to ending its losing streak to Utah.

Paul Millsap scored 19, including 16 in the second half and led Utah's comeback. Carlos Boozer added 18 points and 15 rebounds and Deron Willliams had 14 points and 14 assists.

Billups put the Pistons up 67-52 on a layup with 5:19 left in the third and Detroit didn't get another field goal until Hamilton's fadeaway with 5:28 left to play. The Pistons scored only on free throws during the shooting drought and Utah capitalized.

[Duiz]

The Jazz and the Mormons just have our number

Enough said

I find this offensive. Somebody drops the "N" word or just comments against someone's sex or creed, and they are banned.. We get about half dozen of people banned in our board for this type of degrading language.

Anyways, I think the Jazz won this game out. I was reading the earlier pages, and NO KIDDING! Tayshaun dominated Korver. I have never seen Korver so corraled since he has come to Utah, not even in his first game.

Good thing for you guyses to know too is that he since has come up, he has allowed Utah to open the lanes for the Paul Millsaps and Carlos Boozer's to do their job. Utah just like you excels in team offense, but Utah's offensive production is a bit more finely tuned, and Zones and 5 man help defensive hustle kills the Jazz's offense, if these are just free for a bit the Jazz are just as good as any team. Their record, and their Western Conference finals appearance back it up.

I think your team was playing great Pistons basketball in the first half, and the Jazz, honest to God, were still in the synchless mode of their last game. To give credit to you, in the second half I saw as Pistons going very cold, and the Jazz picking up steam and playing Jazz basketball again. Without Memo's trays it would have gone down to wire rather than a mini-blowout lead of 8 points at the end.

I was interested in seeing more of Maxiell. I loved the hustle he always brings. I noticed you guyses got Flip Murray gone, and didn't notice if Linsay Hunter was playing. Whoever the PG was at the bench time, he was terrible.

Forever, McDyess will be my favourite Piston. Man that guy is a beast, I always wished the Jazz could have made a trade for him.

[theBigLip]

-= original quote snipped =-

I find this offensive. Somebody drops the "N" word or just comments against someone's sex or creed, and they are banned.. We get about half dozen of people banned in our board for this type of degrading language.

I agree that we should be careful how we address people, but I think the "N" word is very derogatory, whereas I don't think the use of Mormans was being negative - if anything, in this case, he is acknowledging they kicked our ass. But thanks for pointing it out.

[Hunter]

I can understand how the whole Morman schtick can get a bit old, but comparing it to the "N" word? C'mon now, that's just plain silly. In fact I'd argue that's possibly more offensive than labeling the entire Jazz community as Mormans. I get that you are tired of the jokes and they are probably in poor taste, but lets not blow this outa proportion. Just because you are fed up and overly sensitive is no reason for us to have to walk on egg shells on our own damn board.

[Joe Berry]

the curse of Memo will never end, we will never ever beat this team again! Memo even made Amir disappear!

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... e=nletter-%%__AdditionalEmailAttribute1%%

In the second half, the Pistons got away from what got them their lead and spiraled into playing one-on-one ball. The Jazz rallied in the third quarter as reserve Paul Millsap, who scored 19 points, played the role of game-changer.

"We're a veteran team -- that can't happen to us," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "You have to understand why you got up like that. You played a certain way. You can't just all of the sudden play out of character, and that's what we did -- we played out of character."

The Pistons had only five assists after halftime. They shot 51.2% in the first half and 32.4% in the second.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... e=nletter-%%__AdditionalEmailAttribute1%%

The last time the Pistons won in Energy Solutions Arena -- then called the Delta Center -- was the 2002-03 season and assistant coach Michael Curry was with the team as a forward. Hearing that Wednesday, Hamilton said, "Hey, suit him up!" "They've always been tough here, even when they didn't have a great record," Curry said. "We were able a couple times I was here to get some wins. We took some losses, too. But I think we're a different team this year."

"I didn't know we'd lost five straight," point guard Chauncey Billups said before Wednesday's game. "They've been kicking our butts, though."

Hamilton said he and his teammates were aware of their lack of success against the Jazz heading into Wednesday. The clich

[Dutch Michigan]

Winning in Utah, it's never going to happen. On the other side, the other teams in the West will take care of our only problem in de WC.

[prophet_of_rage]

The Jazz don't get mentally beaten. That's why they're good and that's why they beat the Pistons. The Pistons do not go to basket enough. Once the Jazz keyed in on their rhythm and started disrupting the Pistons jumpshots the Pistons kept hoisting up bricks. That's on them not on Flip. The offensive sets get you open looks and get players to a spot, but the Pistons could have used the "show and go" pump fakes more. They worked every time.

And for those who said "Where's Amir?" What would he have contributed to this game? He can't defend Boozer in the box or Okur on the perimeter. He's not good enough for AK. He wouldn't have helped.

[Liqourish]

The Jazz don't get mentally beaten. That's why they're good and that's why they beat the Pistons. The Pistons do not go to basket enough. Once the Jazz keyed in on their rhythm and started disrupting the Pistons jumpshots the Pistons kept hoisting up bricks. That's on them not on Flip. The offensive sets get you open looks and get players to a spot, but the Pistons could have used the "show and go" pump fakes more. They worked every time.

Our players were cutting to the lane and getting to the basket, but the contact they were getting wasn't being called. No adjustments were made after that. Yeah they went one on one too much, after doing what they did in the first half stopped working and nothing was put in place to counter that.

And for those who said "Where's Amir?" What would he have contributed to this game? He can't defend Boozer in the box or Okur on the perimeter. He's not good enough for AK. He wouldn't have helped.

How do you know Amir couldn't have boxed out Boozer? Is it because Amir has been burned by Boozer before? Has Mehmet gone off on Amir from the perimeter before?

You don't know because Flip was too scared **** to find out. If Flip won't even play the young guy in a regular season match against a tough opponent, what makes anyone think he'll play him in the playoffs?

We've seen what happens when a coach doesn't want to trust the young guys when it matters... we see Tayshaun trying to defend Duncan in game 7 of the NBA finals when all our bigs get into foul trouble.

[Nate505]

I can understand how the whole Morman schtick can get a bit old, but comparing it to the "N" word? C'mon now, that's just plain silly. In fact I'd argue that's possibly more offensive than labeling the entire Jazz community as Mormans. I get that you are tired of the jokes and they are probably in poor taste, but lets not blow this outa proportion. Just because you are fed up and overly sensitive is no reason for us to have to walk on egg shells on our own damn board.

I don't think the Mormon thing is very offensive.

It's certainly completely unoriginal, not very funny, and takes absolutely no intelligence whatsoever to come up with...but not terribly offensive.

I do wonder, however, if Piston fans would get irritated if other fans referred to Detroit as a crime ridden slum that nobody in their right mind would want to live in. You know, because stereotypes are awesome and all.

[prophet_of_rage]

-= original quote snipped =-



How do you know Amir couldn't have boxed out Boozer? Is it because Amir has been burned by Boozer before? Has Mehmet gone off on Amir from the perimeter before?

You don't know because Flip was too scared **** to find out. If Flip won't even play the young guy in a regular season match against a tough opponent, what makes anyone think he'll play him in the playoffs?

We've seen what happens when a coach doesn't want to trust the young guys when it matters... we see Tayshaun trying to defend Duncan in game 7 of the NBA finals when all our bigs get into foul trouble.

What happened in the first half was that Utah was doubling the pick and roll and the third person never picked up the roller. That got changed in the second half. But the Pistons have got to suck it up and take that contact. It doesn't make sense to resort to chucking up jumpers.

As for Amir. We don't see him in practice where the questions about his ability to box out get answered. I'm betting high on no he can't box out Boozer and he's too slender for Okur. Detroit played alternating man and zone on those possessions anyway. It didn't matter. Nobody thought to chase him off his sweet spot. I hate the 1-2-2 shifting zone, though.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/ ... 8343.shtml

Paul Millsap scored 19, including 16 in the second half and led Utah's comeback. Carlos Boozer added 18 points and 15 rebounds and Deron Willliams had 14 points and 14 assists.

Richard Hamilton scored 22 points, Chauncey Billups had 21 and the Pistons led by 18 in the first half and continued to hold down the Jazz until the end of the third quarter.

Wallace scored 11 points and Antonio McDyess had 10 rebounds for Detroit, which had opened up a four-game Western Conference road trip with wins at Phoenix and Denver.

[Duiz]

This definetly isn't the place to speak about religion, or political correctness, however I must clarify that I find it offensive that as a stereotype you still rate Utah as Mormon. Even the word Mormon was the nickname that was used against the religion followers early in its history. You must recognize that a lot of people in Utah aren't mormon and bring it up is just of bad taste as mentioned before. For trivia sake, the true denomination is Latter-Day Saints.

Talking about the fans, we surely are grateful of your team. Owning Phoenix and Denver has helped us greatly in the race for a higher seed in the Western Conference. Specially the Denver win. I am really rooting for the Pistons to beat the Celtics, and please, don't ever lose to the Cavs again, your team is so much better than such crappy team like the washed out Cavs.

I really hope that you win the East... Get those Celtics off their rockers!