Game 2 vs Memphis Grizzlies 8:00PM EST

[Brt19]

Heartbreaking loss, although OT was awful the team played very well for 48 minutes. Even in last 2 minutes of regulation, the plays were good imo, just didn't fall. There were some calls might have gone the other way too.

[dan2314]

How is anybody but Smith getting blame for this loss

He did as much good as bad. If not more. Hes incredibly active and wants to be a huge difference in the game. Sometimes that results in negative plays like turnovers and bad shots, but he was incredibly good at getting in the right spots on defense and offense, he was everywhere. Way too many 3's but have to be encouraged at what he does throughout the game.

Chauncey and will are the ones im going to blame, as well as the refs. But chauncey couldnt get anything going, and will flat out stunk. The best minutes were when stuckey was at the point in both the end of the 1st and a stretch in the 3rd. Saying that, we very well could have/ should have won even with that. If jennings is in as a straight swap for wills minutes, so bynum gets zero, then i think we are a great chance to win a lot of games this season.


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[menten]

i dont know about you guys but i thought drummond kinda sucked the last 2 games. he just was out there and didnt really do much of anything other than take away space. i know he rebounded well but still..

and also charlie garbage should play instead of jerebko. we need the 3pt shooting

[Moses ShamMoses]

i dont know about you guys but i thought drummond kinda sucked the last 2 games. he just was out there and didnt really do much of anything other than take away space. i know he rebounded well but still..

and also charlie garbage should play instead of jerebko. we need the 3pt shooting

I thought Drummond did really well in the Wizards game until he got into foul trouble for the entire 2nd half. I think he lacked intensity for fear of picking up more fouls and he played inconsistent minutes that half.

In terms of the grizz game, I don't think he sucked but he wasn't quite as active as I expect him to be. I think part of that was due to our offense being a bit stagnant at times (one on one ball) and Josh taking so many of our shots (I like him better when he's looking to pass).

[princeofpalace]

i dont know about you guys but i thought drummond kinda sucked the last 2 games. he just was out there and didnt really do much of anything other than take away space. i know he rebounded well but still..

and also charlie garbage should play instead of jerebko. we need the 3pt shooting

Umm.. Drummond has been putting up 12 points/12 boards/1.5 steals/1 block. He's keeping possessions alive, altering shots and getting easy points. I think that production is just fine for him and hope he keeps it up. That being said, right now he's our 3rd best bigman right now.

[BadMofoPimp]

Lol. Drummond, who is still very young and raw, was going up against arguably the 2nd best center in the NBA. I expected him to not have a great game. I thought he played admirably considering all that. I think Cheeks should have went more with Stuckey than Bynum towards the end, but hindsight is a biatch. Great game considering it was a Home Opener to almost knock off a possible top 5 team.

[Brt19]

Am I the only one who wanted Andre to guard Z-Bo? He wear down Greg and Greg would be better to defend Marc in high post. I expected at least trying that out.

[E-Z]

This is very odd. Detroit is playing much better on offense than anyone would have imagined. However their defense is much worse than anyone would have imagined. It's the twilight zone right now.

That said, there are 4 areas that ensure playoff positioning (and potentially success): Rebounding, Offense, Defense and Turnovers. Last season, Detroit sucked in all four areas.

These last two games show a marked improvement in offensive production, but a marginal gain on ball control, and a negative on opponent's eFG%. Detroit is forcing way more turnovers to their credit of adding Smith and promoting Drummond.

Detroit needs to shore up their perimeter defense (and work on turning it over less), because I'm not sure how dominant their offense can be for the entire duration of the season.

[BadMofoPimp]

Sample size is way too small to be thinking this is the way it will be for a whole season. It is not like these guys have been playing together for years. They need a good dozen games or two to gel before people flip out because the team lost in OT against a WCF team on their home opener. In that sense, the team played great to me.

[Brapman]

I think their D looks very good - not sure what you guys are seeing. We're very hard to score on in the paint. The reason why teams are statistically shooting well against us are because of the turnovers, and some breakdowns with our perimeter defense. The only other issue has been that Bynum at PG is bad at allowing his man to penetrate quickly into the paint. That will change when Jennings gets back and in sync.

But our big guys are contesting everything, getting their hands on a lot of balls, changing and blocking shots, closing off the paint at a high level, and dominating the boards. The fact that Memphis's big men had success at times doesn't support your argument that our D has been bad - Z-bo and Gasol are about the best pair of big men in the league. Our guys were their equal or better for much of the evening.

[BadMofoPimp]

If the Pistons are playing this well this early, then wait until the team gels when healthy a good 30 games in. They could be scary good.

[srt4b]

I have no idea what Billups is doing on this team.

[Brapman]

If the Pistons are playing this well this early, then wait until the team gels when healthy a good 30 games in. They could be scary good.

Agreed. We could be freaky-tough to play.

We can be the best team in the league at playing smashmouth BB - dominating the paint and boards on both ends of the court.

My question is really about whether and how well our outside shooters will play this season, and how good Jennings can be. I'm optimistic that Datome, KCP, Singler, Billups and Jennings will all be quite strong for us, and that we'll surprise a lot of "experts" around the league who don't think we can spread the floor well-enough.

I see us as a team that also is about the most athletic in the league - our big guys are incredibly athletic, not just lumbering huge people.

And I see us as a team that will defend really well and be able to switch back and forth with multiple styles of play (smashmouth, spread the floor, great in transition - whatever). The big question I've got is how fast this comes together, and how much the team will grow on the spectrum of fulfilling the big-time potential we've got. I assume that we'll go pretty far along that spectrum this season, and that we'll really launch as a power franchise over another season or two.

[Brapman]

I have no idea what Billups is doing on this team.

Then you're a silly person.

[dan2314]

I think their D looks very good - not sure what you guys are seeing. We're very hard to score on in the paint. The reason why teams are statistically shooting well against us are because of the turnovers, and some breakdowns with our perimeter defense. The only other issue has been that Bynum at PG is bad at allowing his man to penetrate quickly into the paint. That will change when Jennings gets back and in sync.

But our big guys are contesting everything, getting their hands on a lot of balls, changing and blocking shots, closing off the paint at a high level, and dominating the boards. The fact that Memphis's big men had success at times doesn't support your argument that our D has been bad - Z-bo and Gasol are about the best pair of big men in the league. Our guys were their equal or better for much of the evening.

THIS. except for the part about the will bynum to jennings will change the defense blowbys. jennings isnt a good defender, dont get your hopes up. sometimes he lets himself get beaten so he can try to knock it loose from behind. bynum was terrible though, so theres a good chance anything is better than that, but dont get your hopes up too high.

[russkopp]

First off, this was the second game of the season against a team that was in the Western Finals. We could've won but we didn't though we still played well. Nothing to freak out about.

1) Jennings should help when he returns and this will also help shore up our bench.
2) Stuckey may prove to be valuable either off the bench or as trade bait if he keeps playing like this
3)If Smith is playing SF he's gonna shoot 3's, I'm fine with this as long as they're not contested
4) Though Dre didn't look like superman he was going up against two of the leagues best bigs and held his own
5) Lets get Jennings back and get a win against Boston.

...and I love KCP

[DTP]

People are going to knock Smith for his turnovers and threes but without him, probably wouldn't have been in the game in the first place. Smith does a lot of great and as fans, you have to learn to accept some flaws man... 11 threes is way too much but to his defense, he did try attacking too and just couldn't get anything to fall. That's what happens when there's no shooters out there and Memphis can just collapse with their big front line. I mean, Monroe only got up 10 shots too....and Drummond missed 7 shots in the paint, just great defense by Memphis to be honest.

I'm impressed that without Jennings, and with so many guys struggling offensively, and with Will Bynum on the floor and our bench being garbage for the most part with the exception of KCP, that we were able to put up such a fight. I really hope Jennings is able to go Sunday because I'm really sick of this Will Bynum experience already....

[DetroitPistons]

I think their D looks very good - not sure what you guys are seeing. We're very hard to score on in the paint. The reason why teams are statistically shooting well against us are because of the turnovers, and some breakdowns with our perimeter defense. The only other issue has been that Bynum at PG is bad at allowing his man to penetrate quickly into the paint. That will change when Jennings gets back and in sync.

But our big guys are contesting everything, getting their hands on a lot of balls, changing and blocking shots, closing off the paint at a high level, and dominating the boards. The fact that Memphis's big men had success at times doesn't support your argument that our D has been bad - Z-bo and Gasol are about the best pair of big men in the league. Our guys were their equal or better for much of the evening.

THIS. except for the part about the will bynum to jennings will change the defense blowbys. jennings isnt a good defender, dont get your hopes up. sometimes he lets himself get beaten so he can try to knock it loose from behind. bynum was terrible though, so theres a good chance anything is better than that, but dont get your hopes up too high.

Yeah I'm not expecting Jennings to be a defensive stopper by any means but I am expecting him to be noticeably better than Bynum, which shouldn't be difficult. Another thing that would help our defense a lot is starting a real SG like Stuckey or KCP. Stuckey was not only fantastic offensively last night but he was fantastic on the defensive end as well. I would REALLY love to see Stuckey or KCP start over Billups along side Jennings.

[Q00]

Man, I'm kind of impressed with this Piston team so far. You had to know this was going to be a tough game. Memphis is good, and at home. Still, the Pistons might have won it if Chauncey doesn't miss a free throw. I had to read the thread to see who might be peeing their pants over the first loss. There will be more, and the Pistons had so many changes that it will take a while for things to truly jell. The details of who plays where and who finishes out games will shake itself out.

I want to thank Maker_84 for adding to the entertainment value of these threads. I haven't decided if he's really just the most pessimistic Piston fan ever. Kind of like the little cartoon guy who walks around with the little rain cloud over his head. The other option is some kind of despicable troll. In any case, I finally decided it doesn't matter as it's kind of fun to watch him strut his stuff.

Nope Maker_84 post on the Ohio State scout forum even with us on a 20 game winning streak he is the most negative intolerable fan ever. Ironicly he follow two of my teams pistons and osu. So even when your the number #4 team in the country and on the longest winning streak in your sports he still trolling/miserable.

damn that says it all. I could kind of understand being skeptical about a team that only won 29 games last year, but if he's saying the same things about a team that has won 20 straight, its obviously him and not the team's, who have the issues.

[kurtis48239]

If monroe would learn to hold the ball over his head instead of holding at his chest Iam sure he would cut down on 90% on his turnovers.