'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 63

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/22 ... es-ind-det

Pace yourselves: IND @ DET
Indiana Pacers at Detroit Pistons, Jan 22, 2010 7:00 PM CST
Game tips at 7:00 pm ET (note: NBA League Pass is Offering a Free Trial through January 24)
Detroit Pistons: 15-26 (11-9 home, -4.6 margin)
Indiana Pacers: 14-28 (4-18 road, -5.5 margin)
Oppo Research
As a result of some bizarre offseason moves, the Pacers are sitting near the Eastern Conference basement. In many ways, their season has been reminiscent of the Pistons, only they can't blame injuries. To some degree, the Pacers have fallen victim to the increased emphasis on defending the three point line. None of their shooters rates above 40%, and they are only shooting 33% as a team. The Pacers have also been plagued by injuries. Mike Dunleavy, one of the teams most potent offensive threats, was injured to start the season, and has failed to regain his shooting stroke since. As such, Danny Granger remains the lone offensive weapon, a fact reflected by his reduced TS% of 54.5 (his lowest in four seasons).

The Drama
The Pacers organization had made a concerted effort to avoid any sort of drama. They are now the most boring team in any sport.
Keys for Detroit
Force the outside game - Granger averages 8.3 attempts from outside the three point line. I don't see any reason to deny him the opportunity.
Feed it to Charlie V. inside- This is not specific to Indiana, but for crying out loud, the dude is unstoppable from 15 ft. in. I say this as a guy who never bought into the notion that Rasheed Wallace was unstoppable from the inside. Stuckey should refuse to pass to him unless he is inside the three-point line. Tough love wins.
Stop Roy Hibbert - I've got an inkling this guy is about to go nuts. When he enters the game, stop him. 15 rebounds from Hibbert = lose.

Question of the Game
Detroit is a substantial favorite in this one. Coming off a difficult victory, can Stuckey % Co. pick off a weaker opponent?
Valuable Links
Go visit. Indy Cornrows. Don't worry, it's not an AI fan site.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... acers.html

Game Thread 42: Indiana Pacers at Detroit Pistons
Tip: 8 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit
Probable Starters: DET - G: Rodney Stuckey, Rip Hamilton; F: Jonas Jerebko Tayshaun Prince will start, Chris Wilcox; C: Ben Wallace.
IND - G: Earl Watson, Brandon Rush; F: Danny Granger, Troy Murphy; C: Roy Hibbert.

Notes: While the Indiana Pacers definitely boast some faces on the roster who would be stars in the All-American Basketball League, there's something else Larry Bird has become fond of collecting: former big name college players. Brandon Rush, Roy Hibbert, Pshyco T, A.J. Price, Dahntay Jones, Josh McRoberts, Luther Head ... all names that Dick Vitale used to love screaming about at their respective programs. Obviously, though, at 14-28 (thanks for not letting the Pistons fall into last place in the division) drafting players based strictly on college success hasn't been the most effective strategy. The Pacers have strengths though. Hibbert has become a better pro than most thought he would, averaging 11 points and six boards a game. He's still the huge, plodding big from Georgetown who lacked much athleticism, but the Pacers can park him under the basket on offense and his size and nice touch will let him shoot over most opposing centers. Troy Murphy is also a bit underrated, although his massive contract is one of the worst in the league. He's averaging nearly a double-double -- 14 points/9.8 rebounds -- has range out to the three-point line (hitting 40 percent of his threes) and shoots a good percentage (48 percent) for someone who's mostly a jump-shooter. Danny Granger's numbers are down a tad from last year when he was an All-Star, but he's still an explosive scorer. He lit up the Pistons for 42 in a game last season. The Pacers are not a physical team, they don't have particularly good guard play in Earl Watson and Rush as the starters and Granger can, at times, become a volume shooter. Simply put, games like this are ones the Pistons absolutely have to have the rest of the way.

Last Meeting: A 106-102 Pistons loss last April.

[nasty daddy]

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

Tayshaun Prince back in starting lineup tonight for Pistons
Tayshaun Prince will start tonight against the Indiana Pacers, but it is unclear how much playing time he will see. "I've got something in mind," Pistons coach John Kuester said when asked how many minutes Prince would play. "We'll monitor his minutes."

Prince has been dealing with a sore left knee after battling a back injury that kept him out for a long stretch early in the season. Chris Wilcox will start at the other forward position, which means Jonas Jerebko will come off the bench.

Ben Gordon (groin) and Will Bynum (left ankle) will not play.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20100122/S ... ace-Pacers

Pistons battling last-place Pacers
The Pistons have won four of five contests since a 13-game losing streak and are coming off a 92-86 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. Detroit's bench is averaging 37.8 points in the past 25 games, compared with 28.3 in the previous 16. It is 11-9 at home this season and also will entertain the Blazers, Grizzlies, Heat and Magic.

Detroit big man Ben Wallace is averaging 10 points and 13 rebounds in his last four games and needs seven blocks for 2,000 in his career.

Indiana will wrap up a three-game road trip this evening and has lost three in a row since a three-game winning streak. In a 109-98 setback at Orlando on Wednesday, the Pacers fell to 4-18 away from Conseco Fieldhouse. Indiana and Detroit are at the bottom of the Central Division standings and are meeting for the first time this season. The rivals split four matchups a year ago, but the Pistons have won 11 of the last 15 meetings in the series.

[nasty daddy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/ne ... id=4850524

Garnett returns against Portland
Celtics coach Doc Rivers confirmed that forward Kevin Garnett will return to the starting lineup Friday night after a 10-game absence.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122020

Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams sizzled instead of sulking after getting bumped from the starting lineup, combining for 33 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a surprising 92-81 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Young had been one of three Sixers to start all 41 games this season until Friday. He scored 16 of his 22 points in the second quarter to help the Sixers grab an early double-digit lead and beat the second-best team in the West.

Williams came off the bench for only the third time this season and scored 11 points. Young and Williams were the only Sixers in double figures entering the fourth quarter.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122027

Dwyane Wade scored 32 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 112-88 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday night.

Antawn Jamison, who had just seven points in Wednesday's loss to Dallas, missed 10 of his 14 shots and was held to eight points. Andray Blatche led Washington with 19 points.

Miami led 57-42 at halftime and had huge advantages in rebounds (26-15) and assists (15-5). Washington got within 10, at 61-51 with 8:42 to play in the third quarter, but the Heat outscored the Wizards 22-6 to take an 83-57 lead with 2:51 to play.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122028

Jarrett Jack scored a season-high 27 points, Chris Bosh added 17 and the Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks 101-96 on Friday night.

Marco Belinelli scored 16 points and DeMar DeRozan had 12 for the Raptors, who avenged a 113-107 loss in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

Luke Ridnour scored a season-high 27 points and Andrew Bogut added 22 for the Bucks, who have lost three of four.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122001

Jamal Crawford scored 24 points, Al Horford had 23 and the Atlanta Hawks overwhelmed Charlotte with dominating performances in the first and third quarters, beating the Bobcats 103-89 Friday night.

The first-place Hawks made 11 straight shots in the opening period and raced to a 16-point lead. Charlotte turned it around in the second quarter, closing the gap to 47-43 by halftime.

Gerald Wallace led Charlotte with 25 points.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122019

Dwight Howard had 19 points and 15 rebounds and the Orlando Magic became the latest team to bully the struggling Sacramento Kings with a 100-84 victory Friday night that wasn't even that close.

Howard beat and bruised an undersized Sacramento frontline to help Orlando build a 32-point lead and cruise to its second straight blowout win. The much-maligned free-throw shooter also made his first 10 shots from the line and finished 11-for-12.

Tyreke Evans had 19 points and Jason Thompson scored 10 for the Kings, who have lost six straight and 11 of their last 12 games.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122002

Ray Allen was just 2-for-13 when he hit a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in overtime to give the Boston Celtics a 98-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.

LaMarcus Aldridge followed with a missed 3-pointer, and after a scramble at midcourt Allen wound up with the ball and passed it ahead to Tony Allen for the breakaway dunk. Rudy Fernandez had a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 10 seconds, but both missed.

Andre Miller scored 28 for Portland, and Aldridge had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122008

Danny Granger scored 25 points, Troy Murphy added 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game skid with a 105-93 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

Detroit was coming off a home win over Boston but was never in the game against one of the Eastern Conference's worst teams. Indiana won for just the fifth time in 23 road games this season.

Brandon Rush had 16 points for Indiana, which had five players score at least 14. Richard Hamilton led Detroit with 27 and Jonas Jerebko had 14 points.

[nasty daddy]

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

Pistons routed by Pacers despite 27 points from Richard Hamilton
On Wednesday, the Detroit Pistons beat one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. On Friday, they lost to one of the worst. Richard Hamilton scored 27 points, but the Pistons played without the energy they had in their previous game and suffered a 105-93 loss to the Indiana Pacers. The Pistons started a six-game homestand two days earlier with an upset of the Boston Celtics. The Pacers came into the game with a three-game losing streak and had allowed 100 points or more in 15 of their previous 16 games. They rank 25th in the league in points allowed (104.4 per game).

on the offensive end, and they couldn’t stop the Pacers on the defensive end. The Pacers led by 18 points in the second quarter before the Pistons used a 13-0 run late in the half to cut the deficit to 47-43. But the Pacers scored the first 11 points of the second half to build their lead to 19 points, then led by 23 in the fourth quarter and cruised to the easy win. Jonas Jerebko had 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Detroit, and Rodney Stuckey added 10 points and five assists. Ben Wallace had nine points and six rebounds.

Hamilton had five rebounds and three assists to go with his 27 points, but he had seven turnovers for the second consecutive game and for the third time in five games. Charlie Villanueva had one of his worst games this season. He finished with three points on 1-for-9 shooting and was overmatched on the defensive end by Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. Danny Granger led the Pacers with 25 points, and Brandon Rush added 19. Murphy had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Roy Hibbert and Dunleavy each added 14 points.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20100122/S ... st-Pistons

Pacers cruise past Pistons
Danny Granger scored 25 points, Troy Murphy added 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game skid with a 105-93 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night.

Detroit was coming off a home win over Boston but was never in the game against one of the Eastern Conference’s worst teams. Indiana won for just the fifth time in 23 road games this season.

Brandon Rush had 16 points for Indiana, which had five players score at least 14. Richard Hamilton led Detroit with 27 and Jonas Jerebko had 14 points.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122016

James Posey hit a driving layup at the buzzer for the second straight game, this time lifting the New Orleans Hornets to a 96-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.

Chris Paul had 23 points and nine assists and Darius Songaila had 13 points and five rebounds for the Hornets, who played the second half without David West because of a sprained left ankle.

Wolves rookie Jonny Flynn had 20 points, and his three-point play with 3.5 seconds to go tied the game at 94.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... or-Pistons

Tayshaun Prince returns, starts for Pistons
There was one fewer Piston in dress clothes on the bench Friday. Tayshaun Prince returned to the lineup after having not played since Jan. 9 because of a knee injury. After what coach John Kuester called a "chipper" practice on Thursday, Prince declared himself ready. "He was real aggressive and that was important," Kuester said. "The decision was going to be his. This is the first time he's had to go through something like this (injuries forcing Prince to the bench) and it's been a challenge."

Prince missed nearly the first two months of the season with a ruptured disc in his back after playing the first three games of the season. When he returned, for six games, Prince may have played too much, too soon. That'll be different this time. "We'll monitor his minutes," said Kuester, who admitted it's something as a rookie head coach he has to watch more. "That's one of the things, knock on wood, hopefully I've learned. You have to gauge certain things."

Prince started at the small forward, while Chris Wilcox remained the starter at the power forward. Jonas Jerebko will come off the bench and will likely play more small than power forward. "There's a comfort factor (for Jerebko at power small forward), and Charlie (Villanueva) is playing more at the (power forward), we have some people playing well at that position (power forward)," Kuester said.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122018

Kobe Bryant scored 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter of his return to Madison Square Garden, helping the Los Angeles Lakers pull away to beat the New York Knicks 115-105 on Friday night.

Pau Gasol added 20 points, half in the final period, and Andrew Bynum finished with 19 for the Lakers, who bounced back from a disappointing loss in Cleveland to even their record after two games of their eight-game road trip.

David Lee scored a season-high 31 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, Wilson Chandler added a season-best 28 points and Danilo Gallinari had 20 for the Knicks.

[nasty daddy]

http://stats.mlive.com/nba/recap.asp?g= ... final=true

Granger has 25, leads Pacers over Pistons
Danny Granger scored 25 points, Troy Murphy added 16 points and 11 rebounds and the Indiana Pacers snapped a three-game skid with a 105-93 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Detroit was coming off a home win over Boston but was never in the game against one of the Eastern Conference's worst teams. Indiana won for just the fifth time in 23 road games this season.

Brandon Rush had 16 points for Indiana, which had five players score at least 14. Richard Hamilton led Detroit with 27 and Jonas Jerebko had 14 points. Indiana led by as many as 17 points in the first half, but Detroit pulled to 53-45 at the intermission. Five Pacers had at least eight points in the half, led by Rush's 12. Hamilton had 16 for Detroit. The Pacers scored the first 11 points of the second half, including five from Granger and four from Murphy, to move the margin to 19. Indiana held an 85-67 lead at quarter's end and led by as many as 23 in the fourth as the few fans left booed loudly.

NOTES: Tayshaun Prince (knee) played for just the 10th time this season, finishing with seven points in 24 minutes. Ben Gordon (groin) and Will Bynum (ankle) continued to sit out for Detroit. ... Kwame Brown played after having sat out the last five games due to coach's decisions.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122029

Rudy Gay hit a 20-footer with 1.3 seconds left to finish with 25 points and the Memphis Grizzlies extended their franchise-record home winning streak to 10 with an 86-84 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night.

Kevin Durant scored 30 points for the Thunder, but his desperation 3-point attempt from the left wing at the horn bounced off the rim, snapping Oklahoma City's three-game winning streak.

Zach Randolph matched Gay's 25 points, while Marc Gasol finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Mike Conley added 14 points. Hasheem Thabeet didn't score, but blocked four shots and grabbed nine rebounds.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/video/games/pistons/ ... index.html

Pacers vs. Pistons: First half
The Pacers take the lead over the Pistons going into the break.

Video in the link above^.