'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 26

[nasty daddy]

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

After Tuesday's 4th quarter collapse from the Pistons at the hands of Central division rival Chicago Bulls, Joe Dumars has to be frustrated. The 40 minute halftime ceremony to honor Johnny "Red" Kerr seemed to help Detroit's tired legs, with the Pistons up 15 points going into the 4th quarter.

[nasty daddy]

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

With rumors running rampant before the trade deadline February 19th, Joe should keep in mind that a franchise big man is what often is the common thread when building a Title team. The last ten years have seen Shaq and Tim Duncan each win 4 Titles, with the Pistons and Celtics winning the other 2.

[nasty daddy]

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

Patrick Hayes of "It's Just Sports" has a survival guide for Piston fans to get through this season. It's hard to disagree with Hayes, but most Piston fans will be hoping for a big trade before the deadline.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/06/most-m ... ities.html

Detroit relinquished its 2007 crown of most miserable city despite a memorable 2008 that included a jailed mayor, the further deterioration of the auto industry and the NFL's first zero-win, 16-loss season.

The Motor City benefited from our revised criteria this year (we added sales tax and sports teams in addition to corruption). Its 6% sales tax is one of the lowest in the country. The success of Detroit's winter sports teams more than offset the ineptitude of the Lions. The Red Wings and Pistons won two-thirds of their games, including a Stanley Cup title for the Wings.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090211/S ... erformance

The Pistons blew another lead in the fourth quarter. Why does that keep happening, especially to below-average teams?

They don’t play good defense. They don’t have a good coach. And they traded away their point guard who was very good at making clutch shots or finding the open shooter and delivering the ball where his teammate needed it. Any questions? Last night’s loss is inexcusable, but not entirely out of character. The Ben Gordon four-point play was hideous, but that wasn’t the play that bugged me most. The Pistons led by three after two Rasheed Wallace free throws — and Derrick Rose simply knifed down the middle of the lane and scored a virtually uncontested lay-up. If an image best captures the 2008-09 Pistons, it’s one of all the guys quizzically looking at each other after the opponent scores an easy basket. The defensive confusion is constant and bewildering. When the Pistons were an elite team that contended for championships, they had four guys on the floor who played great defense and one who was average. Now, they have two great defenders and three who play it like it’s a passing interest. The Suns chewed up the Pistons defense the other night and the Bulls exploited them down the stretch again last night.

Then, after the four-point debacle, Rip threw a bad pass that ended the game. When Chauncey was here, there would have been, at the very worst, a Mr. Big Shot attempt to be a hero, or a trip to the free throw line. It’s a bad recipe right now, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/0 ... index.html

Michael Jordan's resume as an executive has long been tarnished by the name Kwame Brown, his much-maligned choice with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 draft when he ran the Washington Wizards.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/0 ... index.html

Nuggets swingman J.R. Smith will replace Memphis forward Rudy Gay in the slam dunk contest. Gay was forced to pull out because of a strained left hip.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/0 ... index.html

Indiana was missing three key contributors -- Marquis Daniels, Mike Dunleavy and Jeff Foster -- but still edged Cleveland 96-95. ... The Kings were without C Brad Miller (hip flexor) and backup post player Mikki Moore, who was absent for personal reasons after attending the morning shootaround. They lost at Dallas 118-100. ... Pistons guard Allen Iverson missed the 107-102 loss at Chicago with the flu. ... Quentin Richardson was out of New York's lineup with a bruised chest, and the Knicks then lost Tim Thomas late in the first half to a sore left groin. Midway through the fourth quarter, point guard Chris Duhon sprained his left ankle. The Knicks lost 144-127 at Golden State.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/0 ... index.html

Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants missed the game Tuesday night against Toronto because of illness. ... Pistons guard Allen Iverson missed Tuesday's game against the Chicago Bulls because of flu-like symptoms.

[nasty daddy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_d ... nba,140503

Match-up: Joe Johnson and Josh Smith vs. Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace.

How the Hawks got here: Defeated the Pacers' Granger and Dunleavy with 80% of the vote. Game play-by-play, courtesy of "Meghan B": "Granger wins the tip and Smith promptly steals the ball from Dunleavy. The Pacers switch coverage a few times, but they never can stop J. Smith. Dunleavy tries three times to take a charge, forgetting offense calls fouls. Granger struggles to score on Smith and Johnson camps his passing lanes to Dunleavy. They work some screens for a few buckets but never really get going. Hawks win, 11-5."
How the Pistons got here: Defeated the Bobcats' Wallace and Okafor with 77% of the vote.
Game play-by-play, courtesy of "Rojo": "Pistons in a landslide. Iverson takes Wallace off the dribble on every possession, and once Okafor starts doubling down, Iverson dishes it out to Sheed for the "two." With the score at 5-2 Detroit, Iverson pokes Wallace in the arm and GW goes down with a fractured upper arm and torn bicep. Charlotte then subs in Raja Bell, who still can't stay in front of Iverson, but hits a couple deep shots to keep it close late. Pistons win 11-8."

Hypothetical rules: Half-court, offense calls the fouls, "winners out" to eleven (by ones and twos, natch), and you've got to win by two. Also, no jeans allowed. And if you're in a creative mood, leave us a short description of how you see this game unfolding. Who jumps out to the early lead? Who nails the game winner? We'll include the best write-ups in the next round.Voting will remain open until late Wednesday night.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2009/02/pistons-vs-hawks.html

On their second game of a back to back the Pistons host the (better than they are) Atlanta Hawks. The 30-21 Hawks have lost seven straight at the Palace, but like most of us know stats like that mean nothing to this Detroit Pistons team, who struggles with just about every team that they play. And this Hawks team is nothing like the Atlanta teams of old.

Good New/Bad News and More:
Last game for Detroit before a MUCH needed All-Star Break.
Lost to the Hawks in their first meeting but won a season high seven straight after that. They are 6-12 since that seven game miracle.
Atlanta has won 3 of their last 4 games. The Pistons are guaranteed their fewest wins at the All-Star break since 2001-02, when they were 26-21.
Chuck Daly thinks this talented Pistons team needs more time. But do they have it is the question.
I had nothing to do with this… FireCurry.com
No news yet on Stuckey, who tweaked his ankle in the closing minutes of the Pistons loss to the Bulls. Allen Iverson will be reevaluated today after missing yesterday’s game with Flu like symptoms.

Tip off is at 7:30 P.M. and will be locally televised on FSN. If you can’t watch the broadcast, tune into 1130 AM WDFN The Fan. Can’t do either? Follow the game on NBA.com.

[nasty daddy]

http://firecurry.com/

FIRE CURRY!
Make Michael Curry the next!

Seven coaches have been fired so far in the 2008 NBA Season. Let's make Michael Curry the seventh!

Reggie Theus, Sam Mitchell, Maurice Cheeks, Eddie Jordan, P.J. Carlesimo, Randy Wittman, Marc Iavaroni, Michael Curry

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/video/2009/0 ... index.html

Rick Mahorn Know Your Black History Event

Highlights from the 4th Annual Rick Mahorn "Know Your Black History" Event, held this year at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

[nasty daddy]

http://pistonsnationblog.com/2009/02/11 ... to-palace/

The Pistons (27-23, 14-12 home) will be hosting the Atlanta Hawks (30-21). Tip-off from the Palace will be at 7:30 pm est. The game will be broadcast locally on FSN Detroit.
Hawks’ snapshot
Road record: 13-11
Last game: 2/10 (Tues) W 90-111 Vs. Wizards
Last 10: 5-5
Streak: Won 1
Vs. Pistons: Dec. 21st - Pistons (78) @ HAWKS (85)

Last game before the All-Star break. Thank God! The Hawks are having a good season as far as Atlanta Hawks standards go. They’re currently seeded 4th in the Eastern Conference and are headed into the All-Star break with their best record since 1998-99 season. Meanwhile our Pistons are having a real stinker of a year so far where Detroit Basketball standards are concerned. We’re seeded 5th behind the Hawks in the East and are having our worst first half of the season since 2001-02. Here’s to hoping the Pistons play a little perimeter D tonight and not just let Mike Bibby walk right into open three points bombs like he did back in the early December meeting. Allen Iverson, who set out last night with flu-like symptoms, is listed day-to-day

ALSO OF NOTE: It was inevitable: FireCurry.com … The Hawks have lost their last 7 at the Palace, and 24 of their last 27 … The Hawks got a season high 58 bench points on Tues … There’s no defense of Pistons performance … Automotion’s Chelsey Buhler is featured in SI … Pistons Vs. Hawks in BDL’s 2-on-2 tourney … Hawk’s Joe Johnson competing in A.S. weekend’s H-O-R-S-E … Suns owner trying to broker Amare deals … OT: Chris Brown to skip All-Star weekend …

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/truebluepistons.html

Growing Pains
When the Pistons lost to Chicago the other night, devastated by a fourth-quarter blitz that wiped out a 15-point lead in the last eight minutes, the young legs of Bulls big men Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah went over, around and by the sturdy veterans who’ve carried the Pistons since Ben Wallace left in free agency, 34-year-old bookends Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. But Michael Curry isn’t pointing a finger at those two, who were playing heavy minutes for the third time in four nights because – and here’s something that has to change if the Pistons are to make a post-All-Star push – Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell failed to make much of an imprint on another game. “It was a game we needed our two young bigs to play and play well,” Curry said, “and Amir and Max combined for one defensive rebound in 33 minutes combined. That’s not going to be good enough, so Dice and Sheed had to be out there against younger and more athletic guys. Over the course of the night, that hurt us.” Curry believes emphatically in Johnson and Maxiell. When he joined the Pistons staff as an assistant to Flip Saunders in June 2007, it was Curry who worked the young big guys all summer, handled them in the Las Vegas Summer League as their head coach and drilled them without exception before every game last season when the non-starters and young players get the bulk of their game-day activity.

Elevated to head coach last June, Curry spoke of the need for his young players to step up, the work he and his coaching staff would put in to develop them to be ready, and the opportunity he would give them to show their stuff. He backed up his belief in them by laying out a summer plan to return McDyess to the bench, where he could anchor the second unit along with Rodney Stuckey – before the Chauncey Billups-Allen Iverson trade. He threw the starting power forward job alongside Wallace open to Johnson, Maxiell and Kwame Brown, but clearly his preference was for Johnson, a 21-year-old entering his fourth NBA season out of high school. Curry has said often, from training camp through much of the regular season, that Johnson does things not reflected in the box score. True enough, but Johnson always managed to make his mark last season, when Saunders finally turned to him in January and gave him regular minutes, in the rebounding and blocked shot categories. This year, not so much. Johnson has played 709 minutes this season going into Wednesday night’s game with Atlanta and has 188 rebounds. Last season, in 764 minutes, he had 235. He’d have to average nearly a rebound per minute over his next five quarters of basketball to catch up to last year’s pace. His blocked shots are down far more dramatically. He had 82 in those 764 minutes a year ago, but only 45 in 709 this season.

Some of that difference can be written off to the quality of opponent he faces every night as a starter, of course. “I definitely think that,” Curry said. “We kind of expect him to come out and give us something every night now. Before, it was like throw him out there and let’s see. It’s different with guys and you don’t know until you put them in that role. Can you do it every night? “There are times he’s shown us he can do it and times he’s shown us he can’t. He has to figure out, before we make a decision, if he can do it or not. He has to figure out what he can do to be consistent every night, regardless of whether he’s playing against better talent or not – especially when what we’re asking him to do is run, rebound, defend and be active.” Maxiell’s numbers have declined similarly – just when it was expected he would be ready to take another step up. A fourth-year player like Johnson, Maxiell is 26 – he should be entering his prime.There are a lot of things the Pistons need to sort out if they expect to come back after the All-Star break with a chance to build momentum and enter the playoffs on a roll. When Curry was asked what area he would most like to see improvement, he mentioned better rebounding and a better scoring balance between the frontcourt and backcourt. He’s not putting much of the scoring burden on Johnson and Maxiell, but the rebounding? If they’re going to have many nights like Chicago – one defensive rebound in 33 minutes – the wear on tear on their 34-year-old bookends will have the Pistons gasping and wheezing into the playoffs.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/02/11/nash ... index.html

Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash sat out Wednesday night's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers for some much-needed rest.

Nash, who is averaging 13.8 points and 9.8 assists, left Monday night's game against Philadelphia in the third quarter and said his back, shoulder and hamstring have been bothering him. He has played in 46 games and is averaging33.8 minutes.

With Nash out, Leandro Barbosa started Phoenix's final game before the All-Star break. It was Barbosa's third start. Nash has missed six games this season.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/2009/allstar2009/02/ ... index.html

Mo Williams has a second role at NBA All-Star 2009. A day after finally making the Eastern Conference team as an injury replacement, the Cleveland point guard was picked Wednesday to appear in the Skills Challenge.

Williams will replace Orlando's Jameer Nelson, who has a torn right labrum that also forced him to pull out of the All-Star Game.

Boston's Ray Allen was chosen by commissioner David Stern for that spot, which the Cavaliers felt should have gone to Williams. Williams was finally chosen by Stern on Tuesday to replace injured Toronto forward Chris Bosh. Williams will compete against New Jersey's Devin Harris, Chicago rookie Derrick Rose and San Antonio's Tony Parker in the event Saturday night.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090211/S ... Star+break

Follow along as the Pistons take on the Hawks tonight at the Palace. Last night, the Pistons blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead, losing to the Bulls, 107-102, in Chicago. Richard Hamilton scored 30 points off the bench. Detroit played without Allen Iverson, who suffered from flu-like symptoms.

Iverson is back in the starting lineup tonight. The Hawks (30-21) hold the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference, which would give them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs if the season ended today.

Detroit (27-23) is 2 1/2 games behind Atlanta. The Pistons lost to the Hawks, 85-78, back on Dec. 11. They teams play once more this season, March 7 in Atlanta.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20090211/S ... Star+break

Joe Johnson scored 27 points and former Piston Flip Murray added 23 as the Hawks beat the Pistons, 99-95, tonight at the Palace. Murray scored 10 straight for the Hawks in the third quarter to help Atlanta close the period on a 14-4 run and take a 76-68 lead into the fourth.

Murray scored 10 straight for the Hawks in the third quarter to help Atlanta close the period on a 14-4 run and take a 76-68 lead into the fourth. Allen Iverson had 28 points for the Pistons, one night after missing the loss in Chicago with an illness. He had a layup with nine seconds remaining to cut the lead to two, but Johnson was immediately fouled and sank two free throws. Richard Hamilton scored 14 and Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey each scored 12 points. Antonio McDyess had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Al Horford (Grand Ledge) had 15 points for Atlanta, who increased their lead to 3 1/2 games over the Pistons for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs race. The Pistons have lost three in a row and 13 of their last 19.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/video/2009/0 ... index.html

MetroPCS Pistons Weekly Plays of the Week

Plays of the week for February 8, 2009.