'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 58

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/chat_mailbox ... ilbag.html

Craig (Washington, D.C.): Is Prince out for the season and when is Rip going to be back? I’m proud of my boys for keeping up the hustle, but too many losses can mentally wear anybody down.

Langlois: Let’s get the obligatory “what’s the status of Rip and Tay?” question out of the way first. There is nothing new to report. They’re both undergoing treatment and both are reporting progress, but there is no timetable yet for their return. As for too many losses wearing them down, you raise a fair point. At some point, no matter the intellectual arguments you can make about the imbalance of the schedule so far and the injuries, a team psyche needs something to justify their optimism and maintain their self-confidence. Getting back those injured players would go a long way toward that, and so would winning a few games. Hopefully, that starts Friday with the Clippers.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/chat_mailbox ... ilbag.html

Ryan (Grand Rapids, Mich.): I have a trade scenario that makes too much sense. Hamilton, Brown and Maxiell to Philadelphia for Igoudala and Dalembert. Hamilton is from Coatesville and Philly needs a shooting guard and wants to dump Dalembert. They already have Young to play small forward. Detroit gets Igoudala, who can easily play the two or the three, and it would lighten the logjam up front and make room for Jerebko at the four.

Langlois: Philly would love to dump Dalembert, but I highly doubt the Sixers would be willing to attach their best player, Igoudala, just to get it done. Besides, Philly has endured the worst of the Dalembert contract already – it has this year and next to run. If Philly’s driving concern in moving him is the cap – and it is – then taking on Rip’s contract, which runs two years beyond Dalembert’s doesn’t achieve its foremost objective. I don’t think Philly touches that trade unless the Pistons are willing to substitute Stuckey, say, for Maxiell. And at that point, I don’t think the Pistons touch that trade.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/chat_mailbox ... ilbag.html

Philip (Dresden, Ontario): I’ve been meaning to ask this for a long time. What was Rip doing in the game against Memphis in the fourth quarter when we had a 20-point lead? He didn’t need to be in at that point. I think it was in the last two minutes and we got a major injury. Is that on Kuester or is it just one of those things?

Langlois: There were five minute left, it was the season opener, Hamilton hadn’t played major minutes in the preseason and he was probably another possession or two from coming out. You just can’t obsess about the circumstances of the injury. Coming down on someone’s foot and rolling your ankle happens dozens of times every NBA season. You can’t predict when it will occur. You just hope the consequences aren’t as dire as they turned out to be for Hamilton.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1AQR8T.DTL

Watson returns from swine flu after four games
Guard C.J. Watson rejoined the Warriors on Wednesday after being diagnosed with the swine flu Nov. 14 and missing four games. "It was hard, because it felt like I was out like a month with a suspension or something," Watson said. "I just tried to stay positive and watch the games on TV."

Watson was able to do some light running Sunday, and he was the first Warriors player on the court during the pregame in San Antonio. He did ball-handling and shooting drills 2 1/2 hours before the game, and said he feels "back to normal."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1AQR8T.DTL

Watson returns from swine flu after four games
Guard C.J. Watson rejoined the Warriors on Wednesday after being diagnosed with the swine flu Nov. 14 and missing four games. "It was hard, because it felt like I was out like a month with a suspension or something," Watson said. "I just tried to stay positive and watch the games on TV."

Watson was able to do some light running Sunday, and he was the first Warriors player on the court during the pregame in San Antonio. He did ball-handling and shooting drills 2 1/2 hours before the game, and said he feels "back to normal."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1AQR8T.DTL

Watson returns from swine flu after four games
Guard C.J. Watson rejoined the Warriors on Wednesday after being diagnosed with the swine flu Nov. 14 and missing four games. "It was hard, because it felt like I was out like a month with a suspension or something," Watson said. "I just tried to stay positive and watch the games on TV."

Watson was able to do some light running Sunday, and he was the first Warriors player on the court during the pregame in San Antonio. He did ball-handling and shooting drills 2 1/2 hours before the game, and said he feels "back to normal."

[nasty daddy]

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

About Last Night: Ben Gordon's ankle injury adds to Detroit Pistons' woes
The losing streak has hit six as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, 98-88.

It was another one of those games where the Pistons fell way behind in the first half, fought back valiantly in the second half, only to come up short. It's nice to see this team fight to the finish, but fans are going to grow tired of this storyline quickly. More significant than the loss was an injury sustained by Ben Gordon in the second quarter. Gordon stepped on a defender's foot while driving to the basket and rolled his ankle. If Gordon misses any significant time the Pistons' losing streak could reach double digits.

When Gordon went out the Pistons were already in the process of being manhandled, but they didn't roll over and accept the blowout. On that notes let's look at some of the interesting aspects of Wednesday's game.

[nasty daddy]

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

Stuckey happy to be home: Rodney Stuckey had an awful West Coast swing. In the four games on the road trip, Stuckey shot 30 percent from the floor. National media and local bloggers furthered their argument that Will Bynum should be starting.

Against the Cavaliers, as the Pistons fought to desperately overcome an 18-point halftime deficit without leading scorer Ben Gordon, Stuckey was fantastic. He was able to drive to the basket at will in route to 12 fourth-quarter points. He finished the night 8-16 from the floor and 8-8 from the free throw line for 25 points.

In the end it wasn't nearly enough, but it was a great sign for a player that's been struggling to find consistency on the offensive end.

[nasty daddy]

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

Cleveland bottles up Bynum: It can probably partially be blamed on a lingering ankle injury, but Will Bynum wasn't able to accomplish anything against the Cavaliers. Cleveland did an excellent job sealing off the lanes on ball screens, taking away Bynum's most important weapon - the ability to penetrate off the dribble. He was forced into settling for mid-range jumpers and runners in the lane. He finished an uncharacteristic 1-13 from the floor.

[nasty daddy]

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

Tale of two Jerebko's: Jonas Jerebko continues to endear himself to Pistons fans with his hustle. He's constantly on the floor diving after loose balls and pulled down five offensive rebounds against the Cavs.

Jerebko also continues to be a comedy of errors when he puts the ball on the court. He's erratic, shuffles his feet and generally lacks any noticeable skills of a professional basketball player when he tries to create on the offensive end. He turned the ball over four times tonight, twice of traveling calls in the lane. How long are these confidence issues going to last?

[nasty daddy]

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

Daye shows some flash: Austin Daye is still very inconsistent, but against the Cavaliers, he had one of his better NBA performances. In 21 minutes Daye scored nine points on 4-8 shooting, while grabbing three rebounds and blocking a shot. What really stands out about Daye is the way he moves with the basketball. He uses head fakes to create space for penetration, and he's shown a nice knack for finding open teammates in the lane while moving with the ball.

Twice against the Cavs Daye found a teammate open in the lane. In the first instance Kwame Brown couldn't handle Daye's pass. Later in the game, Daye collected a loose ball on the baseline that Jerebko lost on a drive and quickly flicked it to Wallace in the lane. Wallace went up for a layup and was fouled on the play.

Neither one of these plays are going to show up on the stat sheet, but Daye's court vision deserves to be recognized. Daye did have one issue tonight. He drew two personal fouls on three-point shots. He was simply too aggressive trying to disrupt the shots when rotating.

[nasty daddy]

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

Quick, everyone guard LeBron: Everyone understands LeBron James is one of the most dangerous players in the lane, but that doesn't mean everyone on the team should collapse on him every time he drives to the hoop. The Pistons did this countless times in the first half and James would simply kick out to an open shooter on the perimeter. There's a reason the Cavs came into the game shooting 44.3 from beyond the arc. They finished 9-17 on three-point shots on the night.

While discussing this strategy, I'd like to make a proposal. Many Pistons fans joke that Rodney Stuckey should be strapped to the chair and forced to watch 48 hours of Steve Nash and Jason Kidd footage. I move that Stuckey be forced to watch 48 hours of LeBron James kicking out to open teammates when defenders collapse. Listen, I'm not crazy. I know Stuckey doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as James, but there are some similarities. Both are considered strong for their position, both can get into the lane at will and both draw plenty of extra defensive attention in the paint.

That's where the comparison ends. James is an elite finisher around the rim, while Stuckey is inconsistent, if not completely out of control at times. Still, if Stuckey could develop the basic skill of kicking out to the open shooter it will make him a much more valuable weapon for the Pistons.

[nasty daddy]

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

Cleveland's underrated addition: Jamario Moon was a wonderful pickup for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He's an extraordinary leaper who can grab rebounds and block shots, but I never realized his shooting range. He's shooting 37.5 percent from long distance and gives Cleveland another perimeter weapon for James to kick to off the dribble.

[nasty daddy]

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

Pistons always get Boobie's best: If you were watching the early part of this game you might have confused it for a replay of the 2006-07 playoffs. Daniel Gibson went on a scoring binge in the second quarter, pouring in 10 points in his first six minutes of action. This is a guy that is averaging under seven points a game this season, but he always seems to bring his "A" game against the Pistons.

[nasty daddy]

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

Will Bynum get a start?: You would think Gordon's injury would mean the Pistons would move Will Bynum into the starting lineup, but that wasn't the case to start the second half against Cleveland. Instead of putting Bynum at the point and moving Stuckey to shooting guard, coach John Kuester put Austin Daye in the backcourt with Stuckey. It will be interesting to see the game plan if Gordon can't go Friday against the Clippers.

[nasty daddy]

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

Assigning blame for LeBron's highlight dunk: LeBron James' highlight reel, double-pump dunk in the fourth quarter can be blamed on Kwame Brown. Brown's man, Anderson Varejao, went to set a ball screen for James on the right wing, but instead of switching off to slow James down, Brown inexplicably went the wrong way toward the sideline giving James a clear runway for takeoff. Awful, awful, awful.

[nasty daddy]

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

How did they miss that call?: Being an NBA referee is a ridiculously hard job, but I have no idea how they missed the foul on Rodney Stuckey with 1:24 remaining in the game. With the score 93-87, Stuckey drove the lane and Cleveland's Mo Williams hit Stuckey so hard on the forearm that the skin-on-skin contact sounded similar to a thigh kick in an MMA fight.

The Pistons ended up getting a point later in the possession, but the difference of one point and nine seconds at this juncture in the game could have been huge.

[nasty daddy]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... day_11/25/

Cleveland 98, Detroit 88
Team FIC Differential: Cavaliers +20.1, Pistons -20.1

The Cleveland Cavaliers (11-4) jumped out to an early lead and kept the Detroit Pistons (5-10) at bay for the remainder of the game. LeBron James led with 34 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Maurice Williams tallied 14 points and eight dimes and Daniel Gibson scored 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting off the bench. Cleveland hit 50% of their shots, while holding Detroit to 39% shooting. Rodney Stuckey had 25 points and six rebounds, Charlie Villanueva posted 19 points and eight boards and Ben Wallace put up eight points and nine rebounds in defeat.

Game FIC Scores
LeBron James, Cleveland – 20.1
Rodney Stuckey, Detroit – 14.8
Charlie Villanueva, Detroit – 12.5
Maurice Williams, Cleveland – 12.0

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20091126/S ... or-Pistons

Ben Gordon's injury newest setback for Pistons
You wonder if members of the Pistons wouldn’t like a time-out to start this season over again after the latest calamity. You can add shooting guard Ben Gordon, who sprained his left ankle, to the list of injured stars after Wednesday night’s 98-88 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James (of course) dominated with a near triple-double of 34 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. But the uncertain status of Gordon for the future dominated talk in the Pistons’ locker room afterward. “I went ‘Goodness, gracious,’ ” Kuester said when asked what he thought when he saw Gordon come up lame in the second quarter. “But that’s the NBA.”

Gordon suffered the injury late in the second quarter on a drive to the basket. He was able to remain in the game momentarily after a 20-second timeout, but had to be helped to the locker room at halftime. If Gordon misses any significant time, he will join Rip Hamilton (right ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back) on the sidelines. Both have been out since the first week of the season. Rookie Austin Daye got the start at shooting guard to begin the second half. And with three of the top expected leading scorers out, it appears more of the scoring burden will fall upon Rodney Stuckey, Charlie Villanueva and Will Bynum.

Villanueva (19 points, eight rebounds) and Stuckey (25 points, six rebounds) had solid offensive games against the Cavs (11-4), but Bynum suffered through his worst game of the season with a 1-for-13 outing and just four points. “I can’t play like that when Ben goes out and expect for us to win,” said Bynum, who added five assists. “We kind of put too much on Stuckey out there and that was my fault.” But the Cavs shot 61.1% in the first half and that truly was the knockout blow when they took a 60-42 halftime lead. James (of course) was dominant and when the Pistons (5-10) tried to rally in the fourth quarter and pulled to within 10 at 82-72. He shut the door with a triple and a crowd-pleasing double-clutch one-handed jam. The Pistons later narrowed the gap to five with 1:13 left, but the Cavs were able to escape the Palace with a victory. But with Gordon’s availability up in the air, the Pistons may have lost more than just a game. “It’s tough to have a lot of your veterans go down, but the younger guys got to step up and make plays and hopefully be guided by our young core,” Daye said.

[nasty daddy]

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

Thanksgiving Day Pistons Links: Allen Iverson retires and the Stuckey v. Bynum debates continue
Happy Thanksgiving. It appears, according to Allen Iverson's parents, via Stephen A. Smith, that my AI apologizing days might be over. And seriously, love him or hate him, read Kelly Dwyer's Iverson take. It hits on everything, just about perfectly.