G10 ~ Pistons (3-6) @ Grizzlies (8-1) ~ 8:00 PM EST

[whitehops]

This will be a big challenge for us, as we're on a road back-to-back and playing not only one of the best defensive teams in the league but one of us the best overall teams right now.

they have two big bodies in gasol and Randolph, Randolph being the 'bruiser' type but actually has some decent post moves and a shot. gasol is extremely skilled and to be honest I'm worried about Drummond having to guard him one on one too often.

they have good defenders on the wing with tony allen being one of the premier defenders in the league plus guys like Courtney lee and mike conley who can certainly hold their own. we get to see tayshaun prince again too!


both teams grind it out, both teams have a lot of size and really the only difference in their shot distribution is that the grizllies take a lot more shots from 10-16 feet (gasol's bread and butter) while the pistons shoot a lot more 3's.

key matchup: it's tough for their to be one specific key matchup in my mind, so I will say it's how they guard Jennings. Jennings has really made our offense work the past few games but they definitely have the tools to slow him down. I expect mike conley to do a good job guarding Jennings but I'm assuming if the game comes down the stretch/Jennings is hot then tony allen would cover Jennings and that could be very bad news.


STARTERS
Brandon Jennings
KCP
Josh Smith
Greg Monroe
Andre Drummond

Mike Conley
Tony Allen
Courtney Lee
Zach Randolph
Marc Gasol


go pistons!

[engelbert321]

2 game win streak coming up!!

There's 3 players we must guard flawlessly tonight or we're ****. Z-bo, Gasol, and VC. I'm assuming all of them are playing.

[joeposh]

Usually the hopeless optimist, but I think Gasol and Z-bo are going to take it to Drummond and Monroe tonight. They know they can bully them and are going to try to do that early and often.

[TurboTitan]

Use Jennings and Monroe as much as we can, they're in good form.

[aad]

Call me crazy but I think we can win this game we match up pretty well with them and there weak on the wings just like us

[Spider156]

We match up well against them. But they can finish more often than we can. If our bigs make the bunny jumpers inside, we can match with them. It's a matter of who rebounds the ball more and who's in foul trouble. Otherwise our teams match up well. They have the better chemistry and deeper team.

[Snakebites]

Errr, sorry, not optimistic.

How do we match up well against them?

They're kinda like what we would be if we played better defense and had a decent perimeter that, while not star studded, had players with clearly defined and useful roles. They're an example of how to build around 2 big guys the right way. They're what we WISH we were.

[srt4b]

Feels like a 105-87 type of game.

[kurtis48239]

wow.

[detroitKG]

Let em play refs...sheesh

[pistontr]

drummond is a bad defender

[pistontr]

Errr, sorry, not optimistic.

How do we match up well against them?

They're kinda like what we would be if we played better defense and had a decent perimeter that, while not star studded, had players with clearly defined and useful roles. They're an example of how to build around 2 big guys the right way. They're what we WISH we were.

two bigs who can shot.

[pistontr]

our bigs can not shot and defend. perfect storm.

[engelbert321]

Their defense is suffocating

[Notanoob]

Monroe doing work.

5 offensive rebounds already.

[engelbert321]

Moose is battling with ZBO well. Smith is being Smith. Allen is scary on defense.

[engelbert321]

BJ struggling a bit, but you can see he cares. I like his passion.

[MediumNasty]

we can't shoot

[Han Solo]

Shots aren't falling but they played their asses off that quarter.

[Han Solo]

Even Smith was playing hard.