12/30:Pistons@Magic, 3INAROW? The Smith Effect

[Ghost]

Our beloved Pistons head down to Orlando with a ... 2! YES. 2. Game winning streak. Since moving Josh Smith we have looked like a brand new team and this appears to be a very winnable game for our guys.

PLAYYYYYOOOOOFFFFSSS.

Let's go, DrumRoe.

Some notes from the Smith thread:

Detroit Pistons' winning percentage w/ Josh Smith: .178
Detroit Pistons' winning percentage w/o Josh Smith: 1.000
Difference
................................................................................
+.822

Houston Rockets' winning percentage w/o Josh Smith: .741
Houston Rockets' winning percentage w/ Josh Smith: .333
Difference
..............................................................................
-.408

It's undeniable. Josh Smith is one of the biggest difference makers in the NBA.

In these two games without Smith, Drummond has averaged 18.0 points per game (.708 FG%), 11.5 rebounds per game, 2 steals per game and 3 blocks per game.

Jonas Jerebko has also put up 10/6.5/2.5 (.467/.500/.750) off the bench over these two games as well. He's clearly much more suited to the stretch 4 role than Smith ever was.

Also notable in these two games has been Brandon Jennings - 29.6 mpg, 19.5 ppg (.553/.500/.---), 4.5 rpg, 8.0 apg, 1.5 spg, 2.0 tpg. Coincidence?

AND

"Since letting Smith go on Dec. 22, the Pistons have the second-most efficient offense in the NBA. Only the Raptors (117.1 points per 100 possessions) are slightly ahead of the Pistons (117.0) over the past week.

With Smith, the Pistons ranked 28th in offensive efficiency with 97.6 points per 100 possessions."

[Kilo]

Orlando coming off a hard fought win last night as well - ripe for the picking.

[Tricky_Kid]

sorry but i have to put it here

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SherwoodStrauss/status/549784815575506945[/tweet]

[mattao313]

I have no idea what to expect out of this team tonight. But like Kilo said the Magic are on the tail end of a back to back. So in theory it should be a win if we are legit and this is not just a hot streak.

[engelbert321]

We have been Orlando's bitch for the past few years. Let's kill em tonighttt

[wallace72]

Going to work......let's go Pistonsssss

[dVs33]

Another game i can't watch live, but since i haven't watched the last two live, maybe that's a good omen??

Orlando are a good young team, they just beat a solid miami team, so it's going to be a good one me thinks.
Hopefully I'll have another great win to watch tomorrow.

[detroitKG]

Coming off of rest and Orlando having played last night, it would be nice to catch them with tired legs and keep this winning thing going.

[Defor]

If we win tonight we have a very good chance to win the next 2 too and go 5 -0 since the trade. However this is the Pistons so I'm gonna try to be happy with one win at a time.

[MotownMadness]

We always struggle against this Orlando team. Let's hope our defense and 3 pt shooting is still going strong and we should be able to pull it off. Drummond better be on his A game though against Vuc.

[fekz]

Win or lose, i'm just happy to be seeing lineups we've all known should be out there. Meeks is going to help us a lot, jerebko is a decent stretch. I can't believe how much more i enjoy this team now that Smith is gone.

[Jstock12]

Go Pistons!

[Hotmayo]

I was one of the people that predicted 50 wins

I didnt understand that Josh would hurt that much

My reasons for 50 wins were already stated. Im not repeating them too lazy

But, this is the 50 win team I thought. So

Pistons win

They good

This is for real

Drum and monroe are elite together.

mostly bc drum is a superstar

I said kcp was a dwade type player- not backing down from that comment

I said meeks perimeter scoring was what was needed for us

We will make 8th seed

I want playoffs

**** lottery

No more

Ching

[ComboGuardCity]

3 in a row. Tic tac toe.

[Spider156]

Run them off the court Pistons! You can do it! If we win this game, I'm a believer. I'm very excited for it.

[Damon_3388]

Inb4 Ben Gordon has a hot night (he's actually having the best shooting season of his career this year) and kills the Pistons' sudden momentum.

[engelbert321]

We. Must. Contain. Vucevic.

[theBigLip]

I don't know about playoffs, but we certainly seem to have woken up since dumping Smith. Looking like a better move all the time. We still have a long way to go.

[whitehops]

after watching drummond's impact defensively last game i'm pumped that SVG said they would on nothing but defense until they get it down right. the offense seems to have fixed itself for now so if we could have the identity of a defensive team going forward that would be awesome.

go pistons!

[hoophabit]

As has been noted elsewhere, it's only two games, but over that time I have to marvel at the change in the team. I also have to go along with the others who confess to not knowing what is going to happen tonight. I've tried being clairvoyant and often it doesn't work out too well. I never would have given credence to the idea that a single player could have so profound an impact on a team. There are a number of articles written questioning SVG waiving Smith, but you have to think there's more than meets the eye in such an action. Josh had to be a major problem in a number of areas. I always watch, so it's been nice having them be watchable again.