RealGM

(7-12)

Vs.

(7-11)

Sunday The 6th Of December 2009
Time: 6:00 P.M. E.T.
The Palace Of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI



Probable Starters



PG -
SG -
SF -
PF -
C -

Bench -




Probable Starters



PG -
SG -
SF -
PF -
C -

Bench -




Game MVP:


My Prediction:

Washington 96, Detroit 88

When Flip Saunders was their coach, the Detroit Pistons were one of the league’s toughest teams to beat at home. They haven’t enjoyed that same home-court advantage since his firing in 2008.
Now the coach of the Washington Wizards, Saunders makes his first trip back to The Palace of Auburn Hills on Sunday to take on struggling Detroit.
Saunders led the Pistons (7-12) to the Eastern Conference finals in each of his three seasons as their coach, but never got them into the NBA finals. He was fired June 3, 2008, after Detroit lost to Boston in the postseason.
Michael Curry replaced Saunders as coach last season, and the Pistons regressed. They made the playoffs as the eighth seed and were swept by Cleveland in the first round.
John Kuester has since taken over the coaching reins in Detroit, and the team hasn’t seen much improvement. The Pistons’ 105-96 win over Milwaukee on Friday was just their second victory in 10 games. They did win 106-103 at Washington on Nov. 14 in Saunders’ first game against his former team.
Part of Detroit’s struggles following Saunders’ dismissal has stemmed from its troubles at home. Since the start of the 2008-09 season, the Pistons are 20th in the league with a .520 home winning percentage, going 26-24.
The Pistons were 97-26 at The Palace under Saunders for the NBA’s third-best home winning percentage (.789) in that span.
Saunders’ new team is starting to get things turned around after a sluggish start.
The Wizards (7-11) are coming off Friday’s 109-107 overtime loss to Toronto, just their second defeat in six games after opening 3-9.
Washington blew a six-point lead with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the fourth quarter but had a chance to win in overtime. Gilbert Arenas(notes) missed a layup with about 2 seconds left and the Wizards’ tip-in attempts also failed.
“I’m more disappointed in this game than any game we’ve had,” Saunders said. “When you’re about to get there, you got to take that next step, and that next step means being more disciplined and not being complacent. We just didn’t do what we needed to do.”
Arenas had a season-high 34 points and is looking healthy after being limited to 15 games over the previous two seasons due to various knee injuries. The three-time All-Star is averaging 26.0 points in three games this month after averaging 12.5 in his previous four.
He had 19 points and a season-best 10 assists last month against Detroit, which has won three straight home games over Washington.
Ben Gordon(notes) led the Pistons with 29 points in the first meeting, but he’s been slowed by a sprained left ankle recently. He had 16 points Friday in his second game back after sitting out the previous two.
“It’s still sprained, so I’m just trying to do what I can out there,” Gordon said.
With Gordon not at full strength, rookie Jonas Jerebko(notes) has picked up some of the slack, scoring 16 points Friday. Jerebko is averaging 13.8 points in his last four games after averaging 5.0 points in his first 13.
“Jonas has emerged as one of the best rookies in this league - he is really expanding his game,” Kuester said.

I think the game's at 6 PM on Sunday.

Go Wizards.

This is a must win. Earl demands a win. Hopefully Arenas can finish with contact at the rim.

hey, i have an idea! Assists!! gil with assists = win!

This should be a win for the Wiz. Even though their records are comparable (and I have no clue how the Pistons beat the Bucks on Friday), this should be a good win for the Wiz. Arenas should have a big night, hopefully with some good shooting from Caron. The Pistons are no doubt banged up, but the bench is serious, Will Bynum averages almost 15 ppg, and 6 assists of the bench, and with Gordon hitting the three ball, the Wizards will need to play some good defense. The Pistons core is weak and should be very vulnerable to a strong offense. this should be a solid win.

We should win...Jamison is not gonna have a night like last night...He does that only about twice a year...

about time we had a good game thread =p

I'm not looking forward to Stucky and Bynum driving the lane at will. We have got to stop dribble penetration if we're going to win this game.

nate33 wrote:I'm not looking forward to Stucky and Bynum driving the lane at will. We have got to stop dribble penetration if we're going to win this game.

If Nick guards Stuckey, he''ll do a good job of stopping the penetration.

Is that really their starting lineup? Ewww...

yungal07 wrote:Is that really their starting lineup? Ewww...

Thought the exact same thing. Sucky Atkins is starting? SERIOUSLY?

Will Bynum really impressed me in the first game at DC. When the game was on the line we had no answer for his dribble penetration (like always). He seems like a better and tougher version of AD couple of years ago. Hopefully Gil and company can do at least a decent job of keeping him out of the lane.

Apart from that I'm eager to see how the team responds to Flip's criticism about the shotjacking after the Raptors game. I mean, the Wiz usually tend to shoot the contested jumper, but shooting 29 treyballs against a team that has virtually no shotblocker / inside presence - that's just lazy and low basketball IQ. Therefore I can really understand why Flip was so upset after the loss (yet he even called it the most disappointing loss of the season). I hope that Flip remains that approach and keeps reminding his players that shooting so many long contested jumpers won't get the job done. Those, let's call it, leftovers from the EJ-system seriously need to be decreased.

Anyway, I think the Good Guys will bounce back. Wiz by 7.

We're gonna lose. Want to know why? Because just like Rent-A-Mod used to do, he already has our record at 7-12. Sigh.....















guess if you want something done right.

BigBall's game thread doesn't have much optimism. It already has us losing this game...our record right now is 7-11, not 7-12.

Detroit is hanging ok w/o Prince and Rip, once those guys get back they should be in decent shape to be in the hunt for seeds 6-8.

Anyone who is interested in chatting during the game:

http://www.chatmaker.net/chatap/rooms/RealGMWizards/

This is a serious question: why does Gil suck so much on defense? Is it simply that he doesn't have the lateral quickness after the surgeries? Or does he just not care? Watching him tonight, it looks like he isn't even trying....

Why do we defend the opp. guards so bad?

we should overpower this team, especially with maxiel in foul trouble. this is one of the few teams we can say that about.

It really is amazing how Stevenson has a reputation as a good defender.

The Ared Effries Effect in full swing.

I'm tired of the excuses for Butler. This guy cannot hit a close range shot anymore and he can't even hit a short pullup jumper.

Halcyon wrote:I'm tired of the excuses for Butler. This guy cannot hit a close range shot anymore and he can't even hit a short pullup jumper.

...and right on cue... an offensive foul. Sheesh.