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

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Random musings after the jump
Fans will be quick to point to the absences of Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince to help explain this woeful west coast swing, especially now that the Pistons have lost five straight and fallen to 5-9 on the season. They obviously make the Pistons a better team, but I think the Pistons still lose at least three out of four on this trip with them in the lineup. This wasn't the best time for the new-look Pistons to have their toughest part of the schedule against some teams playing elite basketball. Let's just hope it makes this group mentally tougher for the rest of the season instead of letting it affect them for the worst.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Nobody should be happier to return home than Rodney Stuckey. He had his fourth straight awful shooting game (4-15) and, even though he shot 15 times, he did not break double-digits in points for the first time all season. He continues to drive wildly to the rim and no matter how many opponents surround him attempts to put up crap. He needs to learn how to drive and dish in those situations because judging from all the guys that surround him, at least two other Pistons are wide open. If he wants to learn how, he can watch the tape from tonight's game and look at what Steve Nash did to the Pistons.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Ben Gordon got into some early foul trouble and it must have affected his shot. He finished with just 10 points on 3-11 shooting (1-6 from three). He also had four assists and a team-high four turnovers.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Detroit did fine on the glass. They managed to outrebound the Suns (although by just one) despite Phoenix not providing many rebounding opportunities at all. Detroit did that by hustling out 17 offensive rebounds to Phoenix's nine.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

DaJuan Summers could be buying himself some playing time. This is his second straight noticeably effective game, even if most of his points came in the fourth quarter aka the garbage time tonight.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Jonas Jerebko is becoming much more comfortable on offense. He was 4-8 and had nine points, which isn't much, but he's visibly more confident. He's starting to post people up and take opponents to the rack when he was more of a catch-and-pass guy early in his starts.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Chris Wilcox and Jason Maxiell were impressive to me. They had 15 points and 12 rebounds in 36 minutes combined.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.motownstringmusic.com/2009/1 ... pistons-91

Coach Kuester's post-game press conference courtesy of the Suns SB Nation site, Bright Side of the Sun.
A great quote in there about the Pistons needing to lie to their bodies:

"You have to lie to it and just say ‘hey you got to go’ but unfortunately tonight we didn’t have the juice that we’ve had.”

[nasty daddy]

http://wdfn.com/pages/DETROITPISTONS.html

Pistons Winless on four game road trip, fall to Suns 117-91
Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points and Steve Nash added 20 for Phoenix, then sat out the fourth quarter to watch the Suns rout road-weary Detroit 117-91 Sunday night for the Pistons' fifth straight loss. Nash made 7 of 8 shots and had nine assists. Jason Richardson scored 17 as the Suns (11-3), with six players in double figures, improved to 5-0 at home and tied Atlanta and Orlando for the best record in the young NBA season. Charlie Villanueva and rookie DaJuan Summers each scored 13 for Detroit. Ben Gordon was in foul trouble and finished with 10 on 3-of-11 shooting.

The Pistons, who lost at Utah in overtime on Saturday night, finished off a winless four-game road trip. The Suns, who shot 58 percent overall and were 11 of 18 on 3-pointers, scored the last 12 points of the first half to lead 58-42 and Detroit never seriously threatened after that. The Pistons still are without injured Richard Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshawn Prince (back). The two have played a combined four games this season. Phoenix, coming off an ugly 110-103 loss at New Orleans on Thursday night, made its first eight shots to go up 17-10, but the Pistons came back with a 10-0 spurt to briefly take the lead at 22-19 on Rodney Stuckey's 19-footer. Phoenix responded with a 20-7 run to go up 39-29 when Goran Dragic drove for a layup with 8:39 left in the half

The Suns led the rest of the way. After Will Bynum's driving layup cut it to 46-42 with 4:51 left, Phoenix scored the last 12 points of the half. Channing Frye sank a 3-pointer, on his only shot of the half, Stoudemire stuffed a fastbreak rebound and Nash made a layup after a weaving drive through the lane. Phoenix led by as many as 22 in the third quarter and was up 84-63 entering the fourth.

[nasty daddy]

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/tire ... sted-suns/

Tired Pistons No Match for Rested Suns
The NBA's schedule is never something that teams will use as an excuse for playing particularly poorly in any single game. But sometimes, the way things shake out, it can definitely be seen as a legitimate reason. The schedule dictated that the Pistons finish up their four-game, West coast swing against a Suns team that averages 117 points per game on their home floor. And coming off of a tough, overtime loss in Utah the night before, Detroit never had a chance. The Pistons actually put together a nice 16-4 run to take a late first-quarter lead after trailing by nine, and hung in there in the second quarter by cutting a 10-point lead to four with just under five minutes remaining.

But then, fatigue clearly set in. The Suns finished the half on a 12-0 run, holding Detroit scoreless over the final 4:51 of the second quarter to effectively end the game by taking a 16-point halftime lead. The lead ballooned to as many as 29 points in the third quarter, so Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Steve Nash, and Amar'e Stoudemire all sat out the fourth, and the game at that point became 12 minutes of extended garbage time. Villanueva, Will Bynum, Jonas Jerebko, and DaJuan Summers all played well for the Pistons in spurts, but Gordon, the team's leading scorer, simply didn't have anything in the tank. He managed only 10 points on a dismal 3-for-11 from the field, which included 1-for-6 shooting from three-point land. Gordon, like his coach and his teammates, refused to blame the schedule for the loss. But he did acknowledge that playing a team like the Suns on the second night of a back-to-back is, at the very least, challenging. "This is probably the most uptempo team in the league, we knew that coming in," Gordon said. "It's tough on any given night to play against them. But last game of a road trip, especially on a back-to-back, it's not going to be easy."

When asked how he finds the strength to play in these situations, Gordon said that focusing on the game once he's out there is sometimes the best approach. "You've definitely got to play tricks with yourself," Gordon said. "You've got to just try to lose yourself in the game. Try to get so enveloped in the game that you're not even thinking about your fatigue level. But that's part of the NBA, and some nights, it's tough." It was especially tough on this night: the Suns recorded season highs in field goal percentage (57.5 percent) and three-point percentage (61.1 percent), and that's saying something, considering the fact that they lead the league in both categories. But with the Suns coming off of two days rest at home, and the Pistons dragging at the end of a road trip, it was hardly a surprise.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.examiner.com/x-13383-Detroit ... homestand#

Last place Pistons looking for a boost on upcoming homestand
Losers of five straight, the Pistons appear to be stuck in neutral at 5-9 after a very frustrating trip out west. On the other hand, all five losses over the past week came to the NBA's best teams (Mavs, Lakers, Jazz, Blazers, Suns). If the playoffs started today in the Western Conference, Phoenix would have the #1 seed, Dallas #2, Los Angeles #3, Portland #5 and Utah #7. That's some elite company right there. It's really hard to go back and say that the Pistons should have won any one of those games. I think that makes the 5-9 overall record slightly deceiving.

Then again, it's not like Detroit's three game homestand is any walk in the park. After hosting Cleveland on Wednesday, the Pistons face the Clippers on Friday and the Hawks on Sunday. Knowing how much Detroit struggles against Western Conference opponents (1-6 this year), that Clippers game almost needs to have a "must-win" label on it. Knocking off Cleveland would be outstanding as well, but nobody is expecting it with LeBron James on the floor. The Hawks are probably a team that Detroit should beat every now and then, but they are playing some of the best ball in the league right now. A 6-11 record to close out November, however unfortunate, is a very likely scenario.

Thankfully for the Pistons, the schedule sets up nicely for an early-December adrenaline shot. They hit the road for Chicago on December 2nd, and then host a weekend series against Milwaukee and Washington. Actually, other than dates against Denver and the Lakers (both at home by the way), the entire month is fairly tame. I know that it's hard to be optimistic with a 5-9 record staring you in the face, but for some reason I still view the Pistons as a 40-win team. That belief ultimately hinges on the fact that I feel like Detroit has the talent to go out and beat Chicago, Milwaukee, Indiana, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York and New Jersey on a nightly basis. The injuries to Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have been the main stumbling blocks. Until we get those two back in the lineup, we really have no clue how good this team really is.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.pistonpowered.com/2009/11/jo ... ael-curry/

John Kuester starting to evoke memories of Michael Curry
Really, the Pistons’ game in Phoenix last night was barely winnable going in.
•Detroit was coming off an overtime loss in Utah the night before, and the game was its fifth in eight nights in five different cities.
•The Suns are one of the NBA’s top teams.
•And Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince are still out.
So obviously, the Pistons lost. You can’t get upset about them dropping this one. But 117-91?
The game featured all the negative signs the Pistons showed the rest of their four-game West Coast trip. The only difference was there was no massive comeback at the end to cover them up. I’ve harped on this before, and I’m not going to stop. The Pistons are in total disarray when the game speeds up. Their defense is slow getting back, and their offense looks rattled. Their records show it:
Games when the pace (possessions per 48 minutes) is below 84: 3-0.
Games when the paces is above 85: 2-9.

The pace of last night’s game was 86 – pretty slow, especially considering the Suns are so prone to running. But not slow enough. So, what’s going wrong? Michael Curry struggled last year in large part because of the Chauncey Billups-for-Allen Iverson trade. It wasn’t just that Iverson wasn’t as good as Billups. Curry made a plan before the season about how to run the team. After the trade, the plan was void, and Curry didn’t know how to react.I don’t know if John Kuester has as rigid of a plan as Curry. But it’s looking like it. Detroit clearly has deficiencies when the pace is high. The Pistons need to run more to get accustomed to this style of play.

Kuester agrees – with a caveat. He wants to run more once Hamilton and Prince return, according to Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. But who knows when that will be? The Pistons, losers of five straight, can’t afford to toss away all these games waiting. There’s no need to panic, but one of two things need to happen for the Pistons to get back on track: Hamilton and Prince return or Kuester becomes a better coach. I’m not sure if it’s smart to bank on either happening soon.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.pistonpowered.com/2009/11/jo ... ael-curry/

Advanced statistics
Number in parentheses represent where the game’s rating would rank among NBA teams’ season totals.
Offensive rating: 105.8 (17th)
Defensive rating: 136.0 (31st)
Pace: 86.0 (31st)

[nasty daddy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

Rockets’ McGrady back at practice, return unclear
Tracy McGrady(notes) returned to practice with the Houston Rockets for the first time since microfracture surgery in February on Monday, but the seven-time All-Star still doesn’t know when he’ll play

McGrady said he can play now, but Rockets coach Rick Adelman has said he’s not ready.

Adelman missed practice Monday to attend to a personal matter and was not available for comment. Assistant coach Elston Turner said “it’s a process” to get McGrady back.

[nasty daddy]

http://pistonsnationblog.com/2009/11/23 ... p-pistons/

Suns light up Pistons
No fourth quarter rally in this one. The Pistons were not really in this game at any point after the first few buckets. And so ends the 4 game Western road trip. The Pistons are now on an overall five game losing skid.

You could say the Pistons were “road weary” after playing four games in six nights but I think it was more about them being as good of a team as the Suns ( or Lakers, or Blazers, or Jazz). It’s not that they don’t have a good team, it’s that they’re not been through enough battles together to be a good team. Steve Nash (20 pts, 9 asts) and Amare Stoudemire (21 pts) were working too well together. Add that to the efforts of Jason Richardson (17 pts) and a team shooting and 57.5% (w/ 25 team assists) and the Pistons would have to have had their A+ honor roll game to even hang, which they did not.

There can be a lot of positives to take from such a disappointing road trip. The Pistons gave some very good teams some very good runs, but at the end of 48 they just didn’t have “it“, that thing the recently past era Pistons had that enabled them to gut out the close games. That’s something that is going to take time. On another positive note the Pistons do play their next 9 games at the Palace.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7053 ... .html&pg=2

HE SAID IT II: Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, on supposed interest in him from Detroit never materializing last offseason: "No worries about that at all."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nola.com/hornets/index.ssf/2 ... hri_2.html

New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul working without ankle boot
Injured All-Star guard Chris Paul now is walking without the aid of a hard, plastic boot that immobilized his badly sprained right ankle since the injury occurred Nov. 13 against the Portland Trail Blazers at the New Orleans Arena.

Paul attended the team’s shoot-around Saturday morning at the Arena, and he was wearing a shoe at Saturday and Sunday night’s games.

"I still don’t know," Paul said of a timetable for his return, which has been left open-ended since the team announced results of an MRI exam that was performed on the ankle Nov. 14. "(Saturday) was my first day without the boot. As long as I’m walking, I’m good."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/article/20091123/B ... -(shoulder)-hopes-to-return-vs.-Pistons

Shaquille O'Neal (shoulder) hopes to return vs. Pistons
Shaquille O’Neal is back at practice and hopes to play in Cleveland’s game at Detroit on Wednesday.O’Neal has missed five games after he tried to block a dunk by Miami’s Michael Beasley on Nov. 12. O’Neal, who is calling his injury a strained rotator cuff, practiced today.

He says he tried to persuade the team to inject him with cortisone so he could play through the injury but says the Cavaliers wouldn’t do it. “You can tell it’s a great organization,” O’Neal said. “I was cursing and screaming and trying to make them shoot me up, but they wouldn’t do it. “My hat goes off to them for being above board. I’m from the old school. If it ain’t broke, let’s just keep going, shoot it up with whatever is legal. But they refused me many times.”

Cleveland has gone 4-1 without O’Neal in the lineup.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/spo ... 34440.html

Exam postponed
The examination planned for Tracy McGrady on Sunday, a day after he did not attend the Rockets' home game against the Kings because of a sore back, was postponed until today, team spokesman Nelson Luis said.

Barring problems with his back, McGrady, 30, is scheduled to practice and undergo an MRI today, the next step in his comeback from microfracture knee surgery.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-cli ... 5326.story

Gordon's 'good progress' is another sign of hope for Clippers
The guard, who has a strained groin, leaves open the possibility of coming back against Indiana on Wednesday, which would be in his hometown. The news comes on heels of victory over Denver.

They are coming off Friday's inspiring seven-point victory against a Western Conference power, Denver. And, on Sunday, shooting guard Eric Gordon was finally able to scrimmage with his teammates, taking part in almost all of the practice.

He ruled out returning today against Minnesota but he left open the possibility of coming back against Indiana on Wednesday, which, incidentally, would be in his hometown of Indianapolis. "It was good progress today," Gordon said. "Finally getting up and down there a little bit. I wouldn't say I feel exactly 100% but just made great progress the last couple of days. I'm starting to run a little bit more. The treatment has been helping a lot."