'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 63

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/22 ... pistons-93

The Takeaway:
The Pistons can't lose games like this if they are serious about earning a playoff spot. Wednesday's win could have been a turning point in the right direction for that mission, instead they probably took a step back with this loss. On the flip side, losses like this can happen. The Pacers were probably due to get back over the 100 point clip after a few losses under that mark in a row. The Pistons had won four of their last five and were probably still riding high from Wednesday's game. They got caught sleep walking tonight, but if the Pistons go 4-2 in every six-game stretch for the rest of the season, they're going to make the playoffs. That's the brightest side that you can take from a game like this. They play less than 24 hours from now against the Blazers, so they'll need to win another back end of a back-to-back to take some of the sting away from this one. They've won their last two since starting the season 1-8 in them. Let's hope they can make it three.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2010/1/22 ... pistons-93

UPDATE:
via Detroit News: Prince got into a shouting match with coach John Kuester and had to be restrained with 7:16 left in the game when Kuester pulled his starters and emptied the bench. The Pacers led 97-74 at the time.

Awesome, Tayshaun. Welcome back.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 00122.html

Thud
On the continuum that stretches from horrible losses to phenomenal wins, Friday’s decisive 105-93 loss to Indiana was every bit as far to the left as the win over Boston was to the far right the last time the Pistons had gathered at The Palace, two nights earlier. No glossing over this one. It was ugly, and worse than that, it was damaging to whatever playoff hopes the Pistons still harbor. They came into the game having won four of five to pull within four games in the loss column of the final playoff seed in the East, but with precious little margin for error – especially when playing teams outside the playoff field. It left a bad taste in the mouth, from the most terse postgame press conference of the John Kuester era to a somber locker room in stark contrast to the euphoria that followed the Boston win. “You saw it – it was night and day,” rookie Jonas Jerebko said. “We’ve got to come out and play like we did (Wednesday) and show we can be the team we can be. We’ve got to forget about this game. We know we can play like we did against Boston. We’ve just got to show it every night and tomorrow is the night. It’s never fun to lose. We’ve just got to play better than that.” The Pistons led 8-4, but it went downhill fast from there. A 14-0 Indiana run put the Pistons down by 10 and it stretched to 18, 45-27, after consecutive Brandon Rush triples midway through the second quarter.

But the Pistons got back in the game with a 13-0 run – their only real flurry of the night – that coincided with the insertion of Chucky Atkins for Rodney Stuckey with Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace and Jerebko surrounding him. A Rush triple ended the run after the Pistons closed within four, Indiana winding up taking a 53-45 halftime lead. The Pistons might have enough firepower to pull them out of one such hole against subpar teams, but not two. So when Indiana scored the first 11 points of the second half on their first five possessions to bump its lead back to 19, it was lights out at The Palace. “That was disappointing,” Kuester said, in what amounted to an expansive comment from him on a night he saw the virtue in biting his tongue. “We picked it up a little bit in that second quarter and then we came out flat again,” Villanueva said. “We talked about the first five minutes of that third quarter being very important to set the tone and we didn’t do that.”

The win over Boston opened a stretch of six consecutive home games to close January and a win over the Pacers would have allowed them to continue building momentum with a Brandon Roy-less Portland team due in Saturday night. So when the Pistons squandered a gaping opportunity to make up even more ground, frustration naturally bubbled to the surface – even manifesting itself in an apparent verbal confrontation between Kuester and Prince in the second half. Prince refused to comment on the incident, saying he didn’t want his words to be misconstrued. It was his first game back after missing six with a sore left knee – that coming after an earlier stretch of 26 missed games with a back injury. Kuester left it up to Prince whether to reassume his spot in the starting lineup with the stipulation that his minutes would be monitored. Prince wound up playing 24 minutes – he’d said on Thursday he didn’t anticipate getting to 30 – and scored seven points to go with six rebounds, all in the first half. He shot 3 of 12. “It was all frustrating,” Villanueva said. “The way we played, everybody’s frustrated. Everybody wants to win and guys are going to sometimes let their emotions get the best of them. But it’s nothing. Let’s forget about this one, learn from it and move on.” Amen to that.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 00122.html

TEAM COLORS
White Hot – Brandon Rush has been a disappointment since being drafted in the 2008 lottery from NCAA champion Kansas, averaging 7.7 points and shooting 40 percent. But you wouldn’t have guessed by watching him against the Pistons. Rush knocked down four 3-point shots in the first half and finished with 19 points. Pistons killer Danny Granger had another big night, scoring 25 by making a living (14 of 14) at the foul line, as he always seems to do against Detroit. But the Pistons almost plan for Granger getting 25. The 19 from Rush were knee bucklers.

BLUE COLLAR – Nobody deserves it more than John Kuester, who was as vocal as he’s been in any game all season, exhorting his team to snap out of their deep funk. Kuester tried what he could – yanking Chris Wilcox less than four minutes into the game, taking Charlie Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey out earlier than usual in the second quarter when their performances merited a hook, going with Chucky Atkins and Jonas Jerebko, calling a timeout less than two minutes into the third quarter, barking more than usual at the officials. Aside from a 13-0 run late in the second quarter that pulled the Pistons without four, not much worked – but it wasn’t for lack of initiative on Kuester’s part. When Indiana went up by 23 with eight minutes left, Kuester waved in rookies Jerebko, Austin Daye and DaJuan Summers plus took Kwame Brown out of cold storage and gave them a three-word instruction: “Just play hard.”

RED FLAG – Coming off a terrific performance against Boston in which Charlie Villanueva showed a mean streak that delighted the Pistons, he was the target of Indiana’s attack, whether guarding Troy Murphy or Mike Dunleavy. He entered the game for Chris Wilcox four minutes into it with the Pistons ahead by four, and when he left about three minutes into the second quarter, Indiana led by 16. He was 0 for 4 in that time. In 20 minutes, Villanueva went 1 of 9 and scored his only points on a three-point play to start the fourth quarter.

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

MLive: Blazers' Brandon Roy will sit against Pistons: Roy has an injured hamstring and sat out Portland’s game Fri... http://bit.ly/6bOmiZ

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

Freep: Live scoring: Pistons battling last-place Pacers: The Detroit Pistons continue a six-game home stand tonigh... http://bit.ly/7ir2Z3

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

DetNews: Tayshaun Prince returns, starts for Pistons: There was one fewer Piston in dress clothes on the bench F... http://twurl.nl/5hxbh7

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

MLive: Pistons routed by Pacers despite 27 points from Richard Hamilton: Villanueva had one of his worst games thi... http://bit.ly/68I4gy

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

DetNews: Tayshaun Prince returns, feuds with John Kuester as Pistons lose: The Pistons have had a few of these t... http://twurl.nl/4wxwy1

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

DetNews: Ray Allen recovers from bad night with game-winner: Ray Allen was just 2 for 13 when he hit a 3-pointer... http://twurl.nl/fs2w52

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http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... ame-winner

Ray Allen recovers from bad night with game-winner
Ray Allen was just 2 for 13 when he hit a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in overtime to give the Boston Celtics a 98-95 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night

Kevin Garnett returned after missing 10 games with a hyperextended right knee and scored 13 points. Paul Pierce scored 24 for the Celtics before fouling out on an offensive foul with 1.1 seconds left in regulation.

Andre Miller scored 28 for Portland, with eight assists and eight rebounds, and Aldridge had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Martell Webster scored 19 and Juwan Howard had 12 rebounds for the Blazers.

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http://www.nba.com/video/teams/pistons/ ... index.html

Pistons vs. Pacers
After a great win over Boston, the Pistons fell flat in a loss to the lowly Pacers, 105-93.

Video in the link above^.

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http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... sit_a.html

Blazers' Brandon Roy will sit against Pistons
The Detroit Pistons faced off with a player Friday night -- Pacers forward Danny Granger -- who averages more than 23 points per game. They won’t have to do the same Saturday.

The Portland Trail Blazers will be without guard Brandon Roy, who averages 23.1 points, 5.0 assists and 4.6 rebounds, when they play the Pistons at The Palace.

Roy has an injured hamstring and sat out Portland’s game Friday against the Boston Celtics. He first injured the hamstring in a game Jan. 13, then re-injured it Wednesday night in a 98-90 victory over Philadelphia. Jerryd Bayless is expected to start in Roy’s place. He averages 8.8 points and 2.3 assists in 18.1 minutes per game.

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http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... sit_a.html

Ripped and scratched
Some NBA players let their fingernails grow to use as weapons against opposing players. According to the Trail Blazers, the Pistons have at least one of those players. “Richard Hamilton has some nails,” Portland guard Andre Miller told The Oregonian recently. “I get scratched up every time I play him. Everywhere.”

Blazers forward Martell Webster agreed. “Yeah, I’ve seen his,” he said. “They are nasty.”

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http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... sit_a.html

Kuester: Hansbrough will be 'outstanding'
John Kuester might be biased since he and Tyler Hansbrough are both North Carolina guys, but the Pistons coach thinks the Pacers rookie has a bright future in the NBA. “I think he’s going to be outstanding,” Kuester said. “He plays hard. Anytime you get a player that plays with the type of intensity that he does, he’s going to be an outstanding player before it’s all over. He’ll figure it out.”

Hansbrough averages 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game. “What a great skill to have when you say to somebody, ‘He plays hard all the time,’" Kuester said. “That’s a skill. I’m telling you, not enough guys do that. When you’ve got players that play hard all the time, what a luxury.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... sit_a.html

All-Star surprise
Fans did not vote any Pistons into the starting lineup for the All-Star game. That is no surprise.

What is a surprise is that former Pistons guard Allen Iverson will start for the Eastern Conference. Iverson is averaging 14.4 points, 4.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... stons-lose

Tayshaun Prince returns, tempers flare, Pistons lose
The Pistons have had a few of these this season. Another ugly loss, this time 105-93 to the lowly Indiana Pacers, a game in which the Pacers led by as many as 18 in the first half and cruised. It was a bad effort by the Pistons -- little effort at all, really -- and mystifying considering the Pistons had played so well in their victory over the Celtics Wednesday and won five of six games. Friday's loss pretty much left coach John Kuester speechless and befuddled. Kuester's news conference lasted less than a minute.

Were you upset with the effort tonight? "No question, it was disappointing. We had played very hard four out of the last five games, and this was a disappointing effort," Kuester said. Was the team caught up in the euphoria of the Boston win? "You know what? Shouldn't have happened. I felt our guys understood it. We talked about it beforehand. Didn't happen, though," Kuester said. How disappointed were you to get close again by halftime and fall behind big again in the third? "That was disappointing," said Kuester, who then ended the news conference

Tayshaun Prince returned to the Pistons lineup. Prince had seven points on 3-for-12 shooting, with six rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Prince, though, got into a heated shouting match with Kuester with 7:16 left in the game when Kuester cleared the floor and emptied the bench. Prince, though, wouldn't comment on the matter. "Don't ask me that question, because if I speak on it you all are going to change my words up. I'm not going to answer that," Prince said. Richard Hamilton scored 27 for the Pistons (15-27) while Jonas Jerebko scored 14. Danny Granger led the Pacers (15-28) with 25 points. "It was very frustrating to see that type of performance from us," said Charlie Villanueva, who struggled with three points on 1-for-9 shooting. "We're a better team than that. We didn't pick it up. The Boston game gave us a lot of momentum and confidence but it seems that we took a step backwards with this team. Hopefully we'll learn from it."

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... stons-lose

No slowing Big Ben
Ben Wallace 's continued renaissance this season can be attributed to health.

Or, at least, that's what Wallace, 35, says after two seasons in which injuries had him pondering retirement before he rejoined the Pistons late last summer. "I'm 110 percent compared to where I was at the last three years. I've got no gripes, no complaints," Wallace said. "I'm just playing basketball and enjoying my time on the floor."

Don't expect Wallace to give any less effort at his age, or no matter the Pistons' place in the standings. "I'm a basketball player," Wallace said. "As long as I'm out there, I've got to play the way I know how. That's the only way I know how to play, to play all out. Once I can't do that, I'll go home and sit on the couch." Wallace had nine points and six rebounds against the Pacers in 25 minutes.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2010 ... stons-lose

Prince's minutes
Kuester said before the game the Pistons will ease Prince's return to the lineup. "We'll monitor his minutes," Kuester said. "That's one of the things, knock on wood, hopefully I've learned. You have to gauge certain things."

Prince started at small forward, while Chris Wilcox remained the starter at power forward. Jonas Jerebko came off the bench and played mostly small forward. "There's a comfort factor (for Jerebko at small forward), and Charlie (Villanueva) is playing more at (power forward), we have some people playing well at (power forward)," Kuester said

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http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=300122009

Stephen Curry scored a career-high 32 points, Corey Maggette added 29 points and the Golden State Warriors beat the New Jersey Nets 111-79 on Friday night despite losing leading scorer Monta Ellis to a right ankle injury.

Cartier Martin, a Development League call-up playing on his second 10-day contract with Golden State, added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors (13-28), who beat the Nets for the second time this season.

Brook Lopez had 21 points and six rebounds for New Jersey (3-39), which lost its 10th straight. The Nets fell to 1-22 on the road.