'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 68

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... es_it.html

Unfortunate lineup: The Pistons were already down big, but they closed the first half with Bynum, Daye, Villanueva, Maxiell and Gordon on the court. Can you imagine the plus/minus of that group over 48 minutes? I'm setting the over/under at -75.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... es_it.html

Summers time: Prince's injury opened up some rare, meaningful minutes for rookie DaJuan Summers.
Summers played with aggressiveness on offensive. On one of his first touches he took a pass on the perimeter and drove to the rim for a tough reverse layup. He also knocked down both of his three-point attempts.

One of Summers' best plays came when he was being defended by Paul Pierce on the perimeter. Summers faked Pierce out of his shoes with a nasty looking crossover dribble, freeing himself for an open 18-foot jumper. Unfortunately, the shot came up short.

You get the feeling Summers could be a quality player in the rotation in future. He displays decent ball-handling skills, solid range and plays tough defense. I still wonder if he would have benefited from a season in the D-League.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... es_it.html

Old man Finley: Michael Finley is alive and well. Signed by Boston just 10 days ago, Finley flashed some serious scoring potential off the bench that could be a boost for the Celtics come playoff time.

In less than 14 minutes of action, Finley knocked down six of his seven shots, including 3-4 from three. His 15 points were more than every Piston player scored except Will Bynum, who finished with 16 in 34 minutes.

[nasty daddy]

http://blog.mlive.com/fullcourtpress/20 ... es_it.html

Maybe I'm getting old: The other day I gave Will Bynum a hard time for trying so hard to secure a personal accomplishment in the closing seconds of a double-digit victory. As expected, plenty of people disagreed with me.

On Monday night, it was Boston's Tony Allen and Nate Robinson getting a little carried away in the closing moments of the game. With under a minute remaining, Pistons guard Chucky Atkins turned over the basketball. The Celtics recovered the loose ball and quickly passed the ball up to Tony Allen. Instead of taking the easy dunk, Allen tossed the ball off the backboard for the trailing Nate Robinson, who threw down a monster dunk and swung on the rim long enough for the officials to call a technical foul.

I don't have an issue with creative dunks. I think they are good for the fans and a great way to establish momentum. But in the closing seconds of a blowout win, it's disrespectful to your opponent. On that note, I'm going to yell at the neighbor kids to get off my lawn.

[nasty daddy]

http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx? ... v12553.htm

Cleveland Cavaliers (52-15) at Detroit Pistons (23-44), 7:30 p.m.
The NBA's best road team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, will pay a visit to the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The playoff-bound Cavs have won 14 of their last 19 road games and are 23-11 away from Quicken Loans Arena this season. They have won three in a row overall and recently handed the Boston Celtics a 104-93 defeat on Sunday in Cleveland, as NBA leading scorer LeBron James contributed 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. James, who is averaging 29.9 points this season, scored 24 of his points in the second half and also collected three blocks and two steals. Antawn Jamison returned from a one-game absence (knee) to register 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who never trailed in the second half en route to their ninth win in 10 games overall. "I thought that we played the right way. Usually when you play a team like Boston, the most aggressive team is going to win, (not just) offensively, but defensively too," Cavs head coach Mike Brown said. "I thought that we were aggressive on both ends of the floor throughout most of the game."

Anderson Varejao added 17 points and 10 boards in the win. Cleveland's magic number to clinch its second straight Central Division crown is two. The Pistons have dropped two straight, three of four and nine of their last 11 games, including Monday's 119-93 decision against the Celtics in Beantown. Will Bynum had 16 points and seven assists for banged-up Detroit, which is winless in its last seven road games. Jason Maxiell had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort. "They did a great job of exploiting and we didn't react tonight," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "It was one of the few games that our energy wasn't the way it should be and I'm disappointed with the way we played."

Detroit center Ben Wallace missed his seventh straight game due to a sore right knee. The team, which is also playing without Rodney Stuckey, lost forward Tayshaun Prince to a back injury in the first quarter. Prince is listed as questionable for Tuesday's game versus the Cavs.Cleveland has won the first two meetings with the Pistons this season and five in a row overall. Detroit is 13-4 in the last 17 matchups as the host.

[nasty daddy]

http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx? ... v12553.htm

Pistons vs. Cavaliers
The PRE Report
Broadcast Schedule:
6:30 p.m. - Pistons In-Focus
7:00 p.m. - Pistons Live
7:30 p.m. - Watch Live on FS Detroit HD
7:30 p.m. - Join the Chat and Listen Live
LeBron James scored 40 points against the Pistons 11 days ago, despite the presence of Tayshaun Prince. That sets up an unnerving scenario for Detroit coach John Kuester: what is the NBA’s leading scorer capable of tonight at The Palace if Prince is sidelined? Prince, a four-time All-Defensive second team member, left Monday night’s 119-93 loss at Boston with a sore back after crashing into the knee of teammate Jason Maxiell in the first quarter. He’ll be the third starter on the Pistons’ injury list along with Rodney Stuckey and Ben Wallace. Stuckey and Prince were the two best things going for Detroit when the Pistons visited Cleveland on Mar. 5. In the first quarter Stuckey had four points and five assists while Prince scored 12 of his team-high 23 points. The Pistons led by as many as 21 points before going into halftime ahead, 55-46.With the momentum already swinging Cleveland’s way in the third quarter, Stuckey collapsed on the bench. His subsequent departure from Quicken Loans Arena in an ambulance relegated basketball to an afterthought. The Cavs won, 99-92. James complimented his 40 points with 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals. The 2009 MVP is averaging a league-high 29.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists.

With the momentum already swinging Cleveland’s way in the third quarter, Stuckey collapsed on the bench. His subsequent departure from Quicken Loans Arena in an ambulance relegated basketball to an afterthought. The Cavs won, 99-92. James complimented his 40 points with 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals. The 2009 MVP is averaging a league-high 29.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists. Cavs guard Delonte West added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench. West scored just three points in Sunday’s 104-93 home win over the Celtics. It was his first game with fewer than 12 points this month; he had been averaging 17.4 points on 55.0 percent shooting over the six games prior.Resting Prince would be a reasonable precautionary measure. The onetime NBA iron man missed the first two months of the season with a ruptured disc, though initial reports are last night’s accident did not aggravate the prior condition. With Jonas Jerebko now starting at power forward, Kuester would have to go in another direction for Prince’s replacement – perhaps Austin Daye, who has a pair of starts already under his belt.

Daye totaled 29 points and 11 rebounds in starts on Nov. 27 against the Clippers and Jan. 18 against the Knicks. He scored a career-high 16 points at New York. Daye had nearly as many as turnovers (five) as points (six) in Boston, giving an opportunity to Detroit’s third rookie, DaJuan Summers. He responded with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, including two triples. “DaJuan did a nice job, you know he shot the ball well, got a little bit better defensively,” Kuester said. “Austin I thought also did some things offensively good, but he has five turnovers and you don’t want to have that many turnovers in this situation.” The situation is a little brighter in Cleveland, where the Cavs are a league-best 52-15 and have won nine of their last 10 games. A victory Tuesday would help the Pistons end two unpleasant slides: six straight on the second night of back-to-backs and nine in a row to the Cavaliers, including last year’s playoff series. The Pistons last defeated Cleveland on Nov. 19, 2008, at The Palace.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/prereport_100316.html

Key Matchup
Maxiell
65
6.4
5.1
0.5
.510 Games
PPG
RPG
SPG
FG% 65
8.9
7.9
0.9
.568
Varejao

Despite the second disheartening road defeat in three nights, Jason Maxiell continued his stellar production in Boston. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth consecutive double-double. Maxiell had nine points and eight rebounds Mar. 5 in Cleveland; since then he’s averaged 11.6 points and 11.8 rebounds in his last five games. The 6-foot-7 Maxiell matches up favorable with the Cavs' current frontcourt, which doesn’t have 7-footers Shaquille O’Neal or Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Starting center J.J. Hickson, 6-foot-9, was rendered a nonfactor Mar. 5, mustering four points and one rebound in 16 minutes. Cavs reserve big man Anderson Varejao, however, factored in plenty. The 6-foot-11 Varejao made eight of 10 shots, posting 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Cavaliers outscored Detroit by 21 points during his 39 minutes on the floor. LeBron James, by comparison, was plus-12. Varejao had 17 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday’s win over Boston. It was his fourth double-double in seven games this month, coming one rebound shy of a fifth.

[nasty daddy]

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2010/03/15/a ... logs_hawks

Atlanta Hawks: The Blueprint–Remixed With Joe Johnson (sore Achilles’) out
J.J. to miss first game of season.
It looks like the Hawks’ good fortune with injuries finally has ended.

Joe Johnson (sore Achilles’) is not on the Hawks’ team flight. He’s been ruled out for New Jersey tomorrow and probably is out for Thursday Wednesday at Toronto, too. Mike Bibby (back) made the flight but is questionable for New Jersey.

J.J. will miss his first game of the season and just his fourth since 2007-08. He wasn’t available for comment because he was getting treatment (and napping, as is his custom).“I’ve always said when somebody goes down it gives somebody else a chance to step up and play,” Woody said before J.J. was officially ruled out. “That’s why I tell guys they’ve always got to be ready.”

[nasty daddy]

http://64.246.64.33/merge/tsnform.aspx? ... v12553.htm

Cleveland Cavaliers (52-15) at Detroit Pistons (23-44), 7:30 p.m.
The NBA's best road team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, will pay a visit to the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The playoff-bound Cavs have won 14 of their last 19 road games and are 23-11 away from Quicken Loans Arena this season. They have won three in a row overall and recently handed the Boston Celtics a 104-93 defeat on Sunday in Cleveland, as NBA leading scorer LeBron James contributed 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. James, who is averaging 29.9 points this season, scored 24 of his points in the second half and also collected three blocks and two steals. Antawn Jamison returned from a one-game absence (knee) to register 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who never trailed in the second half en route to their ninth win in 10 games overall. "I thought that we played the right way. Usually when you play a team like Boston, the most aggressive team is going to win, (not just) offensively, but defensively too," Cavs head coach Mike Brown said. "I thought that we were aggressive on both ends of the floor throughout most of the game."

Anderson Varejao added 17 points and 10 boards in the win. Cleveland's magic number to clinch its second straight Central Division crown is two. The Pistons have dropped two straight, three of four and nine of their last 11 games, including Monday's 119-93 decision against the Celtics in Beantown. Will Bynum had 16 points and seven assists for banged-up Detroit, which is winless in its last seven road games.

Jason Maxiell had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort. "They did a great job of exploiting and we didn't react tonight," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "It was one of the few games that our energy wasn't the way it should be and I'm disappointed with the way we played." Detroit center Ben Wallace missed his seventh straight game due to a sore right knee. The team, which is also playing without Rodney Stuckey, lost forward Tayshaun Prince to a back injury in the first quarter. Prince is listed as questionable for Tuesday's game versus the Cavs. Cleveland has won the first two meetings with the Pistons this season and five in a row overall. Detroit is 13-4 in the last 17 matchups as the host.

[nasty daddy]

http://stats.mlive.com/nba/preview.asp? ... me=8&vis=5

Cavaliers-Pistons Preview
It's been nearly four months since the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to a team that's currently below .500 in the standings. Given the streak already working against them, it's hard to imagine the Detroit Pistons being the club to finally knock Cleveland off. The Cavaliers look to move a step closer to wrapping up the Central Division on Tuesday night by notching their 10th straight victory over the Pistons, who try to avoid their third blowout loss to an Eastern Conference contender in four days. Well on its way to a second consecutive 60-win season, Cleveland (52-15) has a 5 1/2 game lead on Orlando for the East's top seed and a three-game cushion on the Los Angeles Lakers for the league's best record. The Cavaliers have won 22 consecutive games against teams that currently have sub-.500 records since losing at Washington on Nov. 18, but they've also been holding their own against fellow playoff contenders as well. After Cleveland won by 20 at Boston in late February, LeBron James finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists Sunday in the Cavaliers' 104-93 victory over the Celtics, which reduced their magic number to clinch the Central to two. "I thought we played the right way," coach Mike Brown told the NBA's official Web site. "When you play a team like Boston, the most aggressive team is going to win. I thought we were aggressive on both ends of the floor for most of the game."

Plenty of that aggressiveness came from Anderson Varejao, who impressed Celtics coach Doc Rivers by finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. "One guy completely dominated the game and that was Varejao," Rivers said. Varejao had 16 points and 10 boards in Cleveland's 99-92 home win over Detroit (23-44) on March 5, the Cavaliers' ninth straight victory against the Pistons with last season's four-game, first-round sweep included. Since Shaquille O'Neal severely sprained his thumb on Feb. 25, Varejao has averaged 12.3 points and 9.0 rebounds - all while continually getting under the skin of opponents. "That's Andy," James said. "That's what he does. You know he's going to be active, going to play his butt off every single game and give it his all."

Varejao's effectiveness, however, wouldn't be possible without James, who's averaged 37.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists in a pair of wins against Detroit this season. The Pistons have played five games without Rodney Stuckey since the guard's scary collapse on the bench in Cleveland, and they won two of their first three without him at The Palace. On the road for their past two, however, things didn't go nearly as well. Detroit fell behind Atlanta by 28 points Saturday en route to a 112-99 loss, and it was never close in a 119-93 loss at Boston on Monday. "They were good. We were bad," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "It was one of the few games that our energy wasn't the way it should be, and I'm disappointed with the way we played." While Stuckey could be back practicing as soon as Thursday, Detroit may have to worry about another injury. Tayshaun Prince was kneed in the back early in Monday's game by teammate Jason Maxiell, and he didn't return. It seems unlikely that Prince, who had 23 points against Cleveland earlier this month, will play Tuesday. "We've been hurt all year, and another guy goes down," guard Richard Hamilton said. "It's one of those things where you're like, 'Come on, man. Are you serious?' But it's tough."

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Beantown Blowout
When you see my name and picture at the beginning of a post, I guess that means it’s been another lopsided loss in a season full of disappointment for the Detroit Pistons. So far this season I’ve covered perhaps 2 of the worst losses of the 2009-2010 season for the Pistons, and this game will make it 3. At the beginning of the season, when I looked at the schedule I knew that this 3 week stretch of games (Washington, Utah, Cleveland (2x), Boston (2x), New York, Atlanta) could make or break this Pistons’ season. Who knew that not only would the Pistons not be in position to make the playoffs, but that their only win will likely come from beating the lowly Washington Wizards? Let’s get to the “highlights” shall we?:
Final Score 93-119

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Key Points:
The game was over after 12 minutes. After scoring only 15 points in the first quarter, and losing their starting SF (Tayshaun Prince), Coach Q might as well have thrown in the towel. Tay went down hard from a blow to that back from Jason Maxiell’s knee. The doctors evaluated him on the spot and said it didn’t look like it had anything to do with his prior back injury but it looked awful nonetheless.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Rajon Rondo’s stat line (3pts, 6ast, 4stl) doesn’t show how tenacious he was on the defensive end. He was up in Will Bynum’s jersey all night and poking at the ball and creating turnovers for Bynum, Hamilton, Prince, and Gordon.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/prereport_100316.html

I can’t remember the last time I saw Rasheed Wallace attempt only 1 three pointer. He scored 8 points and had 4 rebounds in 17 minutes on the floor. He has lost a few steps this season but, he still has my respect for helping this team the way he did from 04-08 (he didn’t do much in 09).

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Jonas Jerebko was in foul trouble early, but it’s to be expected when he’s guarding veterans like Paul Pierce and KG who are able to get whistles from the referees. Jerebko, although he had 10 points with a couple of nice dunks when the game was out of reach, was virtually a non-factor all game.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Ben Gordon’s best play as a Piston came on a baseline drive where he took Michael Finley off the dribble, but when he jumped up for the teardrop, Big Baby Davis stepped in front to draw a charge.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

I’ve got a question for the Boston fans: How does a man, wait “man”, who is listed at 289lbs, fall down so easily when a 6′3 200lb guard hits him? Didn’t BBD play football at one point in his life? I don’t want to say the man flops but, the man flops.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Rodney Stuckey and Ben Wallace were out again, with injuries. Stuckey took part in the afternoon shootaround, but as was reported during the game, the medical staff has a heart rate monitor on him and they are monitoring his every move by keeping his workouts light.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

Charlie Villanueva was nowhere to be found on either end of the court tonight. The past couple of games I’ve watched (or really the entire season) he just looks like he doesn’t care. He’s making $7m per season (average) and is lucky to see 20 minutes a night, and honestly I believe that’s only because Ben Wallace is hurt.

[nasty daddy]

http://need4sheed.com/2010/03/beantown-blowout.html

The first half looked like a layup drill for the Boston Celtics.