Charlotte @ Detroit - 12/20/13 - 7:30pm ET

[mrknowitall215]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/bobcats/status/414089345864183809[/tweet]

Bobcats at Pistons

7:30 p.m., Palace of Auburn Hills

TV: SportSouth. Radio: WFNZ-AM 610

Matchup to Watch

Al Jefferson vs. Andre Drummond: Old school big man vs. new school big man. Drummond has worked out very well for the Pistons after a not-so-consistent college career at Connecticut.

Observations

• Josh Smith, who signed with Detroit over the summer after eight seasons in Atlanta, has averaged 27 points in his past three games.

• Considering the size of the Pistons’ frontcourt, it’s likely Anthony Tolliver will get considerable playing time in this game at small forward.

• Both teams are coming off tight road victories. The Pistons won by a point in Boston, while the Bobcats went to overtime before Kemba Walker’s buzzer-beater beat the Toronto Raptors.

• Pistons forward Greg Monroe is a major matchup problem for the Bobcats. He averaged 13.8 points, nine rebounds and 6.3 assists against them last season.

Tap-ins

• The Pistons have won 12 of their past 16 versus the Bobcats.

• Walker had some of his best scoring games last season against the Pistons, averaging 24.3 points

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/1 ... rRhe9JDuSo

[Eoghan]

Wonder if we'll be hungover from the Toronto game. Could have some tired legs still.

[Liver_Pooty]

We don't matchup well against them, at all.

[mrknowitall215]

We don't matchup well against them, at all.

If the Bobcats had MKG, they could. However, I believe Josh Smith might be too physically imposing for Jeff Taylor. I can see Clifford flirting with some extended minutes for Anthony Tolliver tonight

...and dare I say, some Bismack Biyombo & Al Jefferson together

[HornetJail]

We should see a lot more Biz tonight. He's the only one that will be able to cover Drummond. Otherwise Drummond will get 20/15.

[MasterIchiro]

I want this win and I want to push Detroit out of the playoffs. We need their pick to be a good one.

[mrknowitall215]

My prediction is that Kemba Walker will neutralize Brandon Jennings, forcing him into bad shots & turnovers, taking away his effectiveness to run the Pistons' offense thoroughly, which will lead to a easy win for the Bobcats

The player(s) that Charlotte's defense should be concerned about having a breakout night tonight are Rodney Stuckey & Charlie Villanueva. Stuckey has been productive early on this season in his rightful role, as a combo guard off the bench that come in & play aggressively on the offensive end. Villanueva could give Clifford's defense some problems as he is a legit stretch 4 that can get it going from the beyond the arc if the Bobcats lounge on him unexpectedly

[ComboGuardCity]

Charlie V isn't going to do anything. I think it's going to be either Monroe or Drummomd who play well in the paint, whoever big al is guarding. Should be a good game.

Oh yeah, Jeff Taylor will be open from 3 all game. Book it.


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[mrknowitall215]

Charlie V isn't going to do anything. I think it's going to be either Monroe or Drummomd who play well in the paint, whoever big al is guarding. Should be a good game.

Oh yeah, Jeff Taylor will be open from 3 all game. Book it.


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Charlotte really isn't worried about neither of Greg Monroe or Andre Drummond scoring in the paint, unless it involves getting a offensive rebound. The Bobcats are one of the better teams in the league at defending shots at the rim. Al Jefferson's weakness as a defender is his lack of mobility, and defending the pick & roll. Drummond nor Monroe are really threats outside of 8 feet of the rim, and Brandon Jennings isn't that good at making layups if Jefferson give him the lane. It's the bigs like Al Horford & Nikola Vucevic that have given Jefferson trouble because they can actually shoot

3-point defense is one of the Bobcats weak links on that side of the ball. That's where Villanueva could be effective in tonight's contest

Jeff Taylor? Open for 3? Well, let me just say that he won't make Detroit pay for it. He might make 1 out of 4 wide open, but even that might be a stretch

[JDR720]

Josh Smith is gonna murder Jeff, he is to big to strong to physical for him....hopefully he turns into the 3pt chucking Josh

[catch20two]

We should win this one. The Pistons strength plays right into our hands or shall I say their weakness. If they're not going to be lighting up 3s on us then we shouldn't have much to worry about besides rebounding. But like Knowitall mentioned, Charlie V can catch fire from 3 point land and he's exactly the type of scrub that'll have a season high on us just because we're the Bobcats. Clifford better be planning on playing Biz and Adrien. I know Zeller will get his chance but I don't know about him because he can be soft sometimes while Drummond, Monroe, and J Smoove play physical.

[KembaWalker]

now that the Kemba vs Knight thing is behind us I don't have root for the Pistons to fail as much anymore. I think their team is actually really interesting this year and looking forward to the matchup.

Hope its the first time we see Jefferson+Biz together. Certainly don't see McBob or especially Zeller doing anything to slow down Monroe or Drummond

[HornetJail]

now that the Kemba vs Knight thing is behind us I don't have root for the Pistons to fail as much anymore. I think their team is actually really interesting this year and looking forward to the matchup.

Hope its the first time we see Jefferson+Biz together. Certainly don't see McBob or especially Zeller doing anything to slow down Monroe or Drummond

Yes we do. We have to watch them just barely miss the playoffs and nab the 9th pick for us.

[mrknowitall215]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BobcatsMartin/status/414124231006621696[/tweet]

Interesting...

[amcoolio]

With the way Brandon Jennings is playing, its surprising Detroit isn't several games over .500

[fatlever]

With the way Brandon Jennings is playing, its surprising Detroit isn't several games over .500

his defense is still AWFUL and he still cant finish inside the paint. he's still basically the same flawed player, but has a few more options to pass to to increase his assists.

[mrknowitall215]

Game #27: Charlotte Bobcats at Detroit Pistons

The holidays are a busy time for everyone, so let’s keep things short and sweet:

Offensively, these two teams have a lot in common. They’re both terrible from long range, with the Pistons 29th in three-point percentage and the Bobcats 30th. They both rely on free throws but struggle to convert them: Detroit ranks fifth in attempts and last in percentage, while Charlotte is fourth and 27th.

One area where the Pistons have a clear advantage, though, is points in the paint. It makes up a higher percentage of their scoring than any team, and their ability to grab offensive boards is a big part of that. They rank first in ORB%, leaning on the energy and athleticism of Andre Drummond, Greg Monroe and Josh Smith.

It should make for an interesting matchup, since those are defensive strengths for Charlotte. The Bobcats are the best in the league at grabbing defensive boards, and hold opponents to 51 percent shooting within eight feet of the basket. That’s five percent below the league average.

Detroit isn’t a particularly good home team, with a winning record on the road (7-6) and a losing one in Michigan (6-8), but they’ve been impressive lately. On Monday, the Pistons picked up a road win against the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers. That came just a day after taking the league-best Portland Trailblazers to overtime in Detroit. Despite their similar records, Charlotte will need to bring their top game to pick up a win.

http://queencityhoops.com/blog/2013/12/ ... t-pistons/

[JDR720]

Charlie V is the perfect random role player to go insane against us....or Kyle Singler

[mrknowitall215]

Charlie V is the perfect random role player to go insane against us....or Kyle Singler

I initially thought that Villanueva would be the sleeper that might awake on the Bobcats, but it appears that he isn't a part of their normal rotation, receiving a DNP-Coach's Decision throughout the majority of the games this season. That's unfortunate for them, because he has exactly the type of skill set as a perimeter-oriented big that could've hurt Charlotte tonight

[lmcguir5]

I don't think you guys are giving Detroit very much credit. Their bigs are pretty dominant down in the lane and Biz is not allowed to have one of his bad games if we want to win. The key matchups in this one are Kemba- Jennings and JT- Smith.

We need Kemba to abuse Brandon Jennings while limiting him if possible. No 36 pt game allowed for Jennings if we expect to win. JT is going to have to play damage control tonight against Josh Smith. As much as I hate Smith, he's exponentially better than Taylor and if we can prevent him from going for a double double, (possibly a triple double) I could be satisfied with that effort.

The last point to cover is rebounding. Obviously we know that the Pistons are a great rebounding team as they usually win the rebounding battle with their opponent. In fact, 9 of their 27 games they have lost the rebounding battle leaving 2/3 of their schedule where they smashed the opponent on the glass. They very rarely have rebounding games in the 30's and can easily hit a game in which they amass 50 or more rebounds with their season high being 57, which to me is just plain dumb. Of those nine games in which they were outrebounded, 6 of them were losses, so winning the paint battle is crucial to our overall success