Minnesota Timberwolves(3-2) @ Detroit Pistons(3-3) Nov. 17, 7:30 pm Central The Palace of Auburn Hills TV: NBA LP Previous Game Timberwolves 96 @ Rockets 91 Pistons 93 @ Jazz 108 Streaks Timberwolves: Won 1 Pistons:Lost 2 Head Coaches vs. Flip Saunders vs. Larry Brown Probable Starters PG: vs. Sam Cassell vs. Chauncey Billups SG: vs. Wally Szczerbiak vs. Richard Hamilton SF: vs. Latrell Sprewell vs. Tayshaun Prince PF: vs. Kevin Garnett vs. Rasheed Wallace C: vs. Michael Olowokandi vs. Ben Wallace 6th Men vs. Troy Hudson vs. Antonio Mcdyess Players to Watch vs. Garnett: 24.8 Points ,7.0 Assists, 15.40 Rebounds, 2.00 Blocks, 1.60 Steals Wallace: 12.8 Points , 3.8 Assists, 12.8 Rebounds, 2.75 Blocks, 1.50 Steals Ben Wallace will return to the Pistons line-up for this game after the death of his brother early last week. Without Wallace the Pistons interior defense was nothing short of terrible. With him back in the starting 5, there will be no easy lay-ups like they was in the previous two games. Kevin Garnett is once again having a great season and has impressive numbers all round the board, It's tough to stop this guy due to the fact he can do so many other things on the floor to help his team win. Injury Report Minnesota Timberwolves Ndudi Ebi Detroit Pistons Ronald Dupree Smush Parker Horace Jenkins Keys to the Game <u>Minnesota Timberwolves:</u> <ul> [*]Get Sprewell and Cassell going early,The Pistons will concentrate their main efforts on Kevin Garnett, but they must be aware of the shooters like Wally, Spree and Hudson [*]Guard Billups, Hamilton, and Rasheed . All are good on the perimeter, except Rasheed will be best used to try to stay inside. Minnesota will need to stop these players to have a great chance at winning. [*]Spread the ball around and get out on the break, Detroit plays very good defense and Minnesota will want to get some easy baskets. [*]Rebound the ball and don't let the Pistons get many 2nd chance points. Detroit isn't going to be beaten on the glass that badly with Ben Wallace back, but the Timberwolves will need to give a good effort on the boards. Ben Wallace will be going up against Kevin Garnett to try to snatch every rebound, whoever has the most affect on the boards and on defense will likely win the game [/list] <u>Detroit Pistons:</u> <ul> [*]Play the perimeter, Minnesota hassome good shooters on their team and Detroit will have to play the perimeter so that they don't have open looks. [*]Limit Garnett, The Wallaces will have a tough matchup even if they will be doubling him all game. Garnett is the defending league MVP for a reason and the Pistons can't afford to have him have his normal super human game. The Pistons must force his supporting cast to win, which they are capable of doing but it will be harder that way. [*]Defend Sam Cassell, Cassell is one of the best point guards in the league and he can damage the Pistons if he is free on the offensive end. [*]Get good production from Hamilton and Billups. Pistons are very hard to beat when they both have great games because they are Detroit's main offensive threats [*]Rasheed Wallace, Rasheed will need to have a good game and provide the Pistons with the down low threat against the likes of KG. Rasheed will need to come out and play strong at both ends of the floor. Without Larry Brown Rasheed has looked out of sorts the last few games [*]Play the Piston's style of basketball/Get the crowd into the game, get back the basics of spreading the ball around and getting open shots. The Pistons also need some smart bench play and some excellent execution on the offensive end.[/list] Final Thoughts and Prediction This should be a very interesting game, both teams have struggled to start the season for different reasons. The Pistons with injures to Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups and also head coach Larry Brown. The Timberwolves on the other hand have had problems with chemistry with both Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell both demanding contract extensions but failing to get them. Larry Brown is expected to be back for this game as is Ben Wallace. Chauncey Billups is not 100% confirmed to play but It is more than possible he suits up, If he fails to go then Lindsey Hunter will get the nod at the point once again. I expect this game to be back and forth the whole way but due to the game being at the palace and this will be the Wolves 2nd game in a back to back, you have to give the edge to the Pistons. Pistons by 5
Is Larry Brown back too? For God's sake, just give Cassell and Sprewell extensions already... it they're happy and if there's no injury The Wolves are the team that is most likely to win it all this year. It's tough to win the game at Detroit, the Wolves will have to play perfect O set-ups to win this game... they got to make the pace of the game faster, that will put the Pistons out of their sync. The Pistons are lucky they're facing the Wolf team that is nowhere near like last year's... the Wolves will eventually regroup but they will lose this one by 5.
hopefully the pistons will be at full strength (including LB!). i might be at this game, so i hope it's a good one the only thing i look for this game is the return of defensive intensity.
The Pistons should be able to win this game at home. They're a very good team when playing at the Palace, but the Timberwolves are not pushovers. Sheed will have to do a good job against Garnett and Hamilton and Billups have to knock down their normal jumpers. If the bench helps out as well, the Pistons will be able to win by more than 6.
oh no, it looks like Larry Brown will miss another game: http://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/pnotes17e_20041117.htm
KG has been playing like a man on a mission lately...the pistons have been a little shaken by some injuries and the absence of Larry Brown...t-wolves by 8
Big Ben should be back, so this shouldn't be easy for either team. I think the Wolves can take this game 91 - 87.
The Wolves need a strong game from Kandiman to take away some of the pressure the Wallace Boys are going to put on KG down low. I think that the Wolves need to carry over their effiecency from the perimeter last night to tonight's game. The way you beat the Pistons is by making your perimeter shots because the Pistons really clog the lanes well. Also Cassell got to get the ball up the floor quickly before the Pistons can fully get their half-court defense set. Sprewell is going to have to have a productive offensive night to off set what RIp Hamilton is going to bring to the table. Hamilton played well last year against the Wolves in that game in the Palace even with Trenton Hassell guarding him. So I think he will have an effective game. So Sprewell got to bring it back at him. And make RIp work on D. This could be a game where Eddie Griffen could play alot of minutes and be useful to the Wolves. Since the Pistons basically play 2 power forwards with the Wallace boys. The Wolves can use Griffen alot with KG. And Griffen shooting range can bring one of the Wallace boys out to the perimeter. And open up room for Garnett to see alot of one-on-one situations, with alot more space in the post. Anyway I think this game could go either way. But the Wolves have to do a good job team rebounding against the Pistons. Limit the Pistons to one shot and done. And they should be able to pull out the victory
So it seems detroit hasn't lost it's touch after all. Great game for tayshaun and chauncey seems to be healthy. Detroit needed this game and didn't want to fall under .500. LB absence was of course the main reson for the pistons recent struggles but the mvp still is big ben. His defensive presence was the reason for the victory.
The defense is finally back, thats mainly got to do with Ben returning. He showed tonight why he is the MVP of this team. Although his stats weren't up his to normal high standard, his effect on the game was above everyone else. Chauncey returning was big, tallying 21, 5 and 8. If he keeps up these averages It will be hard for him to not make the all-star game. He hit big threes and plays in that 3rd quarter that got the Pistons back in It and took the lead Rip struggled big time with his shot but was very soild at the line (11-14) and ended up with 24 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. He is becoming more of an all-round threat every game. Tayshaun-really kept the Pistons in the game in the first half, he couldn't seem to miss from anywhere. 9-13 from the field, 5 rebounds and 1 block. He was a force on defense as always. If he can play more consistant like tonight, then the Pistons will have a better chance at winning even more games Rasheed-something is certainly wrong with him. He may be still struggling with that bad back of his, or he missed Larry Brown that much on the sidelines, even though Larry was back tonight. He needs to pick his offensive game up, he was still more than decent on the defensive end though. Ben- what can you say, he is back and the Pistons look like a real unit offensively and defensively. Shows how big an impact he has on the game and his team-mates. He helped keep Minny to under 41% shooting, been a while since teams have shot than low for a few games. 9 points 10 rebounds and 3 blocks, as I mentioned above his stats don't do him justice on how big an effect he had on the game The bench was at last looking in better shape, Mcdyess with 7 rebounds in under 17 minutes while providing good tough defense. He didn't look for his shot much but still played very well. Carlos Delfino brought a spark, he will take a little longer to get used to the NBA style but should still be a good player off the bench. Elden Campbell was the key with 8 points on 4/6 shooting in only 14 minutes, he has looked effective everytime he has played this year. EC can still give you some decent minutes.
Gotta give love to the Pistons. I didn't think that they were gonna come out like this for us (Brown and Ben), but it was a good test. Great defensive game by the champs. But hey, as far as I'm concerned, the Wolves still lead the series 3 - 1. And YES they did try to win in that pre-season game. That also means that you can mark up another loss when you come here. See Ya guys later Just updating to say it was foretold. I would love to meet in the finals because I could go to all of the games.
