Detroit Pistons(7-7) @ San Antonio(13-3) Previous Game Pistons 93 @ Rockets 72 Sixers 72 @ Spurs 105 Streaks Pistons: Won 1 Spurs: Won 5 Head Coaches vs. Larry Brown/Greg Popovich Probable Starters PG: vs. Chauncey Billups/Tony Parker SG: vs. Rip Hamilton/Manu Ginobili SF: vs. Tayshaun Prince/Bruce Bowen PF: vs. Rasheed Wallace/Tim Duncan C: vs. Ben Wallace/Rasho Nesterovic 6th Men vs. Antonio Mcdyess/Brent Barry Players to Watch vs. Wallace: 12.9 points, 6.60 rebounds, 1.40 blocks per game Duncan: 23.4 Points, 12.90 rebounds, 3.06 blocks per game Game Notes The Detroit Pistons will welcome center Ben Wallace back to the lineup this Friday for this game after missing the last 6 games due to suspension. Without Wallace, the Pistons were outscored by a margin of 3.2 points (96.3 - 93.1), allowing opponents to shoot 47.5% from the field, while opponents averaged 91.5 points and shot 41.9% from the floor when Wallace was in uniform. Detroit averaged 6.50 blocks per game with Wallace in the lineup, and averaged to 4.63 without him. In Wallace?s absence, Pistons forward Antonio McDyess started all eight games and saw an average of 16.3 more minutes in each. Taking advantage of his increased playing time, McDyess averaged just shy of a double-double with 14.1 points and 9.8 rebounds in 34.3 minutes during those eight games Ben Wallace's Return Injury Lists Detroit Pistons Derrick Coleman Horace Jenkins Ronald Dupree San Antonio Spurs Linton Johnson III Romain Sato Sean Marks Key's To The Game <u>Detroit Pistons</u> <ul>Crash the boards, Both teams are very good on defense and the team that has more rebounds will have a good chance of winning Defend Duncan tightly, as always he is the guy the offense goes through. Ben Wallace needs needs to have a great night on the defensive end on his Pistons return Keep the Spurs out of the paint, Keep Parker and Ginobili from penetrating The less points that the Spurs can manage in the paint and the less penetration as possible will be key. Play the Piston's style of basketball, Spread the ball around and get everybody involved on the offensive end How the bench produces now Ben Wallace is back is important, Antonio Mcdyess who averaged a double double when he started for Ben Wallace will need to continue to bring his offense and rebounding to the game. Carlos Delfino will also need to bring the same energy he gave on on his return from injury thursday against Houston. It willl also be the first time Delfino will go up against his olympic gold medal team-mate Manu Ginobili.[/list] <u>San Antonio Spurs</u> <ul>As always get Tim Duncan going early on, feed him the ball as much as possible. It won't be easy going up against Wallace X2 so getting either in foul trouble coul decide the game. . Tony Parker will need to pick up his game, He will be asked to guard Chauncey Billups who has had a very good season so far this year, this will be a very important match-up Contain Rip Hamilton and don't let him get open from screens, I'm sure It will be Bruce Bowen's job to stop that from happening. Bench play is important, Spurs must get production from the bench players. The bench has averaged over 30 points a game in the last 5.[/list] Game Thoughts This is certainly the match-up of the week, the two teams who have been won the NBA championship the last two seasons. The Pistons are coming off a 93-72 win over Houston with Antonio Mcdyess contining his impressive form with 19 points and 10 rebounds in his last game replacing Ben Wallace in the starting line-up. It was a much needed win after struggling after a loss to the Bucks last saturday. The Pistons are getting a huge boost now the fact that two time defensive player of the year Ben Wallace will return for this game after seeing through his 6 game suspension after the Pistons/Pacers fight. With him back the Pistons interior defense will be that much stronger, no more easy lay-ups or easy dunks with big Ben in the middle. Him returning at this time is very important heading into San Antonio who are on fire right now. After winning 5 straight games after a 105-72 win over the Sixers on wednesday night. The Spurs have been getting over 30 points from the bench in the last 5 games. The play of Devin Brown has been outstanding, his best game yet was agaist the Sixers where he scored 24 points on just 8-14 shooting. He brings a big spark off that bench. Along with the fact Brent Barry a contender for the 6th man of the year award has showed alot also, even If his stats don't always state so. He brings alot to the team. This could be a preview of the NBA finals, two teams who "play the right way" have great coaching, good depth, size and know how to win the big games. I think we can expect a very close game with It going back and forth with both teams trying to make an early statement to each other. It's going to be a game where in my mind the guard play and the bench play will decide the game.
I think we can win. We have showed that we can make dominant players, not so dominant. I think the key will be the gaurd play, but more about Sheed. He is very underrated. What ppl don't understand is that playing against TD brings out the best in Sheed. I really think Sheed, will have his usual game against players like TD, and KG. He's going to quietly connect on a few jumpers, and grab a couple of boards, but we have waaay too much depth for him to be the big hero. Plus foul trouble has plagued him all season, so he's not playing up to his potential because of unlimited foul trouble, and limited minutes.
I see this as the preview of the finals. Unfortunitly for the pistons i don't see them winning but it will be a great game. Spurs 90 Pistons 87
yikes the Spurs are laying the smack down on the Pistons tonight. the Pistons need to start scoring in the 4th quarter to make this thing even close.
pistons fall short but what a game shame that we played so poor for three quarters and turn it on in the fourth. The pistons need a change i think they should trade elden campbell and derrick coleman for a guard. Someone who is instant offense such as speedy claxton or damon jones.
I can not believe that Prince threw it away like that. Seeing Sheed throw a near 90 footer was kind of funny though. I thought for a second it was going to go in, but I could tell it was too high.
Was a very entertaining game and was well worth watching but the Pistons need to learn how to play for the full 48 minutes, how many times this year have they played terrible for 3 quarters and made a big run in the 4th but to just come up short? way too many times thats for sure. Thats one big area Larry Brown needs them to work on.
Yeah. Instead of one long run in the 4th, let us get 4 long runs each quarter. Blow teams out by 50 points, that would be real nice But yeah, dissapointing loss, damnit Prince! You gotta get the ball to Billups on those! The problem is that we are too inconsistent right now, and LB needs to fix that...quickly.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting '[KBC:</div><div class="quote_post">']I can not believe that Prince threw it away like that. Seeing Sheed throw a near 90 footer was kind of funny though. I thought for a second it was going to go in, but I could tell it was too high.</div> well, Prince knew he had no timeouts and he had a split second left to get the ball inbounds. Chauncey was floating away from Prince and Sheed was calling for a lob. Both Sheed and Chauncey should have came TO the ball instead of allowing a man between the inbounder and the ball. i really don't fault Prince in that situation.
