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.
Nice preview man ... The Pistons haven't seem to hit their stride yet and the spurs are playing very well...Game is in San Antonio, so I'm going with the Spurs...
Even with the return of Ben Wallace, the Pistons will struggle to beat the Spurs in San Antonio. The Spurs are playing great right now, and they've won I think 20 straight games at home. Tim Duncan should lead the Spurs again, and I'm predicting a Spurs win by 13.
beno was also played good in last few matches. he is getting better every game and Devin Brown is also amazing so I say spurs will win by 11
SPUR WIN! I LOVE IT WHEN THE PISTONS LOSE! box score: http://www.nba.com/games/20041203/DETSAS/boxscore.html The SPurs didn't play as good as they usuall do, they let a 21 point lead slip to a 3 PT and near the end 1 PT game. A little too careless there, but they were still able to come out on top. Great job by the Pistons for making that huge lead to a basket bgame. However the Pistons were already in a shit hole too deep, before they found their game. yay spurs
Was an entertaining game no doubt and through 3 quarters they played a prefect game, from the Spurs point of view they still need to get much tougher. This isn't the first time they let a huge lead go, this time they managed to hold on but If they are really serious about winning back the championship their mental toughness really needs to improve.
