Kings @ Pistons Preview Sacramento Kings(36-13) @ Detroit Pistons(33-20) Feb. 11, 7:30 pm Eastern The Palace of Auburn Hills TV: UPN-50, News10, NBALP Previous Game Kings 124 @ Bucks 117 Pistons 78 @ Nets 89 Series: Sacramento leads the series 1-0. Last Meeting: Pistons 91 @ Kings 97 Streaks Kings: Won 2 (7-3 in last ten) Pistons: Lost 4 (4-6 in last ten) Head Coaches vs. Rick Adelman vs. Larry Brown Probable Starters PG: vs. Mike Bibby Williams vs. Chauncey Billups SG: vs. Doug Christie vs. Richard Hamilton SF: vs. Pedrag Stojakovic vs. Tayshaun Prince PF: vs. Brad Miller vs. Ben Wallace C: vs. Vlade Divac vs. Elden Campbell 6th Men vs. Bobby Jackson vs. Corliss Williamson Players to Watch vs. Stojakovic: 25.4 Points (.481 FG %, .425 3P%, .929 FT%), 2.1 Assists, 6.1 Rebounds, 1.4 Steals Prince: 10.3 Points (.456 FG %, .321 3P%, .750 FT%)), 2.4 Assists, 5 Rebounds A very difficult matchup for Tayshaun Prince. He will have to guard the King's best scorer. It will be important for Prince to try to make Peja feel uncomfortable and never get any open looks. (Still, it won't help, good luck) Injury Report Sacramento Kings Lawrence Funderburke Chris Webber Detroit Pistons Tremaine Fowlkes Lindsey Hunter Memo Okur Keys to the Game <u>Sacramento Kings:</u> <ul> [*]Get some easy shots (The Pistons can still play good defense. Although, they have been playing poorly lately, the Pistons can turn it on at almost any time. Sacramento would like to get an early lead and keep it by getting some easy shots.) [*]Spread the ball around (Probably the Kings greatest strength is their passing ability. They will need to keep spreading the ball around until they find an open player. This would make it very difficult for the Pistons to win. Also, the Kings will need to get some fast break points, unlike their game against the Spurs.) [*]Get Peja the ball (Peja can shoot. He will have Prince guarding him some of the time, but he can still take advantage of the matchup and score some treys. He is an important part of the Kings offense and it will be important for the Kings to get Peja his points.) [*]Box out Ben Wallace (The last thing that the Kings need is for Ben Wallace to get a large number of offensive boards. If the Pistons can keep the game close, then the Kings would not want to give Detroit extra scoring oppurtunities.) [/list] <u>Detroit Pistons:</u> <ul> [*]Play the passing lanes/Force turnovers (If the Kings are allowed to freely pass on the offensive end, then the Pistons would have no chance to win. Sacramento is fun to watch, but it will be a goal for the Pistons to make the game as boring to Kings' fans as possible. Detroit will need to force some turnovers and get some fast break points. Two of their best passers are Vlade Divac and Brad Miller. Threfore, the Pistons will need to apple pressure to these players.) [*]Limit Brad Miller's production (Brad Miller has been one of the best pickups for any team this season. He is very effective in the post and fits the Kings very well. The Pistons will need to contain him and prevent him from getting another triple double.) [*]Stop Stojakovic and get some production from Prince (This mainly will be up to Prince. He will be guarding Stojakovic and he will need to defend him well. Peja cannot be given open shots to tear apart Detroit. Also, Prince will need to at least try to match Peja's production to take some of the pressure off of the other Pistons.) [*]Get good production from Hamilton and Billups (Without the points scored by these two players, the Pistons would not be able to win. It is no different this game, it will be a priority for Hamilton and Billups to hit their shots and be very effective. They will also need to prevent any turnovers that have plagued them at times this season.) [*]Rebound (If the Pistons play good defense and force the Kings into a bad shot, the last thing that they would want to happen is for the Kings to get an offensive rebound. Detroit will also need to get some offensive rebounds to be able to contend and build a lead.) [*]Play the Piston's style of basketball (The Pistons have tried outscoring some teams and it hasn't worked out well. Eventually the shots stop falling and defense is needed. The Pistons must slow down the pace of the game to limit any fast break points that the Kings can get. Also, they will need to play smart offense, with excellent precision.) [/list] PyroManiac's Prediction Another hard game that should turn out to be great. The Pistons have been sucking pretty badly recently and it would be good to get a bit of redemption going into the All Star Break. The Pistons cannot do what they did against New Jersey and allow their offense to run wild and get a mass of fast breaks. Detroit will need to play solid defense and have great games from Billups, Hamilton, Prince, and Wallace. Okur would have helped the Pistons if he wasn't injured because he is a good force inside. Sacramento is at the least, one of the best teams in the league and they will want to get a solid win against a solid team. They have been plaing fairly well recently and will try to get some more momentum heading into the break. I have earlier said that I will never predict the Pistons to lose, and I won't here either. However, it will need to be a complete change from what we saw yesterday, a so called Miracle! Pistons by 1.
this will go down to the wre. It can go any way IMO. Maybe the Pistons can make a run and keep the lead to win the game by 3. So I'll say Pistons by 3.
i'm going to be at this game tonight. i say the biggest key is to limit big man passing. Vlade and Brad Miller average more assist per game than Bibby and Christie. limit Vlade and Miller's assists and then we reduce the easy buckets from the outside gunners.
Darko sighting in the 2nd quarter I was very shocked by that Got a steal which led to a Chucky Atkins lay-up Then scored himself got 4 minutes, not much but at least Brown has decided to play him early Pistons were down by 15 early but now lead at the half by 1
I actually missed the Darko sighting. Box Score shows that he got 6 minutes, 1-2 FG, 1 Steal, and 1 Turnover. Did he look as lost as earlier in the season?
HUGE shot by Peja to win the game Pistons lose by 2 96-94 They left the shooters wide open so many times tonight, which you can not do against the Kings Bibby owned Billups Pistons refused to respect his outside shot for some reason. 5th straight loss for D Dumars needs to make a trade and fast.
Bibby did own Billups... the only shot Billups actually made the whole game was a trey in the final minute, but it wasn't enough.
Think about it, if the refs didn't call the goaltending call on Tayshaun, who knows where this game would of went. The refs steal another one from Detroit. 2-0
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A compliment seemed to make Peja Stojakovic more nervous than the game-winning shot he took. Stojakovic's long jumper with 0.4 seconds left lifted the Sacramento Kings to a 96-94 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. "Wow, the guy shoots like Larry Bird," Detroit's Richard Hamilton said. "When he let it go, I was like, 'I know that's going in,' just because of the way he had been hitting them." When the praise was relayed to Stojakovic, on his way out of the arena, he struggled to respond. "Well ... that's a great compliment, but Larry Bird was a special player and a legend," said Stojakovic, who scored 25 points. "It's nice of him to say that, but I don't think I'm ready to be compared to him." Stojakovic connected from the right wing on a 22-footer after Vlade Divac dropped him a pass for his 11th assist. Stojakovic made nine of 18 shots and four of eight 3-pointers, one from nearly 30 feet. Stojakovic, who will play in the All-Star game Sunday in Los Angeles, will go for his third straight 3-point shootout title on Saturday. "I wouldn't bet against him," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "He's the best shooter in the league right now." Mike Bibby scored 26 points for the Western Conference-leading Kings, who have won seven of eight and five straight on the road.</div> Recap Box Score Sorry for the late post. Well, I agree with Peja. He is a great shooter but he's not Larry Bird quite yet.
i look at today's game, and while we didn't win, i'm happy with how we played. tonight's game could have easily been Piston's victory. the Tayshaun goaltending was a bad call. in the last seconds, the clock stopped at 12.5 sec and they had to stop play to fix it. bibby was pushed all the way to half court when it happened and the Pistons were playing great D. with the clock stopped and an inbound, the Kings got another good look. yes we lost, but against the top team in teh NBA, we showed lots of heart and toughness. for all the people who are sounding the sirens saying the Pistons are tumbling, need to relax. they're in a slump. i agree 100% that they won't be a true championship contender until they get a 20+ point star. however, i don't think that the Pistons are in a state of disarray.
btw, what do you guys think of Darko getting some meaningful PT? we were actually down 12 and Larry Brown started Darko in the 2nd quarter! do you think this is a sign that Larry Brown will play Darko more?
I noticed that while I was watching the play by play, too. Darko played 6 minutes and scored once, going 1-2 from the field. I hope to see him out there more. And if the Pistons' big men are going to get into it every time with Brad Miller, he's going to have to play.
No, I believe that he wanted to try to prove a point to Darko that he is not ready or let Darko prove that he is ready. More importantly, did you notice how whenever Darko comes into the game, we go on runs. It has happened twice against the Kings. When we were at the Kings, Darko came in, suddenly two technicals and Pistons go on a run. (And lose...) Put Darko in! I seriously hope that Darko begins to play more, he did not look horrible tonight. He looked decent the last few games, put him in!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting PyroManiac:</div><div class="quote_post">No, I believe that he wanted to try to prove a point to Darko that he is not ready or let Darko prove that he is ready. More importantly, did you notice how whenever Darko comes into the game, we go on runs. It has happened twice against the Kings. When we were at the Kings, Darko came in, suddenly two technicals and Pistons go on a run. (And lose...) Put Darko in! I seriously hope that Darko begins to play more, he did not look horrible tonight. He looked decent the last few games, put him in!</div> do you really think Larry Brown wanted to prove to Darko that he wasn't ready? once thing was painfully obvious: Darko still doesn't have enough stamina to play more than 10 minutes a night right now. i think the reason that Darko has that effect is because of the fan reaction. when Darko comes in, the fans go CRAZY. the pistons must feed off of that energy.
I'm just kidding about Larry trying to prove the point. Yeah, I agree about his effect on the fans. However, it also happened when we were not at home, so it just feeds the Pistons directly. Still, it works better at home where the fans go crazy right away. I never wanted him to play more than 10 minutes right now, just play him 5-6 a game, see what he can do. This will help get better and gain some confidence.
