Pistons @ Mavericks Preview Detroit Pistons(33-18) @ Dallas Mavericks(31-18) Series: The Pistons lead the series 1-0 Last Meeting: Mavericks 102 @ Pistons 115 on January 11, 2004 Previous Game Pistons 81 @ Hornets 92 Mavericks 113 @ Hornets 104 Streaks Pistons: Lost 2 (5-5 in last ten) Mavericks: Won 2 (8-2 in last ten) Head Coaches vs. Probable Starters PG: vs. Billups vs. Nash SG: vs. Hamilton vs. Finley SF: vs. Prince vs. Walker PF: vs. Wallace vs. Nowitzki C: vs. Campbell vs. Fortson 6th Men vs. Atkins vs. Jamison Players to Watch vs. Hamilton: 17.9 Points (.443 FG %), 3.6 Assists, 3.7 Rebounds, 1.16 Steals Finley: 18.9 Points (.445 FG %), 3 Assists, 4.9 Rebounds, 1.14 Steals and vs. Wallace: 9.5 Points (.411 FG %), 2 Assists, 13.2 Rebounds, 3.1 Blocks, 1.8 Steals Nowizki: 21.1 Points (.452 FG %), 2.7 Assists, 8.8 Rebounds, 1.24 Blocks Injury Lists Detroit Pistons Tremaine Fowlkes Lindsey Hunter Memo Okur is day to day Dallas Mavericks Eduardo Najera is doubtful Tariq Abdul-Wahad Tony Delk Jon Stefansson Keys to the Game <u>Detroit Pistons:</u> <ul> [*]Figure out how to score in the first quarter (The Pistons will be destroyed by the Mavericks if Detroit can only manage to score 15 in the first quarter. The Pistons have recently been horrible in the 1st quarter and this his caused them to lose a few games and barely squeak by on a few others.) [*]Guard the perimeter/Set the pace for the game (Dallas is a great shooting team and they cannot be allowed to have open looks. The Pistons will not be able to contend with Dallas if they are allowed to run the floor and play at their pace. The Pistons will need to force the Mavericks to play at Detroit's pace.) [*]Dominate the boards (Getting rebounds will allow the Pistons to get second chance points and prevent them for the Mavericks. The Pistons will need to do everything possible to keep the game close. Detroit is missing their second best rebounder (Okur) but will need to manage to outrebound Dallas.) [*]Guard Nowitzki and Finley (Finley has been spectacular the last few games. He has been deadly shooting the ball and has been helping the Mavericks win. On the other hand, Nowitzki had a few bad games recently, but againt NO he seemed to end his slump. These two players should be the Pistons main concerns, although they cannot just forget about Walker, Nash, and Jamison.) [*]Get good bench production (When the starters are resting it will be up to the Pistons bench to not only contend with Jamison, but to outscore them to be able to keep the Pistons close. The bench has pretty much been the only strong point recently and they will play a very important role tonight.) [*]Play Larry Brown's style of basketball/Spread the ball around (The Pistons were doing this during the winning streak and then everything seemed to fall apart. The offensive consistency isn't there anymore. The Pistons need to keep playing with their pace and follow Larry's system.) [/list] <u>Dallas Mavericks:</u> <ul> [*]Guard Hamilton and Billups (Look at what happened at NO. Hamilton and Billups combined for 13 points and the Pistons were demolished by the Hornets. If the Mavericks manage to play good defense on these two then they should not have a problem winning. The problem is that the Mavs do need to play good defense, which they are not known for doing.) [*]Prevent offensive rebounds (Without a lot of rebounds for the Pistons, the Mavericks should be able to outscore Detroit. They will need to prevent offensive boards to minimize any second chance oppurtunities that the Pistons could get.) [*]Spread the ball around (Detroit will not let the Mavericks just walk up to the basket and shoot the ball. The Pistons will be playing good defense the whole game and the Mavericks will need to keep passing until they find an open player.) [*]Get good production from Nowitzki (He has been in a slump recently, until his last game against NO. If he has a good game then the Mavericks should be able to win. If Wallace is guarding Dirk, then he will need to draw Ben away from the basket to clear some room in the paint. Also, he cannot shoot only jump shots, he will need to stay in the paint a bit and get some easy points.) [*]Try to keep Ben's production to a minimum (Ben Wallace was basically the only starter to play against New Orleans. If Detroit wants to win, Ben will need to have a good game on the glass and also score some points. The Mavericks will need to try to prevent this.) [/list] PyroManiac's Prediction This will be a great game. The Mavericks have been playing very well recently and the Pistons have been playing quite horribly. Yesterday, the Spurs were able to destroy the Kings by playing solid defense and having great execution. The Pistons will need to try to use the same tactics against Dallas. Detroit will need to keep Finley and Dirk out of their comfort level and prevent them from having a field day. If the Pistons were playing very good defense lately and just had a few offensive problems, then I would be confident that the Pistons would win. However, as the Pistons have not been playing well on both ends, this game should be interesting. Pistons squeak by against the Mavericks by 1 point.
The way to beat Dallas is with good defense; if the Pistons try to outshoot them, they won't last 12 minutes, let alone 48. Walker will probably shoot for a lot of threes (as always) so the Pistons should try to keep him in poor shooting position always. He's dangerous if he can get confidence early. Also, the Pistons starters need to step up. This goes for all of them, they can't count on someone else to get the points, these guys are the money players and they need to act like it. The Mavs shouldn't have much trouble with this game as long as they can shut down Chauncey and Rip. Unfortunately for them, they don't have any players who can effectively do that. The Pistons' worst enemy in this game will be themselves and their self-defeating play early. If they come out making their shots, Pistons by 6. If they play like they did last night, Mavs by 10.
This is a game I might tape. Both of these teams are so good. They almost have the same record as well. But I will have to say Dallas by 2 since they are home. Going to be close still can go any way.
After the way Pistons embarassed themselves last night I can't see them bouncing back by winning tonight against a very good home team. Dallas by 8
Dallas at home is almost as good as Sacramento - this is where they win all their games, really, and their super powered offense will kill the Pistons tonight. Dallas is learning to play a little defense at home, too. Dallas by 13.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Detroit Pistons were shaking their heads in their previous visit to the American Airlines Center. They probably will be doing the same after one of the best games of Dirk Nowitzki's career. In their last visit to Dallas, the Pistons suffered a 114-75 loss on Nov. 9, 2002. Nearly 15 months later, the score was not as lopsided but still resulted in a tough loss for Detroit. It had no answers for Nowitzki, who made 15-of-24 shots. Nowitzki missed his first five shots as the Mavericks were dominated physically and found themselves in a 15-point hole early in the second quarter. But behind Nowitzki, Dallas climbed back into it. "I think I started off kind of slow," Nowitzki said. "Actually I felt great in warmup and I felt like I had a lot of energy. My first couple of shots I kind of rushed them. I wasn't really taking my time and I was kind of overexcited. "Once the first shot fell, I felt great throughout the whole game. I felt I could take anyone off the dribble and pull up with a jumper. That's what I tried to do." The Mavericks rallied from their second-largest deficit of the season and improved to 8-14 when trailing by double digits at some point.</div> Recap Box Score Dissapointing loss. After a great start the Pistons allowed Dirk become hot in the second half. Memo had a great start but didn't play long because of back spasms, I guess. Luckily, Elden had a good game in his place. After the Pistons got that lead, they should have tried to slow the pace of the game and make the game defensive. That would have made it harder for the Mavericks to come back because they would not have had an offensive rhythm. Steve Nash was amazing though, 29 points, 11 assists and .818 shooting percentage. During the final stretch, the Mavs were able to destroy the Pistons with a pick and roll play where either Nash or Dirk was able to hit the shot. At least Detroit was able to contend and not get blown out. :bigthumbu
Yeah, I talked to you about it on AIM. That is why I'm completely calm. Too bad we didn't see Darko on Dirk in the last 2 quarters.
Ming...the game was yesterday. You are slightly behind. Recap and Box Score were already posted above so you can check those out. It was a great game too.
I didn't watch this one, but I wish I had. I don't see it as a good thing that the Pistons contended, and weren't blown out. A loss is a loss, I don't care if it's by 3 or by 30, I'm not happy unless they win. Dallas is such a good team, though, that I'm sure it was a great effort by Detroit. I just hope Indiana will lose today so they don't get further ahead.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ming637:</div><div class="quote_post">Nice preview. Pistons by 9+</div> Damn, you never read the threads, do you? Obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting AllNet:</div><div class="quote_post">It was one of those famous Piston chokejobs.</div> More like they just got beat.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting King James:</div><div class="quote_post">More like they just got beat.</div> No, there were up by 15 in the 2nd quarter, had control of the game, controled the whole 2nd half, up by 2 with 2 minutes left in the game but made some stupid mistakes on defense. Pistons threw the game away plain and simple.
