PISTONS CONTINUE ROADTRIP
By: Joey Perez
November 12, 2003
AUBURN HILLS, DET
DETROIT VS GOLDEN STATE, AT 6:30 PM
After a great victory last night the Pistons will face the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back. The Detroit Pistons hold the central division lead with a 5-2 record. Meanwhile the Warriors are trying to get on track with a record of 2-4.
DAVIS PLAYING POINT
Ricky Davis said yesterday he enjoys playing point guard because it allows him to use his size and athletic ability against smaller guards. Ricky has been played at point by coach Larry Brown a few times this season and the coach says he will see how things workout and how the team plays with Davis at the point. However Frank Williams remains the starting point.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Golden State
G Troy Hudson
G Larry Hughes
F Andrei Kirilenko
F Al Harrington
C Etan Thomas
Detroit
G Frank Williams
G Richard Hamilton
F Ricky Davis
F Marcus Camby
C Ben Wallace
DETROIT WINS ON THE ROAD
By: Joey Perez
November 12, 2003
AUBURN HILLS, DET
DYNAMIC DUO COMBINE FOR 50
Richard Hamilton and Ricky Davis each scored 25 a piece to lead the Pistons to their second win in as many nights. But the player of the game is Frank Williams who paced the team with his 18 points 8 rebounds and 11 assists. The young point guard starting in just his second game was able to play well on both ends of the court and lead the team to a victory.
In the first quarter the Warriors started out strong leading by as many as 20 but late in the quarter the Pistons made a run to narrow the margin to 11, trailing 21-32. In the second Detroit outscored the Warriors by thirteen scoring 34 finishing the first half up 55-53 behind 13 a piece from Hamilton and Davis. The game remained close the rest of the way with then third quarter ending 77-76 in favor of Golden State. In the forth the Detroit defense was able to get key stops late in the game and trailing by four Williams fed the ball to Marcus Camby inside who came through in the clutch with two throw downs to tie the game. A steal and two free throws from Williams sealed the game and the final score was 109-102.
For Golden State the leading scorer was Andrei Kirilenko who had 26 points on 6 of 11 three point shooting. Larry Hughes scored 21. Etan Thomas chipped with 14 points and pulled down 13 boards out rebounding Ben Wallace who only had 8 boards to go along with 8 points and 3 steals. Keon Clark had 15 points for Detroit off the bench.
NOTES:
Hardaway did not play. Wallace is averaging more points than rebounds. Marcus Camby was benched in the third after yelling at Larry Brown because he wasn’t getting the ball.
On pairing up with Rip and scoring 25 a piece
“Well I think me and Rip are very good offensively and we complement each other well, we know each other and know where we like to shoot from. I think a great one too punch and its hard stopping us, its basically you have to choose your poison. ”
On the duo he and Ricky make
“Well Ricky is a great score and so am I and if we are able to get each other going then we cant be stop. He is a great attacker and Im a great shooter add those too up and you should be getting a lot of points. Its nice to see someone else step up and score points and take some of the load off me.
PISTONS GO TO HOLLYWOOD
By: Joey Perez
November 14, 2003
AUBURN HILLS, DET
PISTONS LOOK FOR THREE STRAIGHT
The Lakers are 2-6 and will host the Pistons tonight at 7:30 in the Staples Center. Detroit has won two in a row and will look to make it three as they continue on this four game road trip. They are currently 6-2.
DISGRUNTLED VETS
Two veterans on the Pistons are not happy with their lack of playing time. Tim Hardaway came out today during shootaround and said that he was brought here to be a starter. Hardaway, who was recently taken out of the starting lineup, also added that if he’s not going to be treated as part of the organization then he prefer being elsewhere. Marcus Camby is another unhappy Piston. In the last two outings, both Pistons victories, Camby’s playing time has been lowered and he says that the ball is not seeing its way around to him. In their last game against the Warriors he was benched for complaining. We will see what Joe Dumars the GM will do about his unhappy players.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Los Angeles
G Sam Cassel
G Marquis Daniels
F Stephen Jackson
F Carlos Boozer
C Samuel Dalembert
Detroit
G Frank Williams
G Richard Hamilton
F Ricky Davis
F Marcus Camby
C Ben Wallace
RIP’S 50 NOT ENOUGH AS THE PISTONS GET CRUSHED
By: Joey Perez
November 14, 2003
AUBURN HILLS, DET
RED HOT PISTON IS RED HOT AFTER POURING IN 50
Richard Hamilton come out on fire scoring 10 points in the first, but he was the only Piston who came out to play as the Lakers bench outscored Detroit’s 18-0 ended the period leading 31-23. In the second the Lakers continued to score as did Hamilton scoring 17 of Detroit’s 24. The Lakers scored a season high 43 in the second and led 74-47. During halftime Richard Hamilton was furious in the locker room. He came out for the second half alone, apart from his teammates and with headphones on. He would then score 14 points and total 41 after three but Detroit was still down big 111-77 despite their efforts at a full court press. The onslaught continued in the fourth and the Lakers won 142-104. Richard Hamilton finished with 50 points. This loss puts Detroit at 6-3.
The Lakers were on fire all night long running up and down the court for easy baskets and their stats were impressive:
For the Pistons Ben Wallace finally had a big rebounding game and he finished with 17 boards and scored 12 points. Frank Williams scored just 6 points in 33 minutes.
NOTES:
Hardaway did not play for the second straight game. Hamilton leads the league in points (259), points per game (28.8), and minutes per game (41.6)
On tonights game and Rip Hamilton going off for 50
“Well Im very disappointed with the way they played tonight. We let them score 142 points on us that is just ridiculous. We didn’t play defense what so ever. And on offense Richard had to carry the load because nobody else was making shots. And when you have to put up most of the shots well with his talent he’ll put up more than 50 next time. But the point is we are not playing Detroit basketball. ”
On his first 50 point night
“Well right now what I feel is that its pointless. Don’t get me wrong scoring 50 feels great, my shot was falling but the point is I felt like I was the only one out there and the rest of the team was no where to be found. With the exception of Ben Wallace I was the only one playing for Detroit. That’s how I see it, I feel like if I don’t score a lot then we lose but today I score 50 and we still lose. I don’t know man, I don’t know whats up ask the other 11 guys.”
PISTON WILL TRY TO BOUNCE BACK
By: Joey Perez
November 15, 2003
AUBURN HILLS, DET
TONIGHT, 7 PM AGAINST SHAQ LED SUNS
Tonight the Pistons will concluded their four game West road trip in which they are 2-1 against the Phoenix Suns. The will also try to forget a game in which they were embarrassed by the Lakers and couldn’t take advantage of a great night from Richard Hamilton who scored a career high 50 points.
TRADE RUMORS
There are a lot of rumors out there and they focus on the players that Joe Dumars is looking at to fill voids on the team. Nobody is quite sure if he will act on any of these rumors but there are many who say that he is just waiting for the right time and after an embarrassing loss last night that time might be soon.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Phoenix
G Chauncey Billups
G Flip Murray
F Latrell Spreewell
F Malik Rose
C Shaquille Oneal
Detroit
G Frank Williams
G Richard Hamilton
F Ricky Davis
F Marcus Camby
C Ben Wallace
PISTONS LOSE CONTROL IN SECOND, AND A CLOSE ONE IN FOURTH
By: Joey Perez
November 15, 2003
AUBURN HILLS, DET
BAD SECOND QUARTER
The Pistons started the second similarly to how they started the first. But this time they weren’t able to rebound. The Phoenix Suns started the game on a 15-2 run. But a great comeback by Detroit bridged the gap to just 4 finishing the first down 30-26. In the second the Suns came out strong again and this time they stayed tough feeding Shaq and simply out playing the Pistons the rest of the game. After two the score was 70-57. Richard stayed hot for Detroit with 20 in the half and Oneal had 18. In the third the going got even tougher. There was no stopping the Suns. But behind 11 from Richard Hamilton they were able to cut the deficit to 11, trailing 102-91. Also in the third, Gerald Wallace hurt his back going for a dunk, he is scheduled to miss 11 days.
In the fourth quarter Detroit came out aggressive and playing hard nosed defense. At the 10-28 mark they had come within 5, trailing 105-100. The game stayed close the rest of the way until with about 1 and a half left the had a 8 point lead, Richard made a three from the top and then Ben got the rebound, Detroit called timeout. With about 10 seconds left Hamilton hits another three from the corner but there is no more time and Detroit loses by 5, 130-125 after fouling in the last seconds. Heart breaking lose puts Detroit at
6-4.
The player of the game was not Oneal, it was Billups who scored 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 12 assists. Shaq posted huge numbers as well scoring 28 and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sprewell 24 and Flip Murray add 21.
For Detroit Rip had 40 with 7 rebounds. Ricky scored 22 and Ben Wallace 8 to go with 10 rebounds.
NOTES:
Hardaway did not play for the third straight games, and the rumors are he will get traded. Joe Dumars has been talking to different teams and this game might just take him pull the trigger.
On the teams performance:
The team is not playing the right way. I have my teams play a certain way and if they do they win, if they don’t then they get themselves in scoring contest like they have been doing lately and they have to dig themselves out of big holes. We have the best defensive player in the league, WHERE IS THE DEFENSE, that’s all I have to say?
DECLINED TO COMMENT AFTER THE GAME