Motor City Blues [7-9] - Frontcourt rebounds, Singler scores

[hova-]

Wow, KD was sick. You seem to play at a really slow pace, first in OPPG and not a lot of turnovers. I like your graphics and analysis. Good stuff!

[Leftos]

I know we're expected to be better at fast-breaks, but with Drummond injured and Monroe having forgotten how to rebound, we don't get any. We're first PAPG, but also dead last in PPG and RPG. But the slow pace is working for us, we have some good mid-range to 3-PT shooters, while nobody that can drive particularly consistently (I wouldn't call Stuckey consistent, and Knight needs to build strength).

We need drivers, we need defenders, we need Monroe to remember how to rebound. This isn't going all too well. But I guess having played against the Thunder twice in 3 games can crush your spirits. Let's see how the team does against some opponents that aren't of championship caliber.

[Leftos]

November 14, 2012
Game 9: Pistons hold their own for 3 and a half quarters, fall short for 4th straight time
Pistons @ 76ers (78-88)


Nick Young throws it down to get the 76ers up by 10 late in the fourth and seal the victory for the 76ers

The Pistons were inarguably better than what they've shown in recent games. They could hold their own on defense as we saw during the 2nd and 3rd quarter, they rebounded well, and for 3 and a half quarters, they scored well too. Their complete meltdown in the last 7 minutes of the game however, which led to a .25 FG% for the 4th quarter, meant they would eventually lose sight of the 76ers, and lose the game altogether.

Pistons Key Players
- Kyle Singler was pretty much the only one who was hot throughout the game, and just one of two players with 10 points or more. Which isn't weird, when you consider the Pistons scored below 80 points for another game. He was 11 of 21 from the floor for a total of 26 points. He shot some crucial 3 point attempts late in the 4th to bring the Pistons close, but failed at all 3, ending up with a 1 of 4 from beyond the arc. He was very good defensively as well for a change, getting 3 steals and a block, along with 2 assists and 5 boards.
- Brandon Knight should've scored better. He had 10 points in 36 minutes on the floor, but also 5 assists over just 1 turnover. Most of his 6 missed shots came from unsuccessful drives, as he still can't manage to fight his way through traffic.
- Kravtsov seems to be quite the efficient backup for Monroe so far. His moves may be limited, but what he does, he does well in limited minutes. He had just 4 points, but he complimented that with 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block.
- Monroe & Maxiell combined for 17 boards (Maxiell had 10, but couldn't find a way to the basket all game long), showing that they are working on their main point of criticism over the past few games.

76ers Key Players
- Nick Young had an efficient scoring game which is all that the 76ers can ask from him. 23 points on 18 shot attempts, 2 steals and 5 boards.
- Jrue Holiday is injured but fought through the pain for 30 minutes, getting 15 points and 4 assists; also a steal. He ended up playing more minutes than Evan Turner who was the starting PG, pretty much because Turner couldn't score to save his life. The latter did get 8 rebounds and 6 assists while on the floor though.
- Andrew Bynum leaving no missed shot go wasted. 13 boards but just 7 points. Pistons' big men managed to contain him under their hoop.
- Lavoy Allen played just 9 minutes and didn't do much before leaving the floor with a severely sprained ankle.

Box Score


Next Up
Pistons get to go home for 2 games, starting the home series against the Magic, who have started their season as bad as possible, going 0-7 so far. Arron Affialo and Hedo Turkoglu are both game-day decisions, as they're still being nagged by minor injuries.

[Andrew]

Losing Drummond in a win over the Lakers was definitely a middle finger from the game. When you officially get to 2K, I'm guessing there'll be a hidden attribute that ensures he never gets injured.

[Kenny]

It's good to see that Singler was a little more efficient in that game. He definitely needs a bit more help though. Nice to see that CV was efficient once again

Losing Drummond in a win over the Lakers was definitely a middle finger from the game. When you officially get to 2K, I'm guessing there'll be a hidden attribute that ensures he never gets injured.

I'm sure that'll be in addition to the 99 rating and the exclusive-to-Greece alternate cover he'll be on

[Leftos]

November 14, 2012
Around The League: LeBron goes down, plenty return

• LeBron James will most probably be unavailable for a couple of weeks as he has bruised his rib. Whether he'll decide to play through that injury, remains to be seen.
• Lavoy Allen, who as we reported got injured in the game against the Pistons tonight, will miss 2-4 weeks due to his sprained ankle, according to early projections by the team's medical staff.
• Monta Ellis (Bucks), Ronnie Brewer (Knicks), Kenneth Faried (Nuggets), Kyrie Irving (Cavaliers), Roy Hibbert (Pacers), Andrei Kirilenko and Kevin Love (Timberwolves) are some of the biggest names of players returning from injury.

[Leftos]

Losing Drummond in a win over the Lakers was definitely a middle finger from the game. When you officially get to 2K, I'm guessing there'll be a hidden attribute that ensures he never gets injured.

Yup. 3rd game into the season, out for 2-4 weeks. It's one of those moments when you're enticed to just load the save from before the game, but I ain't doing that. I'll live through this sucky period, just like I lived through the sucky month without Drummond during the real season as well.

It's good to see that Singler was a little more efficient in that game. He definitely needs a bit more help though. Nice to see that CV was efficient once again

Losing Drummond in a win over the Lakers was definitely a middle finger from the game. When you officially get to 2K, I'm guessing there'll be a hidden attribute that ensures he never gets injured.

I'm sure that'll be in addition to the 99 rating and the exclusive-to-Greece alternate cover he'll be on

I can neither confirm nor deny that.

[Leftos]

November 16, 2012
Game 10: Pistons enjoy dominating performance against Magic
Magic @ Pistons (86-101)

It's not hard to figure out that when the Pistons go against non-existing defense teams, they'll be able to win. Magic were hardly there, as the double-digit lead that opened wide early in the first was never to get back to single digits. Pistons shot .556 from the floor and .471 from beyond the arc, their best performance as of yet. They only grabbed only 2 offensive rebounds, but there was no need for them considering they were scoring so well. Magic's 11 offensive rebounds on the other hand is a point the Pistons need to worry about, as their rebounding troubles continue. In a game of sheer domination and that the Magic shot .373 in, the Pistons only managed to grab 3 more rebounds than their opponent.

Pistons Key Players
- Brandon Knight used his speed and agility to catch the Magic by surprise in a lot of plays, scoring a lot of easy buckets. 22 points, including 12 from beyond the arc and 4 from the line, as well as 4 assists and 2 steals.
- Kyle Singler with an impressive performance. 19 points on .667 from the floor, along with 6 assists and 7 rebounds. He's really growing to be an indispensable part of the Pistons wings, but needs to work on his offensive game.
- Monroe, on a repeat of his first performance of the season, showed us why he was the best player of the Pistons last year. 8-11 from the floor for 18 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He was agile at the post, scoring through traffic time and time again. His mid-range shot still needs work though if he's to spread the floor at the 4 when Drummond returns.
- Jose Calderon spreading the floor, adding 6 assists of his own to the Pistons' 24, along with 2 steals. 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting.

Magic Key Players
- J.J. Redick was one of the few players that gave the Pistons trouble. 28 points on 11 of 24 shooting, including 6 three-pointers. 2 assists and a steal to fill his stat-line.
- Gustavo Ayon had his way against Monroe on the offensive end, scoring 5 of 7 for 11 points, and grabbing 8 boards, proving the upcoming Pistons star still has work to do.
- Nikola Vucevic making somewhat of an impact with 5 points, 6 boards, a steal and a block.

Box Score


Next Up
The Celtics are the next team to travel to Detroit and face the Pistons on November 18. Celtics have had a lot of injuries in their frontcourt and will be missing Kevin Garnett, Courtney Lee and Chris Wilcox. They'll have to make do with rookie Jared Sullinger, Jeff Green, Brandon Bass and Jason Collins. Despite Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce's performances, the Celtics have still dropped 5 of their first 9 games.

November 16, 2012
Around the League: Derrick Williams out for Season

• Timberwolves will have to go on for the rest of the season without Derrick Williams, who tore his patellar tendon. He was playing less than 10 minutes per game so far, so it might not be such a big loss, but still a loss nevertheless.
• Alonzo Gee (Cavaliers), Paul George (Pacers), Patrick Patterson (Rockets), Jarrett Jack (Warriors), Jon Leuer (Grizzlies) and Jonas Jerebko (Pistons) will all lose 2-4 weeks approximately with injuries.
• Jazz get 3 of their injured players back, as Paul Millsap, Randy Foye and Earl Watson return.
• DeMarcus Cousins (Kings), Carmelo Anthony (Knicks), Andrew Bogut (Warriors) and Tony Parker (Spurs) are no longer injured as well.

[Andrew]

Yup. 3rd game into the season, out for 2-4 weeks. It's one of those moments when you're enticed to just load the save from before the game, but I ain't doing that. I'll live through this sucky period, just like I lived through the sucky month without Drummond during the real season as well.

I know the feeling. At least it can make things more challenging/interesting, but it does leave you nodding sarcastically at the screen. "Well played, AI. Well played."

[hova-]

Gj cracking the 100 - it was only the Magic though 5-5 is not too shabby for your team imho.

[Leftos]

It isn't, and you have to consider last 7 games were without Drummond. Still, I don't think we'll have him back very soon, so I'm interested in seeing how this develops.

[Leftos]

November 18, 2012
Game 11: Celtics force turnovers, embarrass Pistons
Celtics @ Pistons (105-87)

You'd think the Pistons would come on a high to take on the Celtics, who before this game were 4-5, a start you wouldn't exactly call hot. However, after a sloppy first quarter from the team in green, they came back and started scorching the hoop, something that would continue until the end of the game. Pistons weren't able to get the deficit back to single digits once the lead got to over 10 points in the 2nd quarter.

Pistons Key Players
- Brandon Knight was everywhere tonight, trying his best to help the team, but didn't get enough shots off due to Boston's stingy defense. His stat-line includes 12 points including 2 threes and 4 points from the line on just 8 attempts, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block. Unfortunately he was a big-part of the Pistons turnovers troubles (4), but then again hardly any players weren't.
- Greg Monroe was something of a Scottish shower on defense. He got a career-high 4 blocks, but other than that his defense didn't seem to stop the Celtics much. He managed to stay hot on offense (15 points), getting to the line plenty of times to get 5 points from there as well.
- Slava Kravtsov remains consistently good in the minutes that are given to him. 11 points and 8 rebounds in just 18 minutes. He was also 5 of 5 from the line, proving he's a big guy you shouldn't be afraid to have around when the battle turns to fouls. He's averaging .789 from the line for the season so far, although he's getting to the line for fewer than 2 attempts per game. Hopefully he'll become more and more confident and assertive, because he can be a lethal weapon, from what his early games show.

Celtics Key Players
- Rajon Rondo with an absolutely dominant performance, winning PotG honors. 13 points and 12 assists to go with 6 steals and 5 rebounds. 7 of his points were from the free-throw line, as he got Kyle Singler in foul trouble by finding lanes to attack him on his way to the basket, thus limiting the production of one of the most hot Pistons right now.
- Jason Terry with efficient play, as he scored 14 points on 6-10 from the floor to go with his 4 boards and 3 assists.
- Jared Sullinger had his way on the floor, not so much in scoring (14 points, .429), but in rebounding (12 rebounds, 4 offensive). His assignment was Greg Monroe, and he seemed to be able to box him out more often than not, earning a lot of second-chance opportunities for the Celtics.

Box Score


Next Up
The Pistons fly south to Florida to meet the Magic who have yet to win a game this season (0-9). The Pistons got an easy win last time around, and they'll be looking to get another one to get their record up to .500 again. The Magic are projected to have the whole squad available to them (Hedo Turkoglu is the only "maybe yes" as he's still having some pain from his bruised rib), while the Pistons will still be missing Jonas Jerebko and Andre Drummond.

[Leftos]

November 21, 2012
Game 12: Pistons hand Magic their 11th straight loss in nail-biter
Pistons @ Magic (105-103)

The first half would end with the Magic up by 12 after a 28-28 1st quarter, but the Pistons would need just 5 minutes to get the lead back, in a game full of blows back-and-forth. It wasn't until the final buzzer that we knew who the winner was. Afflalo would cut the deficit to 1 with a 3 (16 points after a 41-point career-high appearance) with 4 seconds left on the clock, Knight would get just 1 of 2 free throws to go down with 2.8, but good Pistons defense and no timeouts left meant the Magic wouldn't get a clear shot at the basket, and the desperation three-point attempt by Reddick would go wide. Pistons won in their most exciting game yet, while the Magic are still looking for a win this season.

Pistons Key Players
- Greg Monroe with an, unfortunately rare for this season, performance where he did everything just right. Double-double for him on 22 points and 11 rebounds to go with 3 assists. He shot an amazing .769 from the floor and got both of his free throws to go down. He was pretty good defensively and had a clear block on Reddick stolen from him on a bogus goaltending call.
- Brandon Knight with a lot of points to add to the tally. 20 points on a mediocre 7 of 16 (.438), but he did get 3 of his 4 3-point attempts to go down, same for his free throws. He may not have passed the ball as well as his last game, but he did get another 2 steals.
- Vyacheslav Kravtsov might soon be pushing Maxiell out of the starting rotation to grab the C spot and let Monroe do his thing at the 4. Yet another game where he was among the best 3 Pistons, as he grabs 8 points, 3 boards, an assist, a steal and a block in just 16 minutes. He missed just 1 free throw out of 5, keeping up his great percentage from the line.

Magic Key Players
- Nikola Vucevic kept Monroe in check as much as he could, and managed to get 9 points, 11 boards (3 offensive) and 2 steals in 30 minutes on the floor.
- Jameer Nelson showed he's a point-guard the Magic can depend on, as he had 13 points (.455 FG%) and 9 assists along with 2 steals.
- Arron Afflalo came from a career-high 41 points to score just 16, as Lawrence Frank's game-plan to contain him worked nicely. He only took shots which he could get down but didn't get that many of them (.538 on 13 attempts). A block and a steal complete his stat-line, among other things.

Box Score


Next Up
It's the Raptors coming to town as the Pistons go back to the Auburn Hills to face Kyle Lowry and Rudy Gay. Both teams have the same record so far (6-6), and the Pistons will need to be wary of any fouls, since the Raptors are the 6th best team in the league in Free Throw Efficiency; they get 16 points from the line per game on average, shooting .830. Could it be a close game that is determined at the line? Stay tuned!

[Leftos]

November 23, 2012
Game 13: Kyle Lowry for the win... IT'S IN!
Raptors @ Pistons (97-95)

The Palace of Auburn Hills erupted in cheers and then went silent seconds later, as Brandon Knight would score a tightly marked 3 with the shot clock running down to tie the game at 97, but then watch Jose Calderon get beat by Kyle Lowry's attack to the basket as he got the 2 points with 0.3 left on the clock. Raptors win. It was all attack today, as neither team managed to pull the stops or force a lot of turnovers. Both teams scored as near as makes no difference to .500 and had similar stats across the board. It was certainly an exciting game, but it brought up a number of well-known Pistons problems, namely the lack of proper support for Monroe near the basket, as neither Maxiell nor Kravtsov seem to work too well with him, and Singler's complete inability to defend skilled SFs, as Rudy Gay had his way with him throughout the game.

Pistons Key Players
- Brandon Knight has been a sure-fire scoring solution for the Pistons this year. He had 24 points on .750 from the floor (9-12), including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. He complimented that with 5 rebounds, 6 assists over just 1 turnover, a steal and a block. His 3s were all coming at the right times to either cut the deficit to 3 in many cases, as well as the game-tying 3 pointer in the second to last possession.
- Kyle Singler with 13 points, 5 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. None of them on Rudy Gay, mind you. His performance is even less impressive when you consider he was in for 41 minutes, mostly because anyone else in the Pistons roster that can play his spot is quite worse.
- Greg Monroe with 15 points, 5 boards (yep...), 3 assists and a block. He shot just 6 of 14 from the floor as Amir Johnson, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas all played good defense on him.
- Cold shooting night for Jose Calderon (10 points, .333 FG% and 3P%), but he made up for it with 8 assists.

Raptors Key Players
- Rudy Gay will score if you put no defender on him. He will also score if you put Kyle Singler on him. And he did. 36 points on an amazing 16 of 25 (.640) from the floor. He also remembered to throw a couple of dimes, as well as a steal and a block. On Kyle Singler.
- Kyle Lowry with the game-winner as Jose Calderon was just too exhausted to keep up defensively by the end of the game. 19 points on the night, 6 assists, 3 boards.
- Amir Johnson with almost a double-double, 8 points and 9 rebounds including 2 offensive ones. The most of his performance came at stuff that don't show up in the box score, namely defensing and boxing out Greg Monroe.

Box Score


Next Up
Pistons have a back-to-back around the northeast, as they take a quick trip to face the mediocre Knicks who miss Melo's 25PPG (Sore Knee) and are currently on a 6-6 record, and then return to Detroit to face potential Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard (18 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.2 ORPG) and the 6-7 Trail Blazers. The Pistons are facing opponents of similar records, but with a lot more talent than what they currently have. It's an uphill battle, and an interesting one at that.

[Leftos]

November 26, 2012
Catching Up: Back-to-back? More like back-to-black.

This hasn't been a good couple of days if you're a Pistons fan. Opposing teams have started to figure out that they need to cut down on Singler's scoring in order to make sure they'll win, and both the Knicks and the Trail Blazers did so. The Pistons struggled from the field for 2 games straight which resulted in huge losses.

Pistons @ Knicks: 72-113

• The Knicks didn't really need Carmelo Anthony who was out with an injury. They blew the lead open by the 2nd quarter, and the Pistons looked like they were hardly trying in the 2nd half, as even Lawrence Frank decided to rest his starters during most of it. The Knicks ended up winning by 41 points, and would end up with 28 assists, 15 steals and 9 blocks in an absolutely dominating performance. No Knick scored more than 15 points as scoring, and minutes, were distributed. 11 of their players had more than 14 minutes on the floor.
• Chris Copeland with an efficient performance off the bench. 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 23 minutes.
• Jason Kidd with 14 points, 6 assists and 2 steals, while Amar'e scored just 10 (but on 5-6 FG), along with his 7 boards, 2 steals and a block.
• Jason Maxiell played the most minutes in this game (30), but only managed to score 8 points while grabbing 7 boards. He also had 4 assists, a steal and a block.
• Greg Monroe was dominated by Amar'e at the 4 and Tyson Chandler at the 5. Just 12 points, 3 boards, an assist and a steal in 22 minutes.
• Singler was 3 of 11 from the floor, 1 of 5 from deep. The Knicks locked him down throughtout the game as he finished it with just 8 points in 27 minutes.

Trail Blazers @ Pistons: 96-77

• Wesley Matthews started at the 2 for the Blazers and gave his coach no reason to be taken out. 26 points on .818 shooting, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and 4 of 5 from the line in 36 minutes. Neither Knight nor Stuckey could consistently stay in front of him, and his speed allowed him to come through screens for open jumpers.
• Damian Lillard, the upcoming star of the Blazers, with nearly a triple-double. 9 points, 9 assists and 7 boards in 31 minutes. His drives weren't working and being forced to shoot jumpers and floaters meant he only got to score 4 of 10.
• Brandon Knight with 14 points (.600), 4 assists, 3 rebounds and a steal. An efficient performance, during which he had no help, however.
• Vyacheslav Kravtsov with his first start of the season, he played 33 minutes. His numbers weren't that impressive offensively, especially considering he didn't have to go up against Aldridge (out). 9 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He was very effective on defending J.J. Hickson, keeping him to just 5 of 13 from the floor for 11 points, however he was having a hard time boxing out on both sides, letting Hickson get 3 second-chance opportunities via offensive rebounds.

[Ball_Hawk]

Nice story and presentation, Leftos. May I ask how you're doing the box scores? Because I really want to add box scores on my story as well. And BTW, good luck on your job with 2K!

[Leftos]

I use the NBA Stats Tracker app (which I created ). Import once right before the game starts and import again right after it ends, and NBA Stats Tracker can calculate the box score. Then, I have an Excel spreadsheet which I paste into that has the "cool" formatting. Then, use Jing to screenshot and upload, put the image url in img tags in my post, done.

[Kenny]

Yikes, those are some hefty losses. Since I don't see his name in there, I'm going to assume it was because you didn't use my favourite bench warmer

[Leftos]

Don't even get me started on Villanueva. I guess he only plays well when I livestream, which has been once throughout this season. Otherwise, any minutes he spends on the floor are mostly wasted.

[Axel The Great]

Yep, definitely a couple of bad losses there, to say the least. The story seems to be the lack of scoring support for Brandon Knight. I'm assuming you simmed those two games? I don't think anyone has the patience to play through a 41-point beat down.

[Leftos]

I never sim games. I play through all of it, 82-game 48-min season. I just couldn't be bothered to do a full news report with a box-score and go into further detail, considering how heavy those losses are.

I was thinking Singler would be the consistent part here, but opposing defenses seem to have adjusted to stop him. Knight always finds a way to get me a timely 3 or generally points, but there's no go-to scorer, nobody I can depend on night in and night out to give me the big sums.

I'll give the group a bit more time to gel, and if it doesn't work out even with Drummond back and the magic he can do below the basket, I'll look into the FA pool and even possibly a trade or two.

[hova-]

[*]Jason Maxiell played the most minutes in this game (30), but only managed to score 8 points while grabbing 7 boards. He also had 4 assists, a steal and a block.

Pretty good production for him if you ask me.

Tough losses though, but you're playing the Pistons, everything else would be wrong

[Leftos]

It was good production in total, but he has an extremely limited set of offensive moves. Pretty much anything else other than a dunk or a close to mid-range jumper is a no-go.

[Ball_Hawk]

Alright, thanks Leftos.

[Axel The Great]

I never sim games. I play through all of it, 82-game 48-min season. I just couldn't be bothered to do a full news report with a box-score and go into further detail, considering how heavy those losses are.

Fair enough. Definitely have to hand you your props for sitting through those two games then.