Pouncing on Opportunity (NBA Live 06)

[kibaxx7]

Agreed with Sit Delfino is from here, Argentina... amazing job in the recaps Mark!

[Mark.]

Ok seems like everyone has made their predictions, so next update will cover the whole 3 game road trip so Big update coming, maybe even tonight

[Jing]

hm.. apparently i am way off the mark. oh well. .lol.

[Mark.]

The Pistons head out on their first road trip of the season.
This will be their first big test as they face the Rockets, Suns and then Celtics.
Defending the high powered offense of the Rocket and Suns will be a test for the Pistons.
The Pistons will also be without star shooting guard Rip Hamilton who went down with an ankle injury in the last game vs the Timberwolves.
Hamilton is expected to return for the Celtics game.
The loss of Hamilton will force the Pistons to play a different Offensive game without the focal point of their offense.

93 @ 88
Click Icons for Boxscores

Once again the Pistons had trouble slowing down their opponent,
allowing the Rockets to take 115 shots without even going to Overtime.
However the Pistons made up for it with great on shot defence allowing only 36 of those 115 shots to go in.
Ben Wallace had a great game in that area notching up 11 blocks (a new career high),
while the Team as a whole had 18 blocks.

Detroit led from the start and never trailed, although the game was tied on 5 seperate occasions.
Although the end score was reasoably close it didnt reflect the final quarter as Detroit got out to a 15 point lead at one stage
and then slackend off to cruise to a scrappy victory.

Rasheed Wallace led all scorers wit 23 points, he also added 13 rebounds 5 assists and 5 blocks.
T-Mac was held to 21 points on 10-24 shooting, he also pulled down 8 rebounds.
Yao had a double double with 16 points and 16 rebounds, but like T-Mac shot poorly going 6-15
Maurice Evans played well off the bench shooting 6-8 on route to 14 points in 21 minutes.


Team Captain Chauncy Billups was dissapointed with the game:
"I think we could have played a lot better, even though we won, it was our second game allowing a stupidly large amount of shots,
it just puts more pressure on Ben and Sheed when we let players get through."


Sheed was forced to take a lot of tough shots without Rip, this was one. | T-Mac goes in for the adjusted lay-up, Prince did a good job of pressuring T-Mac.


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107 @ 114 OT
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In a game full of injuries and action it was the Pistons who suffered their first loss of the season in Overtime.
Both teams came into this game 4-0 in what could possibly have been a preview of this years final series.
The odds were in the Suns favour with Rip Hamilton out, but all knew whoever won would have a tough time doing so.

The game included 5 injuries, 2 for one team and 3 for the other each team,
first to drop was Ben Wallace within the first first 8 minutes of the game with a sprained wrist.
This changed the game as it was now up to Rasheed to Defend Amare.
Next to drop was Carlos Delfino for the Pistons at the start of the Second, not long after it was Steve Nash who got injured,
this seemed to even the tables a bit until halfway through the third Chauncy Billups went down with a rolled ankle.
Finally in the 4th the last injury occured with Leandro Barbosa injuring his shoulder on a drive.

The game was reasonably fast paced, but this time it was Detroit that was controlling the pace.
leading 30-25 at the end of the first it looked good for Detroit, but it was the Suns who dominated the next two quarters
and if it wasnt for a late 4th quarter run by the Pistons overtime wouldnt have happened,
sadly the Suns were too good in the 4th with Bell and Thomas hitting clutch 3's to pull away from the start of the extra period.

It was Rasheed who kept the Pistons in the game with 40 points (2 shy of his career high) and 18 rebounds.
McDyess filled in well in Ben's abcense recording a career high 22 rebounds as well as 14 points.
Amare led the Suns with 27 points and 13 rebounds on 13-19 shooting.
Raja Bell showed good leadership in the backcourt posting 24 points in the absence of Nash.


Coach Flip Saunders was happy with the performance of the Pistons at the post game conference:
"I think we played well, we may have lost but we still fought well without Chauncy and Ben.
Thankfully they are ok and will be fine for the Celtics game"


Sheed won the Battle of the Titans in the stat line, but it was Amare's team that came out on top, both shown here resorting to their trade mark scoring weapons

Prince sends away another Suns attempt, he had 4 blocks for the game

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100 @ 76
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With their full strength squad back together the Pistons, in true Detroit style,
dominated the Paul Pierce-less Celtics on their home floor.
Almost everything went perfectly for the Pistons, with Rip getting his usual good looks at the hoop;
Ben dominating all over the defensive end; Sheed giving his oposing marker headaches whenever he touched the ball;
the Pistons bench not making the game any easier for the Celtics when they stepped on the floor; the list just goes on.

The Pistons had a huge 28-12 first quarter which allowed them to cruise through the next two quarters,
then when it came to the final quarter it was back to business where they proceeded to turn their 14 point lead into a 24 point blowout.
Chauncy Billups once again shreaded the oposing defence to pieces making brilliant passes
and always seeming to see what was going to happen next.
Tayshaun Prince had a great game shutting down which ever unlucky player was trying to fullfill Paul Pierces shoes.

Rip had a great first gmae back from injury recording 30 points on 14 of 20 shooting.
Ben dominated on D recording 18 boards, 2 steals and 2 blocks to go along with his 14 points.
Wally tried to carry the Celtics with 24 points but the next best help he got was Gomes with 10 points.
Delonte West was toatlly exposed racking up 10 turnovers to his name thanks to Billups pesky D.


Coach Flip Saunders was delighted with the performance of the Pistons at the post game conference:
"This was a great game for us, even though they didnt have Pierce I think we still played excelently,
our offense was executed well and we limited their amount of shots brilliantly.
It was a great way to come back after our first loss"


Ben was too strong for any of the Celtics big men to handle on either end of the floor.

Jefferson making his only assist of the game, he had a pretty decent game with 9 points and 8 boards

Next game: vs Warriors

[The X]

I shouldn't be happy, but I'm glad you got that one loss in on your road trip

nice recaps

[Arcane]

tough roard trip that loss to pho would have hurt a bit.

[fasz]

ARRRRRG detroit lose 1 game tough loss , Nice dynasty , sick pics and nice recap

[Jugs]

tough overtime loss against the Suns but nice win against the Rockets, very nice pics once again

[Laxation]

only ben wallace could geta double-double with 11 blocks and 10 rebounds how come you have him shooting 3's?

bad luck with all your injuries, its lucky they were all able to come back for the next game

[Mark.]

I shouldn't be happy, but I'm glad you got that one loss in on your road trip

nice recaps

Yeah I dont think I want to go undefeated anyway

tough roard trip that loss to pho would have hurt a bit.

Yeah it did a bit, but they won fair and square, they just played better full stop

ARRRRRG detroit lose 1 game tough loss , Nice dynasty , sick pics and nice recap

Yeah 7-0 was a bit ambitious, but you can still get points if I win the next game

tough overtime loss against the Suns but nice win against the Rockets, very nice pics once again

Yeah i hated the Rockets game actually, couldnt slow them down, gonna change the pics a tad in next recap, just a tad bigger

only ben wallace could geta double-double with 11 blocks and 10 rebounds how come you have him shooting 3's?

bad luck with all your injuries, its lucky they were all able to come back for the next game

Yeah man he is a beast, i actualyl have him as an outside stopper to get his steals up, but he still gets heaps of blocks. Well he was wide open for a 3 once so i took it and he banked it, so if im up i usually let him take one if hes wide open, sometimes they go in.

Next update tomorrow guys Then ill do a November recap, was gonna do a mag for each month like I used to, but since its only 29 game seasons ill only do yearly mags.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Road trip was pretty tough in the first two games, but in the last one you dominated. Sheed had a nice game against Phoenix and Rip did well in the Celts game

[ShAuN]

Ohhh man, this is like the 3rd time I checked out your dynasty, but Im really impressed. Those Pics are sick looking. I dont know why, but they look really good, probally my favorites Ive seen. Looking good man, good luck.

[Mark.]

Road trip was pretty tough in the first two games, but in the last one you dominated. Sheed had a nice game against Phoenix and Rip did well in the Celts game

Yeah I wasnt really expecting to come back 3-0 after the road trip, its good that Rip played well, my guards have been struggling with their shooting lately

Ohhh man, this is like the 3rd time I checked out your dynasty, but Im really impressed. Those Pics are sick looking. I dont know why, but they look really good, probally my favorites Ive seen. Looking good man, good luck.

Cheers dude, you might the next pics a bit better, they are a bit bigger

[Fresh8]

Damn man... sux u lost to the suns... but against Houston, my man Yao got 16 and 16... he not really my man but hes cool!

[thaKEAF]

The presentation is really good on here.

[Devin112]

man, you guys really kick my ass with photography. I love your pictures man. I agree with keaf, great presentation. I like your flare and style.

[Mark.]

The Pistons return home after a injury plagued roadtrip where they went 2-1.
Now back home they have a full strength team to face the High Octane guard offense of the Warriors.
Look to see the Pistons front court eploit their matchups with the weaker Warriors front court.

87 @ 98
Click Icons for Boxscores

Richard Hamilton (24 points) and Chauncy Billups (21 points) headed a strong attack by the Pistons
which sunk the Warriors by 11 points in the Pistons first home game since they embarked on their first road trip 10 days ago.
The Warriors simply couldnt contend with the classy Pistons in any area, only having one player reach 20 points.

The Warriors held the lead for the first 4 mins getting as far away as 10-0 but the Pistons pulled themselves together and
went on a 12-0 run to make it 12-10 and then never lost their lead.
A 28-19 3rd quarter from the Pistons put the game away and even though the Warriors outscored
the Potential Champions in the 4th there was no coming back from the deficit created in the first 3 Q's.

Richard Hamilton had a great all round game with 24 points 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Chauncy Billups shot poorly (8-20) but still managed 21 points and 5 assists.
Baron Davis was the best of the Warriors with 20 points 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
The warriors shot a poor 11% from 3pt compared to the Pistons 38%

Team Captain Chauncy Billups was happy with the game:
"We played well in the game it was nice to be back at the Palace and have the fans behind us.
The Key here is for us to not get too comfortable, we still have a long way to go and some tough games ahead of us."


Billups must have been feeling the energy of the home crowd as he twice drew on his underrated hops to soar over the Warrios defense.

Rip Hamilton played a great all round game, here with the nice 2 handed flush | Jason Richardson tried to silence the Detroit fans with some highlight Dunks, but no even he could conqueor the impossible.


Next up: November Recap

[Dee Rip]

Nice game winner, rip with 26 pts and Billups 21 , the recap is pheominal, but i have a problem that Hamilton has more assist than the PG...oh wel either way good game.

[Mark.]

Damn man... sux u lost to the suns... but against Houston, my man Yao got 16 and 16... he not really my man but hes cool!

Meh a loss is always good, keeps it real, yeah Yao wasnt too hard to contain though

The presentation is really good on here.

Thanks dude

man, you guys really kick my ass with photography. I love your pictures man. I agree with keaf, great presentation. I like your flare and style.

Awesome to see you in here Devin, bullshit dude, your Photography rocks!! Thanks for the props dude, means a lot coming from you

[Mark.]

Nice game winner, rip with 26 pts and Billups 21 , the recap is pheominal, but i have a problem that Hamilton has more assist than the PG...oh wel either way good game.

Cheers dude, well if you look at the Pistons IRL, there are times when Rip has quite a few assists, he can rack up quite a few in those pick and rolls that you see Sheed and Ben setting for him.


Also forgot to say guys, ill do a quick November recap and give the standings for the prediction challenge in the next few days, look like quite a few people were on target with a 6-1 prediction

[zmac]

Nice recaps. Just, fabolous .

Cant wait for the Nov. recap.

[-BHZMAFIA-]

Amazingly, you was able to hold J-Rich to just 13 points on 5-16 shooting even though BDiddy hit 20. You had a good defensive effort and Rip played very well. 11% from downtown is a pretty good number....if your the opponent

[Arcane]

looked like a great game and luv the images/graphics

[Keo]

Nice recap as always and nice win. Looks like I was right on with my predictions. I'll be looking forward to your November recap.

[Mark.]

Note: October Included in all November stats, records and narration, except for Monthly Awards.

In many ways November was a typical Detroit Pistons month.
Starting the year on a 4-0 run it wasnt until the Pistons met the Suns,
in a showdown of the Conference Super Powers, that Detroit suffered their first loss.
From there on the Pistons won their next two games easily and with authority.
Overall the month was very successful, while Detroit fans will be dissapointed that their
team wont be able to go for the perfect record of 29-0, the team showed great poise when in awkward situations,
such as the loss of their star shooting guard for the first two games of the road trip.
If the Pistons can keep this momentum rolling into the next month then December should be a succesful one.




The Pistons once again put out their usual stats,
with Rip leaing in the scoring area, Big Ben dominating in the defence,
Chauncy providing his great court leadership and on ball defence,
the Wallace's dominating the boards (although Sheed's average is very impressive for him),
Tay Prince doing a little bit of everything and Dyess providing his great hustle and strength off the bench.





Supprisingly it was the Eastern Conference that held the majority of the .500 plus teams,
maybe this could be attributed to tough schedules for the Western teams or just poor play I dont know,
as expected it is the usual teams that hold the top spots in either conference (Detroit, Phoenix, San Antonio)
however its the teams like Minnesota and Phillidelphia that may supprise some,
or the poor play of teams like Indiana, New Jersey and Sacremento.





Most of the Divisons have turned out as expected although Orlando leading the SouthEast
with a 4-1 record may be supprising,
this can be attributed to Grant Hill's excellent leadership of his younger team mates.
Other than that the only unexpected stat may be the terrible performance of the Pacific Division
(except Phoenix of course) with Golden State having the second best record with .375.



Note: MVP Canidates included also.

Kevin Garnett had a monster month leading his team to one of the better records in the west,
he must really be trying for his ring now, if we see the Wolves get knocked out early in the post season
or not make it at all with KG putting up these kind of numbers expected him to maybe start talking about a move.
Channing Frye supprised a few with his great play, but it really should be expected from this talented rangy foward/center,
look for a close race between him and CP3 for the rookie of the year title.





There were some amazing stats posted in the month of November,
the Scoring race is a big one with Pierce leading the way with 37 a game,
although keep in mind hes only played in 4 games so far due to injury.
Not supprisingly KG leads the rebounds race with 17 but Elton Brand isnt far behind with 15.
THe Blocks race is headed by Big Ben with over 3 per, Sheed isnt far behind in 3rd place with 3.
Chauncy is averaing an amazing 4.14 steals per game with almost a 2 steal lead of AI in second.
The Assists race is led by AI with almost 9, Steve Nash is next with a below par 8.8 and Billups is not far behind with 8.3