What happened to the Piston's Defense?

[SoMiss2000]

I just got back from the American Airlines Center and I'm utterly disappointed. The Piston's may as well not even showed up. The Mavs had the Pistons down by 52 at one point. The Big 3 were done for the evening with at least 5 minutes left in the 3rd qtr. Shawn Bradley had another strong performance (We are surprised). Who says the Mavricks can't play D. And to the person who says that Detroit has one of the best benches, I did not see it. I guess it just goes to show how much the West is better than the East. I left with 3 minutes to go and we ended up winning by 39!

[RobUofM]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

Can't really judge a team by one game. Detroit didn't show up and Dallas couldn't miss a shot. But the Pistons jump shooting has been really struggling of late.

[hoopscitylive]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

Forget the defense, what happened to all the Pistons 'homers'?

[RobUofM]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

So we got killed... I'll take 5-2 going back home.... Atleast Prince got some valuable PT

[SoMiss2000]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

Well in another post someone bragged about the Pistons beating the Mavs twice in PRE-SEASON. Like that matters!

I at least thought it would be a good game because of Detroit's defense.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

Prince is cool as hell. He acts like he doesn't have a care in the world. He was shooting around before the game. Just throwing up brick after brick. You could tell he wasn't really trying to make the baskets because he started nailing his shots all around the key!

[RobUofM]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

Was Ben Wallace nailing 3's during shoot-around? Opening night against the Knicks he was making quite a few 3's in warm-up.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

He was takiing 3's but he wasn't making them, he was also working on his post moves.

[Kruza]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

LOL... man, did we get our *** kicked or what?

The Mavericks were on fire throughout the whole game. They play the style of basketball that is extremely tough to adjust to during the regular season if you're not familiar to seeing 'em often. A team would have to play against the Mavs in a series of games before they could adjust accordingly to what they do offensively. To play with the Mavs, a team need several players with athletic ability who can shoot and can also run the floor. With this in mind, it's no secret why Mehmet Okur and Tayshaun Prince had fared better in this game than the rest of the Pistons. Most of the Piston players specialize in one two of these things at best, while Prince and Okur are effective in all three aspects.

Anyway, Steve Nash was the main culprit for this rout. He consistently got into the lane and broke down the Pistons defense, and made all the right decisions on where to go with the ball. And when it seems the Pistons were able to slow down the Mavs, either Nash or Nick Van Exel would lob the basketball up where only Shawn Bradley can get it, and then he would either score or draw a foul. It's about time that Bradley started playing up to his size. Dirk Nowitzki was also unstoppable on the perimeter. He was killing the Pistons as the trailier on several fast breaks during instances where he pulled up for 3s. And Michael Finley and Eduardo Najera also had their way on the court. This was simply a brutal game to watch for all Pistons fans.

And although I'm a big-time Piston fan, I have always been a realist about the situation, and how good this team really is. This outcome accurately put things into perspective as to how much the Pistons have to improve as a team in order to compete with the elite West teams. The gap is indeed that wide.

Kruza

[Kruza]

Re: What happened to the Piston\'s Defense?

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
So we got killed... I'll take 5-2 going back home.... Atleast Prince got some valuable PT

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">


Yeah, that was good he and Mehmet Okur get some PT in during the Mavs massacre.

And although Curry is a solid defender and has a good work ethic, I really believe the Pistons can't improve as an overall balanced team until Prince cracks the 9- or 10-player rotation and replaces Michael Curry in the starting lineup, and Okur becomes a major player for us off the bench on an every-game basis. Hopefully it isn't too late before the coaching staff realizes this.

Kruza