Pistons-Bulls Preview
By MATT BECKER, STATS Writer
Posted Jan 19 2008 2:44AM

Despite owning the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons have had no success when facing the Chicago Bulls.

The Pistons look to bounce back from another tough loss and avoid dropping their fifth straight game to the last-place Bulls when the Central Division rivals meet Saturday night at the United Center.

Detroit (29-11) and Chicago (15-23) both expected to contend for East supremacy before this season began, but only the Pistons have managed to do so. Detroit has a 7 1/2-game lead over second-place Cleveland in the Central, and is four games back of Boston for the best record in the league.

The Bulls, meanwhile, have the fifth-worst record in the conference, and are in last place in the Central, 13 games behind the Pistons.

"The season's not going well and everything looks bad right now,'' said Chicago forward Andres Nocioni after Friday's 119-111 loss to Golden State.

One of the few bright spots for the Bulls this season has been their ability to frustrate Detroit, which eliminated Chicago from last season's conference semifinals in six games.

The Pistons have lost their first two meetings of the season against the Bulls, and have dropped five of six to them overall in regular-season play. Detroit has also lost three straight games in Chicago after winning its previous 12 visits there.

The Bulls are just 7-11 at the United Center this season, however, after going an conference-best 31-10 at home last season.

Detroit lost 100-93 to Sacramento on Friday, when it was outscored 24-16 in the fourth quarter.

"We didn't move the ball,'' said Pistons coach Flip Saunders, whose club has dropped two of three and four of seven since a season-high 11-game winning streak. "When things go bad we start to hold the ball and lock it up on one side.''

Richard Hamilton had 24 points Friday after scoring a season-high 39 in Tuesday's 103-89 win over Toronto. Hamilton has scored 42 total points in the two games against the Bulls this season.

Chauncey Billups had 28 points and 10 assists against the Kings, and has scored 41 points against Chicago in 2007-08.

The Bulls have lost three of four overall, and were outscored 62-42 over the final 19 minutes of Friday's loss.

Ben Gordon led Chicago with 29 points, while Nocioni added 28 on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range.

Gordon has scored 53 points in his last two games after totaling just 12 in his previous two. He has scored 27 total points in the two games against Detroit this season.

Nocioni is averaging 20.2 points over his last five games, while shooting 16-for-28 from beyond the 3-point arc. He has 32 points in this season's two wins over the Pistons.

Anybody know if Hinrich will be playing?

Or Flip Murray?

EsxBWdrWgNo

Haha, I still love watching that video when I need a good laugh.

I'm going to be there tonight. Last time I was at a game, we lost to Boston in the D, so hopefully things will be different tonight.

My guess is we'll take care of business after a crappy loss last night.

I think we're going to take it up the ol' poopshoot.

I think we're going to take it up the ol' poopshoot.


Just like the Tigers can't beat the White Sox in the regular season, the Pistons cannot eat the Bulls in the regular season.

It's a mental thing.

lol I said eat, i meant "BEAT"

Max was going to prove you wrong if you hadn't corrected that.

The game is also on WGN tonight. I'll be watching it there.

Chicago's announcers are funny.

I'll be watching it there since I don't get MY20. I'm 40 minutes from Detroit but I don't get the Detroit coverage. Stupid. I called the cable company and bitched and they said its not a strong enough signal.

chicago has amongst the worse announcer in the league. watch for it, they are always decent and fair and compliment the other team while the bulls are up, but when the bulls are down they are the whiniest little bukdows.

Fred McLeod is the best worst announcer of anybody.

Sacramento Kings Grant Napier is by far the worst announcer ever.

I'd love to hear Fred call a Pistons-Cavs game, now that he's defected.

Before: "TAYSHAUN, YOU ARE RIDICULOUS!"
After: "TAYSHAUN PRINCE?!?!?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

LOL @ Maxwell getting posterized by BEN FUCKING WALLACE.

He has a large ass, according to WDN announcers

Joe Smith is a beast. WTF?

I hope 'Sheed busts Noah open.

interesting game notes to the minute.

right now rip is a -7 (team low) and tay is a +9 (team high).

also, according to 82games.com, tay has the second best impact on the game by a piston, judged by on the court / off the court numbers.


this might be due to a lack of a backup, or maybe hes just a good, real smart player that makes looking at his stats worthless.

or its probably just that k-stat has no clue when it comes to basketball.

Bulls look like a bunch of dorks or something.

lets see if we can get all the starters more than 45 minutes tonight. who gives a fuck about the playoffs, we all might be dead tomorrow.

THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT.

What's so hard about beating the Bulls?!?

OK, let's be honest here, people...

Walter Hermann sucks.

OK, now that we have that out of the way...

Tayshaun is shooting like he's scared. We are going to have to bring back the statement from years ago about Tayshaun's sack having dropped.

OK, furthermore...

Yeah, Walter Hermann. Aside from the energy and being an Argentinean SF/PF tweener, there is no comparison to Nocioni. Nocioni is more athletic, smarter, and smoother. Hermann has a funky J that sometimes goes in from 3 and is nowhere near the slasher Nocioni is.

So, how's about next time we have a situation where Sheed gets in foul trouble, could we please bring in Amir, because he brings the same energy but also some athleticism as well? Sure, Hermann made Dirk miss some shots, but I'm not going to think he is the answer off the bench for that. Seriously, if you can't tell, I think Hermann is garbage. He has a goofy shot where he slants his right foot to the inside, which equals below average form which allows for an average or above average shot at best (see Tayshaun).

OK, now that we have that out of the way...

As a team we forced way too many J's out of the flow of the offense after we had a 35-28 lead. Shit.

Regarding Hermann:

Haven't seen him enough/Not comfortable making an early decision about him yet


Regarding Nocioni:

Fuck him.

Chicago announcers say that Chicago is the best city.

Nocioni going all Wade on us.

Chicago announcers say that Chicago is the best city.

Chicago announcers and Grant Napier have speciall relationships with their dogs.

We a playing like doggiedoo.

chauncy has gone en fuego

I'm so glad Billups, over the last 3 or 4 games, has been asserting himself a lot more offensively.

Of course we've struggled in that stretch, but that's on the team...

OH YEAH, BABY BULLS ABOUT TO GET SPANKED NOW!

BULLshit.

that a boy flip, chew em out that was a complete bullshit call. balls typical change directory when tipped.

i personally would have bukdowed the ref, but atleast flip let him know...

Refs are just garbage right now.

nice elbow my noc on billups. i do love hering the chicago announcers cry, though.

Refs are just garbage right now.

Absolutely. If you're within 3 feet of a shot, its a foul. If you are within 3 feet of a pass, you touched it.

Let em fucking play.

Here's this shit Herrmann character back..

Prince sucks again!

I'm ready to give Stuck some serious minutes at 1 and let cbill play the 2 for a while.

How good could cbill be without having to run the offense?

obviously we should trade tay. we actually should have traded him 20 minutes ago when he missed that shot....

Which one?

Prince for Sefalosha. DO IT JOE!

I'm ready to give Stuck some serious minutes at 1 and let cbill play the 2 for a while.

How good could cbill be without having to run the offense?

i would LOVE to see that. rip too, but especially with chauncy at the 2. right now, stuckey is playing like a typical rookie. thinking too much about fitting in, not making mistakes, not hurting the team, etc. ease him in by just having him concentrate on D and bringing the ball up the court.

or they could let him free wheel without feering the insta-hook. but god knows nba basketball in january is far too important to risk sacrificing a win or two to develop your (hopefully) future stars.

ps. im thinking about forming a lynch mob to take care of our head coaching problem. anyone else in?

diddy, I've been to prison. I don't want to go back. Count me out.

But the idea is superb.

im pretty sure the lynch mob will eventally get so big it will invoke some sort of "will of the people" statute and no one will see any jail time.

either way, whos in?

9 point game, wtf? It was 4 last I checked. Geez.

nice move by stuckey, even though the ref disqualified it due to some rule called "trabeling" or something. ive never heard of it, but i guess you cant do it in the nba.

nice move by stuckey, even though the ref disqualified it due to some rule called "trabeling" or something. ive never heard of it, but i guess you cant do it in the nba.

\:cogent:

the thing that really sticks out with prince is his b-ball iq. he's gotta be #2 on the team in that regard. no surprise thats completely lost on k-stat.

diddy, it's not entertaining when you rip k-stat without him here.

Hold off until about 11.

I wasn't able to vote on the poll earlier--is there any way we can keep the "Hinrich's mom is smokin' hot" option open?

game note:

the pistons are a -22 in the 21:45 that rip has been on the floor, and -15 in the 5:54 walter has played.

poor chris duhon, he seems like a legit nice dude. i one time saw him at dollar beer night at a bar near me. funny, cuz he was making ~700 K at the time.

This one's over.

Bitched by the Bulls, again. Pathetic.

Agreed... shit.

Fuck this game.

The diddy vs. k-stat rematch is way more intriguing anyway...

Here's diddy and K warming up:

zmIStBHJvGo

I'm not going to get into coaching or anything, but this is exactly why most of the fans here are skeptical of the team.

^ Cry about it some more? Pussy.

fantastic movie.

now or never... looking like never.

A couple of weeks ago, we looked unstoppable. The players were motivated, shit was going well...

Now we look disinterested, unmotivated, etc. Is this not a sign (at least in part) of faulty coaching?

I'm not going to get into coaching, because K-stat will come and fucking pwnz0r my azz.

HEY! About to be a 10 pt game.

I'm not going to get into coaching or anything, but this is exactly why most of the fans here are skeptical of the team.

whats not to like? we get no easy shots, we overplay our most important players in meaningless games (which we still lose, as in tonight), we dont develop our young guys. you gotta get excited about the job flip is doing.

4 pt play?? yea!

that 4 pt play was weird. i did not know that was how it was ruled.

I hate Noah's faggot ass.

Gordon. 3. Done.

I heard Heinrichs mom fucks for bricks for his sisters whore house. Can't vouch for the rumor. Its an internet thing.

So fucking lame. The Bulls fucking can't shoot for SHIT and every time they play the Pistons they look like the Suns or the Warriors.

http://www.copons.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dawson-crying.jpg

^Capturing all of our emotions perfectly in one shot.

Soft in the middle defense. We won't go anywhere with no interior defense.

It's a meaningless season game for them, BUT IT MEANS SOMETHING TO ME DAMNIT!!!!

WEll, I'm an idiot. The Bulls are shooting 42% on the game, which isn't that good...but still.

I'm going to go play XBox and shoot someone.

We sucked. Hard.

I could care less who these dickheads play in the next game.

http://www.health-in-action.org/library/pdf/Shaken%20Baby/Images/05%20July%20Helena%20crying.jpg

http://www.lunisea.com/school/Emulation/images/A%20child%20crying-NJ%201967.jpg

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/images/mcdyessSad.jpg

is flip trying to punish our starters? why the hell are billups, rip, and prince in the game still?

they've looked gassed for the last 5 minutes but yet we've left them in there.

pathetic effort by most of our team. the bulls were coming off a back-to-back as well. but they looked much quicker, sharper, and hungrier than us.

yes we've had a grueling schedule but that's no excuse in this one. we have NO ball movement and play with NO passion. it's so obvious to anyone watching who wants it more. the bulls have movement off the ball and they moved the ball.

we on the other hand had one guy dribbling at the top with 4 guys standing around watching. one or 2 passes and then a shot. that's not basketball and it's definitely not what piston basketball should be. even when we're coming off screens or making cuts- we're not making sharp cuts. hence, it is much more difficult to get open or to get to advantageous spots on the court. it's like a WR who runs poor routes; he can have all the talent in the world but if he rounds off his routes, he either won't get open or he won't get the necessary separation to do anything with the ball once he gets it.

i'm disgusted that we once again allowed the baby bulls to outhustle and outplay us.

but good for them. apparently they've grown up and learned their lesson. they own us right now and look like a far superior team when we go head to head with them. it shouldn't be that way but since we're not utilizing our talent or playing to our potential, it's easy for them to walk all over us now when we match up.

http://www.nqcc.org/nqccweb/htdocs/Training%20pg%20crying1.jpg

http://www.richardeinhorn.com/VOL/JoanCrying.jpeg

Something to soothe me after this bullshit:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0007TKHHK.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

Also see:

http://www.zhippo.com/AtlantisBodyArtsHOSTED/images/gallery/crying-angel-m.jpg

Champagne material?

Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you and we'll both fall down

Fall on me
Tell me everything you want me to be
Forever with you, forever in me
Ever the same

We would stand in the wind
We were free like water
Flowing down
Under the warmth of the sun
Now it's cold and we're scared
And we've both been shaken
Look at us man,
this doesn't need to be the end

Just let me hold you while you're falling apart
Just let me hold you and we'll both fall down

Fall on me tell me everything you want me to be
Forever with you
Forever in me
Ever the same

Call on me
I'll be there for you and you'll be there for me
Forever it's you
Forever in me
Ever the same

You may need me there
To carry all your weight
But you're no burden I assure
You tide me over
With a warmth I'll not forget
But I can only
give you love

Fall on me
Tell me everything you want me to be
Forever with you,
forever in me
Ever the same

Call on me
I'll be there for you
And you'll be there for me
Forever it's you
Forever in me
Ever the same
Forever with you
Forever in me
Ever the same

Ever the same

Looks like an emo night tonight.

:emo kid:

Do you have some kind of sharp blade I could borrow...

Well, time to channel my inner tortured artist.

Thius team can eat my balls. and ues, I am drunk. They can still eat my balls.

^ Well put.

:mccosky:


Listless Pistons lose to Bulls again

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

CHICAGO -- Flip Saunders' post-game address to his team following the Pistons' 97-81 loss to the Bulls Saturday was blunt and to the point.

"I told the guys, I don't think we played with the passion we need to play with," he said. "When we play with passion and energy, we are a good team. The schedule, the fact that it's January can't be an excuse. Everybody goes through this. You have to fight through it. I told the team, you have an obligation to bring it every night and the last two games, we did not play with passion. We addressed it and now we have to fix it."

The Pistons are now 5-5 in January, having lost three of the last four -- all to teams with losing records.

"He's right," Antonio McDyess said of Saunders' speech. "We're not playing with the same determination. We aren't playing with no type of energy. The only person who played with energy was Chauncey (Billups). He brought us back into the game single-handedly but nobody was there to get behind him and help him.

"I don't know what it is. I hate to say it's a mid-season lull because we are a good basketball team and this shouldn't happen, especially against teams that are under .500."

The Bulls have beaten the Pistons three straight times this year and have won six of the last seven regular season games.

"Chicago, they really get up to play us," Richard Hamilton said. "We have to do the same thing. We can't treat it like just another game and all we have to do is show up and automatically win."

Here's how this game went: Andres Nocioni scored 21 points and outscored the entire Pistons' starting frontcourt. Tayshaun Prince, McDyess and Rasheed Wallace combined for 20 points. And the Bulls were without starting small forward Luol Deng (sore Achilles tendon).

McDyess, Wallace and Jason Maxiell scored four points a piece and combined to miss 14 of 21 shots.

"We're not playing with no type of energy and no type of chemistry," said McDyess. "It seems like everybody is out of whack."

Ben Gordon torched a soft Pistons defense for 33 points, hit 9 of 17 shots and all 13 of his free throws.

The Pistons, meanwhile, were missing dunks (two by Maxiell), lay-ups, free throws (10 of 29) and wide open jump shots.

Billups scored 15 of his 27 points in a third-quarter flurry to take the Pistons from 13 down to four down. But the Pistons missed nine of their first 10 shots of the fourth and managed just three points in the first 6:38.

Ballgame.

"I don't know why, but just another low-energy game," Billups said. "We've lulled ourselves into a situation. We worked ourselves into it and we will work ourselves out of it. But it's frustrating while we're in it, man."

The Pistons were in agreement that the only to way get out of the funk was to start fighting harder on the defensive end.

"It's defense; it's nothing else," Billups said. "That's what we've hung our hats here for a long time. We are always going to find a way to score. We have too many weapons not to. But when we're stopping teams, then it gets easy. We have to get back to that."

The Pistons play against a winning team Monday in Orlando.

"Hopefully that good weather will change our attitude," Billups said.

Anybody remember in the summer when Joe promised that complacency would not be tolerated?

Nope. Hope it's true though.

"Complacency is the worst thing you can have in sports, and that's not going to be the calling card of our team going forward. I know that's been the tag labeled on us, and deservedly so a lot of times, but it won't be going forward."

http://www.wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9522

YEAH! WOO! GO JOE!

They won't lose 3 vs. the Bulls next season!

We aren't playing with no type of energy

Dice's double negatives scare me.

He's not from West Virginia. He knows better.

Dyess isn't exactly the smartest guy, from what I've collected from interviews and such...

pistons are 3-5 in the last 8, started with the boston game.

but i doubt joe was referring to january ball when he talked about complacency.

What a night. I take an hour train ride downtown, stand out in the cold to get a taxi, watch the Stones suck for two hours, surrounded by lame Bulls fans, get jobbed on a taxi ride back to the train, and stand out in the subzero temperatures some more. What I learned:

1. The United Center really sucks when compared to the Palace. There's no question that the Palace is truly an elite arena. I'm never going back to United unless someone else is buying the ticket.

2. This team doesn't really care about playing well against the Bulls. Maybe Chauncey does, but that's a big maybe.

3. Cold weather really sucks. I bet homeless people living in Chicago are dying by the dozen right now.

i dont mind the united center. if you like hockey, you can get up bowl seats for 8 dollars with a student ID.

it is fucking cold. yesterday i went for a jog and my wang got so cold it hurt. kinda scary.

Everyone is playing with intensity cept Tay.

And Sheed.

yea, im pretty sure all the pistons problems can be traced directly to tay.

Where in the fuck has Rasheed been? Has he even come to the games? Or has he just been sleeping in at home over this stretch?

I think he flew back home after the SA game and just decided to catch some z's.

Oh well, don't care. Be back in these parts in April.

i dont mind the united center. if you like hockey, you can get up bowl seats for 8 dollars with a student ID.

it is fucking cold. yesterday i went for a jog and my wang got so cold it hurt. kinda scary.

diddy, you do know that you're not supposed to job naked, right?

WDFN reported that the Piston's Gatorade was warm the other night cuz Tay forgot to pick up ice before the game.

i didnt go into work friday because Tay never gave me my wake up call.

He forgot to do the Pistons laundry too.

That's only because since he lost his balls he hasn't left the kitchen.

ZING

OOH!