Utah (16-17) at Detroit (26-4) 7:30 pm EST

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (Ticker) -- The Detroit Pistons have revenge on their minds Saturday when they hook up with the Utah Jazz.

The Pistons, who own the league's best record and a nine-game home winning streak, have suffered only four losses this season - one of which came at the hands of the Jazz on December 12.

Former Piston Mehmet Okur scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Jazz, who rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit and held a dominant 55-27 rebounding advantage in the 92-78 victory.

Detroit, which has lost three of its last four meetings with Utah, is coming off a 97-85 win over Seattle on Friday.

Ben Wallace scored 13 points and grabbed a season high-tying 21 boards and Tayshaun Prince and Chauncey Billups scored 21 points apiece for the Pistons, who committed only eight turnovers.

Utah had its season-high five-game winning streak halted with Friday's 87-65 setback in Memphis despite 20 points from Andrei Kirilenko, who made 8-of-14 shots and added six blocks.

The rest of the Jazz starters shot just 7-of-33 from the field, including a 2-of-13 effort for Okur.

http://www.pistonsbball.com/miscpics/pistonsvsjazzpreview.jpg

http://www.nba.com/games/20060107/UTADET/preview.html

(since no one else was making one :alien:)

Eventhough this is the dog days of the schedule, we should be able to get up for this game to avenge the embarassing loss to the Jazz earlier in the year.

sweet jeebus, AK47 has gaudy numbers (as anyone w/ him on their fantasy team can attest to).

in his last five games:

16.4 pts, 7.8 rebs, 4.8 asts, 2.4 stls, 4.2 blks (4.6 to's are his only negative)

w.t.f.

ak 47 is a great shot blocker but i dont fear his offense that much if you cover his jumpshot and box him out.

also i hope chaincy is really aggresive on utah's pg's. i thought he should've went at them harder in utah.

devinJ, who's the chick in your avatar?

This should be a fun game to watch after going crazy that I got the score of the skins bucs game exactly right in my predictions.


Anyway, Pistons will win 105-100

ooooo.....nice alleyoop rip to tayshaun.

laimbeer: "i didn't think he could get it"
blaha: "he's amazing!"

none dribblingass evans :x ...

well atleast we are off to a good start. i can see a need to get payback on utah.

man we are in a funk ....and a bs offensive foul call

Fuck too many good shows on to watch the Pistons. Looks like I'm missing a good one?

Fuck too many good shows on to watch the Pistons. Looks like I'm missing a good one?
its close, but nothing to keep you away from your love for nick jr sponge bob square pants. so watch away :wink:

Fuck too many good shows on to watch the Pistons. Looks like I'm missing a good one?
its close, but nothing to keep you away from your love for nick jr sponge bob square pants. so watch away :wink: :roll:

I'm watching the Pats and Jags. Plus rocks 100 most shocking moments counted down by VH1.

Only up 1, god damnit.

Another Tech for Rasheed...

Milicic should start putting his nose to the grindstone because at this rate, he'll have 4-5 games when Sheed will miss due to suspension...

Dice is outplaying Sheed tonight.....and with Sheed in foul trouble, i'm glad Dice is getting some burn right now.

Del the funky homosapien fino has looked pretty solid on defense. good ball denial on harpring in the post.

Dice and Delfino have been making nice plays all night. Delfino isn't filling up the boxscore, but he's been solid on the defensive end and has a couple offensive rebounds. Dice's J look like it's finally back.

Arroyo has 4 points in 6 minutes, which might seem good at quick glance, but he really didn't do a good job of moving the ball on offense when he was in.

btw, is it me or does Palacio finish some crazy-ass layups??

bad call by the refs. harpring used his off arm on Dice.

yea palacio is sipping crazy juice.

chauncey with a chicken mcnasty three pointer.

we're winning the game, but we're getting outrebounded 44-28.

i don't like how we keep getting killed on the boards.

yea cbill is in takeover iso play mode. the movement from everyone else was going down on the iso plays until the last two.

we're winning the game, but we're getting outrebounded 44-28.

i don't like how we keep getting killed on the boards.
they kicked our ass on the boards last time too i think.

kirelenko is an extra rebounder out there.

Delf blocks kirilenko? :shock:

people keep talking about they're worried about our defense slipping....i'm more worried about the rebounding. i guess it's part of defense, but i worry more about getting rebounded every night than us allowing a few more points per game.

delfino got osterTAGGED. ouch :shock:

ostertag scores? call timeout and commit suicide for allowing this.

delfino got osterTAGGED. ouch :shock:
yea, ostertag wasnt gonna give him a freebie, he should've tried to draw the foul. but im happy to see him go at people again.

delfino got osterTAGGED. ouch :shock:
yea, ostertag wasnt gonna give him a freebie, he should've tried to draw the foul. but im happy to see him go at people again.

no doubt. delfino's a tough guy, imo. i think he got a bad rap last season....partly because of LB's comments on about playing hurt. delfino likes to mix it up to grab rebounds and he attacks the basket looking to dunk. neither of those are an attribute of a "soft" player, imo.

Our rebounding sucks because all our three pointers equal long rebounds, and when we're on defense our guards are breaking down the floor for the fast break points rather than trying for the rebound themselves...

I can't blame our guys for being disinterested with this game, Utah is just a really vanilla team...

Our rebounding sucks because all our three pointers equal long rebounds, and when we're on defense our guards are breaking down the floor for the fast break points rather than trying for the rebound themselves...

I can't blame our guys for being disinterested with this game, Utah is just a really vanilla team...

good points about our why our rebounding is down. i'm just worried about what our lack of rebounding will translate to, come playoff time.

btw, i don't see disinterest....Utah's playing very tough and Detroit wants this one just as bad.

Utah with the lead 80-79

did anyone just catch that??

there were some babes on TV.....Blaha was like, "nice pair of fans there." sounded like a freudian-slip w/ Blaha checkin out the boobage :D

1 min left......tied 80-80

hahahaha, Deron Williams fouls Chauncey for no apparent reason.

21.1 seconds left......Pistons up 2 points.......Utah's ball after the timeout.

AK47 draws a foul w/ 15 seconds left. shooting foul.

Looks like we're going to overtime...

AK makes both. detroit timeout. tied 82-82

the pistons will have 15.6 seconds for potentially the last shot of the game.

Attack the basket just like AK47 did, anything less than a clear shot and you'll get the call...

Billups or Sheed will probably jack up a three at the buzzer...

yet another game winner for chauncey?

I love how Chauncey doesn't seem to give a shit. He's all smiling and laughing after blowing the final play...

OT

pick and roll w/ Ben wasn't the best idea, imo.

pick and rolls w/ Sheed always seem to result in an open shot......why didn't they go w/ that?

I love how Chauncey doesn't seem to give a shit. He's all smiling and laughing after blowing the final play...

i think he was laughing because he almost made a playground-shot to win the game.

tayshaun's been huge the last few minutes.....some timely offensive boards and the first score in OT.

Yeah I know, but I rather he be pissed about blowing the play. If the game isn't important than why not give <name edited> some burn - wins be damned.

Yeah I know, but I rather he be pissed about blowing the play. If the game isn't important than why not give <name edited> some burn - wins be damned.

true....but i'm willing to bet that he would have been pissed it the miss meant we lost. there's a lot less pressure when you know that you're heading to OT if you miss, rather than lose the game.

Yeah. I'm just grumpy as hell these days - should have never game up cheese for the new year...

Yeah. I'm just grumpy as hell these days - should have never game up cheese for the new year...

why did you give up cheese?

Sheed w/ a huge bucket.

Sheed w/ 5 fouls.

Cause I eat too much of it and it makes me fat...

I didn't give it up completely, it just has to be part of a recipe, not in sandwich or "break a huge chunk off" form...

Palacio w/ a HUUUUUUUGE bucket!

Chauncey put a dumb three.

Palaci-OWNED.

Ball game. Okur is a friggin geek.

Cause I eat too much of it and it makes me fat...

I didn't give it up completely, it just has to be part of a recipe, not in sandwich or "break a huge chunk off" form...

i see. cheese so damn good, though.

wow.

Utah has our number. we must pray that we don't ever have to face Utah in the Finals.

Can't win them all. We won't meet Utah in the playoffs so their sweeping the season series doesn't really matter, other than the two losses of course.

Billups is on my shitlist.

Okur is still a friggin doughboy geek.

I bet Milicic has Kirilenko hair next time we see him...

Utah just owned us on the boards tonight. 54-39.

i don't care how crappy the opponent is, getting your butt kicked on the boards that badly will not win many games, unless we're shooting 60%FG.

Why didnt the pistons shoot more jump shots?

Why didnt the pistons shoot more jump shots?

That's all we do anymore - I really don't mind when we are winning ballgames, because most injuries come when you attack the basket. But this team is just so one dimensional it's ridiculous. Delfino at least tries, but contrary to recent popular opinion, he still sucks.

What's with Flip playing the starters 40 a night? And you wonder why they perform so poorly on back to backs. GEEZ.

lol@Pistons to lose twice to the fricking Utah Jazz :angry7:

seriously, a guy like Dale Davis could have helped us today, especially on the boards...Sheed played like shit..i hope we trade Arroyo + Darko or someone for an upgrade at backup PG

it'd be nice if Sheed realizes he's worthless on offense some nights and put the effort to get at least 8 rebounds.

getting bitch-smacked on the boards every night is starting to annoy me..

Yeah, yeah it is. Maybe the rebounding total wont be so bad if they didnt break off plays to settle for the 1st jumper they saw.

We're the 2005 PHX frickin' Suns, but at least Amare and Marion attacked the basket...

Our record is fugazi and we're primed to be upset in the first round...

That problem would be solved if Prince relized when his jumper isnt falling, like in the last 3 or 4 games to actually get to the basket.

AK47 with a fantasy geek's wet dream:

24pts
11rebs
7asts
2blks
1stl
3 three's

think they'll do Darko + 2nd rounder for AK47?

AK47 with a fantasy geek's wet dream:

24pts
11rebs
7asts
2blks
1stl
3 three's

think they'll do Darko + 2nd rounder for AK47?

Probably if AK47 was black...

That team was so damn white it hurt my eyes.

Wow, we are 25 and fucking 6 and everytime we lose its because of Flip. "We take too many jumers," "Our starters play too much" "Flip plays no D" Blah Blah Blah. We arent going to win 70 so shut your god damn mouths, and stop blaming flip. Last year we were 16-13, no body was blaming Larry Brown for shit.

Shut the fuck up. Its beddy bye time.

Last year we were the defending champs, Ben wasn't near 100% due to his appendix surgery, LB was sick and there was the little thing now notoriously dubbed the Malice at the Palace...

Fuck you and your excuses. We were 16-13 the year before.

"Oh we didnt have Sheed"

:roll:

Fuck you and your excuses. We were 16-13 the year before.

"Oh we didnt have Sheed"

:roll:

...AND it was our first year under LB, who is notorious for slow starts.

...AND we had just drafted Darko Milicic, the next great center.

HAHA, I knew you were gonna play that "First year under Brown" shit. It's our first year under a new offense AND LEARNING A NEW DEFENSE. We are on the verge of winning games in the high 60's.

Wow, we are 25 and fucking 6 and everytime we lose its because of Flip. "We take too many jumers," "Our starters play too much" "Flip plays no D" Blah Blah Blah. We arent going to win 70 so shut your god damn mouths, and stop blaming flip. Last year we were 16-13, no body was blaming Larry Brown for shit.

i'm tired of hearing the "we're 25-6", "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" card.

don't you think Phoenix fans were playing the "best record in the NBA" card all of last season? how about the Pacers using teh "best record in the NBA" card the season we won the title?

the best regular season record in teh NBA might secure us homecourt advantage.....but look at how much it helped tonight.

get outrebounded IS reason to be worried, IMO.

Detroit doesn't have San Antonio in their confrence. And PHO would not have owned the best record have not Duncan get injured at the end of the season. Indiana was not ready for us because they were not expierenced like we were. Same thing in 2003 when we had a better record than NJ, and they fucking owned us. Same thing with PHO, not enough expiernce with them against SA. Well this 26-5 Pistons team HAS EXPIERIENCE. We've won the title before, We've been to the finals twice. That makes a difference. And we do not have any teams that can match up to us at all in our LEAUGE besides San Antonio. So it's not broke, so we dont have to fix it. It's one god damn loss.

Detroit doesn't have San Antonio in their confrence. And PHO would not have owned the best record have not Duncan get injured at the end of the season. Indiana was not ready for us because they were not expierenced like we were. Same thing in 2003 when we had a better record than NJ, and they fucking owned us. Same thing with PHO, not enough expiernce with them against SA. Well this 26-5 Pistons team HAS EXPIERIENCE. We've won the title before, We've been to the finals twice. That makes a difference. And we do not have any teams that can match up to us at all in our LEAUGE besides San Antonio. So it's not broke, so we dont have to fix it. It's one god damn loss.

i admit there's no reason to overreact, nor is there reason to start demanding trades.

Utah is a very solid rebounding team and they've been the top 2 in rebound differential since the 02-03 season.

all i'm saying is that it's dangerous to stick our heads in the sand and think all is well, just because we've got a great record right now.

as it stands, we're still not punishing teams on the glass like we used to, our bench is still a work in progress, our starters are still logging quite a few minutes, and our defense doesn't seem as consistent as last season.

whether we can win with those deficiencies in the playoffs remains to be seen.....however you can't turn a blind eye to their realities.

You guys expect too much out of the Pistons.

I am willing to bet if someone told you we were 26-5 at this time of the year, you would also say you wouldnt say one negative word about the Pistons, but yet here they are and some of you make it seem like we should be SOOOOOO much better.

Teams have off nights. Back to back can wear.

BTW I read somewhere that the starters are actually playing less minutes this year.


Art

But still, nights like this can be prevented. Its not the fact they had an off game. It was the way they lost tonight. It was all jump shot jump shot jump shot jump shot. And no rebounding. Its the same shit night after night. I'm not talking about 1 off night here, i'm talking about the last 5 or 6 games. Alls we've been doing is shooting jumpers like theres no tomarow.

AG - Yes it's true we shoot too many jumpers and don't get much out of the post.

But we're still 26 and 5 so no one can say we've been hot from the perimeter for 26 out of 31 nights

That's bullshit.

When the shots are falling we win. When they aren't we win.

We win when we out rebound teams. We win when we don't.

Who fucking thought we'd even come close to 65 wins when we hired Flip?

I'm a Flip slappy as much as anyone and I thought high 50's was enough for home court. If we win more than 60 games I'll be extremely happy.

We've got a new coach with a new offensive and defensive system.

We've got 3 new bench cogs in Delfino, Evans and Arroyo (LB hardly played him)

And we've still got the best record in the league.

Time to gel? We didn't need it.

So everyone just needs to chill the fuck out and realise that some days it's just not gonna be there.

Am I happy about it? Of course not.

But I accept it and move on

This loss really stings. I usually get ticked off after a loss, but this loss is really lingering with me. If you are a championship caliber team, you cannot lose at home to the Utah freaking Jazz, let alone get swept by them for the year! :angry4: :angry5:

I guess it could be worse. I could live in Utah and be a Jazz fan.

Yeah, this loss is burning me up in side. Not so much the fact that we lost, but the way we played. That was real shitty effort on both ends tonight. I dont give a rats ass about our record or winning streaks, we havent played hard or worth a damn since the heat game. No defensive intensity, we settle for jump shots, and we dont even attempt to rebound out side of Ben Wallace, and its pretty obvious when Prince isnt hitting jumpers this team struggles. There is no way Utah should have been in this game after the 1st.

The problem for me isn't that we lost, it is the disturbing trend of the way we are playing. More and more, we are ignoring the post, jacking up 3s, and having our big men out of position for rebounds.

I am not sure if I like it or not, but don't you guys see how strongly our teams look like Garnett's T-Wolves in their heyday? The jumpshooting, the 3's, the good but not elite defense? We are a lot better and more well rounded than they were, but those teams didn't fare too well come playoff time.

Who fucking thought we'd even come close to 65 wins when we hired Flip? :hello2:

Who fucking thought we'd even come close to 65 wins when we hired Flip? :hello2:Yeah but you say we will win a lot of games every year :)

I'm usually right on with my predictions (besides 105-87).

I predicted Championships the last two years and this year.

I predicted 55 wins last year and the year before.

I predicted that Delfino would be a stud in the NBA.

I predicted that Anthony will smack you upside the head for coming
at me like that on a Sunday morning. I'm ashamed of you Steve.

:confused1:

Okur is still a friggin doughboy geek.

Disagree.

I was stunned with how skinny Okur is.

In relative terms (compared to when he was a Piston), he looked like Lindsey Lohan out there.

Were we watching the same game?

What's with Flip playing the starters 40 a night? And you wonder why they perform so poorly on back to backs. GEEZ.

Agreed.

Its obvious Flip is going for 70 wins to look good since people don't give him LB type love.

And Ben is playing like 47.999999 minutes per non-overtime game under Flip, but meanwhile, he used to bitch about LB overplaying him.

The problem for me isn't that we lost, it is the disturbing trend of the way we are playing. More and more, we are ignoring the post, jacking up 3s, and having our big men out of position for rebounds.

I am not sure if I like it or not, but don't you guys see how strongly our teams look like Garnett's T-Wolves in their heyday? The jumpshooting, the 3's, the good but not elite defense? We are a lot better and more well rounded than they were, but those teams didn't fare too well come playoff time.


OHHHH BUT WE'RE 25 AND 6! EVERYTHING IS GREAT!

Those T wolves teams didnt have as much talent as we do. They had Garnett and a bunch of role players.

I see that "Kilo the Bitterman" is back, lol.

I don't care what our record is, we can always improve and expect more. That being said, let's call a spade, a spade.

I've been saying it all along, even when we win.

Too many jumpers, not enough effort to rebound. At least we didn't allow a ton of dribble penetration this game, which we have been this year.

I want to see Dale Davis and Maxiell get some burn.