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Washington at Detroit
Friday, January 26 2007 - 7:00 PM ET - http://espn-ak.starwave.com/i/scoreboard/networkLogo_espn.gif (http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/schedule?network=1)
The Palace of Auburn Hills - Detroit , MI



Chris Webber is fitting in nicely with the Detroit Pistons (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=det).Webber looks to build off his best game so far with Detroit when the Pistons host the Washington Wizards (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=was) with first place in the Eastern Conference at stake.Webber signed with the Pistons (24-16) on Jan. 16 after the Philadelphia 76ers (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=phi) bought out the final 1 1/2 years of his contract. His 19 points in Wednesday's 103-92 win over the Charlotte Bobcats (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=cha) were his most in four games with his new team."This is definitely the level that I want to be on," said Webber, who grew up in Detroit and played college ball at Michigan. "With this team, each night, somebody is going to have their number called. I feel we have a great team. I think we have the best starters, and this is definitely where I want to be."Webber averaged 11.0 points -- more than 16 fewer than his career best with Sacramento in 2000-01 -- in 18 games with the Sixers.He went 7-for-9 from the floor Wednesday, though, and grabbed six rebounds as the Pistons improved to 3-0 with him in the starting lineup."I know 80 percent of the plays," Webber said. "Sometimes I forget the name with the play because it's different, but I don't think there's not much more to catch up on. I feel a lot more comfortable out there."Richard Hamilton (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3330) had 22 points, and Rasheed Wallace (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3006) scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for Detroit, which won its third straight game. The Pistons are in first place in the Eastern Conference, one-half game ahead of the Wizards and a full game in front of Cleveland -- the second-place club in the Central Division."We're coming closer," said Wallace, a teammate of Webber's in 1995-96 with the Washington Bullets. "When (Webber) gets to know the plays, we'll be all right."I'm comfortable playing with him, because he knows defense. That's a plus. Playing with him when I was in (Washington), I didn't forget his tendencies."Coach Flip Saunders said Wednesday's effort reminded him of last season's team, which reached the conference finals before falling to Miami."We executed," Saunders told the Pistons' official Web site. "We played like we did a lot of times last year in the fourth quarter. We decided who we wanted to get the ball to, where the mismatch was."The Pistons have won both meetings against Washington this season after going 0-3 versus the Wizards in last season's series.Washington (24-17) lost 127-105 to Phoenix on Tuesday, ending a four-game winning streak. Gilbert Arenas (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3540), who ranks second in the league with 29.7 points per game, had 31 to lead the Wizards in the loss.Reigning Eastern Conference player of the week Caron Butler (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3608) added 24 points, while Antonio Daniels (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3175) had a season-best 20."It lets you know we've still got a long way to go before we can truly become contenders," forward Antawn Jamison (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3247) said. "We definitely knew that, but it's a disgrace to come in and play like this on our home floor."

Sportsbook event - Winner (http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8302)

Sportsbook event - Arenas Points (http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8303)

Nothing comes easy these days, but we should be able to handle these guys.

I really don't see them as a legit 1st place team.

Their bench is worse than ours.

Sadly I see Agent Zero going for 55 tonight. I don't know if that means the wiz win or not but that is the feeling I have.

FYI-

I just loaded 5 more prop bets for this game including points for Rip, points+assists for Billups, rebounds for Sheed, Pistons points scored and Wizards points scored.

http://wtfdetroit.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=76

The wizards are not a title contender. They are the benefactor of the Heat with no sgaq and wade and a crummy looking East overall. They can out run the suns once in a blue moon. But most times I'd put my money on suns and mavs.

delfino with some great defense on butler in the first half. rip is lighting it up. billups and prince need to assert themselves more, especially prince.

dice is a beast tonight. i'm loving his play- he looks super quick out there too. maybe that's just because he was next to webber.....

sheed looked determined to work the ball in the low bloc. is this the 7th sign? :)

Antwan Jamison is all offense. too bad because he's great on offense.


With all the techs Sheed has, how does arenas not have more? He hassles the ref everytime he drives and doesnt get a foul. I've seen people just let him lay it up, and he goes nuts for a foul if it misses.

unless we really come together, or chicago adds gasol, you have a pretty good argument that the top 7 teams in the league are in the west.

i dont think too much of the wizards. i picked them as my sleeper team this year, and i stick with that, but they are getting WAY too much love. 1st in the east right now isnt saying a whole lot.

Chauncey and Rip splitting the pair twice.
Ugh.

Lindsey can't guard arenas. never has been able to. Flip cant figure that out :(

We might stub our toe tonight but we are getting lots of open shots. This is a sign of things to come.

that last play flip called at the end was horrific

For playing like shit for most of the second half we almost got the win. I thought Sheeds shot was going in. Oh well, just one game.

Down by 1. Other team has no fouls to give. So of course we get a Sheed triple attempt. jesus.

I dont fault him shooting the open 3 pointer. but with 5 seconds left we still have a chance and run a chaotic offensive set at the end. anti climatic as fuck.

I'm so sick of seeing the Sheed for three shot as our go-to at the end of games. Has he ever made one? I swear I've seen him miss that shot 25 times in 3 years

he made it once. in a game against the bobcats with a chunk of the team suspended because of the brawl.

I'm so sick of seeing the Sheed for three shot as our go-to at the end of games. Has he ever made one? I swear I've seen him miss that shot 25 times in 3 years

I agree. Sheed may be able to shoot the 3 and have the advantage...but hes not fucking clutch.

give it to billups[smilie=bigshot.gif] although i didnt watch the game

Billups had a couple guys on him and passed to Sheed, thats why Sheed took the shot with a few seconds left. The shot in the last second was just desperation by Sheed because Tay fumbled the ball a bit, got doubled, threw it to Sheed, and he just had to throw it up.

I dont fault him shooting the open 3 pointer. but with 5 seconds left we still have a chance and run a chaotic offensive set at the end. anti climatic as fuck.
how was that last play Flip Saunders' fault?

i doubt he drew up the play and was like, "Tayshaun, you bobble the ball and Sheed, you completely miss a wide open Chauncey in the corner..." :(

anyways, the final few minutes were pretty damn exciting with teams hitting big shot after big shot. i've never trusted Sheed with the final shot of the game. he'll hit big shots in the middle of the quarter, but at the end, it's Chauncey all the way.

webber stunk it up tonight. we should have gone to maxiell more. he played several minutes but literally did not touch the ball ONCE on offense. :(

this is why i was worried with c-web coming. sure webber can do some thing j-max can't and he will improve as he gets more comfortable.

but he has NO life on his jump shot which looks like it might pop the air out of the ball on the front of the rim sometimes. he has NO elevation....

j-max brings energy, intensity, and a lively body on the boards- offensive and defensive.

we are losing out on that with webber here because j-max is not getting the 15-20 minutes he deserves and NEEDS. :(

...and Sheed, you completely miss a wide open Chauncey in the corner..."

In all fairness, I dont think Sheed had time for that. Maybe he did, I dunno. Have to see a replay I guess.

Just saw the replay on ESPN, IMO Sheed definitely didnt have time to hit Chauncey in the corner. If he did it would have been one of the quickest shots ever.

That's why Tay should never play pg, bobble bobble bobble

This jump shooting team is just a bunch of pussies, seriously.

j-max ain't! give him the ball and let him attack the rim!!!! i'm tired of repeating myself but that kid needs to play FCOL!

everything he does, we desperately need!

this game made me sad :(

Check out the video highlights and box score from last night's game on the Pistons' Schedule page. (http://www.wtfdetroit.com/index.php?page=pistons0607schedule.html)

Like the Utah game, what bugs me is that we didn't clearly stink up the place. We did a whole lot of things "right" overall. We distributed the ball, didn't fork it over a horrible amount. We outrebounded a team we should've been able to outrebound. We contained two out of their three scoring threats well enough. Our bench gave us good minutes on the whole. Sure, we had some spells of suckitude and obviously there's things we could've done better. But there's no one clear "aha, gotta fix this next" item to take from this game (unless you count Flip not using JMax right, but even then...).

I'm 0-2 on game threads this year. You punks better start stepping up to the plate or I'll keep causing us losses.

You also killed the National TV win streak.

Although I think we're 7-1 now, maybe 8-1.

Well, as you can see I posted this late in the afternoon that day. Somebody had to step up.