OGT: The battle for 12-19. Knicks @ Pistons (12/29/09)

[Glenn]

New York (11-19) at Detroit (11-19)

Game info: 7:30 pm EST Tue Dec 29, 2009
TV: MSG, FSD

By KATE HEDLIN, STATS Writer
Dec 28, 4:47 pm EST

When they opened the season, the Detroit Pistons probably didn’t envision it would be almost two months before they would get three of their top players on the floor together again.

Although the returns of Richard Hamilton(notes), Tayshaun Prince(notes) and Ben Gordon(notes) couldn’t stop Detroit from matching its losing streak of the season, the Pistons will try to avoid dropping their eighth straight game Tuesday night when they face the visiting New York Knicks.

The Pistons (11-19), who also lost seven straight from Nov. 15-27, has had just two eight-game slides since January 1995. The most recent was from Feb. 8-25.

To get back in the win column for the first time since Dec. 12, Detroit hopes its second game with a healthy lineup will go better than the first.

On Sunday, Hamilton, Prince and Gordon played together for the first time since the season opener on Oct. 28, but the Pistons lost 102-95 at Toronto. The three combined for 39 points, but Hamilton and Gordon were 10 of 35 from the floor while Prince was 4 of 8.

Hamilton had missed 26 of the previous 28 games with a sore hamstring while Prince had been out since Oct. 31 with a sore back. Gordon came off the bench for his first minutes since Dec. 6 after being sidelined by a sore left ankle.

Pistons rookie head coach John Kuester realizes it will take some time for them to get into a rhythm.

“It’s an adjustment for those guys,” he said. “It is going to take some time. All of our guys are getting acclimated to them again. But it was refreshing to watch them play and see how they can compete.”

The trio gave a slight boost to a struggling offense that hasn’t reached 100 points in the last seven games, and has shot 35.2 percent in the last three.

Detroit was able to take some positives away from Sunday’s game, which came four days after being held to 64 points in a home defeat to the Raptors. The Pistons had lost the previous four by double-digit margins and they came back from 19 points down at the half.

“We had our chances tonight,” Gordon said. “With all the injuries and guys coming back, I still thought we had a chance to win the game.”

While the Knicks (11-19) are dealing with their own offensive struggles, they have put together a stingy defense. They held a 10th straight opponent to fewer than 100 points on Sunday - the first time since a 19-game run from Feb. 18-March 26, 2001 - but lost 95-88 to San Antonio.

It was the third straight game New York was held below 90 points. Still, New York averages 100.7 points.

“I didn’t think it was a problem about scoring,” David Lee(notes), who matched a season-high 28 points and had 10 rebounds, told the Knicks’ official Web site. “We just didn’t get enough stops and they executed well.”

With the loss, New York finished with a 3-2 homestand during which Lee averaged 21.0 points and 14.6 rebounds. The Knicks, who are beginning a three-game road trip, are 4-9 away from home.

New York has won two of its last three visits to the Palace of Auburn Hills after losing 10 straight.

[Glenn]

Lots of excitement for this one.

[Glenn]

Probably a good move holding Bynum out with the ankles still bothering him and a full complement of guards available.
I hope at least one of them decides to move the ball and get others involved.

[Kstat]

It's not as if we dont have Atkins to replace him as a backup, anyway

[Tahoe]

Helluva game thread...and I'm not being intellectually dishonest one fuckin bit.

[Tahoe]

Cajonas Jerebko!

[Kstat]

We can't shoot from distance, we aren't posting up, and we aren't defending very well.

The result is on the scoreboard.

[Kstat]

NY is just sitting a soft zone in the lane. Either we start making shots, or we dont win this game.

The Knicks are actually able to move the ball, because we have to play defense farther out than 10 feet, and it spreads the floor.

The alternative would be to play better defense and force some turnovers. But its hard to do that with a frontcourt of Wilcox and V.

Also, I dont like Jerebko at PF. At least Maxiell was a post up threat and added some extra muscle inside. Jonas is not a threat in the halfcourt unless he's hitting threes. Those offensive rebounds will not come as easy against power forwards.

[Kstat]

Jonas is getting his ass beat on the glass.

[Kstat]

could not be more disappointed in our defense. We're getting killed in the halfcourt by a very poor halfcourt offense.

Individually, we're doing a very poor job, and team-wise the help defense has not been there. The Knicks are getting anything they want. The only thing keeping this from being a 20-point game is their own awful shot selection.

These are things that have little to do with us not having a post big. We can still play good defense, but we're not.