LA Lakers At Detroit - 6:30pm

TV: WB20/ESPN
Radio: WDFN

Max's Notes: Pistons swept last seasons series. Have not lost to the Lakers since game #2 of the 2004 NBA Finals.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/lal012906-1.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/lal012906-2.png
http://www.pistonsforum.com/images/picdump/lal012906-3.png

Comments on the game?
~~

Pistons Win 102 - 93

BoxScoreAndPlaybyPlay - From nba.com (http://www.nba.com/games/20060129/LALDET/boxscore.html)

Pistons vs MR. 81~~!Change his uniform number to 8-1!! :laugh: :confused: Think about it!!So geeked. Is this an ABC game?

Pistons vs MR. 81~~!Change his uniform number to 8-1!! :laugh: :confused: Think about it!!So geeked. Is this an ABC game?ESPN on 5:30 CST:P

If Kobe gets 32 they lose by 20. If Kobe gets 42 they lose by 10. If Kobe gets 52 they lose by 2. Kobe gets 32 or less. Fuzzy math.

I actually watch the Pistons way more but don't be fooled by Kobe's heroics. Veteran Laker fans are appalled at the team's lack of talent.

The debate is that Kobe shoots too much but then again, who is he suppossed to pass it to? The Lakers big problem is Kubchek. He is not Joe Dumars. Whatever the circumstances, Shaq was given away. The supporting cast was already thin and old. For some reason, (and even Phil buys into this) they feel that Odom will be the key. But other than rebounding, he has shown that he can be no more than a third or fourth option and not a second option. I think they should have traded him.

Jackson has down a remarkable job with this team. Bynum is two years away. Kwame has no offense and sporadic defense. Mihm is a good second team center. Smush has little offensive game. yes, he can hit threes. George was a big mistake (a long-term contract that contributed to their decline). Shasha is ordinary. let me put it this way, who on the Lakers, excluding Kobe, would anyone want to trade for? All that being said, basketball being only a 5 man sport, all they need to do is get one good player and they will be back. Kobe may still be the best non big man. They will be back. It's LA, you know.

But real Laker fans salivate when they watch the Pistons. The organization paniced when they lost to the Pistons. But now we see why. They really are paying a price for mis-reading their playoff loss. If we get by Shaq again this year, he too will have mis-read their loss.

//roscoe: you can make line breaks easy on this board my bruddah!//

I hope it's a blowout. I'd like to see Bynum vs Darko for at least 5 minutes.

I hope it's a blowout.

Me too. We don't need any Kobe heroics in the 4th quarter.

Detteam
I'd like to see Bynum vs Darko for at least 5 minutes

So would I.:eyebrows: The DHOF club better get their excuses ready.:frusty: Bynum is young, but he's the real deal.:nod:

The Backpacker does a 180. 81------------->18. :eyebrows:

Kobe is coming to town, he will score if you are weak he will score if your bad so the Pistons have to be good for goodnes sake.

This is a Pistons win I feel Kobe may get his average if he is hitting a high % of jumpers. Look for this to be a high scoring affair. My Perdictions of this game Pistons win 110-94. Kobe score 39 points:eyebrows:

Cali, do you say what I think you said? And kiss the gunners daughter. Kobes 69, Pistons 90
Thanks for the TV info BHQ.

I think Kobe goes for 37. If Tmac can get 43 or whatever on us Kobe will get about the same. The logic on that one is Tmac and Kobe are about in the same boat, great talent without much help. I dont see any other lakobes helping out a whole bunch so Pistons win by 14 98 - 84

Chat's open kiddies! Don't fret if it's lonely in there for the first bit, most folks don't start showing up till midway through the 1st Q.
-

Cali, do you say what I think you said? And kiss the gunners daughter. Kobes 69, Pistons 90
Thanks for the TV info BHQ.UR WELCOME.BRUDDAH...I had one of my preminitions,,,I feel Kobe will go off for 53 points.... In actuality, I think he will get 33 on 12-33 shooting...champs by 15!!!!

Didn't see the game folks. I'm glad we won. But glancing at the box, i see Chauncey had 6 dimes/6 TO's. I know he's got me spoiled with a A/TO ration of nearly 4, but maybe someone in their recap could let those of us who missed the game know what was up with that! (It seems to me, on a slightly different note, that he's been turning it over a bit more in the past, say 2-3 weeks....whatev...)

Why the Lakers are so sorry? Odem had 9, 8 and 8...tturnovers!! Kwame 4 and 2, Cook 3 of 9FG's....They lucky we took the 4th qtr off...my bruddahs!!

scolas

CB played 41 minutes tonight. To me, that's the biggest problem over the last few games. CA hasn't look very good during those games and is getting less PT as a result.

I hope Lindsey's ready to come back SOON.

The Pistons had this one wrapped up with a 20 point lead early 4th quarter. For much of the time after that, we simply ran clock. This game was not as close as the final result indicates.

As expected, CB and Tay did the bulk of guarding Kobe. Kobe did not even sit once in the first half. He ended up with 39, but precious little down the stretch as Tay was right on him. Tay, between guarding Kobe so well, and scoring 19 of his own, was our MVP of this game.

Evans guarded Kobe some, and basically, we could have just let Kobe walk to the basket and lay it in. Was not pretty. Evans has no height. Delfino got a short stint at guarding him, and did fine. The first play with Delfino guarding Kobe resulted in Kobe hurting his hand because he shoved Delfino so hard. But Kobe got the call of course. After that, Delfino got up right on Kobe and bothered his shot.

Dyess again did nothing great, just spelled the bigs. Arroyo came in early in the first quarter, and we scored every time down with him running with the starters. And we got a double digit lead with him in. Can't complain much about that. Meanwhile, Smush had a horrid game, at least up until the 4th quarter when the game was pretty much decided anyway. Smush was in such a shooting slump he would not even shoot a wide open shot. I wonder how much having a total ball hog on the team has to do with that?

The rest of the Laker team was pretty much pointless. Mihm looked good a couple of times, but our bigs locked down on him after that. The Lakers, after Kobe, just ain't much.

We had a very balanced attack between Tay, CB, Rip, and Sheed. Ben got his too off rebounds and other work around the basket. He made 5-9 free throws too. Need more of that from him.

37-5. An amazing season so far. But this is now the 2nd half. Time to prepare for the playoffs. Other than getting Delfino back for a few minutes tonight, no progress on what really matters, getting our bench ready and getting our starters rested.

CB got kneed in the thigh real hard early in the game on an illegal pick. He continued to play, but he was hobbling. Don't be too surprised if he bruises up and has to miss some games.

Tay started out the game hitting a triple, and then pulling up off the dribble to put us up 5-0 early. I think he hit one more outside shot later, and the rest of his scoring came inside.

Yes, we missed a lot of shots early. But you know, I call that practice. It did not lose the game for us. In the end, plenty of shots fell.

Sheed scoring from the post was pretty huge in this one. As was his ability to hit the midrange. Short midrangers just don't miss from him.

Always great fun to watch us smack down the Lake Show. Though just a shell of what they were, they still got Kobe, and that makes it fun enough. GO PISTONS!!!!!

Hopefully the shape this team keeps themselves in helps and CB doesn't have Shaqitis in his thigh.He took a cut to the chin while diving for a loose ball also.

Man how many times are we gonna dodge a bullet without a starter getting really hurt?We've had a very good run on that.

My only real concern with this game (other than the fact that we let them back in the game in the fourth when we could have given our starters some rest) was that we looked pretty bad at times against the press.

Other than the second quarter, I thought we did a reasonably good job on Kobe. Mo Evans had a lot of trouble against him, although Delfino was a bit better. While he's not as athletic as Evans, I thought he was much more disciplined, not biting on the head fakes. Tay still seems to present him with some problems.

I think that the Lakers should press like that every game. It gets other guys on their team involved.

Did anyone else here find the ESPN announcers annoying? There were 3 of them + Steven A, and they provided a constant stream of babble throughout the entire game. It was exhausting. And on top of that, it seemed like they hadn't really been following the Pistons. "Dyess is having an off-year and is waiting to get back on track..." ??? he's already back on track. "Tayshaun, more than any other piston, has been unleashed this year under Flip Saunders..." ??? On the contrary, Chauncey, Rasheed, and Rip have been unleashed. And to cap it off, those bandwagon cats couldn't stop kissin up to the team that they all predicted would lose to Miami in the East.

My only real concern with this game (other than the fact that we let them back in the game in the fourth when we could have given our starters some rest) was that we looked pretty bad at times against the press.

My only real concern is this: How many brain cells does Tommy Hearns have left? Geez, he sounded as if he'd just gone 12 rounds with Hagler or Duran rather than 3 with Stephen A.

I give the Lakers credit for hanging in there. They pressed the Pistons and made C-Note work, and work, and work. The pressing was a good idea because it didn't allow the Pistons to get into their sets quickly and Detroit looked very bad in the 4th quarter. Also, it is clear that Flip has little trust in Arroyo, at least for this game.

Lakers made it interesting at the end. By that time, we'd already lost the chat to discussion of the all-time hated by Pistons fans team. A good convo, but definitely a sign of the times with the Pistons on a long game winning streak and clearly the best team in the NBA thus far.

The mystery of Carlos Arroyo's playing time continues. Flip seems to be sticking with an 9 man rotation that is really a 7 man system. Evans and Dice are the only recipients of consistent PT from the bench.

Next game at New Jersey could be a trap. Then again, the boys are more than up to the task...

Well, that is the state of the Lakers. As I said on my pre-game comments, they just don't have much talent around Kobe. You guys all saw it. On Laker radio, fans are complaining right now about the team.

From the ESPN game Notes

Lakers PG Smush Parker had to fly coach to Detroit -- with luggage for a seven-game trip -- because he overslept and missed his flight
Looks like some stuff never changes for Smush. It's a wonder that Phil Jackson can handle Parker and Brown at the same time.

ESPN Box Score (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=260129008)

Pistons win 102-93

The Pistons had this one wrapped up with a 20 point lead early 4th quarter. For much of the time after that, we simply ran clock. This game was not as close as the final result indicates.

As expected, CB and Tay did the bulk of guarding Kobe. Kobe did not even sit once in the first half. He ended up with 39, but precious little down the stretch as Tay was right on him. Tay, between guarding Kobe so well, and scoring 19 of his own, was our MVP of this game.

Evans guarded Kobe some, and basically, we could have just let Kobe walk to the basket and lay it in. Was not pretty. Evans has no height. Delfino got a short stint at guarding him, and did fine. The first play with Delfino guarding Kobe resulted in Kobe hurting his hand because he shoved Delfino so hard. But Kobe got the call of course. After that, Delfino got up right on Kobe and bothered his shot.

Dyess again did nothing great, just spelled the bigs. Arroyo came in early in the first quarter, and we scored every time down with him running with the starters. And we got a double digit lead with him in. Can't complain much about that. Meanwhile, Smush had a horrid game, at least up until the 4th quarter when the game was pretty much decided anyway. Smush was in such a shooting slump he would not even shoot a wide open shot. I wonder how much having a total ball hog on the team has to do with that?

The rest of the Laker team was pretty much pointless. Mihm looked good a couple of times, but our bigs locked down on him after that. The Lakers, after Kobe, just ain't much.

We had a very balanced attack between Tay, CB, Rip, and Sheed. Ben got his too off rebounds and other work around the basket. He made 5-9 free throws too. Need more of that from him.

37-5. An amazing season so far. But this is now the 2nd half. Time to prepare for the playoffs. Other than getting Delfino back for a few minutes tonight, no progress on what really matters, getting our bench ready and getting our starters rested.

CB got kneed in the thigh real hard early in the game on an illegal pick. He continued to play, but he was hobbling. Don't be too surprised if he bruises up and has to miss some games.

Tay started out the game hitting a triple, and then pulling up off the dribble to put us up 5-0 early. I think he hit one more outside shot later, and the rest of his scoring came inside.

Yes, we missed a lot of shots early. But you know, I call that practice. It did not lose the game for us. In the end, plenty of shots fell.

Sheed scoring from the post was pretty huge in this one. As was his ability to hit the midrange. Short midrangers just don't miss from him.

Always great fun to watch us smack down the Lake Show. Though just a shell of what they were, they still got Kobe, and that makes it fun enough. GO PISTONS!!!!!
Good job, Bro Lee...I believe Chauncey should take the week off myself before all star game...whacha think?

I think that the Lakers should press like that every game. It gets other guys on their team involved.

Did anyone else here find the ESPN announcers annoying? There were 3 of them + Steven A, and they provided a constant stream of babble throughout the entire game. It was exhausting. And on top of that, it seemed like they hadn't really been following the Pistons. "Dyess is having an off-year and is waiting to get back on track..." ??? he's already back on track. "Tayshaun, more than any other piston, has been unleashed this year under Flip Saunders..." ??? On the contrary, Chauncey, Rasheed, and Rip have been unleashed. And to cap it off, those bandwagon cats couldn't stop kissin up to the team that they all predicted would lose to Miami in the East.They are an indoor crew. we wont see them at another game.WATCH!!!! They were technically awful, although John is good and Legler would be better LEFT ALONE....Greganthony is my boy, and all, but loves the sound of his own voice...and Stephen A...I mean "REALLY!".....:eyebrows: :laugh:

My only real concern is this: How many brain cells does Tommy Hearns have left? Geez, he sounded as if he'd just gone 12 rounds with Hagler or Duran rather than 3 with Stephen A.

I give the Lakers credit for hanging in there. They pressed the Pistons and made C-Note work, and work, and work. The pressing was a good idea because it didn't allow the Pistons to get into their sets quickly and Detroit looked very bad in the 4th quarter. Also, it is clear that Flip has little trust in Arroyo, at least for this game.I will ALWAYS love Tommy but just like interviewing Magic, Ali or Stallone...PLEASE! No more!!!:nod:

I love the fact that Billups had an off night and the rest of the starters picked it up.

Tay 19 points 5 over his avg.
Sheed 24 points 9 points over his avg.
Ben 14 points 6 points over his avg.
Rip 20 points 1 below but still a solid game

I got to say I was pissed about alot of the missed shots in this 1 but it almost seemed like everytime we had a bad shot we got the offensive board so I cant complain too much I guess. 37-5 unfreakinbelelivable.

Video Highlights from NBA.com (http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/recap_646_laldet.asx)

You'll need Windows Media Player to view this I believe.

tay was great tonight, sheed was fine except 2/11 from 3-land (sheesh!!). we looked a little sloppy on the press so that's actually something for them to work on in practice. dunno what's up with arroyo's less-than-10-mins-a-game stuff lately though.

He brought the ball down 9 times. We got a good shot off 8 times. The only time we did not was as the 1st quarter ended, as we were working with a short shot clock.

We scored 7 of the 9 times down. (Should have been 8 if Rip had not fumbled that rebound right under the basket.)

On defense, not once did a point guard score on Arroyo, nor get away from Arroyo to break down our defense. Their scoring was Mihm once working the post, and Kobe getting away from his guy on picks and nailing some shots.

Arroyo played 5 minutes. No assists, nor any other stats. No fouls. It was a 6 point lead when he entered the game, and an 8 point lead when he left. Plus 2.

Two factors kept Billups in the game. One, Billups was our first option in this game as far as who we were putting on Kobe. Second, Billups had sustained a nasty knee to his thigh. He stood the risk of that thigh tightening up on him if he sat any in the 2nd half.

In sum, we got 5 minutes of flawless play from Arroyo. The one thing Arroyo could not bring that Billups does is defense on Kobe. (And just like Tay, the fact that CB can defend Kobe so well makes him one darn valuable player. MVP of the league, why not.)

When you look at the starter shooting percentages for this game, it's amazing that the Pistons won so handily. Sheed, Rip and Chauncey went 9-21, 9-23 and 2-10, respectively. Offensive rebounding and defense continue to shine, even though the revamped offense didn't. Particularly indifferent game by Chauncey, who managed the flow well enough but seemed to think he could break the press all by himself and paid for it with turnovers.

The bench was sneaky good. Dice was 1 point from a double-double in just 17 minutes, Evans and Arroyo contributed, and Delfino had a tremendous four minutes at the end of the half, in which he held down Kobe on defense, rebounded the misses and helped stretch the lead to 9 just when it looked like the Lakers might catch up. One of the best "scoreless" efforts I've seen for a while.

Kobe is coming to town, he will score if you are weak he will score if your bad so the Pistons have to be good for goodnes sake.

This is a Pistons win I feel Kobe may get his average if he is hitting a high % of jumpers. Look for this to be a high scoring affair. My Perdictions of this game Pistons win 110-94. Kobe score 39 points:eyebrows:

not right on the score, but perfect on kobe's points.

Tay's dunk on Mihm was dunk of the night!

**LINK** (http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/dotn/dotn_060129.asx)