Game Notes: Pistons at Nets
One team is an EC favorite. The other isn’t even close.
By Ben Osborne
I went to the Pistons-Nets game last night and intended to have extensive Game Notes up first thing this morning. Then life and magazine work intervened, and now it’s almost 4 PM. Oh well. There are still some things I jotted down at The Swamp that are worth recapping…
-Standing on the court pregame, on the periphery of Flip Saunders press q+a (conducted right in front of the Pistons bench), I’m approached by Slamonline blogger Rodney Stuckey (who I’ve never spoken to in my life), who eagerly asks me if there’s anything I want to interview him about. I tell him no thanks because I’m from SLAM and he’s well covered on our site, which he deems an acceptable answer. Apparently his hand is almost back to 100% and he is eager to do another blog for us…
-The mood during the Pistons pregame shooting routines, and in their locker room, can best be described as jovial. I credit Sheed.
-Alan Paul has written about this guy before, but Pistons trainer Mike Abdenour is nuts. I’ve seen him harangue refs plenty of times, but now his target is the bus company that shuttled the Pistons to the game; apparently, the driver left the arena while the bus still had some players’ belongings on board. He is currently cursing up a storm on his cell phone about this driver. Funny.
-Rip Hamilton and I talk fatherhood for a minute; I had my first child on Oct. 18, Rip had his first on Oct. 31. “It’s a job,” Rip says with a smile. True that, but a very rewarding one so far…
-Stop in the Nets locker room to leave an early copy of our new issue in Jason Kidd’s locker. You will learn why, as well as a whole lot more about this issue, on the site in the next several days.
-Out by the court, Sean Williams is wearing a goofy grin and signing tons of autographs. He gives off the “still can’t totally believe I’m here” vibe.
-After a meal of “Chicken Cordon Bleu”, string beans and a hot dog (standard, B- fare), I grab my sit behind the baseline. I’ve seen the Pistons on TV this season, but never on a broadcast that focused in on their post-introduction escapades. If you haven’t seen it, after each player is introduced and the starters make a circle at the same time the reserves make a circle (not unusual), Rasheed playfully breaks into the reserve huddle and does a sort of line dance in the middle, stomping his feet and waving his arm. Whether this fires anyone up or not, I have no idea. Whether it keeps things light, I have no doubt.
-Chauncey looks great this game, just like he has all season. His poor play in the Cavs series last Playoffs is rightfully considered a huge reason why the Pistons lost; his revival figures to be a huge reason the Pistons can make it back to the Finals they felt they should have been in last season.
-The Nets timeout entertainment, Team Hype, a group of seemingly roided up dudes and scantily clad females who do back flips and try to fire up the crowd, is “presented by Johnny Rockets.” Why?
-Rip is so skinny that his elbow sleeve is loose.
-45-44 Pistons at the half. The Pistons go through the half in a workmanlike fashion, while the Nets seem a little scared and sit through multiple timeouts called by Coach Lawrence Frank, who seems terrified that the Pistons always seem two minutes from a blowout.
-In the third, the inevitable happens. The Pistons continue their smooth execution on offense, while consistently disguising their defenses and ultimately forcing the ball away from the Nets only two real offensive threats, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, who each attempt only 11 field goals. Williams (5-for-9, 11 points) and Josh Boone (6-10 from floor, 0-4 from free throw line) are decent, but hardly make the Pistons pay for this strategy. Jason Kidd (13 assists to pass Gary Payton for sixth all time but 0-8 from the floor) doesn’t make them pay either.
-Whenever Williams scores, Nets PR guru and PA announcer Gary Sussmann, who has a knack for making corny lines amusing, sez “Seansational.”
-With the Nets struggling on offense, the Pistons pull away, going up by 14 after three and cruising to a 101-83 victory. They’ve got a good game coach (who still needs to prove it in the Playoffs) with good schemes, incredible scoring balance (all 5 starters average in double figures), great chemistry and major motivation thanks to last year’s Playoff ouster and this year’s NBA-wide Celtics obsession, which has left them relatively ignored. I’m impressed.
-The less said about the destined-for-.500-and-a-first-round-Playoff loss Nets the better. And to prove my lack of wanting to hear anything said about them, I leave the arena before anyone talks postgame. Fatherly duties await.
33 Responses to “Game Notes: Pistons at Nets”
Dec.27 at 5:16 pm
DannyW_UK says:
First!! Is it wrong that as a fullon die hard through and through Sacto Fan, I now think of Kobe as my favourite player.
Dec.27 at 5:18 pm
Bryan says:
growing up here I never thought I’d see the day when the Nets were a better team than the Knicks. And the Nets aren’t even very good.
Dec.27 at 5:25 pm
white hot eboy says:
Shia, the Nets have been better than the Knicks for the better part of a decade. And Ben, great work. I can only assume “Chicken Cordon Bleu” was placed in quotes for a reason.
Dec.27 at 5:27 pm
white hot eboy says:
Very random comment:
Favorite New Jersey Nets all-time: Kenny Anderson
Drazen Petrovic
Michael Ray Richardson
Jason Kidd
If Julius played in Jersey he’d be there, but I’m sticking with the rules of the comment.
Dec.27 at 5:29 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
That Maxiell dunk was grimy. And RJ’s postgame interview on YES was terrific–he basically just admitted that he had nothing to say rather than spouting a bunch of cliches.
Dec.27 at 5:33 pm
Bryan says:
Even the YES network looks better than MSG.It doesn’t make it any less sad to me Eboy.
Dec.27 at 5:36 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
I think what makes it worse is that the Nets are a team in turmoil themselves and they’re STILL a thousand times better than the Knicks.
Dec.27 at 5:38 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Also, I’d like to see a list of Ben’s favorite Nets ever. He’s been down longer than the rest of us SLAM folk–I was barely paying attention during the DC/Kenny days.
Dec.27 at 5:38 pm
white hot eboy says:
Shia, did you see Kobe’s quote from the other day that he would welcome a trade to NY? Could he be the ressuractor of the franchise?
Dec.27 at 5:39 pm
Ben Osborne says:
YES still gets killed by MSG in the ratings, which is weird to me. I like those favorite Nets, eBoy. Mine are definitely Kenny and Sugar, though my #3 (DC) is missing from your list..
Dec.27 at 5:40 pm
white hot eboy says:
The two white Mike’s hopefully won’t show up, Ben. While they were both decent at the time they played, O’Koren and the G-Man can’t get a spot, can they?
Dec.27 at 5:41 pm
Bryan says:
No, he would beat the sh*t out of Isiah, Eboy.That doesn’t make any sense at all Ben the quality of the broadcast is so much better.
Dec.27 at 5:41 pm
white hot eboy says:
I liked Derrick, but he had SO much promise, and he never “got” it. Sad. Him and Mr. Chibbs were rough for a little while though.
Dec.27 at 5:45 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Incidentally, MY favorite Nets of all time are Gheorghe Muresan, Shawn Bradley, Sam Cassell, Stephon Marbury (hate me now!) and Lucious Harris.
Dec.27 at 5:46 pm
white hot eboy says:
Step, for a minute. Kendall Gill was athletic.
Dec.27 at 5:49 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Among other things.
Dec.27 at 5:57 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
I even liked Jim McIlvaine. And Todd MacCulloch. And Jayson Williams, of course.
Dec.27 at 6:30 pm
Tenorca says:
Todd MacCullough! He was part of a few good “nobody shoots but AI” Sixer crews too. I remember the time he threw down 27 points and gave an interview with an air of “I’ll never do THIS again.” Of course, he never did.
Dec.27 at 7:03 pm
TADOne says:
I loved DC! Chibbs was the man too. But let me interrupt this Nets love and start a list of my favorite Pistons: Dumars
Zeke (ignoring current version)
Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson
Adrian Dantley
Grant Hill (pre injury of course)
Dec.27 at 7:16 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
F*ck the Pistons. Besides, any “favorite Pistons” list that doesn’t include Rasheed is 100 percent fugazy.
Dec.27 at 7:17 pm
Bryan says:
F*ck the pistons is right.
Dec.27 at 7:22 pm
TADOne says:
Dang ya’ll. I understand Mr. Bengtson’s hate, Bulls lover he is. And Sheed is one of my current favorites, I was just naming old school.
Dec.27 at 7:23 pm
TADOne says:
and Russ, f*ck the Bulls.
Dec.27 at 7:23 pm
Bryan says:
I hate the Pistons and the Spurs. I can watch and root for any basketball team in the league except those two.
Dec.27 at 7:29 pm
TADOne says:
Thats pretty deep, Shia. But I guess when you on top, you get all the hate.
Dec.27 at 9:51 pm
BETCATS says:
Somewhere over the rainbow on the other side of the swamp is NYC, home of your New York Nets. Until then, Their is no hope for an NYN comeback. As for DETROOOOIT BASKEEETBAAAL, they are a lock for eastern conference champs, mark my words and my turds
Dec.27 at 9:54 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Always a pleasure, BETCATS. White hot, I liked Gminski and O’Koren a fair amount. Also dug Otis Birdsong. DC wasted talent, sure, but when he was on, like in those Cavs Playoff series, he was unbelievable.
Dec.27 at 10:45 pm
mjs says:
Since this did not focus much on the game, you should have written about how terrible the Izod Arena is.
Dec.28 at 12:12 am
Russ Bengtson says:
You mean the IZOD CENTER™?
Dec.28 at 1:00 am
Ben Osborne says:
It’s no better or worse than it was as Continental Arena, which was discussed on this site and elsewhere about a million times.
Dec.28 at 7:56 am
marvin says:
Pistons champs 2008!! I don’t care what ya’ll say
Dec.28 at 9:36 am
Jamison says:
I like your list, TAD. Here’s my 5.
Rodman
Prince
Dumars
Laimbeer
Rasheed Isiah’s recent past is distorting my memories.
Dec.28 at 11:38 am
Jared says:
Where’s the Jamie Feick love?