Greg Monroe will start and Chris Wilcox will join rotation against Hawks
Essentials
Teams: Detroit Pistons vs. Atlanta Hawks
Date: Dec. 14, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Television: Fox Sports Detroit
Records
Pistons: 7-18
Hawks: 16-9
Probable starters
Pistons:
Hawks:
- Mike Bibby
- Marvin Williams
- Josh Smith
- Al Horford
- Jason Collins
Las Vegas projection
Spread: Pistons +4.5
Over/under: 186.5
Score: Hawks win, 95.5-91
Three things to watch
1. Greg Monroe starting
Greg Monroe will start in place of Jason Maxiell, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Langlois also reports Chris Wilcox will be Detroit’s backup center, likely forcing Maxiell out of the rotation.
I’m happy to see Monroe starting. He’s earned it, and his rebounding should help.
But I’m not happy about Maxiell likely joining Austin Daye as Pistons who have gone from starting to out of the rotation. I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face – Maxiell is a much better backup center than Wilcox.
2. Facing a winner
The Pistons have a chance to leave the Kings and Wizards in their dust as the only teams that haven’t beat a team with a winning record.
3. Hawks’ huge lineup
The Hawks have replaced injured shooting guard Joe Johnson in the starting lineup with center Jason Collins. They’ve slid Marvin Williams to shooting guard, Josh Smith to small forward and Al Horford to power forward. The new frontcourt has been very good. It works, in part, because Josh Smith has improved as a jump-shooter.
There will be a lot of interesting mismatches on both ends of the court tonight.
Pregame Reading
- Bret Lagree previews the game for Hoopinion.
- Mike Payne of Detroit Bad Boys also previews the game.
Leave a Reply
Dec 14, 2010 • 6:40 pm
by Mike Payne
Thanks for the link Dan, and thank you even more for the news about Monroe starting at the 4! This will be exciting to watch.
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Dec 14, 2010 • 7:05 pm
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PistonPowered Feed and Patrick Hayes, Detroit Pistons. Detroit Pistons said: TrueHoop.com – Greg Monroe will start and Chris Wilcox will join rotation against Hawks: http://bit.ly/fkFEi0 [...]
Dec 14, 2010 • 8:34 pm
by Patrick Hayes
So far, Monroe is OK. 0 points, 4 boards in 8 minutes.
But Atlanta’s frontline is still punishing Detroit’s bigs. Horford is able to get whatever he wants and Josh Smith has been to the line 10 times in 15 minutes.
Dec 14, 2010 • 9:53 pm
by gmehl1977
@Patrick
This is a bit of research for you that i am sure you would know where to look it up pretty quickly. The research is if games were over at halftime, what would the pistons record be?
Dec 14, 2010 • 11:38 pm
by Patrick Hayes
@gmehl:
Pistons have led at the half in 16 of 26 games this season.
Dec 14, 2010 • 11:53 pm
by swish
MAxiel doesn’t have the explosiveness he once had. I like the thought of giving Wilcox a look right now. Also like seeing Monroe in the starting lineup. I keep thinking he can get Ben a couple of easy hoops a game with his passing skills once they mesh a little more.
Dec 15, 2010 • 12:25 am
by Jeremy
Has Maxiell ever gone three for three from the stripe? :)
I think the only reason Max deserves playing time against most teams is his contract.
I do remember liking Wilcox before, but I think the last time might have been when Seattle still had an NBA team. Looked pretty OK tonight. I’d like to see more rebounds in the box score, but as a team the Pistons won that battle 43 to 31, so maybe other Pistons were getting them first. He looked scrappy out there.
Dec 15, 2010 • 1:14 am
by gmehl1977
Thanks Patrick :-)
It wouldn’t take much to know that we would be something like 0-26 or 3-23 in 2nd half performances.
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Dec 15, 2010 • 5:32 am
by Detroit Pistons host the Atlanta Hawks: Where's Your JOD Now? Tek News - Not Just Another Tech Site - Tek News
[...] — Greg Monroe will start at Power Forward tonight. (via pistonpowered, thanks [...]