Pistons host Cavs before a brutal stretch begins
Essentials
- Teams: Cleveland Cavaliers at Detroit Pistons
- Date: Dec. 28, 2011
- Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Television: Fox Sports Detroit
Records
- Pistons: 0-1
- Pacers: 0-1
Probable starters
Pistons:
Cavs:
- Kyrie Irving
- Anthony Parker
- Omri Casspi
- Antawn Jamison
- Anderson Varejao
Las Vegas projection
Spread: Pistons -6
Over/under: 193
Score: Pistons win, 99.5-93.5
Three things to watch
1. The schedule
Cleveland is a winnable game for the Pistons. After facing the Cavs, though, things get much tougher — Boston, Indiana, Orlando, Chicago (twice), Philadelphia, New York and Dallas follow before the Pistons get somewhat of a reprieve with games against the Bucks and Bobcats. In any event, not beating the Cavs in tonight’s home opener could be the difference between a bad start to the season and a historically bad start.
2. New era, part two
Things didn’t go so well in the first game of the Lawrence Frank era. The team didn’t rebound well, the defensive effort was questionable and there was little for fans to get excited about watching the opener against the Pacers. Cleveland is much worse than Indiana and the Pistons are at home, so they get a new chance to make a more positive impression the the direction the team is headed in.
3. Can someone rebound?
In limited minutes against the Pacers, Ben Wallace, Greg Monroe and Austin Daye led the team with seven rebounds each. Cleveland’s frontcourt has a pair of solid veteran rebounders in Varejao and Jamison as well as an active rookie in Tristan Thompson. The Pistons will need a much better effort on the glass from Jonas Jerebko (five rebounds vs. Indiana), Monroe and Jason Maxiell (0 rebounds in 16 minutes). In two preseason games against the Cavs, both teams shot poorly, so there should be plenty of boards to go around.
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Dec 28, 2011 • 7:48 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Player intros were excellent and Monroe active early. Love that tone early.
Dec 28, 2011 • 7:55 pm
by Josh
40% from the field tonight. Over or Under?
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:02 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Under the way things look so far. But that might still be enough to win if they keep attacking the offensive glass like they are early.
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:14 pm
by Patrick Hayes
The Austin Daye problem creeping up again: he passed up a great look at a three and drove, forced a pass and turned it over. He’s the team’s best shooter. No idea why he doesn’t shoot the ball when he’s open. He did it both preseason games.
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:17 pm
by Josh
Yeah, I saw that play. Could have been Knight’s first assist of his career.
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:32 pm
by gmehl1977
Dare i say it but jump shot looks a lot better this season.
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:34 pm
by gmehl1977
I meant to say Stuckey’s jump shot looks a lot better
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:36 pm
by Patrick Hayes
It does. Now he seems to have lost the ability to finish anything around the basket though.
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:33 pm
by Patrick Hayes
‘Austin Daye’ is trending on Twitter right now. He might not want to log in to his account tonight to see why though.
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:37 pm
by gmehl1977
He is looking twice as much as a rookie as Knight
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:43 pm
by Mikko
its looking horrible again. Even Varejao is going crazy vs Pistons. :/
Dec 28, 2011 • 8:48 pm
by Bernardo
Now this is quite embarrasing :/
Dec 28, 2011 • 9:22 pm
by gmehl1977
Gee we look good when we get out and run. Having said that where is Bynum?
Dec 28, 2011 • 10:03 pm
by bg8
me personally, i rather go with this 3 guard rotation than with a 4 guard rotation with bynum. i think the 3 guards are doing well, its just they don’t have any big to grab defensive rebounds
Dec 28, 2011 • 9:59 pm
by gerdz
i was planning to get a league pass but after watching the game.. nahhh i’ll pass. I don’t blame the team tho. its all dumar’s fault. it seems he doesn’t have any plan for the team. He is now free to sign and do trades now that we have a new owner but what is he doing right now? nothing. on a side note knight looks promising.
Dec 28, 2011 • 10:20 pm
by Shane
Looks like it’s going to be a very long season.. Brandon Knight looked phenomenal though.. If only he had someone to pass to other than Monroe and Jerebko since they get guarded pretty heavily. Stuckey played pretty well for when he was out there
Dec 28, 2011 • 10:28 pm
by Josh
Daye laid another egg tonight with a whopping zero points. Only difference is now he doesn’t have the 7 rebounds to back him up this time.
Dec 28, 2011 • 10:40 pm
by Bernardo
Knight was awesome…
Well, I guess we should check next year’s mock draft xD