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This happened to poor, poor Brandon Knight tonight
The Pistons are not having a good night in L.A. (on the plus side, this should be an easy recap), but after this play from Chris Paul to DeAndre Jordan, Brandon Knight is having a less good night than any of us. It was painful to watch that from my couch, I couldn’t imagine watching it from Knight’s view.
Also, I think we need to ask the question … has Knight had the worst year on the receiving end of highlights? The Jordan clip and the Kyrie clip … man, I don’t wish those on anyone. Also, ‘RIP Brandon Knight’ is trending on Twitter. So if you’re looking for the Pistons to give up the fight and increase their possible lottery combinations, well, this West Coast trip is off to a great start for that.
Video: Brandon Knight dunks on Pau Gasol
As Dan pointed out, the Pistons had great moments offensively yesterday against the Lakers, and this was one of the best. Brandon Knight hasn’t dunked often as a Piston, but this one was pretty nasty. And how about Andre Drummond leading that break? Sometimes it feels like Detroit’s bigs are better passers than their guards.
Isaiah Thomas on Charlie Villanueva, whom NBA fined for flagrant foul: ‘It was a dirty play, and he’s a dirty player’
NBA release:
Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva has been fined $25,000 for his Flagrant Foul Two on Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.
The incident occurred with four seconds remaining in the second quarter of the Pistons’ 103-97 win over the Kings at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Jan. 1.
Jason Jones of the Sacramento Kings:
The Kings said it wasn’t the first hard foul by Villanueva. Thomas said the fact he was airborne on the play wasn’t the worst part for him.
"No, it was just the fact that it was a dirty play and he’s a dirty player," Thomas said. "It is what it is. He got kicked out of the game, so it wasn’t nothing big. A lot of guys do stuff like that knowing you can’t really fight in this league, so it’s all right."
If you haven’t seen the play yet, here it is:
Maybe this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. After all, the Kings claim Villanueva had made hard fouls before, and perhaps some of those crossed into dirty territory. Plus, Villanueva has a history of getting into on the court, whether or not he appears to be at fault.
But in isolation, it certainly appears Thomas and the NBA overreacted to what appeared to be a run-of-the-mill hard foul.
Video: Andre Drummond, point guard?
Andre Drummond has been nothing if not versatile this season. He’s already shown off his stretch four skills and last night, he broke out his point guard abilities. Not really sure what that celebratory dance was afterwards, but the pass was certainly nice.
Video: Kyle Singler gets all the buckets
Between Andre Drummond‘s dunks, Kim English‘s general awesomeness and this video above from Kyle Singler, Detroit might have the most entertaining group of rookies in the NBA.
Oklahoma City’s Kevin Martin warned by NBA for flop against Pistons
We’ve all heard that the NBA plans to start taking serious actions against habitual floppers this season, and apparently one of the first warnings issued was for a play by Kevin Martin in a game between Oklahoma City and the Pistons on Nov. 9. Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated describes the play and what, precisely, the NBA didn’t like about it:
Martin’s violation occurred during a Monday game against the Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The violaton occurred with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Oklahoma City’s 92-90 win. As he lined up a three-point attempt in front of Detroit’s bench, Pistons forward Jonas Jerebko contacted his right shooting hand. Martin collapsed directly to the ground, simulating much stronger contact than actually occurred, and then writhed on the ground in pain. His shot missed but he was awarded three free throws and he made all three, cutting Detroit’s lead to 73-67.
That was a competitive game, but still one the Pistons probably wouldn’t have won even if that call had gone their way. It’s good to see the NBA better policing that leg-kick move that Reggie Miller made famous though. So far, three players have reportedly been warned about flopping.
Video: Cleanse yourself of the Orlando Magic loss by remembering that Andre Drummond is still tons of fun to watch
Yeah, the Pistons lost to the Magic. Yeah, Andre Drummond continues to not play enough to satisfy most fans. But on the bright side, he did play enough to do the things above.
Video: Big Baby gets dunked on, Jason Maxiell, Big Baby-eating version
I couldn’t find separate video of Jason Maxiell‘s dunk on Glen Davis, so you’ll have to sit through Tayshaun Prince‘s first before seeing Maxiell’s in this clip, but it’s worth it. Maxiell eats the biggest baby.
Video: Big Baby gets dunked on, Tayshaun Prince version
Glen Davis had a good night — he had 17 points and 13 rebounds and his team won. But he was the target of two fantastic dunks, this one by Tayshaun Prince.
Video: Greg Monroe hits free throw with one eye closed
Greg Monroe was poked in the eye by Spencer Hawes last night, but still calmly stepped to the line and knocked down a free throw (although he missed the second) with one eye closed.
Monroe is actually the second Piston to have to shoot free throws with only one eye in the past week. I don’t have video, but Jonas Jerebko had to shoot after getting elbowed in the eye against the Kings. He didn’t have as much luck though — he missed both attempts.
