Basketball Daily

On Sunday the Detroit Pistons headed into the champ’s house of the Boston Celtics and avoided a season sweep by playing intense defense and all around great ball.  Glen “Big Baby” Davis played very well in place of Kevin Garnett but it was not enough as the Iverson-less Pistons showed why they were the 6 time Eastern Conference finalists, by taking the victory with the final score being 105-95.

All 5 starters for the Pistons were in double figures with Richard “Rip” Hamilton leading the way with 25 points on 6 for 12 field goal shooting.  Off the bench Walter Hermann showed his talent level by scoring 11 points on 4 for 5 shooting in only 16 minutes of game time.  Rasheed Wallace picked up another technical during this game which brings his total to 15 on the season.  One more and he will have to sit out the following game due to the new rules stating, if a player receives 16 on the year they will be forced to miss the next regular season game.

The Detroit Pistons headed to Florida without Allen Iverson due to him having an MRI, and met up with the third place Orlando Magic.  This is the first time Richard Hamilton has started since the change sending him to the bench by letting AI take the starting role at the shooting guard position.  Well good ole Rip went off and the whole team meshed so well together that they should really take a look at keeping Rip in the starting lineup and having Iverson come off the bench.  The Pistons come away with the win with the final score ending at 93-85.

The top 3 scorers for Detroit were Richard Hamilton with 31 points, Rodney Stuckey with 22 points and Tayshaun Prince with 17 points.  The Pistons finally snapped their 8 game losing streak by beating a well grounded team.  Hopefully the Pistons will be putting this kind of effort in the rest of their games this season, as we all miss seeing their great defense and team chemistry that we have come to expect.

The Detroit Pistons headed into Ohio to face off against the number one seeded Eastern Conference team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.  This game was a complete blowout from the onset.  The Cavaliers clamped down on defense and limited the Pistons from scoring the ball.  The Pistons have now lost 6 straight games and look defunct and lifeless.  The final score ended at 99-78.

This was Delonte West’s first game back from the fractured right wrist that put him on the sidelines over a month ago.  West shot lights out scoring 25 points on 8 for 11 shooting and 5 for 5 from downtown.  The King had 20 and Big Z had 16 points.  As a whole the team shot 55% from beyond the arc and only committed 6 turnovers the whole game.  Cleveland improves their record to 43 wins and 11 losses on the season.