Now I remember why I liked JJ

[Oracle]

JJ is Awesome!!!

He does all the little things, and he's added some scoring to his game.

He sometimes is the ONLY Piston fighting 3 or more Pacers for a rebound when everybody else is down the court, and he's close to getting the ball.

As I type, JJ just made a spectacular play to score and get fouled!!!

It's the JJ show!!!

[frankied]

if he makes that shot, and can keep making shots with both hands, he will score 20 ppg, easily.

[Flip]

Gotta love the Pistons so far tonight. You're right Oracle, JJ looks awesome tonight. 16 pts, 7 rebs at the half!

And he's doing a great job defending West this time, who only has 8 pts 3 rebs.

Love the ball movement on offense and the passing between our bigs too.

Stuckey/Knight at the point each have 4 asts to only 1 TO a piece at half. Great production from the PG position tonight, and did you see Stuckey pull out the dreamshake on the Pacers?! That was sweet. They may not win a lot of games, but if they play like this, they are going to be fun to watch.

[Sissy1946]

JJ looking real good, Stuckey, Monroe, Wright & even Gordon look good, can we sustain this pace though? A work in progress to be sure, is Joe working on Fesenko?

[Sissy1946]

2 missed lay ups, bad pass & had the ball picked from him here in the 3rd, playing out of control so far this quarter, get Wright in there, Michael Redd signs with Phoenix. Piston lead 69-56 with 3:59 left in 3rd.

[deusXango]

HAPPY NEW YEAR PISTONS!

[WTF]

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE

[Grizz]

Have a great 2012 everyone!

[frankied]

Have a great 2012 everyone!

a great way to end the year. much better to start it off with the image of JJ stroking 3 pointers and monroe ripping down rebounds.

[Flip]

Great win to ring in 2012. Happy New Year!

btw, Have the Pistons ever had both frontcourt players get 20/10 in the same game? I can't think of anytime we've had that type of frontcourt production going back like 10-15 yrs. We rarely got a 20/10 game from any of the Sheed/Ben/Dice group, let alone two of them in one game. And to do it against a great Pacer frontline. Wow. Go Pistons!

[WTF]

This is the smartest thing a Pistons coach has done in awhile, I would suspect Bynum to start moaning soon, but I wouldn't change from rotating 3 guards.

[Rett]

Like I Said....


I'm ridin with the PISTONS!




GO PISTONS.............and Happy NEW Year!
Bring it ON!

[frankied]

This is the smartest thing a Pistons coach has done in awhile, I would suspect Bynum to start moaning soon, but I wouldn't change from rotating 3 guards.

it also shows how dumb it was to put all those guards on the same roster in the first place!

[Flip]

This is the smartest thing a Pistons coach has done in awhile, I would suspect Bynum to start moaning soon, but I wouldn't change from rotating 3 guards.

I love the 3 guard look, and the fact that it looks permanent. The backcourt just looks so much more in sync with only 3 guards, and they finally each get enough PT with each other to stat developing some chemistry. Hard to do with 4 guards.

I actually like this starting lineup too now. They've got capable scorers at all 5 positions finally and look to have some cohesion as a unit. As in you can see a big difference between the bench and starting 5. Something we havent had in years. Its been just one big mess, with no prominant 5 man unit on the team. Nice to see for a change. I dont expect them to play this good every night, as IND did look kind of flat, and when they woke up at the end you could see we still have a lot of work to do, but at least something to build on. And Frank finally got his win

[Oracle]

Yeah, I like the shortened up lineup in general.

Evidently we didn't need CV as bad as Ms GoodPenny, er., Goodwill thought. However, he'll probably pen a column saying we might have beaten them by 40 if CV had played.

The interesting thing is that CV got a CDDNP, so Frank evidently isn't reading the detnews site, LOL!

Frankie was right, the talent, which most here recognize, isn't the problem. The problem has been how the talent is used, and tonight, Frank shortened up his rotation, and that by default lead to the 3 guard lineup being highly probable.

BTW, by shortening up the lineup, we'll get the best players better conditioned, and more focused on building that crutial chemistry as the season progresses.

Monroe is a very steadying force, and JJ simply blew me away, I wasn't expecting that type of offense out of him.

Both Knight and Stuckey loaded up on assists, but Stuckey is really frustrating with his inability to finish consistently. Stuckey is getting a bit smarter around the rim, so I'll take it and encourage him to work harder.

Knight is doing all you could ask of a rookie! Even with the usual rookie mistakes, you can CLEARLY see that this kid has a solid future.

So far so good, and I'm really pleased with Frank as well. finally a coach smart enough to focus on building a solid core unit before branching out too far. It's called making HARD decisions!

This isn't a small starting unit with the frontcourt of Prince, JJ & Monroe, they have good length, if not bulk. Stuckey is big, but unfortnately BG is the only one breaking the mold, but give him credit, he played well.

Finally, Happy New Year to all of my good friends, and a special thanks to Flip for making this happen... we love you Bro!

[Sissy1946]

Congrats to the Pistons for their 1st win of the year & thanks to Flip for giving us a place to talk, vent or whatever we want to do.

[cool bre]

This effort tonight is the best I have seen from a Piston team in a long time. It is just great to watch Jerebco. I can't believe his energy. Those who have never had th opportunity to play the game might not know what it feels like to play all out. Many players who do that throw up a bit and feel like they might pass out. Jerebco must have an incredible cardio threshold to keep that constant motion being so big. And his steal when Indiana was on a break and down only 6 points at the end was the play of the game. He just never gives up and that is spreading to the other players. Win or lose, I love the incredible effort by the Piston players. As other observers noticed, Frank did shorten the rotation of players. Daye did not see the floor in the second half. I feel for him. Last night in Boston, Jerebco bitched Daye out for missing the rotation on defense and Daye tried to make an excuse and Jerebco got right back in his face. Last season, players would remain silent when someone screwed up on defense. Perhaps we are in a new era. And I am not down on Daye. You can tell he is trying really hard and is not slacking. However, he is way behind with his defensive skills and will have to improve to get playing time now. Monroe has become a new man starting in the first quarter last night and continuing against Indiana. This is what I had expected of him when the season started. The guards were shaky at the end turning the ball over to allow Indiana back in the game. All of the players from both teams were exhausted in the second half having played last night and encountering traveling difficulties. It just appeared that the key players were tired of losing and refused to lose tonight. It appears that the players are buying into Frank's system although Indiana missed a lot of open shots. The only way for this team to be successful is to push the basketball and keep increasing the tempo. Knight has quick feet and is going to be a real good player that all Piston fans will love. Prince hit a big 3 and did a good job on Indiana's top scorer D.G..The fans will return if the players give the type of effort we witnessed tonight. Tonight the Palace looked empty. Did any of you posters attend the game?

[merc]

Looks like we're one quality big man and a true athletic SF away... but I've been wrong before.

[WTF]

I'm hoping Frank rotation doesn't exceed 9 players and for him to keep rotating the guards as he's been doing the entire season. If I never see another gimmick line up again I won't miss it a bit meaning no more Daye at SG, we still seem to have players out of position because we still need a starting center really not sure how long Monroe can hold up in the center position and JJ perfomance though great still proves he'll be better served as SF.

My guess is eventually that starting frontcourt could end up being CV, JJ and Monroe with Tay and Ben doing most of the back up work. Being in the court with Tay will take a lot of pressure off Knight when he comes in. JMax and Daye's minutes will almost become nil once CV gets caught up.

People killed Flip for not playing 12 guys but as you can see a shorter rotation is a lot better and in the long run it helps the team chemistry. I think Flip got killed because of all the young guys he had on the back end like Amir, Delfino, AA, Stuckey, and Darko. Hard to play rookies when you're vets are contending, it easy for Frank to sit players during a rebuild meaning he can play his younger players.

Somehow if JMax and Bynum can translate into another big body we might be alright, seems the logical players to move as of right now. Still not sold on Ben Gordon though.

[WTF]

Lets see if our Detroit Lions can finish up 11-5 today.......GO LIONS

[Grizz]

Wise Cynic, Great post .... It does look like Frank gets it after all ... I guess I cant pout too much if I think Knight should start over Stuckey ... Hopefully .. all guards just complement each other and make each a better player .. The continuity thing is important .. Yes ..definitely JJ is a SF .. Seems strange to be actually able to root for the team and admire players on the Pistons once again .. Yet .. We wont be at our best until Joe Dumars gets us 2 more good bigs ... This team will have very little room for error until that is taken care of by our GM ... Still would like to see Daye play and develop .. Will depend on how CV does ...

[Sebastian]

The guys finally played liked the outcome mattered, last night. Great!

I think a trade that the Pistons should consider is: Maxey, Daye, and the rights to Kyle Singler to Houston for Thabeet and Terrance Williams. Thabeet and Williams are not even really being used by the Rockets. Thabeet would help in the middle and Williams can help at several postions (1,2, and 3; mostly 2 and 3) and he provides toughness and a little sizzle.

The Rockets would like this because Maxey plays a rugid style that McHale likes and Daye will bring height to their backcourt, but I really believe that the Rockets would like Singler, as he continues to develop his game in Spain. Also, the Rockets still owe the Pistons for the Budinger gift.

[Murph]

Wouldn't you know it. I had to go out to dinner and a New Year's party, so I missed the only Pistons win of the season so far. It looked like a great effort. I was able to catch the 1st quarter, and saw JJ tearing it up offensively and on the glass. I see both JJ and Monroe had double-doubles, and we actually out-rebounded a very physical Pacers team. Stuckey and Knight combined for 13 assists, and Maxiell and Wallace played well off the bench in limited minutes. It's good to see Maxiell contribute something positive, as we have him locked up for another two years.

I saw a clip at the beginning of the game that showed that Prince has been hampered with a knee bruise for the last 2 months. Hopefully, that explains why Prince has looked so lethargic in the 1st few games, and that he will improve as his knee gradually improves.

Congrats to Lawrence Frank for ending his streak at 20 games. That would have been an ugly record that he doesn't deserve.

Go Pistons!

[WTF]

Okay I can't take any longer I have to ask. Explain the avatar?

[Murph]

As much as I like Kidd-Gilchrist (I watched him play in several games for St. Pat's last year), we don't need another SF. We need Andre Drummond. Did anyone watch him destroy St. John's yesterday? IMO, Drummond is a great combination of size, strength, mobility and soft hands. He's a true center.

Can you imagine watching a front line of JJ, Monroe and Drummond mature together over the next decade?

I wouldn't mind Anthony Davis or Jared Sullinger, either.

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