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The Pistons suck this season too. There is no telling who can suck worse tonight between these two teams.
After an exhaustive and scientific analysis I cannot help but to conclude that the mavs will suffer another gutwrenching, heartbreaking, humiliating and mentally devastating loss at the hands of the Pistons. I wish this wouldn't have to be the case but what can you do when one team is soooo inferior to the other. My sincerest advance condolences to the mavs fans here.
The Pistons suck this season too. There is no telling who can suck worse tonight between these two teams.
i got some new footjoys, but it's raining.....so....
Michael Curry in Teal!
Look, it's John Crotty (the Pistons best passer in 2000).
Nellie gets No. 900
Mavericks beat Hill-less Pistons 99-91
Posted: Sunday January 23, 2000 10:59 PM
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- There won't be an asterisk in the record books to denote Don Nelson's 900th victory.
Still, beating the Pistons without Grant Hill was a lot easier than doing it with Detroit's superstar in the lineup.
The Mavericks took advantage of Hill's absence and made Nelson the sixth NBA coach to reach 900 victories as they beat the Pistons 99-91.
"I'm just glad I won't have to talk about it any more," Nelson said with a smile. "The thing I'm happiest about is that it was won the way games are supposed to be won. I'm only going to remember that everyone played hard for us, we changed strategies and made adjustments and then we found a way to win it in the end."
The Mavericks were also shorthanded with Gary Trent on the bench with a strained groin. They made up for it with a balanced attack, led by 22 from Cedric Ceballos and 18 from Michael Finley. Ceballos and Finley also pulled down 10 rebounds each.
"That's the way this team plays -- we go to whoever is hot at the time," Ceballos said. "And we love winning. Yesterday, after the New Jersey loss, everyone was quiet. The room was quiet, the bus was quiet and the plane was quiet. But the nice thing about this league is that you can come right back and get it off your back. That's what we did tonight."
Hill sat out with a bruised hip and back suffered Saturday in Chicago. He is not expected to play again until at least Thursday. Jerry Stackhouse led all scorers with a season-high 36, but Jud Buechler was the next highest with a season-high 12.
"Obviously, it hurts when you lose the best player in the league," Pistons coach Alvin Gentry said. "We can't mope about it -- we just have to regroup and get going again. I thought we played hard tonight, we just didn't make any plays down the stretch. They hit some big shots and we didn't."
Detroit had beaten the Mavericks seven straight times.
"That's a game we are supposed to win, and so was the one yesterday [in Chicago]," Stackhouse said. "We can't use Grant as an excuse."
Stackhouse scored six points in a 8-0 run that put Detroit ahead, and Buechler's 3-pointer sparked a six-point surge to give the Pistons a 76-70 edge at the end of the third quarter. Stackhouse finished with 12 in the quarter.
The Pistons moved the margin to eight, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Ceballos and Hubert Davis made the margin just 80-79 with 9:13 left.
Stackhouse answered with his own 3-pointer, and followed with another jumper, but Nowitzki scored the next five to keep Dallas within 85-84 with five minutes left.
Greg Buckner's banker put the Mavericks ahead 90-89 with 2:24 left, and after Lindsey Hunter's airball, a jumper by Ceballos increased the Dallas lead to three.
Christian Laettner missed a 3, and Buckner hit again as the shot clock expired. John Crotty missed for Detroit, and Dallas iced the game from the free-throw line.
Buckner, who scored seven of his season-best eight points in the fourth, said not facing Hill made life much easier.
"Stack is a great player, but Grant is one of the top three players in the league, and he does everything," he said. "It's always going to help us when we don't have to face a guy like that."
The Pistons missed seven of their last eight shots, getting just a Stackhouse dunk in the final 2:40.
"We got away from what we had been doing," Stackhouse said. "We had the game right where we wanted it, and we started doing things that aren't conducive to winning games. Guys were trying to win, but they were doing too much. We got away from our roles."
Notes: Buechler replaced Hill in the starting lineup. It was the first start of his 90-game Piston career, and his first since he started nine times for Golden State in 1992-93. ... Dallas held the Pistons to 19 first-quarter points, the fifth time in six games that they have kept an opponent under 20 in the opening period. ... Stackhouse and Bradley both picked up technicals -- Stackhouse for arguing a call and Bradley for slamming Jerome Williams to the floor.
I only remember because it's my birthday.
Last edited by Darrin; 01-23-2009 at 02:35 PM.
Now that we have stopped playing "How small can you go?", you are probably right. However, do not underestimate our ability to suck. We can be just as good as the Mavs!
I had some good BBQ for lunch. You guys ever go to Red Hot N Blue?
I watched Mavs vs Jazz, game 5 on NBATV today.
I think Pistons fans are being too hard on them
Jamstone im surprised ...yes they have been inconsistent but they have had injuries to Rasheed, Hamilton and others plus a HUGE trade ...now i dont think they can beat the top 2 but if they face Orlando in the playoffs who knows? Im not sold on Orlando yet ...Stuckey and Prince having career years ....
Someone got pink'd. Nice.
I think these teams are similarly mediocre, and the edge would go to Detroit since they're at home. ugh hope Im wrong.
last time these teams played the Mavs only scored 67 points and Dirk was horrible shooting FWIW. Harris was injured though.
lol de Soto got pinked.
I don't really know who de Soto is... I wonder what he got pinked for.
You're partially right. We've had numerous injuries and most of our losses are a result of small ball which we've officially given up. We will have no problem with ORL in the PO's. Unfortunately, our sucking has virtually garunteed us a 4th/5th seed and now we are stuck playing CLE/BOS. We have a much better chance against CLE, but BOS owns us specifically because we have only 1 (possibly 2 guys that can guard Rondo) and 1 isn't going to get a chance, and the other comes off the bench.
Our best bet would be to put Tay on Rondo, Stuck on Allen, and Rip on PP. But AI is a starter.
On the opposite side, AI actually helps us alot against CLE.
No you don't.
Better chance than against Boston? Yes.
Beat Cleveland? Not necessarily.
But, yes, better chance against Cleveland than against Boston.
WOW I dont take back what I said ... I still think EAST is wide open ...but I dont like what I see so far tonight ...I think i love what Stuckey and Prince bring hamilton is solid ...rasheed too inconsistent ...if he brought it mnore often that would solve A LOT of issues ...
I also agree that Cleveland is a better matchup ...not easy but come on Boston is a le team they have
KG to nullify Rasheed
Prince will have to chase pierce
and Rallen versus Hamilton is a wash ...
Now against Cleveland Lebron has a big edge at SF but i would take Stuckey/Hamilton/AI over Williams/West/Pavlovich and it's not close I think that would be a good series ....
Curious as to why you think that, Jam. At full strength Cleveland is deeper and has a player better than any of Boston's big three. Not to mention the Pistons barely beat, then lost to the Cavaliers in the playoffs when they were better and had HCA- neither of which is the case anymore.
Good god, Josh Howard. You are as worthless as they come.
except for that 3.
I think i can kinda answer this, it's because your guards are small and we match-up much better against your team. The only match-up where you are significantly better is at SF.
Your team defense is good but AI is actually able to get into the lane against it; assuming he can still do that. Also your front line is not tough and bulky like Perkins/David. Varejo usually just falls down. Z is good. And Ben is good for about a half a game. Not having to guard him is also a big benefit.
BOS is a match-up nightmare for us. CLE on the other hand presents only 2 problems.
It's irrelevant though. Right now we've got the cance . . .err i mean answer to deal with it and the line-up changes it causes.
The Pistons played Boston twice this season. Got blown out both times.
The Pistons played Cleveland once this season. The Pistons won.
Pistons don't match up as well against Boston as they do against Cleveland. Again, that doesn't mean the Pistons beat Cleveland. It means they have a better chance at beating Cleveland than they do against Boston. That's just how it is.
The Pistons don't have any advantage in any match-up against the Celtics at any position, with the possible exception of AI v. Rondo but AI is playing the 2-guard position and defensively can't stop Rondo from making an impact.
Against the Cavaliers, the Pistons have at least two, possibly three advantages in the main match-ups of positions.
Cleveland is deeper. Not necessarily an issue in the playoffs when teams shorten the bench to 2 or 3 players anyway.
Pistons match up better versus the Cavs.
Thunderous facial from Tyrus Thomas on Jermaine O'Neal. Literally knocked him out. Not a very pretty picture.
I think DET is 1-1 v CLE this year.
Oddly, i think we've only played them once.
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