Detroit Pistons – 2006 VSL Game 3 July 11, 2006

Vs. New York Knicks

Recap:

Ok folks; this recap will be short. This was a pummeling, plain and simple. Here are a few first impressions:

1) Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars (I think), Flip Saunders, Chauncey Billups, & Rasheed Wallace were all in attendance. No pictures….sorry.

2) Jason Maxiell was presented with the first Pistonsforum.com T-shirt. Let’s hope he can be spotted with it.

Starters:

- Amir Johnson

- Jason Maxiell

- Cheikh Samb

- Alex Acker

- Will Blalock

1^st Qtr

Observations:

Maxiell: Not much from Maxiell in the 1^st.

Samb: Cheikh looks very willing to fight for position inside despite his lack of muscle. This is encouraging as he seems to get more comfortable with each game. A few of the Knick big men are visibly stronger than Samb, but he is giving no ground. Good.

Johnson: Amir was not shooting well to start this game, but he is playing hard and being aggressive. Unfortunately, he’s picked up 4 1^st qtr fouls mostly from finding himself out of position. He does finish one break strong and gets the foul as well.

Acker: Started this game a lot differently than game 1. He was fairly aggressive to start and made efforts to attack the basket. I’m glad that he’s not willing to settle and just launch jumpers. If he can get significant minutes, I really like his willingness to go to the hoop and not foolishly challenge big men. He makes good decisions even if he doesn’t finish every play.

Blalock: There wasn’t really much out of Blalock in the first qtr (this seems to be happening a lot). He’s playing with effort, but not accomplishing much. There was no penetration from the PG position.

Jovanovic, Billups, and Medley all check in, but really didn’t contribute much. Again, none of them showed lack of effort in my opinion.

TEAM: As a team there are a lot of turnovers that the Knicks are turning into points. They are slow on their defensive rotations and NO ONE is apparently able to keep Nate Robinson from getting wherever he wants on the court.

Point of interest:

@ 3:00 Pistons 9 fouls / Knicks 3 fouls

DET = 13 / NYK = 28

2^nd Qtr

Starters:

- Rodney Billups

- Alex Acker

- Nik Caner-Medley

- Jason Maxiell

- Marko Jovanovic

Observations:

The Pistons foul :07 sec into the qtr. There is a little bit of up and down to start the quarter, nothing of real substance.

Billups: Not much from as far as anything noteworthy.

Cleaves: He did a much better job, compared to the other PGs, of keeping Nate Robinson in front of him. All of a sudden, it wasn’t so easy for Nate to get into the paint. Nice defensive job from Mateen.

Maxiell: Maxiell is making a nice effort to attack the basket and for his trouble he is producing some points in the paint.

Acker: Alex looks like he had a bit of a slow start today. He’s hit a few shots here and there, but nothing outstanding or forceful.

Rickert: Is playing hard, but appears to be really hesitant today. Rick passed up a good shot, allowing his man to close on him.

TEAM: Thus far, the Knicks are just playing better. They are executing their sets well and getting the shots they want. The Pistons are committing foul after foul after foul. They are getting killed on their defensive rotations and the Knicks are getting a lot of open shots and getting to the rim when they want. They aren’t necessarily rebounding very well. They are crashing the boards, but rarely coming up with the ball.

At one point, they picked up two consecutive 24 second violations. They are looking very sloppy on offense and are getting next to nothing out of their offensive sets. They are simply not looking very good at all.

@ the Half: DET = 32 / NYK = 52

3^rd Qtr

Starters:

- Will Blalock

- Alex Acker

- Amir Johnson

- Jason Maxiell

- Cheikh Samb

Observations:

Well, folks; it just gets worse at time goes on, so I’ll just give you some reasons why…

TEAM: The team is posting up a bit to start the 3^rd. They are getting a few points in the paint, but not really a consistent result. They also got a few breaks, but are not executing them very well.

The Pistons aren’t really showing any movement on offense. It’s a lot of passing and watching today. They aren’t shooting FTs particularly well either. Lastly, they are still being caught out of position on D….this isn’t getting any better.

Rickert, Billups, & Wright all check in @ 2:22 – but really don’t make much difference.

Point of interest:

Amir Johnson already has 6 fouls early in this qtr.

End of 3^rd: DET = 49 / NYK = 77

4^th Qtr

Starters:

- Rodney Billups

- Alex Acker

- Rasheim Wright

- Rick Rickert

- Jason Maxiell

Observations:

At this point, it’s just a formality as the gym has almost emptied and everyone is just waiting for this one to be over.

Team: For most of this qtr, the offensive sets have been fruitless. They have traded some baskets and fouls, but nothing to help them get back in the game or even make a run.

Acker: Apparently, the Knicks decided to be the first to even attempt to challenge Acker defensively. They are posting him up with a slightly larger player relentlessly and he is picking up a number of fouls for his trouble. This may be his one glaring weakness (post defense), however, he is giving up considerable size in this particular matchup.

Jovanovic & Hoskin check in @ 5:48

Hoskin’s input goes pretty much like this……turnover……missed jumper…..putback. Not much else. Again, this is not from lack of effort…That is one thing that has been really nice about this year’s SL squad.

Wayne Wallace checks in @ 2:37. He fights for position a few times on offense, but is pretty much ignored by the guards. However, this is under 2 min. of play so there’s not much to read into that.

Point of interest:
Finally this one is over.

Well fans, there it is. Game 3 from the 2006 VSL is in. Keep checking back as we will keep you up to date on the progress of the Pistons. Enjoy!

-Low