Detroit Pistons - 2006 VSL Game 4 July 13, 2006

Vs. Los Angeles Clippers

Recap:

This was another pummeling, plain and simple. Here are a few first impressions:

- Apparently Mike Abdenour digs “Rappers Delight”. Watching him bob his head to it was classic.

- Joe D and Sheed were in attendance

- Lucky for me, I had 3 card carrying members of the “Pistons will be better offensively without Ben” club behind me. They also made it a point to be Mateen Cleaves’ personal cheering section.

- No Caner-Medley tonight, not sure why

- I will NOT be referring to the Clippers at ANY POINT in this recap as the “Clips” you got that Greg Kelser???

Ok now to the game:

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The Baby Pistons got their lunch handed to them on the boards, at the stripe, the arc and in the backcourt. For the second time, the Pistons dropped a summer league match as the Clippers were victorious 89-73.

19 year old Slava Korolev had his 3rd double digit scoring game for the Clipshow. A 6′9″ Andre Kirilenko wannabe, Korolev was a controversial pick for the 2005 Clippers, as they reached for European help in a point forward considered a frankenstein combination of Kukoc meets Kirilenko meets Pippen (per Jason Givony @ DraftExpress.com).

The Pistons backcourt came up short with a combined 4-24 shooting performance by Alex Acker, Martin (sic) Cleaves and Will Blalock.

Stay tuned for The Low’s recap.

The first of Detroit’s four tape-delay games on NBA TV airs tonight at midnight, showcasing Amare Stoudamire and the Phoenix Suns. Here’s the full schedule:

Saturday, July 15: Phoenix-Detroit, 12 am ET
Monday, July 17: New York-Detroit, 1 am ET
Thursday, July 20: Clippers-Pistons, 9 pm ET
Friday, July 21: Celtics-Pistons, 10:30 pm ET

Good news! Nba.com is now offering video highlights of Detroit’s 90-87 win over Phoenix on July 10. In the 90 seconds or so of action, you’ll see some very freaky drives by Alex Acker, plus a dunkfest that includes throwdowns by Nik Caner-Medley, Jason Maxiell and Cheikh Samb.

For the whole game, you can also tune in to NBA TV on Friday evening at midnight.

With two games left in the 2006 Vegas Summer League, here’s how the Baby Pistons stack up against the league’s top individual performers, according to statistics from vegassummerleague.com:

BLOCKS: Cheikh Samb - #2 at 2.0 bpg
STEALS: Will Blalock - #2 (tied) at 2.0 spg
MINUTES: Alex Acker - #3 at 35.0 mpg
SCORING: Alex Acker - #4 at 22.7 ppg
ASSISTS: Will Blalock - #6 (tied) at 4.0 apg
REBOUNDS: Alex Acker/Amir Johnson - #21 (tied) at 6.0 rpg

Conclusions? By the numbers, Alex Acker clearly appears to be the team’s MVP so far. His high PT total hints that Pistons management might have decided to take a long look at him before adding another guard. (Or maybe they just need him out there really, really badly.)

Will Blalock hasn’t dominated, but ranks high among league guards in two categories while playing relatively few minutes.

Big surprises? There’s none bigger than Cheikh Samb. The 7′1″ Senegalese has gone from joke to prospect in three games, displaying unexpected toughness and hoops aptitude. Meanwhile Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell have impressed in spots but could be doing better, particularly on the boards.

As the summer winds down we’ll revisit the numbers, aided by game footage on NBA TV. Should be interesting.