July 9th, 2007
July 9, 2007
DET vs MEM – VSL Game 2
Before I get started, I would like to send special thanks to this ****:
Who graciously sauntered into the row in front of me, promptly headed to the group of four empty seats and decided to drop his giant blackberry using head directly in front of me, blocking ALL of my filming efforts while pretending not to see me sitting there and remaining there for the entire 3rd qtr. I love people.
Points of note:
1st Qtr
DET started this game playing pretty good defense while getting considerably better execution from their offensive sets as opposed to game 1. Afflalo looks very aggressive to start the game and also like the fact that Stuckey looks to be more under control as things get under way.
Samb started today’s game much quicker on his defensive rotations and really wasn’t getting beat too bad on defense today. I did notice, however, that he’s picking up a lot of fouls. He’s maybe just a step slow.
I didn’t really notice much early from Mejia and Maxiell is business as usual with his aggressiveness
2nd Qtr
The 2nd unit didn’t look very effective today. The starters had clearly maintained control and the reserves didn’t do much to maintain that lead. There were a lot more turnovers, but at points when the starters returned, they managed to keep up the pace when MEM looked as if they would take control. DET traded baskets for the latter part of the qtr and did surrender much of their lead.
3rd Qtr
There was a pretty standard start to the 3rd, nothing spectacular, as far as I could see around the giant scalp in front of me. DET spent a lot of the 3rd picking up fouls as MEM was being very aggressive driving the lane. DET’s offense wasn’t much to speak of as they resorted to a lot of jumpers in the 3rd and they weren’t very proficient at that point.
4th Qtr
By the fourth, both teams were trading baskets inconsistently and not looking as if either really wanted to win the game. However, MEM seemed to hit some what of a dry spell and DET took advantage by getting some timely buckets, although inconsistently. As the qtr wore on DET got exceedingly aggressive driving the lane and were doing a great job of attacking the basket. At this stage, DET took the lead for good, although, they did cause themselves some unnecessary sweat by picking up a few fouls that put MEM on the line with the opportunity to get back in control. However, DET held on and picked up a nice win in the 2nd game of this year’s VSL.
Individual Notes:
Stuckey
I must admit, Stuckey looked much more under control and aggressive today. He wasn’t so much dominant as he was consistent through today’s game. He attacked at the right moments and was quite successful when he did. Overall, he turned in a pretty nice performance today.
Afflalo
Afflalo was very aggressive to start today’s game. He attacked when he had opportunities and defended well throughout the game. He wasn’t a standout, but was very steady.
Samb
Samb did a much better job on his defensive rotations today. He still needs to get a grasp on when to challenge so as not to pick up needless fouls, although, I felt he picked a couple that he really didn’t deserve. The officials seemed very selective.
Mejia
Sammy was somewhat of a non-factor today. Not in a bad way, but there just wasn’t much to gauge from his play today. He did knock down a shot or two, but really didn’t have a major imprint on today’s game.
Maxiell
Again, Max was Max. He was aggressive as usual and I think he has figured out how to maintain his consistency, so it should be very interesting to find out how well he does with consistent minutes (fingers crossed).
Today’s game wasn’t mind-blowing; however, it was a very good display of execution, consistent effort, and aggressive play. This game showed us that the top 5 or 6 guys on this SL roster learn relatively quickly and adapt/adjust well to new concepts. They looked like 5 strangers in game one and managed to gel very well by game 2. That should be an encouraging sign for anyone wondering if this year’s crop will be able to adapt to the nuances of the NBA level of play.
Good showing today.
2 Responses to “2007 SL Game 2 Recap - Detroit vs. Memphis”
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It looks like the Pistons are working on being a more up tempo team, at least from the clips I’ve been seeing. They do need to be more aggressive and more up tempo. It’ll be interesting to see how it all develops.
LordMaji,
The uptempo feel I think is more a side effect of the Summer League than something that the coaching staff is moving towards. When players haven’t played together before, you’re more likely to have turnovers resulting in fastbreaks and you are more likely to look for the first shot rather than moving the ball around.
The Low,
I definitely appreciate the video highlights and having to put up with over-sized craniums. It does seem though that being in the gym watching the game takes something away from the players as I was very impressed with Stuckey and really felt that he was definitely the stand-out of this game.
Going 9/16 and 9/9 from the line with the majority of those buckets coming off of strong drives to the hoops is pretty impressive even if it is the Summer League.
Furthermore, Stuckey was making some GREAT cuts through the lane and recognized the double team on Maxiell inredibly well which resulted in two great passes from Maxiell to Stuckey for easy lay ups.
What I would like to see him work on is distributing the ball and finding the open man off his drives. He ended the game with only 2 assists, although he dished a few times where the player didn’t convert the bucket.
His defense was solid against Mike Conley Jr. (who by the way is freaking fast!) too.
I thought Cheikh despite being underweight and out of condition, played very well. Recording a Double-double is a nice thing to see. The box score has him with one block but I am pretty sure I saw him swat at least two plus a number of after the foul blocked shots which apparently don’t count for blocks.
He was doubled a couple of times and did a great job of recognizing an open Maxiell for a couple big baby-eating dunks. He worked hard on the offensive glass and even showed some good footwork on a baby jump hook from about 8 feet out. I really think that all this guy needs is to work out with Rip this summer and he’ll be in shape in no time. Another 20-30 pounds through the mid-section and lower body would definitely help as well.
Afflalo looked good on defense and showed a few flashes of getting to the hoop and finishing although he was coming up short on his jumpers (did get the stroke down on a three ball which looked nice). He also had some solid drives to the hoop for dishes to Samb dunks.
I think it says a lot to see how well the starting 5 is playing with each other after just two games.
I was disappointed in how they finished the game, especially with Maxiell who was more interested in trying to eat a couple more babies than he was with finishing the game out the right way.
I was also incredibly disappointed with the second team. The 2nd quarter seemed to drag on and on for what seemed like forever. The 2nd team was a turnover machine during that quarter. The only guy that I can give any props to is Jaaber who had a couple flashes of solid play and looks pretty darn quick, but made more than a few turnovers which look like they were caused by being nervous. I think if he could just relax, he could play a lot better.
Anyways, thats my two cents on the game. I had the benefit of being able to watch the game without any melon heads sitting in front of me, and I had it DVR’d so I could rewind and what not. It just gets me that much more excited for what could happen if and when Amir gets out on the court.