A poor start doomed Detroit Tuesday night in the Vegas Summer League, as the Knicks jumped out to a 15-point first quarter lead and coasted the rest of the way for a 91-68 win.

Six Knick players scored in double digits, led by Brian Greene’s 17 points. New York shot a blistering 51.5% from the field, while the Baby Pistons hit only 40.3% of their attempts and totaled just 10 assists for the night. The evening’s futility might best be summed up by the box score of Detroit guard Rodney Billups (pictured above, evidently by the league’s HobbitCam): three points, three rebounds, one assist, six fouls.

Alex Acker continued his hot play by leading all players with 22 points, and now ranks as the #4 scorer in TVSL action with a 22.7 ppg average. Amir Johnson tallied 12 points and seven rebounds, while Jason Maxiell had 11 points and eight boards. Maxiell shot an abysmal 3-12 from the free throw line as the Detroiters hit just 40% of their charity tries.

This game turned out to be one of those “everybody plays” stinkers, which should provide plenty of material for The Low during his on-the-scene recap later today. Be sure to check back with us for the post-mortem.

The Baby Pistons fought off a 16-point first half deficit to rally for a 90-87 victory over the Phoenix Suns in the Toshiba Vegas Summer League.

A 57-38 edge in the second half turned the tide for Detroit, which shot 65% after halftime while holding the Suns to nine field goals and 36% shooting. The Pistons scored seven unanswered points in the final 1:07, including a Cheikh Samb fallaway jumper for the lead with 15 seconds remaining.

Alex Acker led all scorers with 29 points (9-24 FG, 11-14 F). Mateen Cleeves tallied 14 and Nik Caner-Medley had 10.

Phoenix was led by Maciej Lampe with 19 points (8-8 FG) and eight rebounds, while Amare Stoudemire chipped in 17 points (3-9 FG, 11-13 FT) and nine boards.

We’ll be posting an on-the-scene recap from The Low, so be sure to check in with us later today.

He’s long, he’s tall, he inflicts paper cuts instead of personal fouls. Now the Detroit News is filling in some of the blanks on Cheikh Samb, the 7′1″ beanpole acquired by the Pistons in a draft night trade with the Lakers.

“He says, this is a good beginning, a good learning experience,” Fall said. “He is going to give it his best shot and whatever happens, whatever the team decides to do, is fine. He’s just glad to be here.”

There’s also a story about Nik Caner-Medley, so check ‘em both out.

Check out this link for a nice selection of game photos from the Vegas Summer League:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/det/photos?pg=1∩=0

Today the Pistons announced that former first-round pick and MSU legend Mateen Cleaves has been added to the team’s Vegas Summer League roster, replace guard Frank Williams.

In addition to his one-season stint with Detroit in 2000-01, Cleaves played 10 games in the NBA Development League last season with fellow roster mates Alex Acker and Amir Johnson. He averaged 20 points, 7.2 assists and 3 rebounds in the D League.

Even if Mateen is only playing to attract interest from other teams, this sizes up as a good move.

Unselfish point guards are rare in the every-man-for-himself lifeboat drill that is Summer League, but a guy who helps everybody get good touches and stay enthusiastic ultimately creates more learning opportunities for young pros. Throw in Cleaves’ familiarity with Alex and Amir, and the results should be considerably more entertaining for Pistons fans than watching Chauncey Billups’ midget brother airmail jumpers over the backboard. Good luck, Mateen.