From Pistonsforum.com, courtesy of LA Dre

Dallas Mavericks vs. Seattle Sonics

Me and the wife rolled into Vegas about 2:30PM yesterday with the temps hitting 110 degrees. Luckily for us the AC was working in COX Pavilion as we sat down at the at the beginning of the second quarter of the Mavs-Sonic games. The early crowd of curious onlookers were there to see Mr. Durant and based on my observations, he is long way from winning rookie of the month in November. Yeah he was the high scorer for the game, but 18 pts on 17 FGA reminds me of Kobe’s early days.. As far as playing defense and banging, it was almost non existent for the number 2 overall pick. It was almost as if the Sonic braintrust said to avoid contact to avoid injury as Durants boney legs and frame initially looked under nourished in the NBA world. On most defensive sequences he stood on the outside watching his fellow players bang for rebounds.

#5 pick Jeff Green played tentively but allowed the focus to be on Durrant. The Sonics also had Johan Petro, Julius Hodge and former Detroit Mercy player Jermaine “I can’t sing” Jackson there to hone their skills. The Mavs Maurice Ager, was clearly the crowd pleaser during this game as the former Spartan star had a series of dazzling dunks scoring 17 points and was the only player to have an autograph table set up after the game for the fans to meet him and get signatures. The Mavs first pick in the draft, Nick Fazekas, (#34 overall) had a terrible game shooting wise (1-7) and his parents who were sitting directly behind us were groaning on every miss.

Team China vs. Memphis Grizzlies.

The Las Vegas tourism bureau knows how to satisfy their visitors from overseas by bringing in Team China to diversify the crowds at the these summer NBA League games. Great idea as the Asian population at the game was in full force as they were there to support their fellow countrymen and it seems everyone in the house was waiting for a surprise visit from Yao Ming himself. Some youngster even yelled there’s Yao and a bunch of folks stood up looking. Alas no Yao sighting today other than a tall teen in a Yao Rockets jersey.

But Team China had an ace in the hole that must have infuriated the Bucks organization. Yes there wearing # 11 in the Team China lineup was the Bucks #6 pick Yi Jianlian. He received a nice ovation from the mixed crowd as he was introduced in the starting lineup. Continue Reading »

Detroit Pistons - 2006 VSL Game 5 July 14, 2006

Vs. Boston Celtics

Recap:

The Pistons gift wrapped and handed this game to the Celtics thanks to a well planned zone defense and some personal defensive lapses. Here are a few first impressions:

- Again, I was foiled by the opportunity to get good pictures

- Sitting in front of fans who scream the same thing all game long is pretty irritating

- Note to said fan: Screaming “Every time” to a guy who gets in the paint once every 5 tries, is probably silly. If he was able to do it “every time”, he probably wouldn’t be fighting for a space on the roster at VSL.

Ok now to the game:

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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.

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.

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