reCAP: Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers

11/14/12

Tonight the 76ers were hosting the winless (0-8) Pistons. It would seem that the 76ers would beat up the Pistons by halftime, but that is why they play the game. You can’t win a game on paper; let’s see how the game plays out on the court. Tuesday night the Pistons almost won their first game of the season against the Oklahoma City Thunder who were in the NBA finals last year. The 76ers were coming off a blowout loss against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pistons had a last minute injury when Rodney Stuckey couldn’t play because he had an illness. Corey Maggette made his season debut for the Pistons tonight after being out with a leg injury. The 76ers welcomed back Kwame Brown after sitting out with a calf injury. Andrew Bynum is the only 76er player currently injured.

In the first half, the 76ers played some defense however they could not make a shot to save their life. The ball wouldn’t go through the net even if that player was wide open. The 76ers were not physical and it showed because the Pistons outrebounded them by a wide margin. The Pistons shot great in the second quarter making 60% of their shots. The score at halftime was 52-34 Pistons. I do have to say that Lavoy Allen had a good first half for the 76ers. He scored 10 points off the bench while he struggled to score any points in the past two games as a starter. Greg Monroe was my standout star for the Pistons. He almost had a double-double in the first half. He had 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Kyle Singler, who was starting in place of Stuckey, scored 13 of his 16 points in the half. Tayshaun Prince scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half.

Could things improve in the second half? You would like to think it could happen, but unfortunately that was not the case. The 76ers may have done a little better in the third quarter, but that could not be said about the fourth quarter. In the end, the Pistons won the game 94-76. Ironic since Philadelphia’s team name is the 76ers. Again, the 76ers could not shoot the ball at all. They will have no standout star recognition tonight. Allen fouled out of the game, but finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Jrue Holiday had 12 points and seven assists in the game. The standout star of this entire game was Monroe. He finished with 19 points, 18 rebounds, and six assists. Brandon Knight had 15 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in the game. Jason Maxiell was two points shy of recording a double-double. He finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.

Overall, to beat a dead horse, the 76ers have to shoot the ball better. Shooting 30% is not going to win any games. As much as they have been outrebounding most of the teams they have been playing. For the past two nights in a row they were outrebounded by the opposing team. Tonight the Pistons outrebounded the 76ers 57-38. That’s unacceptable if they want to win games. I expected the rebound margin to be a wide margin because the Pistons have a lot of big players on their team compared to the 76ers. The lone bright spot of the game was that they committed only four turnovers. As I said in previous blog entries, I wanted Holiday to cut down on his turnovers. Tonight he only committed one turnover. Letting the Pistons get their first win against the team you play for will leave a bitter taste in your mouth until the next game is played on your schedule. You don’t want to be the team that gives a team like the Pistons their first win of the season after starting out winless for a certain amount of games. That’s just plain embarrassing. I feel sorry for the fans that had to witness this game. At least they didn’t overspend for their tickets. Tickets were as low as 28 cents on StubHub for the upper deck and three dollars for the lower level. The 76ers played like they were worth 28 cents.

Where do the 76ers go from here? Sound off and stay tuned on Friday when the 76ers host another big and physical team in the Utah Jazz.