I don't know what it is with this Michigan team, but they really struggle on the road. Somehow they start playing the other team's game. They scored 60 in regulation at Wisconsin. SIXTY! That's 17 below their season average. And it wasn't really Wisconsin's suffocating D (which really isn't that suffocating), it was more...well, shots weren't dropping. Missing layups, open shots... Hardaway nailed a semi-contested 3 with 2.5 seconds left to go up by 3. Somehow Michigan failed to foul, and Wisconsin hit a 35 foot shot. The team shot 39% in the game and only attempted 2 free-throws! I'm not going to go on about the lack of foul shots in a losing game, but there were clearly some bad calls.
On the other hand the Pistons put together a solid couple of wins despite losing Drummond for a few weeks, and the Red Wings seem to be coming around. The Pistons beat the Spurs (sans Ginobili & Duncan, but still...) and the Bucks, both potential/probable playoff teams.
Of course just as it looks like they're putting something together, they get blown out at home by the VERY lowly Hornicans. Greg Monroe got out-played by ROBIN LOPEZ. Yes, THAT Robin Lopez, the lesser of the 2 Lopez twins. To add insult to injury, New Orleans was wearing what Mark Champion called "the worst uniforms in the NBA".
Yeah, they're pretty bad. Purple front, green back, tramp-stamp just below the waist on the shorts... Not as bad as some of the Bullets' unis from the '70's though...
Anyway, I only got to hear the first 2 minutes when the Pistons were leading 8-2 and looked (sounded) like they were playing pretty good, and then the last couple of minutes when the game was out of hand. So what the heck happened? Well, my opinion (since I only hear about 4 minutes of the game & saw the highlights) is the Pistons got out-worked & had bad interior defense. This will be a theme with this team with Drummond out with a broken butt. They also can't shoot particularly well. Knight was bad (again), Stuckey too (although he got to the line), and Monroe is CLEARLY not good enough to be a primary option most nights (and he put up Drummond-like numbers from the free-throw line, going 1-7).
The Wings have strung together 3 wins in a row, including gutting out a 3-2 win in the 2nd night of a back-to-back against the reigning Champs, the Kings. Somehow the Wings still don't have a road power play goal though (0-23 on the season). The home power play is not bad at about a 23.7% scoring rate (which would be #6 in the league), so one wonders what the issue is with the away PP. Anyway, the Wings won't get another chance to get off the schneid until Sunday at Minnesota, a team that doesn't let in too many PP goals (only 6 on the year, Wings have allowed 15).
In personal sports news, I finally registered for the Detroit Free Press Marathon and for a 10k coming up in March called the ShamRock 'N Roll Run. I'm pretty stoked about the shirt that comes with registration. I'd like to get around a 45 min time or better on the 10k, but since I haven't run an actual race since 2002 (the Carrera Coyote Cumbres in Monterrey, MX for which I did zero training and finished dead on my feet at about 55 min), I don't really have a good idea how I'll finish.
Of course just as it looks like they're putting something together, they get blown out at home by the VERY lowly Hornicans. Greg Monroe got out-played by ROBIN LOPEZ. Yes, THAT Robin Lopez, the lesser of the 2 Lopez twins. To add insult to injury, New Orleans was wearing what Mark Champion called "the worst uniforms in the NBA".
Anyway, I only got to hear the first 2 minutes when the Pistons were leading 8-2 and looked (sounded) like they were playing pretty good, and then the last couple of minutes when the game was out of hand. So what the heck happened? Well, my opinion (since I only hear about 4 minutes of the game & saw the highlights) is the Pistons got out-worked & had bad interior defense. This will be a theme with this team with Drummond out with a broken butt. They also can't shoot particularly well. Knight was bad (again), Stuckey too (although he got to the line), and Monroe is CLEARLY not good enough to be a primary option most nights (and he put up Drummond-like numbers from the free-throw line, going 1-7).
The Wings have strung together 3 wins in a row, including gutting out a 3-2 win in the 2nd night of a back-to-back against the reigning Champs, the Kings. Somehow the Wings still don't have a road power play goal though (0-23 on the season). The home power play is not bad at about a 23.7% scoring rate (which would be #6 in the league), so one wonders what the issue is with the away PP. Anyway, the Wings won't get another chance to get off the schneid until Sunday at Minnesota, a team that doesn't let in too many PP goals (only 6 on the year, Wings have allowed 15).
In personal sports news, I finally registered for the Detroit Free Press Marathon and for a 10k coming up in March called the ShamRock 'N Roll Run. I'm pretty stoked about the shirt that comes with registration. I'd like to get around a 45 min time or better on the 10k, but since I haven't run an actual race since 2002 (the Carrera Coyote Cumbres in Monterrey, MX for which I did zero training and finished dead on my feet at about 55 min), I don't really have a good idea how I'll finish.
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