Detroit vs. NOK Hornets

The Pistons were looking to get back to their winning ways against the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, but they were in for a surprise at the beginning. The rookie sensation Chris Paul was supposed to be out with an injury, but five minutes before game time he was suited up and ready to play. Like the last game, Sheed was able to start the game out with the first points for either side, and the Pistons raced to a 6-2 lead. Then it was all Chris Paul. He was able to hit the mid-range jumper and was able to get nothing but net on almost every attempt. Then it was Big Ben sending the rookie a message by blocking one of his lay ups to make him go cold for the next few minutes. At the end of the first it was the Pistons who were down by 24-25 after a buzzer beater three by Carlos Arroyo.


The bench was able to provide some sort of spark in the second, but it still wasn’t enough to regain the lead. New Orleans Speedy Claxton was lighting it up from the floor, whether it was from the lane or the pull up jumper. Arroyo did a nice job as well in the second, finding Antonio McDyess several times through-out the quarter for dunks and lay ups. After being behind for the whole second quarter, Chauncey was able to knock down the jumper to give the Pistons a 38-37 lead. At the end of the half it was the Hornets who finished out strong, with a 45-42 lead over the league leading Detroit Pistons.

The third quarter would begin with the Pistons being rejuvenated. They were able to put up some points after a few possessions giving the Pistons a 57-53 lead due to a Chauncey fall away jumper. He was fouled on the play, which made it a three-point play. Later on Big Ben was able to stuff the rookie again, as he blocked Paul on another lay up. At the end of the third Carlos Arroyo was able to bank another three in with the time running out to give the Pistons a 74-64 lead.


The fourth quarter would start out with most of the bench in, especially Carlos Arroyo because he and Chauncey both had five fouls. As the fourth quarter progressed Evans was able to steal the ball and find Rip for the easy lay in. The highlight in the fourth was when Arroyo fouled out and got ejected. This was not good for the Pistons because it was announced today that Arroyo would be suspended for one game because he bumped into a ref. Unfortunately the game that he will miss is the game versus the spurs, causing a rookie to have to step up. Despite the ejection the Pistons were able to race to a win with a final score of 96-86.


The Bench Power House of the Game: Antonio McDyess had another strong game with 8 points and 3 rebounds.


Stats:

Scoring: Tonight Rip Hamilton will get the nod, he went 12-21 from the floor (better than 50%) with 30 points total scored.
Assists: Chauncey has cooled off a bit, but he still had a bunch of assists as long as Tayshaun. Billups and Prince each had six assists in the game.
Rebounds: Of course, who else. Tonight it was Ben Wallace who led all Pistons with 12 Rebounds in the game.
Blocks: Big Ben doing it with the defense. He had three blocks in the game, ironically, all of them were on Paul.
Steals: Moe Evans had a good defensive effort during the game as he led all Pistons with 3 steals.