I'll handle tonight's game preview while Matt, Mike, and Kevin settle into their new offices here at SB Nation.  I know some of you DBB veterans are not happy with the platform (or maybe me) here, but I'm certain you will grow to be satisfied with the better commenting system and extra perks (FanPosts & FanShots).  It's a change for all of us, but I sympathize with those not big on the change, so I'm going to follow the classic DBB format for tonight's preview.

Game tips at 7:30 pm ET

Toronto Raptors: 13-17 (4-12 Road)

Detroit Pistons: 11-17 (8-5 Home)

Oppo research

Unlike the Pistons, who have lost five in a row now, the Raptors have themselves a little winning streak going of... two.  In those two wins, the kid that we all possess a basketball affinity for, Amir Johnson, was the leader in one way or another.  In the win against New Jersey, he led the Raptors with 18 points.  Against the Hornets, he pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.  Could it be that the 22-year old's talent is really starting to shine through?  I can't say I'm happy about it's timing, as I'm sure Amir's going to look to have a big game against his former squad tonight.  The good news for the Pistons is that Toronto has lost three straight road games and haven't won at the Palace since 2003 (11 tries).  I've attached the Raptors stats after the jump.

The Drama:

"It's tough to have much drama when your trotting out the JV team for every game."  I agree with Kevin on that one, but Amir Johnson's return to the Palace could create some drama, especially since he's been producing lately.  No hard feelings from Amir, though:

"I wouldn't say it didn't work out," Johnson said. "We played great together. When we were out there, all the young guys, they'd call us the Zoo Crew. "I've just got an opportunity to play a bit more here." 

Keys for Detroit

Get to the free throw line & make them for free:  Pistons have attempted less than 20 free throws in four of the games during this five game losing streak.  Once they get to the line, they need to knock them down.  Missing five free throws in a row, like they did last game, is unacceptable.  If it weren't for Ben Wallace (!!!) hitting two free throws last game they would have shot less than 50% as a team in the game. Puking pathetic.

Guard the perimeter: Easier said than done, since the Pistons aren't very good at contesting shots way out there.  The Raptors come in shooting 6th in the NBA at 3-point field goals (6.6-18) almost exactly what the Pistons give up per game.  The last time these two teams met (November 4th) the Raptors shot 24 threes and nailed 8, all of which were probably wide open looks. 

Racking up 20-assists: I said it in the last game preview, that Detroit plays significantly better when they move the ball around and accumulate assist numbers.  It's not so much the stat itself as it is an assurance that the Pistons are moving the ball around, creating better looks. 

Question of the Game: 

Are we going to win?  It's time...

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As you are all well aware of, this blog is fairly new to SB Nation.  It started last April right in the thick of the season when everyone was already accustomed to their respective Pistons internet routines.  While I have definitely picked up a lot of readers since that time, I feel like we haven't really had the proper chance to introduce ourselves to one another.  With the first full season of this blog officially starting on Wednesday, I wanted to give us the opportunity to do that over the next few days. 

This was something Ian Casselberry did over at the Detroit Tigers blog, Bless You Boys, and I thought it was a great idea (he got from AZ Snakepit).  The major purpose of SB Nation is to generate a community of fans that get together regularly and discuss the happenings of their favorite team.  I think the best segue into a healthy community is getting to know each other and what better time to do that than before the season starts.

I realize some people want to remain strictly readers.  That's fine and I appreciate your readership, but feel free to introduce yourself anyway to let me know you're there.  For those of you who want to become a part of the community, but may be shy, see this as a nudge to get your foot in the door to feel comfortable with sharing your thoughts on this site.  If you're already a regular reader and commenter, don't be afraid to let others get to know you better.

Tell us anything you'd like.  You can start by telling everyone where you're from or how you became a Pistons fan.  You're welcome to share as much or little as you want with the rest of the community.  

This is going to be an exciting season, so I'm looking forward to experiencing it with fellow Pistons fans.  This site is nothing without the readers and the discussions we have on a daily basis.  

If you're nervous about being the first to introduce yourself, you can read my humble introduction when the site first started (and I'll add to it in the comments).  Also, here is a video introduction of four other big Pistons fans: 

Now don't just sit there, start getting to know one another!

The Pistons were never really in this one.  Aside from the four point lead they held six minutes into the game, they played the majority of the game like they just loss four games in a row today and were running it back against a fresh five in a game of pick-up basketball.  

In pick up basketball, you generally see a lot of one-on-one, no ball movement basketball and that's exactly what the Pistons lazy offense consisted of tonight.  I said in the pre-game that the Pistons magic number for assists should be 20, because it has typically translated into wins, or games they actually have a good shot in.  Tonight they dished out just 12 and had virtually no shot of beating these Bobcats.  

After falling behind by 21 points early in the third, the Pistons battled back to pull to within 10 at one point, but in the second half there were too many buckets beings traded back and forth as opposed to sustained runs (despite having plenty of opportunities) for the Pistons to make up lost ground.  

The most puke inducing sequence of futility for the Pistons was around the four minute mark in the fourth when they trailed by a baker's dozen and looked like they might have one last ditch effort remaining in their withered systems.  Here's how it played out:  Stuckey missed an ugly runner, Wilcox turned it over because he hung on to the rim while trying to tip what looked to be an easy rebound, Stuckey missed two free throws badly, Bynum short armed a three, and Jerebko got blocked.  This was all before Charlotte finally made a basket to increase the lead to 14.  It wasn't a real mess until Bynum followed that up by missing two free throws.

Gerald Wallace was dominant all game long for the Bobcats, finishing with 29 points, 12 rebounds, and four blocked shots.  An extra kick in Charlie Villanueva's injured shin was former Piston, Nazr Mohammed, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds off the bench. 

Stuckey led the Pistons with 20 points on 9-20 shooting.  

More after the jump: 

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NBA Regular Season Game 28
	@
11-16 (3-11 away)		10-16 (9-4 home)
Time Warner Cable Arena Bobcats Blog: Rufus on Fire
December 22, 2009  7:00 PM ET
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Probable starters:
Chucky Atkins	PG	Raymond Felton
Rodney Stuckey	SG	Stephen Jackson
Jonas Jerebko	SF	Gerald Wallace
Jason Maxiell	PF	Boris Diaw
Ben Wallace	C	Tyson Chandler

Pistons are riding a four game losing streak into Charlotte where they have won six of their last nine.  Unfortunately, I was at one of the losing efforts back in 2006 when I attended college in Charlotte.  Let's hope Detroit does not make this season's road record any worse than it already is.

Detroit played Charlotte earlier this year in Detroit and whooped on their former coach, Larry Brown's team.  Charlotte's a different team now than it was then, though.  For one, they acquired Stephen Jackson from Golden State who has scored at least 22 points in six of his last nine games.  He recently was injured (back spasms), but is expected to play tonight.  Gerald Wallace (severe headache), who is playing much improved over the past seven games, is also supposed to play.

If only Detroit was so lucky with their injured gunners tonight.  Ben Gordon and Richard Hamilton both participated lightly in drills on Monday, but Gordon is still considered questionable for tonight's game, while Hamilton is doubtful.  Tayshaun Prince is also listed as doubtful.  

Expect this game to be a slow paced, low scoring affair again.  Charlotte and Detroit both rank amongst the best in opponents points per game and near the bottom in number of possessions per game.  I think a key for Detroit here on out is to see at least a 20-spot in the assists column, as it seems it directly translates to their success (5-3 when they put up 20+ assists, and they should have won the Hornets game).  

***Announcement***

And now for the big news I mentioned on Twitter earlier today.  I won't draw out the suspense: Motown String Music is merging with Matt Watson and Detroit Bad Boys, which should be effective first thing tomorrow morning.  

It was a difficult decision for me because I know I was just getting started at running my own community here, but ultimately, the goal was to have the best Pistons community on the 'net.  Matt is a Pistons blogging legend, and I've long been a huge fan of his work, so when the opportunity arose to merge, I couldn't pass it up.  Nothing will change on your part, other than the fact there will be more content for you to read, more commenters sharing their intelligent perspectives, and the name of the blog (with a killer new logo).  Of course, I'll still be around giving you my take on things as the co-manager with Matt.  

I'm going to keep Motown String Music's twitter account (with a slight alteration), so that my followers don't need to make any adjustments (you can also follow me @bpackey).  You don't even have to change your bookmarks until you feel completely comfortable with the new look because we're having it automatically forward to Detroit Bad Boys.  All prior content will still be here with the original content.  

It's an exciting change that I've been looking forward to for a couple months.  Don't get scared when you see the change, embrace it, and get ready to be a part of the best Pistons community on the interwebz.  

UPDATE:  Ben Gordon is on the active list.  [H/T Pistons Nation]

The shootaround didn't help for the Lakers game, but I have a feeling it can be helpful for the Bobcats tonight.  Click & read away.

 Ron Artest is a "hardcore dude," so it's only fitting that he would want to play in Detroit, one of the "hardest core cities."  

 Former MSU player, Shannon Brown, shamed Chucky Atkins with this block on Sunday evening.  The Lakers players are lobbying for Brown to be in this year's slam dunk contest.  Kobe says Brown can jump higher than he did in his younger days and Michael Jordan, no question.

 Ben Gordon is still not sure why he wasn't wanted in Chicago.  After the Bulls' 35-point collapse to the Kings, I think it's more than safe to say that anyone in the Bulls organization who didn't want him before, wish they had him now.  

 As I mentioned in the Lakers game recap, Charlie Villanueva went without his mask on Sunday evening.  However, it appears he made an executive decision without an OK from team doctors.  CV was never comfy in the Rip-mask, even though his play never seemed to suffer with it.

 I've said this all along with the injuries that the Pistons are experiencing up to this point in the season: It's a blessing in disguise for the rookies.  They are getting plenty of playing time and thus, we're getting an early look at how they may fit into the Pistons system, not only now, but in the future.  So far, they are definitely holding their own.

 Boris over at Midwest Sports Fans does a weekly Pistons watch that is worth checking out.  You could probably guess what the title of this past week's is called: Injuries Lingering and West Woes Continuing.

 With Christmas just a few days away, Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, and Austin Daye played Santy Clause for children in the Detroit area.  I don't know if Rip should be having any kids sitting on his lap with that hammy problem! 

 Grasping for last minute gift ideas? The Pistons official auction site has some stuff you might be interested in, including a life sized cut out of Jonas Jerebko!

About three weeks ago Lakers forward, Ron Artest came out and said that he wanted to fight Ben Wallace.  He quickly retracted his comments and said that he'd like to fight him after they retire, in a ring, and just for show.  There was no fight on Sunday night. 

No fight at all. 

The Pistons looked alive for maybe the first few minutes of the game, when they jumped out to a 9-4 lead, but were completely dominated the rest of the way by the defending champs.  And to think it was the Lakers, not the Pistons, playing their last game of a five game road trip and arrived in Detroit around 5 AM Sunday morning due to the snow storms.

Aside from the Pistons being flat out inferior to the stacked Lakers team, their excessive turnovers played a major role in the way this one played out.  Detroit turned the ball over 22 times in the game, seven of which came in the first quarter to help LA build a 31-19 lead after the first 12 minutes of play.  

The Pistons' obligatory fourth quarter spurt (17-4 at one point) was enough to make the score look somewhat respectable in the end, but it was far from sufficient in digging the Pistons out of what was, at one time or another, a 21-point hole. 

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 28 points. He also had five steals.  Ron Artest had 14 points, nine assists, six steals, and five rebounds.  The Pistons surprisingly shot better than the Lakers from the field (by 0.3%) and were led by Rodney Stuckey who finished with 16 points.  

This is Detroit's fourth straight loss, their second losing streak of four or more games this season.  They return to action on Tuesday in Charlotte vs. the Bobcats.  

A few more thoughts after the jump: 

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NBA Regular Season Game 27
	@
21-4 (6-2 away)		11-15 (8-4 home)
Palace of Auburn Hills Lakers Blog: Silver Screen and Roll
December 20, 2009  6:00 PM ET
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 950 WWJ
Probable starters:
Derek Fisher	PG	Chucky Atkins
Kobe Bryant	SG	Rodney Stuckey
Ron Artest	SF	Jonas Jerebko
Pau Gasol	PF	Jason Maxiell
Andrew Bynum	C	Ben Wallace

The last time these two teams met, the Pistons got worked by the defending champs.  Kobe dropped 40 points on the roster depleted 'stons en route to the Lakers 13-point victory.  The show moves to The Palace this evening where the Pistons play much better, but odds are in favor of a repeat performance. 

Detroit's roster continues to have its aches and pains as Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince are still out with injuries.  Ben Gordon is a game-time decision and now Charlie Villanueva is hindered by a nagging heel injury (that won't prevent him from playing, though).  

The Pistons are 'fresh' off a three game road trip, which inevitably also turned into a three game losing streak.  After a loss to the Thunder on Friday night, there's no sweeter homecoming present than the Lakers (sigh).  

If there's one thing going for the Pistons aside from the fact that they do play much better at home, they have beaten the likes of Denver, Orlando, and Atlanta at The Palace this season.  Adding the Lakers to that list would not only be impressive, but fitting.  

It's certainly possible.  The Lakers are at their final destination of a five game road trip before returning home to face the mighty Thunder that took down the Pistons the other night.  The only problem is that the Lakers don't lose often.  They have just four tallies in the L column this season and haven't lost a single game to a team with a losing record this season.

This could get ugly, but let's give it a valiant shot!

Apologies for not having a legit recap up yesterday regarding the Thunder loss.  I'm home for the holidays and prior obligations got in the way.  Let's do a little shootaround the interwebz to dust off the cobwebs before tonight's big showdown with the Lakers.

 Rodney Stuckey had a quality production against the Thunder (season-high 31 points), but the same criticisms keep resurfacing and that's an indication that he's not learning from his mistakes.  Even John Kuester is starting to take notice of these things.  31 points sounds sexy, but Stuckey is trying to do too much at times and needs to learn to help his teammates generate offense, too.  (H/T to Need4Sheed)

 A lot of Stuckey trying to do too much is probably due to the fact he feels he has to make up for the injured 'stons.  He might get a little help on Sunday, as Ben Gordon is questionable for the Lakers game.  Tayshaun Prince (back) and Richard Hamilton (hamstring), however, will be out.  It'd be nice to start seeing an increase in production from Will Bynum, as well.  He started to get back on track Friday night (6-9 for 12 points).    

 During pre-game, George Blaha was raving about the Oklahoma City crowd.  I remember thinking, how loud can they possibly be? But man, were they ever loud.  I wasn't the only one who noticed, either.  That's a huge home court advantage, especially when they start winning consistently.  They have the young talent to do so, and soon. 

 Charlie Villanueva injured his right heel on Friday, an injury he said he's been dealing with for a few games.  He will play against the Lakers, but he says he'll have to keep a close eye on this one.  Just what the Pistons need is another injury to one of its top scorers.   

 The Chucky Atkins story is a nice one.  He's overcome a couple injuries (one major) to continue playing at this point in his career (age 35) and has been averaging 20+ minutes a game as the starting point guard due to teammate injuries.  He hasn't been putting up stellar numbers, but he's been effective, I guess.

 When Jonas Jerebko was 16-years old, he served Joe Dumars popcorn in Sweden.  Did you know that?  Six years later, Dumars made him a second round draft pick and, well, you know the rest.  He's quickly becoming a fan favorite due to his blue collared style of play.  He really has been a pleasant surprise. 

 All good things come to an end, right?  Darko Milicic has announced that he will return to Europe next season because the Human Victory Cigar wants the ball and an offense to run through him.  That's going to be some offense...

 It's pretty cool what Charlie Villanueva does around the league for kids with alopecia.  In 15 to 20 NBA cities, he reaches out to those who suffer from the disease he started dealing with when he was 10-years old, kind of taking them under his wing.  In Houston he met 11-year old, Joseph Capistran and posed for pictures with the youngster who shares his disease.  

 Rasheed Wallace's knack for racking up the technical fouls quickly grew tired in Detroit and after 5 1/2 seasons with the Pistons, it was nice to see them go.  Just a quarter into his first season in Boston, Celtics fans are already growing tired of his technical fouls.  

NBA Regular Season Game 26
	@
11-14 (3-10 away)		12-2 (6-7 home)
Ford Center Thunder Blog: Welcome to Loud City
December 18, 2009  8:00 PM ET
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Probable starters:
Chucky Atkins	PG	Russell Westbrook
Rodney Stuckey	SG	Thabo Sefolosha
Jonas Jerebko	SF	Kevin Durant
Jason Maxiell	PF	Jeff Green
Ben Wallace	C	Nenad Krstic

Pistons need a win to carry some momentum into the big game on Sunday vs. the Lakers.  After all, Detroit is just 3-10 on the road this season and could desperately use one against the typically futile Thunder.  

Detroit lost to the Thunder earlier this season at the Palace in similar fashion to the way they lost on Wednesday against the Hornets.  Should the Thunder walk away with a win tonight they will sweep the season series and Detroit will fall to 0-7 in games on the road out west.  

Richard Hamilton and Ben Gordon are out again tonight, and there was a big piece in the Free Press about how Rodney Stuckey is experiencing problems all over his body.  Even so, he should be OK in OKC.

Scouting report via Pistons.com:

 

Surely, by now you've already read what went down two nights ago.  The Pistons scored 55 first half points (28 in the first and 27 in the second) and only scored 32 points in the second half.  They led by 13 at the half and were winning by as many as 14-points in the third quarter.  Yet somehow they found a way to lose by eight in the end. 

So how did it happen? 

We can cop out and say that the Pistons simply wore down, which I guess, could have definitely beeen the case.  The Pistons have three major players out with injuries (a problem all season) and were playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road.  However, I'm not willing to go through an entire season letting them get off the hook on the "injury bug" and "tired (because of the injuries)" excuses when they've proven before that it's not crippling them as much as one might think it should or would.  For instance, take a look at that Denver game a week ago.   It was the second game of a back-to-back against a Western Conference powerhouse, minus four of the better players on the roster.  The Pistons controlled that game and won.  This was the same Pistons team that played that night -- plus Will Bynum. 

What stood out to me Wednesday was the Pistons lack of ball movement in the fourth quarter.  At the three minute mark in the third quarter, Detroit had a remarkable 21 assists.  They were well on their way to 28-30 assists, which is unheard of territory for the Pistons this season.  Want to know how many assists the Pistons finished with?   22.  The Pistons had just six second half assists compared to the (doing the math in my head, uh) 16 assists in the first half.  If that's not a glaring statistic, I don't know what is.  

And then there is the play of Rodney Stuckey.  It has become increasingly clear that the Pistons go as Stuckey goes.  When he puts up a solid game shooting and doesn't need roughly 20+ shots to do it, the Pistons tend to do well (Pistons are 7-2 when he shoots 50% or higher on less than 20 attempts from the field.  They are 2-5 when he shoots 20+ times at all). It's not some groundbreaking discovery that the Pistons have a better chance of winning when their starting guard plays well.  However, critiquing his play continuously resurfaces because he, time and time again, resorts to the style of play that makes him play poorly and in turn, hurts the Pistons.  

On Wednesday night, Stuckey took nine shots in the fourth quarter alone (he made three of those).  In the final minutes, he forced three (missed) shots and had a bad turnover that led to a Hornets basket, which gave them a four point lead.  This isn't a box score statistic, but I cringed all three times Stuckey went up with those final shot attempts.

In Stuckey's defense, the rest of the Pistons weren't really helping. The only source of offense was Charlie Villanueva, and he missed all of his shot attempts (four) in the fourth quarter (which was a double whammy because David West was still scoring on him on the other side).  Even if Stuckey was feeling the pressure of needing to carry the offensive load, I still would like to see less painfully obvious, forced shots from him and more dishes after the initial penetration. 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the Pistons were presented with serious match up problems the past two games in Luis Scola and David West. Take this bit from Patrick Hayes at MLIVE: 

The frontcourt defense is broken. The simple answer is to put Ben Wallace on the opposing team's best big every game, which works great against back-to-the-basket players like Dwight Howard.

Having Ben guard players like West and Scola, however, pulls him out of the paint, takes away the shot-blocking threat and allows guys like Aaron Brooks and Chris Paul to get into the lane at will.

Patrick goes on to add that the "opposing PFs/Cs have shot a combined 42-for-65 (65 percent) against Detroit over the last two games," which has a lot to do with the opposing guards getting into the lane at will and creating easy baskets for their bigs.  Scola and West combined for 55 points, more than Villanueva/Wallace combined for in both games (I used CV because he's playing the starter minutes).  

The Pistons will finish off this three game road trip with the Thunder before going home to face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Sunday.  Let's hope we see a steady game this time around and end the road woes.  It would certainly help to get some guys back from injuries, but ultimately, this team is capable of winning regardless.  

A few thoughts after the jump.

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