The Next Lamb: The Detroit Pistons

Game 4: Detroit (0-3) at Boston (2-1)

Date: Tuesday, November 2

Time: 7:30 p.m. (Eastern)

TV: NBA League Pass

In many respects, the Pistons are off to a frustrating start to the 2010-11 campaign. Three times this young season, the Pistons have taken to the hardwood. Three times, they've held a lead late in the fourth quarter. And all three times, they've left the arena without a win.

And yet in some ways, the Pistons can be encouraged by their start. Detroit went 27-55 last year, and are not projected to do much better this year. So to be within a possession of beating Oklahoma City, then come back the very next night and build a 21-point lead in Chicago -- well, it's frustrating to blow those games, but there are good things to be taken from the fact that they were in a position to blow them. Of course, that's little consolation to Pistons fans, and it won't matter much if the team doesn't start closing out some of these games, but it's something to build on.

Detroit's a unique team in that its best scorer, Ben Gordon, comes off the bench. Gordon went crazy on the Celtics during the 2008-09 playoffs when he was with the Bulls, but the Celtics -- like most of the league -- didn't get his best shot last season, his first with the Pistons. He's a feast-or-famine type player, and it may be that as he goes, so go the Pistons. Against the Bulls, Gordon scored 21 points in the first half as Detroit built a 63-44 lead at the break. But Gordon went scoreless the rest of the way -- and the Pistons didn't fare much better, tallying just 28 points in the final 24 minutes.

The other real player of note for Detroit is point guard Rodney Stuckey. At 6-5, 205, Stuckey is a lot to handle -- something he showed on January 20, when he stepped up in Gordon's absence and scored 27 points (to go along with 11 boards and six assists) in a 92-86 Detroit win. But Stuckey had trouble containing Rajon Rondo in that contest (21/8/7) and in Boston's 105-100 win on March 2 (15/4/11 for Rondo; 13/3/6 for Stuckey). Stuckey's off to a nice start offensively, but he's been torched by opposing point guards. Granted, he's not the first guy to get burned by Devin Harris, Russell Westbrook, and Derrick Rose, and he won't be the last, but Rondo's arguably a cut above those guys. If they key to stopping the Celtics is stopping Rondo, then Detroit looks ill-positioned to do so.

Ben Wallace still starts at center for the Pistons, which means that for the fourth straight game, Boston plays an opponent without an offensive presence in the pivot. The timing is good; there's at least an outside possibility that both O'Neals sit for Boston, which would leave rookie Semih Erden (himself nursing a sore shoulder) as the team's only active center. The health issues at center become a problem starting Wednesday at Milwaukee, but for now, it doesn't look like it will hurt the Cs.

Finally, keep an eye out for Greg Monroe, the rookie center who was a RwH favorite when he was at Georgetown -- provided that he gets into the game. He got the DNP-CD in the first two games, then had a minimal impact in seven minutes against the Bulls. He's a terrific passer, with the chance to be every bit as good as a KG, say, in that department. Once he starts getting regular run, expect his dimes to show up frequently on highlight reels.

Celtics Take On The Pistons

The Detroit Pistons made headlines this season by trading franchise mainstay Chauncey Billups and power forward Antonio McDyess to Denver for Allen Iverson. So far, the results haven't been great, as the Pistons lost Iverson's debut Friday night, a 103-96 decision at New Jersey. Detroit is finally watchable again: Iverson is just one of those guys you simply have to see play to fully appreciate.

It's difficult to assess how the Pistons are going to play with Iverson, since Friday's game seemed to be an off-night for the team. After a typically stingy first quarter in which they gave up just 14 points, they allowed the Nets to score 25 in the second and then 64 after halftime. New Jersey point guard Devin Harris ran absolutely roughshod over them in the second, scoring a career-high 38 points and shooting an incredible 24 free throws. Detroit just wasn't sharp defensively. Of course, Rajon Rondo is not going to present the offensive threat that Harris did in single-handedly winning that game for New Jersey.

Offensively, Iverson looked extremely comfortable assimilating into the Piston offense. He seemed to defer a bit to his teammates, at least until the fourth quarter. In that last period, he started looking for his shot more, but it's worth noting that Rip Hamilton was not on the court during that time.

Rip actually was the one who looked least comfortable with Iverson, or perhaps more accurately, without Billups. He took 20 shots and appeared to force a few more than he typically does.

The big problem seemed to be initiating the offense. New Jersey played a lot of zone -- a look that Boston probably won't give -- and the Pistons spent most of the time just tossing the ball around the perimeter, occasionally shooting at the basket. Iverson has taken Billups' spot in the starting lineup, but he's not a true point. Neither is Rodney Stuckey, frankly, and the three-guard lineup they went to (with Hamilton sliding over to small forward) didn't really work yet. Detroit justified trading Billups by insisting that Stuckey was ready for major minutes, and while he certainly showed his mettle against Boston in the playoffs last year and he has been fine this year, he's not -- at least not yet -- the kind of player you can give the ball to and count on him to distribute to Iverson and Hamilton, and when he's on the court with AI and Rip, there's just not enough orange to go around.

That said, Detroit is still a major player in the East and I expect this game to be a tough one, particularly since it's at the Palace at Auburn Hills.