Detroit Pistons Weekly Watch: Making Do Without Rip Hamilton & Tayshaun Prince

During the second week of the 2009-2010 season, the Pistons have gone 1-2 and are 2-4 overall at the moment.

They began with an 85-80 home victory over the visiting Orlando Magic minus both Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, who’d come down with an unexpected lower back strain. Prince’s injury ended his streak of 496 consecutive games played and league-leading mark of 439 consecutive starts.

The loss was the Magic’s first of the season and their 20th to the Pistons in 24 games going back to the 2006-2007 season.

The depleted Pistons controlled the pace of the game from start to finish and held Dwight Howard, who fouled out, to 8 points and 5 rebounds in 16 minutes. There were a number of heroes from Ben Wallace, who defended Howard, to Will Bynum, who led the reserves with 20 points and drove to the basket repeatedly (despite being poked in the eye by Marcin Gortat) and helped get Howard to foul out in the fourth quarter.

Vince Carter played for Orlando, but was hobbled by a hurt ankle. Rashard Lewis was out, serving a suspension for testing positive for elevated testosterone during the offseason.

The Pistons’ road defeats in Toronto (110-99) and then against Orlando (110-103) followed a somewhat similar pattern. The Pistons had a defensive lapse in one quarter, rallied, and fell short at the end. The Raptors outscored the Pistons 44-28 in the second quarter and the Magic opened the game with a scorching 40-23 first quarter. Toronto was at full strength, while Orlando played without Lewis and Carter. And unlike in the Toronto game, the Pistons shot poorly from the free throw line, making only 23 of 37 free throw attempts.

Rather than quit, the Pistons displayed excellent tenacity by clawing back into both games before finally falling. Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, and Will Bynum all played roles in keeping the Pistons competitive.

Rookies Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye have steadily improved over the course of the week in Tayshaun Prince’s absence. Both provided significant contributions in defense, rebounding, and offense to help spur Pistons’ rallies. Jerebko has done well starting in Prince’s place and Daye has come off the bench to help bolster the play of the reserves.

While he did not play in the home win against Orlando, Jason Maxiell came off the bench in the road losses to provide energy, defense, and rebounding.

Kwame Brown’s minutes fluctuated this week as he struggled in the low post and the free throw line.

After having some solid preseason games, Chris Wilcox has yet to make an impact in the regular season.

The Piston who has improved the most over the course of the week is Charlie Villanueva. In addition to solid defensive play, he has been giving the Pistons’ frontcourt a much needed scoring and rebounding boost:

• 12 points and 8 rebounds against the Magic in Detroit.
• 16 points and 7 rebounds against the Raptors in Toronto.
• 28 points and 5 rebounds against the Magic in Orlando, including 22 points in the fourth quarter when he carried the Pistons.

Those who would dismiss the Pistons for their 1-2 record during the week are overlooking the signs of this young team building chemistry, becoming comfortable with Coach Kuester’s system, and learning how to win without leaning on injured veterans Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Hamilton is day-to-day, but word on his recovery is hopeful.  Prince has been recently diagnosed with a ruptured disc in his lower back, though, so he will be out of the lineup indefinitely.

Under Coach Kuester, the young Pistons are in step with their learning curve at this point of the season.

Also available on Midwest Sports Fan