So the bad news is obvious. About 4 minutes into the game last night, Chauncey went down awkwardly under the basket, pretty much doing the splits after getting his left leg tangled with that of a falling Jameer Nelson. Billups didn't return to the game and is currently listed as day to day with a strained right hamstring, but watching him walk down the tunnel to the locker room (thankfully under his own power) it doesn't seem that this injury is going to be one to heal quickly.
Chauncey's injury is the real bad news, and losing game three in Orlando can also be lumped into the bad news category but I was encouraged by the way the team fought back without their captain, one of the best point guards in the league. The Pistons got within 3 points of the Magic late in the 3rd after being down as much as 18 in the first quarter, and trailing by 12 at the half. Of course Orlando didn't seem to miss a shot the rest of the way, starting the 4th quarter with 11 straight points before the Pistons scored at all. By the time Sheed hit a couple free throws two and a half minutes into the final quarter, it seemed as if the wind had been taken out of the sails for Detroit.
More good news. Rodney Stuckey played pretty well in his 34 minutes last night. Getting a lot of time on the court during the season will really come in handy now. And let's not forget (which I had until about 20 minutes ago) that game 4 isn't until Saturday. An extra day of rest for the older/injured players, and an extra day for the young bench contributors to get the game plan down. Unfortunately we still have to play in Orlando, but a veteran team like ours should be able to handle another day away from home too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment