Motor City Sports

The NBA has seen a large number of high-scoring games this year, with three games on one night going over 250 combined points.

Tonight’s Pistons-Bobcats matchup promises to not be one of those. As a matter of fact, with the league’s two slowest teams playing, this game probably won’t break 150 until the final few moments. I’m expecting a final score of about 78-75.

Both teams have been below-average offensively – the Bobcats have been horrendous – and both teams have been above-average defensively, with the Bobcats being outstanding. Hard to believe of a Larry Brown team, isn’t it?

So far this season, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace has been playing like a more-extreme version of Ben Wallace. He’s been the league’s best defensive player, and an absolute disaster on offense. Ben basically stays out of the way on offense, limiting most of his shots to put-back attempts on offensive rebounds, and he’s a decent passer. Gerald Wallace is much more involved, but not in a good way. He’s shooting 33.3% from the floor and turning the ball over more than three times a game.

Despite that, he’s actually leading the team in shot attempts. Raymond Felton, who is second, has almost as bad at actually making shots, and hasn’t been great as a point guard, either. LB would be much better served getting more shots for Boris Diaw and Raja Bell, the only two players on the team that are actually hitting shots above the league average. Bell has just come back from injury, so getting him more time will help.

On defense, they are getting a really nice performances from Tyson Chandler and, off the bench, from ex-Piston Nazr Mohammed. Diaw is also an above-average defender, while Bell and Felton are about average.

The Pistons are in much the same situation. With Richard Hamilton still sidelined, their only solid offensive weapon has been Ben Gordon. Rodney Stuckey has scored 16 points a game, but has needed more shots to do that than Gordon has needed to score 24 points a night. Will Bynum is also struggling with his shot.

Detroit’s biggest offensive problem, though, is the amazing lack of ball movement. During Flip Saunders and Chauncey Billups’ final year, the Pistons had assists on 61% of their field goals, well above the league average. This year, they are at 44%, by far the worst total in the NBA. That’s the reason that Charlie Villanueva hasn’t had much of an offensive impact – he’s never getting the ball.

To demonstrate the fact of how bad Detroit is at passing the ball, and how much they need a real point guard, Bynum passes the ball on approximately 60% of his offensive touches, and he’s the only Piston over 50%.In contrast, the Celtics have Rajon Rondo at 82%, Paul Pierce at 54% and Ray Allen at 51%. The Lakers have four players – Odom, Artest, Walton and Fisher – over 60%.

On defense, the Pistons are among the best teams in the league at defending shots, and they have gotten their fouling under control. However, they are still giving up a huge number of offensive rebounds. Ben Wallace, while still a great defender and one of the best in the league at getting offensive boards, is not exceptional on the defensive glass, and, with Tayshaun Prince still sidelined, no one else is picking up the slack.

That could be a problem tonight, as the Bobcats are good at getting second-shot opportunities on offense, especially when Nazr is on the floor. The Pistons will also have to keep Wallace, Diaw and Chandler from getting to the glass after Charlotte’s many missed shots. If Detroit does that, they should win the game.

One other storyline for the night – new Pistons coach John Kuester was, of course, an assistant under LB when the Pistons won the 2004 championship.