Does anyone have observations from Pistons game?

[bfer]

I missed the game because I was out of town. If you were at the game can you provide some insight etc?

How did the crowd react when announcing Silas?
Did the guys look looser on the court?
I know DJ played well as far as stats, but did we run more and play more uptempo?
Could you tell the team was enjoying the game better? Just curious to see how the demeanor was with the team.


Any other insight from being there and watching is greatly appreciated.

[BETCATS]

It was the first game I saw them all smiling constantly.
Turnovers and three point defense are still problems, but Silas at least has their respect. DJ looked like a completely different player. Tyrus Thomas got more minutes. He tries to be too much of a ball handler and either needs to work on his dribbling skills or just back people down until they submit.

[cls77]

I missed the game because I was out of town. If you were at the game can you provide some insight etc?

How did the crowd react when announcing Silas?
Did the guys look looser on the court?
I know DJ played well as far as stats, but did we run more and play more uptempo?
Could you tell the team was enjoying the game better? Just curious to see how the demeanor was with the team.


Any other insight from being there and watching is greatly appreciated.

There were definitely cheers when Coach Silas was introduced, although I suspect some of that was artificially pumped in from the PA. Still I think fans were excited for the change overall.

Team looked a lot looser, especially DJ and Tyrus. Saw a lot of hustle on plays including jumping out of bounds to save the ball multiple times. Much faster tempo.

Lots of bench players saw extended minutes. Gerald Henderson started and played 30 minutes. Matt Carroll and Gana Diop played about 20 minutes each. Hell, Diop even drained 2 jump shots. The time was at the expense of Dominic McGuire (inactive) and Kwame Brown (dressed but DNP)

The crowd was genuinely pumped. Players were dunking and draining 3's. It was personally the most excited I've got at a game all season.

That said the Cats nearly gave this one away in the 4th, when elevated pressure from the Pistons' D completely shut down our offense. A 14 point lead was cut down to 1 without much fight.

Still a win is a win and a much needed one for player and fan morale.

My take: Lots to be excited about, yet plenty to work on. Silas wants fresh legs on the court and in time he will have us running hard all 4 quarters, not just 3.

[WAM9]

It was the first game I saw them all smiling constantly.
Turnovers and three point defense are still problems, but Silas at least has their respect. DJ looked like a completely different player. Tyrus Thomas got more minutes. He tries to be too much of a ball handler and either needs to work on his dribbling skills or just back people down until they submit.

This is a great, simple explanation of the game.

My number 1 observation is that everyone looked like they were having fun.

Perimeter defense and turnovers have been a problem all year so they weren't a product of the new system. Silas addressed both of these things after the game as areas we needed to work on but overall, his assessment was that everyone played great and gave it their all. He specifically said that DJ played excellent. When is the last time (if ever) we have ever heard that from a coaches mouth? Silas seems to be pulling all the right strings early to build confidence.

Also, we only won by 5 but Detroit made some tough shots and scored a lot of points off our turnovers. We played well enough on D to win by 15+ points and hold Detroit to 90 points if a few things had gone differently. I love the fact that LB's defensive work should pay off long term for these guys, even in a different system.

Last thing to remember is that we played with GW. I can't wait to see him in this style offense. Overall, I was very happy with the beginning of the Paul Silas era!

[Jennings]

One thing I notice from watching the game on TV was that the players on the bench were really into the game and were cheering everyone on the whole game. Usually its only Matt Carrol, Mon night it was like 5 or 6 guys up yelling on almost every play. It looked like someone took off the pressure valve. It was a fun game to watch. I'm looking forward to watching tonight!

[Brad]

one thing I noticed was that while everyone was jolly and having fun, Jackson was not. He had a very Steve Smith attitude on the court, yelling at teammates, smugly walking to the bench and sitting by himself, jawing at the refs and to himself. The guy is a surly dude. Maybe it was because he was turning it over as much as he was scoring, I don't know, but that was the only negative thing I noticed through the TV set. Perhaps it was a little different in person, but it appeared as though Jackson is still much of the problem. At this point, I'd trade him to Chicago for just about anything I could get.

[BobCatsFanInTx]

one thing I noticed was that while everyone was jolly and having fun, Jackson was not. He had a very Steve Smith attitude on the court, yelling at teammates, smugly walking to the bench and sitting by himself, jawing at the refs and to himself. The guy is a surly dude. Maybe it was because he was turning it over as much as he was scoring, I don't know, but that was the only negative thing I noticed through the TV set. Perhaps it was a little different in person, but it appeared as though Jackson is still much of the problem. At this point, I'd trade him to Chicago for just about anything I could get.

Regardless of his personality you do not trade a player as talented as Jax for "anything you can get." We are not a good enough team to have the luxuary of trading our most talented players for "anything we can get." Jax may have seemed surly but let's give the guy a break. It was the first game he has played under Silas and the new coaching staff and I am sure he was a bit disappointed in his own performance. His attitude probably had more to do with him being a competitor and seeing things in his and his teammates games that needed to be ironed out. I will take that anyday. It is not like Crash is always Mr. Sunshine so let us not jump the gun and try ro trade our best players for other teams garbage. Unless those players have a fairly large expiring contract and we free up some cap space for next season. Right now we still have a chance to make the playoffs as bad as we have been. Paul Silas will get our guys in shape and they will either fit in or they won't. If they don't than I am sure we can get some decent value for our best players. Right now is not the time to jump the gun and do anything rash.