Pistons Blog

Not so wild West

The Pistons are going out West at a good time. The combined records of the five teams they will play over the next 10 days -- Sonics, Blazers, Warriors, Lakers and Kings -- is 6-20. All of those teams, with the possible exception of the Kings, will be much tougher opponents later in the season. The Pistons would do well to take care of their business on this trip. Winning four of the five (do-able, for sure), would give them an 8-2 start -- impressive considering they played eight of the 10 on the road.

Keep an eye on Antonio McDyess. He is playing through some pain in his left shoulder. He had his left arm pulled back at an odd angle and he stretched some ligaments in the shoulder. It's one of those things that he will aggravate throughout the course of a game -- reaching for a pass, stretching out to grab a rebound, that kind of thing.

The Pistons will get their first look at rookie Kevin Durant on Sunday. Chauncey Billups played with him a lot over the summer with Team USA and gave him high marks. He's still real raw, and doesn't appear to like a lot of rough play, but he has wondrous skills for a guy who's what, 6-9?

It must have been frustrating for Joe Dumars and John Hammond to watch teh fourth quarter Friday. Sure, they were happy the Pistons had already secured the win against a disinterested Clippers team. But finally, Amir Johnson got a chance to play 12 straight minutes. Finally, a chance for the kid to get some work. So what happens? Flip Murray decides to hog the ball. They never ran a single play for him. The only time Johnson touched the ball was when he got an offensive rebound. That's ridiculous. Flip Saunders should have -- and maybe he did afterwards, I don't know -- scold Murray for that. It was selfish and pointless. Murray's next contract isn't going to be based on numbers he puts up in garbage time.