PISTONS SUFFER 1ST LOSS OF SEASON
PHEONIX 88, DETROIT 81
The only real advantage the Pistons had was the Opening Tip-Off of the game.
AUBURN HILLS, MI - (AP) - Last night, the Detroit Pistons were looking to make a statement that they would be the next NBA Champions. At the beginning of the game, it was quite different. Pheonix opened the game on a 12-0 lead because of the their blazing offense. Flip Saunder quickly called a timeout to relax his guys and told them to just go out and play hard. When they came out of the timeout, the Pistons made a run of their own scoring 12 straight points. By the end of the 1st Quarter, the Pistons had were still down, 24-18, but within striking distance.
In the 2nd Quarter, the Pistons defense dominated holding Pheonix to no Offensive Rebounds. Chauncey Billups got into the swing of the things scoring 12 of his 35 points. Ben Wallace also picked up a few fouls leading to him to sit the bench for the rest of the 2nd Quarter, allowing Antonio McDyess to get help the cause a little bit. His little bit really helped the Piston drawing them within 1 point at one point but Detroit still found themselves down 8 at Halftime.
The 2nd Half wasn't much different. Pheonix was all over the court grabbing rebounds, forcing turnovers, and controlling the overall tempo. But, the Pistons showed signs of coming back by holding them to only 20 points for the 3rd Quarter. Now it was time for Chauncey to prove his nickname.
In the 4th Quarter, a amazing comeback lead by Chauncey Billups blasted the whole Pheonix Suns team by suprize. Chauncey had led the Pistons back pulling them ahead by 1 point with 1:53, but the could not close out the game which led to their first loss of the season.
Box Score:
November 15, 2005
Game 1/5 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Detroit 16 19 20 26 81
Phoenix 23 20 20 25 88
Detroit
Player POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
B. Wallace - 8 Points 10 Rebounds
R. Wallace - 14 Points 6 Rebounds
T. Prince - 4 Points 8 Rebounds
R. Hamilton - 18 Points
C. Billups - 35 Points 4 Assists
A. McDyess - 0 Points 4 Rebounds
C. Delfino - DNP -Coach’s Decision
L. Hunter - 2 Points
D. Davis - DNP -- Coach’s Decision
M. Evans - DNP -- Coach’s Decision
T. Delk - DNP -- Coach’s Decision
K. Cato - DNP -- Coach’s Decision
TOTAL 38-60 3-8 2-2
.633 .375 1.000
Phoenix
Player POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF REB AST STL BLK TO PF PTS
B. Diaw C 20 0-1 0-0 4-4 1 5 0 0 0 1 0 4
A. Stoudemire F 20 6-7 0-0 3-4 1 7 3 1 0 1 0 15
S. Marion F 20 7-11 0-1 5-5 1 6 2 0 0 1 1 19
R. Bell G 20 4-9 1-2 3-5 0 0 2 2 0 2 0 12
S. Nash G 20 13-34 3-5 9-9 2 2 5 0 0 3 0 38
L. Barbosa DNP -- Coach’s Decision
T. Thomas DNP -- Coach’s Decision
K. Thomas DNP -- Coach’s Decision
E. House DNP -- Coach’s Decision
B. Grant DNP -- Coach’s Decision
J. Jones DNP -- Coach’s Decision
N. Tskitishvili DNP -- Coach’s Decision
TOTAL 30-62 4-8 24-27 5 20 12 3 0 8 1 88
.484 .500 .889
