Pistons starters Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace and Richard Hamilton kept their warm-ups on Tuesday night at the Palace, and coach Flip Saunders kept Antonio McDyess limited because of a tweaked groin.
Those personnel decisions left ample playing time for the Pistons' second unit to run with Washington's stars like Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison.
At least, they ran with those two for small portions of the Pistons' 101-94 victory over the Wizards at the Palace.
Arenas played 14 minutes, and Jamison made it in for only six before he suffered a shoulder injury and retired to the bench to be wrapped in ice and gauze.
Still, the encouraging signs keep coming for the Pistons bench, even if it was against guys like Calvin Booth and Roger Mason, who scored 22 points for the Wizards.
It's good to see Delfino have a productive night. Now we need to decide who to focus on between Max and Johnson. They play so different that I see no reason not to play them together. There's all this talk about Amir Johnson switching from the 3 to the 4, why not play him at the 5 while bringin Maxiell in at the 4.
Wow, I really love all our young players. They all looked so good. Maxiell had another Maxiell game, and it looked like he was part of Memphis's scouting report too.
Amir got like 7 minutes in the end. Had like 4 blocks and 6 points. Played Rudy Gay really well and blocked him.
Is it a sign to how talented the Pistons are that even after their center leaves they still have such talent that cant even make the regular rotation?
__________________ Amir Johnson will be better than Al Horford
We played a fairly poor game today, got absolutely murdered on rebounds (what happened, Nazr?). But we stayed in the game by forcing turnovers, and we shot a whole lot more than they did in. McDyess, hunter, and Delfino had off nights. I know McDyess has some sort of ailment, and I don't always expect much offensely out of Hunter, but Delfino goes from productive to basically invisible from game to game, and it's been frustrating.
McDyess got like 4 fouls as usual and as usual it was 100% bs. First McDyess gets hooked, foul on McDyess. Then McDyess knocks the ball away, replay shows it was clean... etc...
__________________ Amir Johnson will be better than Al Horford
"We made it," guard Chauncey Billups said. "I'm glad about that, man."
Though the games have meant nothing in the standings, they've assisted the Pistons' development.
This was the second preseason under head coach Flip Saunders, the first for new acquisitions Flip Murray and Nazr Mohammed and the first time in six years Ben Wallace wasn't in a Pistons uniform.
Forward Antonio McDyess, entering his third season, was asked to rate the Pistons’ preseason.
“I’d give it a ‘B'” he said. “It’s a lot smoother now, the flow was a lot easier, we pretty much know what to expect out of (Saunders); he knows what to expect out of us.”
Preseason games thread
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