Some post-game thoughts (Pistons edition)

What a big win . . .

• The short-handed Blazers, on the second night of a back-to-back, had just enough left in the tank tonight to gut out a victory over the Pistons and come away a respectable 2-2 on this roadtrip. With the murderer's row of games ahead on the schedule, the Blazers really, really needed this one. 


• It was really a tale of two halves tonight.  In the first, the Blazers played some of the best team basketball they have all season.  And the Pistons played terrible defense.  The Blazers were up by 14 at the half, thanks in large part to the wide open threes that Martell Webster was getting.  In the second half, the Pistons decided they were going to play defense and suddenly looked like a completely different team.  The easy shots were gone and the Blazers stalled out offensively.  Luckily, they found ways to manufacture points and eeked out a victory.  


• The Blazers were carried on offense, especially in the first half, by Webster, who had a career high 28 points and 6 three pointers.  He also pulled down 7 boards and hit two clutch foul shots at the end.  Oh, and he played the entire 48 minutes without rest.  


• With both Roy and Bayless out, Andre Miller and Steve Blake started together.  And they put on an assist clinic, especially in the first half.   Miller finished with 13 assists and Blake with 10.  They each had 11 points.  


• Aldridge had a typical Aldridge night, scoring 21 points and pulling down 8 rebounds. 


• The only other contributor on offense tonight was Rudy Fernandez, who finished with 19 points in 21 minutes.  Ten of those points came on foul shots during a bizarre stretch in the 3rd quarter that began with Rudy being the recipient of a flagrant foul that almost triggered a brawl.  In the aftermath of that skirmish, the refs tried to get things under control by blowing their whistle on any contact.  Rudy capitalized by drawing four additional fouls and sinking 8 more foul shots.  Rudy was a bit uneven the rest of the time, but he did have a few pretty shots, including a driving layup, a floater, and a three.  


• Jeff Pendergraph got the surprise start tonight over Juwan Howard, likely because McMillan thought he'd match up better against Ben Wallace.  He only ended up playing 17 minutes, though, and none during crunch time.  It appeared that he made a few defensive lapses early that angered McMillan, so Howard ended up playing big minutes.  


• A bit out of character, the Blazers scored 18 fast break points tonight.  I'll bet that's the most they've scored all season.  The fact that Miller was running the offense all night probably explains that.  


• Overall, this was a great win for the Blazers.  They got into Detroit last night in the middle of the night after losing a heartbreaker in overtime to Boston.  They were all running on fumes and they were down another man.  They could very easily have gotten blown out.  But they showed up ready to compete, they played a superb first half, and when the Pistons made a run in the second half, they somehow managed to dig deep and find the energy to hold them off.  You can't help but be proud of these guys.  They deserve all the respect in the world.