Pistons Crush Bobcats Behind Villanueva's Third Quarter Explosion

The Detroit Pistons trounced the Charlotte Bobcats 98-75 in Wednesday's game. The win puts Detroit at .500 and tied for third in the Central division with Chicago.

Charlie Villanueva looked amazing in the third quarter. The Bobcats were slow to close out on him early in the quarter and he made them pay by hitting his perimeter shots. Once they started to venture out, to more heavily contest his shots, he began burning people off the dribble. On his own he outscored Charlotte in the third quarter, racking up 18 points on 8-10 shooting while the Bobcats only managed 12. He seems to have put his sluggish start far behind him, averaging 22.5 points in the last four games.

Another great sign for the Pistons is their assist total at a season high 26. They all seem to be getting more comfortable knowing were to find each other on the court, especially Ben Gordon and Villanueva. Gordon dumped the ball off to the tune of 8 assists. Many of those were to Charlie, including a nice no-looker to set up a long jumper. He also was the second highest scorer with 22 points on 10-16 shooting.

Rodney Stuckey had a solid all around game with 16 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. The young point guard looked very poised against Charlotte, finding open shooters and controlling the tempo.

Their are two reasons, I think, that have led to low assists totals for Stuckey. For one, coach Kuester has been playing Stuckey for extended minutes at the three with Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince out. This might have caused his assists totals to be low as he took on more of a wing role. Wednesday saw much less of the small ball line-up than in previous games, allowing Stuckey to take on more of a distributer role.

The second reason is that with Villanueva now shooting well and the Pistons offense starting to click, Stuckey doesn't have to constantly force up shots in search of points. More games will be needed to see a real pattern as eight games is still a small sample size.

Will Bynum had an electrifying night that goes beyond the box score of 16 points and four assists. His most memorable play of the night was a drive from the perimeter straight through Tyson Chandler for a huge slam dunk. For reference Bynum is barely six foot, if that, and Chandler is 7'1''. He had a second dunk as well on a breakaway to cap his night off.

The unsung hero of night would have to be big Ben Wallace. He didn't score a single point but had nine boards, three steals, and three blocks. Not to mention the countless deflections he caused. He has been playing extremely well early on for the Pistons, but Kuester is going to have to watch the 35 year olds minutes to keep him fresh late in the season.

The Pistons don't play again until Saturday at Washington. This will be the second meeting of Detroit and its former head coach Flip Saunders. The first meeting saw the Wizards go home with a close win of 101-98.

Pistons-Bobcats Pregame

Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince will be out again for the game tonight against the Charlotte Bobcats. Hamilton, who has a sprained ankle, has missed seven games so far and Prince, ruptured disc in lower back, has missed five. There is still no definitive date on the return of either.

Ben Gordon will start in place of Hamilton. Gordon has looked very good this season, averaging 24 points a game and shooting 47 percent. His matchup with Raja Bell will be key in this game. Bell is a very good defender and has had success against some marquee shooters like Kobe Bryant. If Gordon is getting making his shots tonight, the Bobcats will be in trouble.

Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye will be filling Prince's spot, with Rodney Stuckey getting the left over small forward minutes. All three have shown the ability to defend small forwards, but Jerebko seems to have the best build to handle Charlotte's Gerald Wallace.

Pistons coach John Kuester will be having his first meeting with his former mentor Larry Brown. The two coached together in Philladelphia  and when Brown took the Pistons to their third championship in 2004. Both coaches share the same defense first philosophy, so look for the pace to be slow tempo with very aggressive defense being played by both teams.

First team to 90 points, if either team can get that high, will have a very good chance of walking away with a W.