Saunders, after all, was fired by Detroit last June after the Pistons lost to Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure that group in green wasn't bad. Saunders run in Detroit went like this:
05-06: 64 wins and a trip to the East finals
06-07: 53 wins and a trip to the East finals
07-08: 59 wins and a trip to the East finals
That's why watching tonight's game with Saunders would be so fascinating. He coached both teams -- after all, McHale's first run as Wolves coach came after Saunders was fired here -- and the Pistons have seriously gone backwards this season.
Detroit is an awfully average 24-19 for the season and the Pistons have been the anti-Wolves this month. While Minnesota has won game after game in January, Detroit is guaranteed to have its first losing month since 2004 and has lost eight of last 11 games.
The Pistons are probably still a playoff team in the east, but there won't be another long run to the East finals this season. The A.I. experiment has been a mess and has seemed to have created rotation/lineup issues -- I mean, I certainly wouldn't bring Richard Hamilton off of the bench just to keep A.I. happy.
For a deeper look at the once mighty -- and now kind of old -- Pistons click on this analysis of the team by Booth newspapers beat writer A. Sherrod Blakely. It talks about how the once mighty defense of the Pistons has become extremely soft. After all, the Rockets lit up Detroit for 39 in the first quarter on Sunday. In consecutive losses to Dallas and Houston, the Pistons gave up 112 and 108 points respectively.
In addition, first-year coach Michael Cooper is certainly going through some growing pains. There has been much talk about him wanting a significant amount of structure -- and, hence, control -- in the Detroit offense. That seems to be kind of Wittman-like, doesn't it?
What does all of this mean for the Wolves? It means that this suddenly looks like a winnable game and that's important considering the Lakers are at The 600 Project on Friday night and the Wolves appear to be nothing more than a Super Bowl appetizer at the Celtics on Sunday. For that to happen, the Wolves need to continue to move the ball and push it when the opportunity is there. Get the Pistons running, jump on them early and grab control. This certainly won't be as easy as the early-season (and shocking) butt-kicking the Wolves put on the Pistons early this season, but this doesn't look nearly as tough as it did before.
Two other things:
1. I now know how the Wolves won at Detroit by 26 points back in November -- McCants didn't play in that game either.
2. Anybody watch that Lakers-Bobcats game last night? Very entertaining. My question, however, is whether Andrew Bynum will be suspended for his cheap shot on Gerald Wallace late in the fourth quarter? Wallace was driving to the hoop and Bynum cracked him hard in the ribs. Wallace had to be taken to the hospital because of a potential collapsed lung. It was a total goon play.
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