Pistons-Nuggets: Denver Brought to a Mile Low by Detroit

Chauncey Billups, the current shining star in Denver, brought the Pistons to their knees in the first half of the Pistons-Nuggets game on Friday night as he put on a scoring clinic by scoring 20 points.

The Nuggets would enter half time with a 48-38 lead over the Pistons.

He took Rodney Stuckey to school, blowing by him for two easy lay-ups and scoring a total of nine points against him in the first quarter.

Stuckey would leave late in the Second quarter due to muscle spasms that he suffered in an earlier loss to the Portland Trailblazers.

“It’s fun when you get to hook up with your buddies and compete,” he said. “At some point of the game you try to win.”

As was expected at the start of the game, AI was given a standing ovation as he was back in Denver for the first time.

Why? He helped the Nuggets to their first 50-win season since the Reagan administration.

That is reason enough, even though he doesn’t play for them any longer.

AI may have been cheered for, but there was no love for fellow teammate Antonio McDyess, as he was booed after everything he did. Every time he touched the ball, scored or fouled a Nuggets player he was jeered at.

Why? Back on Nov 3, the date of the infamous blockbuster trade, he was traded back to Denver for the second time in his career—but once there he let the Nuggets know he wasn’t about to play for them, and was bought out.

30 days later, he signed with the Pistons again.

Much of the Pistons' success came from the man of the night himself, Allen Iverson. He may not have made a lot of his field goal attempts, but he was solid from the line as he scored nine of his 23 from the free-throw line.

One big contributor to the Pistons winning effort was Pistons backup SG Arron Afflalo. He shot 4-9 from the field, 1-5 from behind the arc and shot a perfect 8-8 from the line. In all he totaled out to 17 points in 21 minutes of floor time.

Friday night's game came down to the wire, and with 20 seconds left Tayshaun Prince hit a moving jumper from nine feet to give the Pistons the lead and the eventual win.

He (Prince) led the Pistons on the defensive end of the court in the fourth quarter only allowing the red hot Chauncey Billups to four points.

 “We had to give him a different look because he was terrorizing us throughout the game,” Prince said. “There’s nobody else on the court that knows Chauncey’s game like me.”

The Pistons only shot 37 percent in the first half last night, but their defense, which they are not most known for this year, was able to keep the game at a reasonable deficit until they rebounded in the fourth.

 

Notes

Rip missed his seventh straight game with a groin injury.

Rasheed Wallace was also out with a sore foot for the fourth straight game.