Nets at Pistons
THE STORY: Not much has gone right this season for the New Jersey Nets and Detroit Pistons. The Nets continual to toil in mediocrity after missing out on acquiring Carmelo Anthony, settling instead for All-Star point guard Deron Williams. The Pistons, meanwhile, don’t appear particularly found of coach John Kuester’s disciplinarian ways as they have lost 50 games for the second straight season. New Jersey will attempt to win in Detroit for the first time five years when the teams battle on Wednesday.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, No TV
ABOUT THE PISTONS (26-51): Rodney Stuckey is the latest Piston to land in Kuester’s doghouse. Stuckey, who leads the team in scoring with 14.7 ppg, has been held out of the past two games for unspecified reasons and his status against the Nets is up in the air. Stuckey’s absence didn’t help the Pistons break out of a funk as they have dropped four in a row. The last was a heartbreaking one, with rookie Greg Monroe missing two potential game-tying free throws with 10 seconds left in a 107-105 loss to Washington on Tuesday. Monroe finished with team-highs of 22 points and 14 rebounds. Detroit’s consecutive 50-loss campaigns are the first since 1993-94 and 1994-95.
ABOUT THE NETS (24-53): New Jersey probably doesn’t carry too much confidence into its showdown with the Pistons. The Nets have just five road victories all season and haven’t won in The Palace of Auburn Hills since March 26, 2006 - a string of eight losses. The Nets had lost six straight overall prior to Tuesday’s 107-105 win over equally-lowly Minnesota. Williams, who is dealing with a nagging wrist injury, dished out a career-high tying 21 assists and hit the go-ahead basket with 1.7 seconds to go, while Brook Lopez had 30 points and 12 rebounds. Williams will visit a hand specialist Wednesday and said this could potentially be his last game of the season.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Lopez is averaging 21.0 points on 52 percent shooting with 7.4 rebounds in his last five games. Nets guard Sasha Vujacic has hit 7-of-13 3-pointers in the last two games. Monroe is averaging 10.0 rebounds - 2.7 better than his season average - in his last five. Pistons guard Richard Hamilton went 1 of 11 from the floor in Tuesday’s loss.
KEY STATISTIC: 38.2 - Detroit’s rebounding average, the lowest mark in the NBA.
SEASON SERIES: This is the fourth and final meeting of the season. The Nets took the first two affairs before the Pistons won 92-82 on Feb. 4 behind 20 points and 11 rebounds from Monroe.
KEY INJURIES: DETROIT: G Terrico White (foot). NEW JERSEY: G Anthony Morrow (knee); G Ben Uzoh (knee); F Kris Humphries (ankle); G Sundiata Gaines (hip); F Damion James (foot).
LAST WORD: “It’s just been a frustrating year in general. (The wrist is) starting to feel a little bit better and I’m looking forward to getting it healthy in the offseason.” - Williams, on his injury.