Pistons vs. Jazz in NBA Soap Opera Challenge; Newest Celtic debuts

We’re not sure if Jazz/Pistons was supposed to be an NBA game or a two-hour meeting of the Society Of Basketball Teams In Disarray. Utah just lost its Hall of Fame coach and All-Star point guard within two weeks of each other while dropping five of its last six games — and yet they’re harmonizing like Boyz II Men in comparison to Detroit, where the coach has completely lost control of the players, and the players may or may not be planning a coup. Things have been so bad that before last night’s game, John Kuester became the first coach we can remember all season to drop the “It is what it is” line … Once the game started, it looked like the Pistons were protesting the idea of playing defense. Utah’s first five buckets were all easy, mostly wide-open dunks and layups for Andrei Kirilenko (21 pts, 7 rebs, 7 asts) and Al Jefferson (20 pts, 9 rebs). AK-47 was getting so many dunks, Detroit announcer Greg Kelser said, “He’s acting like he’s Blake Griffin.” … The only reason Detroit hung in there at all is because the Jazz were just as bad defensively. In the fourth quarter it came down to Austin Daye (18 pts) knocking down threes and Rodney Stuckey (28 pts, 8 asts) coming up with big shots and key defensive plays in a game that saw few of them, leading Detroit to a 120-116 win … Where does Joe Dumars stand in all of this internal drama? He’s been known to get rid of coaches for less than what’s happened with Kuester, but the fact that Dumars was ready to trade Rip Hamilton to Cleveland of all places shows maybe he is backing his coach this time … It’s too bad some of the best announcers in the League get stuck covering some of the worst teams. Detroit’s George Blaha deserves better than what the Pistons are producing … Meanwhile, Deron Williams followed up his New Jersey debut in San Antonio with what should have been an easier test in Houston. D-Will handed out 17 assists to go with 15 points (3-12 FG), but the concerns he aired in the press conference about going to a bad team are being confirmed, as the Nets got routed … You can tell that some of the guys getting settled into their new cities following the trade deadline still haven’t found barbers yet. Devin Harris was looking a little less fresh than usual, and Jeff Green — who typically is very on-point with his hair game — looked almost homeless in his Boston debut. Green came off the bench against the Clippers for 17 minutes and scored 7 points. His most memorable moment was being on the wrong end of a Randy Foye two-hand cram in transition … But of course Foye didn’t have the best dunk of the game. That of courser belonged to Blake Griffin (21 pts, 11 rebs). In the first half, Foye drove the lane and flipped a lob over his shoulder that should have been too far away for anybody to reach, but Blake reached way back behind his head, caught it, and threw it down with his eyes still at rim level. He could have stuck his elbow in the rim again … Just like their last game against the Lakers, the Clippers were in decent shape in this one until they let the most dangerous man on the court get loose for a few minutes. The other night it was Kobe; this time Paul Pierce (24 pts) stepped up in crunch time and carried Boston to the win … Other stat lines from Saturday: Zach Randolph posted 23 points and 12 rebounds as Memphis beat Sacramento; Luol Deng scored 19 points and Joakim Noah grabbed 17 boards to lead Chicago past Milwaukee; and Tyson Chandler put up 23 points and 13 boards as Dallas beat Washington … That game included the best circus shot we’ve seen since — well, since D-Wade‘s insane shot a few days ago. But seriously, Nick Young‘s 360 reverse-English layup over two defenders was incredible. Of course he reacted like he does it every day … We’re out like Jeff’s barber …

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