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| 2012/2013 NBA Regular Season | ||
|---|---|---|
 | @ |  |
| December 22, 2012 | ||
| Verizon Center | ||
| 7:30 p.m. | ||
| CSN, 106.7 The Fan | ||
| Projected Starting Lineups | ||
| Jordan Crawford | PG | Brandon Knight |
| Bradley Beal | SG | Kyle Singler |
| Martell Webster | SF | Tayshaun Prince |
| Nene | PF | Jason Maxiell |
| Emeka Okafor | C | Greg Monroe |
| 2012/13 Advanced Stats | ||
| 91.3 (19th) | Pace | 90 (28th) |
| 95.2 (30th) | ORtg | 103.2 (21st) |
| 104.4 (12th) | DRtg | 105.9 (19th) |
| Also see: Detroit Bad Boys | StoryStream | On the Road with SBN | ||
WASHINGTON -- Couple quick updates before we begin.
- Nene is in, and after being a game-time decision through the pregame, so is Bradley Beal. Both are starting too. Beal warmed up before the game and was deemed able to go.
- Randy Wittman said that John Wall has begun "doing stuff with the training staff," though he hasn't progressed to being on the court. "So far, he's fine," Wittman said.
- Wittman went on for a very long time about what went wrong in last night's game, as if he was trying to send a message to his team. The full text of his comments:
- "We don't have one-on-one guys, who we're going to give the ball to and he's going to break down and create for himself or somebody else. We're a team that's got to play with five guys with effort, energy, ball movement. We just don't have that guy that can isolate and, say, create a shot for those other four guys. [But] we played that way last night. Obviously, we saw what the outcome of that is. As I told them, these guys have been in the league. Us as coaches, everybody has their own system, their own style of play. But no matter what system you use, if you don't go out there, make hard cuts and pass the ball and screen, that system isn't going to work. It's not going to work. That's what happened last night. We didn't cut hard. We didn't pass the ball and screen. We went through the motions. It doesn't matter what system it is."
- He wasn't done. Then, he talked about pushing the pace.
- "When I was a player, we said, 'Coach, let us run. Let us get up and down the floor. Well, that's what I want to do. That's exactly how I want to play. But you've got to run. If you walk up and down the floor, you're not going to get a fast-break point. We're walking up and down the floor. If you want to run, get out and run."
- Lawrence Frank was very careful to say that his team is "playing human nature" tonight because of last night's win. He was very adament that his team shouldn't feel too comfortable with last night's blowout.
- Frank on Nene: "He's one of the better low-post scorers in the league, plus off the elbow. He has very deceptive speed. He has great footwork. Very, very quick first dribble. Good change of pace in his post game."
- Frank also said that the Pistons need to account for Beal. "You can't let him get anything easy early," he said, noting that Beal's confidence improves if he scores a couple buckets in the first few minutes.