Without Rip Hamilton, the Detroit Pistons have no chance at beating the Orlando Magic.

I’m upset to say the least.  I’m a Pistons fan and they are off to a rocky start.  Richard “Rip” Hamilton is going to miss his third game of the season, which makes matters worse.  The Pistons lost both of the games that he missed previously to lowly teams.  The first loss was to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the second loss was against the Milwaukee Bucks.  Without Hamilton in the lineup, the Pistons are only shooting 40.7%  from the field and a dismal  27.2% from the three point line.  On top of that, they are only scoring 84 points a game while giving up 93.5 points a game.  So, to put things into perspective, they are giving up 9.5 more points than they score.  The Pistons have been terrible without Rip.

Ben Gordon is the Detroit Piston's only offensive hope.

In watching the Piston’s last two games, I’ve noticed that they play very well in the first half.  Then, they lose their minds in the third quarter and they try to play catch up in the fourth.  Defense has been an issue for them ever since the pre-season, but who would have thought that their offense would suffer so much without one guy.  The “weapons” that they were supposed to have offensively have not all been there.  Ben Gordon has been great (leads the team in scoring with 24.3 points a clip), but his output has not translated into victories.  Charlie V has been barely visible and Tayshaun lacks energy and killer instinct.  Stuckey takes way too many shots (and he doesn’t make many) for a point guard and amasses way too little assists.  It amazes me how he gets to rim with ease, then misses layups.

If the Pistons cannot beat teams like the Thunder and the Bucks with Rip MIA, then they are definitely no match for the Orlando Magic.  The Magic are averaging 113.3 points a game.  They are shooting 49.6% from the field and are hitting threes at the highly efficient rate of 47.6%.  Lets say that both teams are able to score at their current averages.  That means that the Magic will put up about 113 points while the Pistons score 84 points.  Can you say blow out?

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