(Short) Recap: Pistons 87, Bucks 76

Alex and I were both in holiday transit last night, so we don't have our usual recap today--though you might not want to spend too much time reading about the Bucks' 87-76 home loss to the Pistons anyway. Tayshaun Prince (19 points, eight rebounds) was one of four Pistons to score 16+ points, with Rasheed Wallace adding 16/12.  Rodney Stuckey has been playing like a man possessed of late and had another good game with 16/6/6.  Rip Hamilton didn't play because of a sore groin.

After the Utah win there were a number of quotes about how the Bucks had progressed to the point where they could win games even while shooting poorly from the field (38%).  Well, maybe they were feeling a little too emboldened by their cold-shooting win: on Saturday they shot just 30% from the field and allowed a balanced Detroit attack to walk all over them in the third quarter, when a two point halftime deficit ballooned to 18 by the end of the quarter.  Scott Skiles had seen enough by then and the starters became spectators for the entirety of the final period (Redd led the way with just 29 minutes).

Bogut put up respectable numbers (17 pts/10 boards) but made just 6/15 from the field, while Mike Redd again struggled mightily with just 2/11 shooting and four points.   Maybe his ankle is still bothering him, but you'd think it would manifest itself more in his slashing ability rather than his jump-shooting, which has also abandoned him.  Jefferson took just three shots and had neither a rebound nor an assist in 27 minutes.  Meanwhile, trade targets Charlie Villanueva and Tyronn Lue shot just 1/14 from the field and Villanueva eventually left with back spasms.  Aftering making just 1/16 threes on Tuesday, the Bucks kept it going by making 1/12 Saturday, and for good measure were also outrebounded 53-44.  Brilliant all around.

At RealGM there's also mention of Gery Woelfel's post-game trade talk.  Doesn't seem like Lue or Villanueva will make it past the trade deadline, but then again I said the same thing about CV last year.  I'd be very curious to know what sort of market there is for Redd right now--this summer it seemed Cleveland (offering expiring deals/picks) was the only obvious destination, and Redd's poor start to 08/09 wouldn't seem to have raised it.  But there are plenty of other disappointing big names around, so who knows who might be available at this point.