Sunday’s matinee against the Cavs looked like another game in which the Pistons played like they could hold their own against one of the powerhouses of the league, until a fourth quarter collapse after holding their biggest lead of the game doomed Detroit to their 4th consecutive home court loss – the most in a row since 2001. What makes things worse is the fact that they let the Cavs go on a 15-2 run to take over the game with the league’s best player sitting on the bench. The Pistons allowed the Cavs to outscore them 32-14 in the fourth in their 90-80 loss at The Palace.

Key Points:

• Outrebounded 42-35.
• Detroit shot 42% to Cleveland’s 47%.
• 22% from three point range for the Pistons to 46% for Cleveland.
• Lackluster game from Rodney Stuckey, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince who scored 26 points combined.
• Allen Iverson led the Pistons with 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting in 43 minutes on the floor. He also had 3 takeaways, an assist, 3 boards and 5 of the Pistons’ 9 turnovers. Ouch…

• The Pistons record on Sundays is now 1-8.
• I’m not going to say I smiled when Antonio McDyess unintentionally clocked Anderson Varejao and sent him to the locker room bleeding so he could get stitched up. But I did.
• A lot of time for Dyess. McDyess played a season-high 38 minutes in Friday’s loss to Boston, and 29 more on Sunday. He finished with 6 points and 8 boards and a knockout.
• NBA.com Highlights of the Game.
• Ben Wallace and his 2 cents “Billups brought a lot of leadership to the team and made sure everybody got the ball where they needed to get it,” Cleveland’s Ben Wallace said. “He was more of a floor general. Iverson is more of a scorer. Chauncey would make sure everybody got their looks and if he needed to score, he would. “It definitely hurt the chemistry of the team. I guess it’ll take a little getting used to.” Via NBA.com
• You might want to ask yourself why Amir didn’t play more when he sparked the Pistons’ biggest lead, scoring 8 points and 7 boards in the third quarter. Hustle plays like this are what Amir was doing all game long.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and ABC

• A 15 to 2 fourth quarter run for the Cavs with LeBron on the bench just makes Pistons fans feel worse than they need to. Especially since it looked like they were going to pull out the win.
• The Cavs are now 12 games ahead of Detroit in the standings.
• Forget the Pistons, The Palace has their own troubles. A Waterford couple embezzled 1.8 million dollars from the organization.
• Van Gundy and Mark Jackson both tried to coach the Pistons from the broadcast booth. You can tell they haven’t really watched much of the team play other than when they are on the sidelines.  Sure they may have good points from time to time, but they sound like they are auditioning for someone’s job.
• The Pistons have now lost four straight home games for the first time in eight years.
• Amir scored 10 points with 9 boards in 21 minutes on the floor. Is this enough to warrant the argument for him to keep starting for the Pistons?

• An Amir Johnson Highlight Reel.
• Maxiell with just 4 minutes of playing time. He did manage to pick up a technical foul though.
• Did you notice just because Amir started the Pistons still played small ball at times. Rip defending LeBron…
• Rip played well, scoring 16 on 6-for-12 shooting. He’s playing better since coming off the bench not that he’s getting the ball and coming off screens again.
• NBA.com “Does Iverson think the Pistons would win more if he had the ball as much as he did in that quarter?” “Don’t do that to me. You’re opening up a can of worms,” Iverson said, playfully. “But I trust the way everything is going. I don’t have a choice. What I say don’t matter.”
• Our friends from Austria deserve better, they traveled almost 5000 miles to see the Pistons. They are now 0-2 and have one more chance to see this team win before they head back home.  We are rooting for you Vladan and Martin. By the way, they are keeping a journal of their trip at Dunk on U. I strongly suggest you head over there and read their journal of their time in Detroit. If something can put a smile on your face after the last two games it’s their trip.
• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3 (the day I met them and realized that Wallside Windows and the Dr. Ramini are legends in Europe)
• Why does small ball still exist?!? We go big in the 3rd and have our biggest lead of the game, at 8 points. Then Curry sits Amir and we go small, resulting in a 15-2 run for the Cavs. Need I say more?

Detroit let another lead slip away in the fourth quarter and lost at home to the Charlotte Bobcats for the first time since 2006.  Detroit ran cold in the fourth, letting the Bobcats go on a 13-2 run to finish the game and put them in a place for Ramond Felton to hit a jumper to take the lead with 0.7 on the game clock. AI had a quick chance three to win the game, but Detroit fell 78-80 to Larry Brown’s Bobcats.

Key Points:

• Small Ball
• The Pistons scored just 10 points in the fourth quarter.
• Out-rebounded by a horrible rebounding team, 41-44.
• Sheed not only was called for his 13th technical foul of the season, this late game offensive foul call that took the ball (and Sheed) away from the Pistons when the game was on the line wasn’t the cause of the Pistons collapse, but it was tough to swallow.
• Rodney Stuckey led Detroit with 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting with 6 boards and 5 assists in 38 minutes. Another big night from Rodney who must have blamed the loss on the team at least three times in his post game interview…”it was on us not the coaching.” When asked about the small ball lineup, he said it didn’t play a part in the loss.

Photo/Getty Images

• Stuckey Highlights.
• Long gone are the days when Detroit clamped down in the fourth quarter and got it done.  Take it however you want to, but it’s not just about how the lineup changed or the small ball. Think about how many games or playoff series the Pistons have lost in the past few year that they had no business losing.  Charlotte at home is just icing on the cake.
• FSN Lowlights of the game by the quarter. Want to see the mess unfold? Just watch.
• Sheed’s 16 points, 7 boards, 2 blocks and a steal didn’t even tell the whole story of how he played. His defense at times on Okafor was stellar and he hit a couple of huge threes just when Detroit needed them.

Photo/Getty Images

• Sheed was also a key part of The Play of The Game.
• Maxiell 10 minutes, Amir 9. Combined they scored ZERO points and pulled down 2 boards.
• Missed shots, critical turnovers and an offense that looked horrible in the fourth was to blame.
• Fourth Quarter – 10 points on 2 for 13 shooting with 5 turnovers. Really?????
• Rip looked pretty good in his first game back although I was surprised he logged so many minutes (35).  He was just 4-for-12 on the night with 5 boards, 2 assists a steal and a SHOCKING block on the 6″10 Okafor.

Video Courtesy of The NBA, The Detroit Pistons and FSN Detroit

• It’s real cute to put Tayshaun at the point for a play or two, but it takes away from his game. The recently settled and productive Tayshaun Prince flirted with a double-double going 4-for-12 for 11 points, 9 boards, 5 assists, 2 blocked shots, a steal.  Now that’s stepping up for your team, especially when your playing out of position. Put him back in the paint where he belongs and see his shooting percentage go right back up again.
• Just six minutes from the only true point guard on the team. Will Bynum was 2-for-4 with a board and no assists.
• Dyess, 9 boards and just 2 points.
• Iverson 5-for-12 shooting for 13 points with 5 turnovers in 38 minutes.  Can’t really hold the last shot of the game against him, how many times is he going to be put in that position to win a game?
• AI – “We just got beat, we lost a game we should have won easily.” Via MLive
• Rip is now all for doing what’s best for the team. That came before the Bobcats game.
• Fun with Small Ball.
• Hit me with your comments, I know there are a ton of frustrated Pistons fans today. Maybe even more after tonight’s game in Indiana. Oh, and my apologies to those of you at the game last night. On a miserably cold night the last thing you want to do is drive home in sub zero temps after losing to the Bobcats on a last second shot.
• BTW Steve is ready to put up an open letter to Michael Curry here on N4S and I’m all for it if things keep going south.  Want in on it….by all means leave ‘em in the comments.

The Pistons and their old/new small ball lineup will face the 14-24 Charlotte Bobcats tonight at the Palace.

Like it or not it’s going to happen, whether it’s successful or not is another thing. The true test of Michael Curry’s coaching abilities will come if this new/old/new starting lineup fails….how long will it take for Curry to make a change? If he’s “hard nosed” and he gets respect from his players like we are told, then a quick change will be no problem.

Benefit of the doubt…that’s up to you.

We know what Rip had to say about a possible bench role.  In fact, he did not even speak to the press today.

UPDATE: Rip seems to have changed his tune, saying he would come off the bench if it means winning:

“Whatever makes us win, I’m going to go ahead and do it … You can ask anybody who plays the game; nobody wants to come off the bench … I want to win. Everybody here wants to win. That’s what we’re all in this for…” Via Mlive. (Thanks to Chris in the comments for the link)

Iverson on the other hand “says” he wants to win and will do what he’s told.

Video courtesy of Channel 7 Detroit

Larry Brown takes a back seat in this one considering the current Pistons coach is making more waves than the former.  Thinking about what LB would do in the situation? I know I was, and I’m certain I know the answer.

Rip is back and Sheed will probably see limited action after re-aggravating his foot injury against the Jazz.

Tip off is at 7:30 P.M. and will be locally broadcast on FSN . If you can’t watch the broadcast, tune into 1130 AM WDFN The Fan, with pre-game coverage starting at 6:30 P.M.. Can’t do either? Follow the game on NBA.com.

Comment Away!

Curry cops out…for now at least.

Rip and Iverson to start tonight.

“We want our best players on the court as much as possible,” Curry said. “But for 32 minutes (of a game’s 48 minutes) we need to be big. A lot of nights Alan or Rip will be subbed kind of early but they’ll come back at the start of the second quarter with (Will) Bynum or Stuckey.”

“I don’t expect those guys to want to come off the bench, but if we’re at the point we need to do that, we will,” Curry said. Via The Detroit News

I’m not happy about this one bit. Detroit had been playing their best ball since the Iverson trade since ditching the small ball lineup. I will be shocked if this lasts long. I do understand neither Rip or AI should be coming off the bench, but when does it become about the team?

“I don’t expect those guys to want to come off the bench, but if we’re at the point we need to do that, we will,” Curry said.

Said Iverson: “You always are supposed to do what the coach asks you to do. I’m not trying to be a distraction. Obviously, it would be difficult for me. It’s something I’ve never done in my career. It would be different. We’ll see what happens. That’s something I’ve never faced in my career, back to when I was a little kid. That’s something I’ve never been through in my life.”