The Pistons are in Memphis for an early 5:30 game against the 11-28 Grizzlies. Despite the way the Pistons are playing Coach Curry says this game is part of a test to see if changes should be made.
Keith Langlois – True Blue Pistons
“Michael Curry stopped short of saying changes are in the offing – in fact, he specifically said there isn’t necessarily another lineup change coming – but he did broadly hint that if the Pistons don’t turn a corner in tonight’s game with New Orleans and Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. late afternoon tip with Memphis, all bets are off.
When Curry was asked about 90 minutes before the New Orleans game if he’s convinced the small lineup can defend and rebound well enough to give the Pistons a chance to be successful, he didn’t beat around the bush.
“I haven’t been totally convinced yet,” he said. “I think we’re good enough, whichever way we decide to play, but we haven’t played defense and rebounded the ball as well as I would have liked with that group.” And then …
“So we’re really looking at today and Monday to see how our performance is. I’m not saying after that we’ll make another decision, but I thought regardless of the lineup, I thought if we shared the ball a little more and took care of some fast-break opportunities … we’re not talking like we are now, because we would have beat Charlotte and we would have beat Indiana and a tossup how that game in Oklahoma City would have gone.
“We’ll see. We’ll look at everything.”
Should we be surprised?
Don’t forget this one starts early and will be televised nationally.
Tip off is at 5:30 P.M. and will be nationally broadcast on TNT . If you can’t watch the broadcast, tune into 1130 AM WDFN The Fan. Can’t do either? Follow the game on NBA.com.
Am I the only one wishing we had a harder team to beat. Playing against the Memphis Grizzles isn’t exactly a great barometer for what we should do. Because of what he said now I have to go into tonights game hoping the Pistons lose or at least play bad enough that Michael Curry realizes small ball blows. That is not the kind of thinking I want when I watch my Pistons. But if we play well then Curry is not going to eliminate small ball. I hate thinking sacrifice this game for the long run.
And it’s weird how a team like Denver can become a defensive team just by adding Chauncey and getting rid of AI. I guess Chauncey packed our defense and AI brought his along
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A0wNdb.VrnRJBIUAyQC8vLYF?slug=ap-optimisticnuggets&prov=ap&type=lgns
I bet Michael Curry was one of those kids who kept burning his hands on the stove because he couldn’t get it through his Cro-Magnon skull that the f****** thing was hot.
Without Darko playing due to injury most of interest has been taken out of this game, which should be another loss for small ball even with Darko out.
I hope the players are losing these two games because I honestly think that dont want to play small ball. OMG, it drives me crazy that somebody (Curry) can make that much and make soo many bad decisions with this team. I dont care that he’s a rookie coach, I and mostly everybody here can coach this team better. Our team has a lot of studs and there is no reason we should be playing like this. Actually we are not playing like this, we are being coached into the ground.
Why does it have to be Memphis, i wish it was LA, Boston, or Cleveland so that we could get out played, rebounded, hustled out of the building and then we could get this small ball thing out of here. How dumb could Curry be 5 LOSSES IN A ROW FOR DETROIT. THAT SHOULD NEVER F-ING HAPPEN. also, i hate peopple blaming AI, we played great when rip was out and we had Stuckey, Ai, Prince, Dyess/Kwame, Sheed starting. Come on Curry, get it through your thick head that we need change like Barack Obama
Lmfao @ Daniels comment xP
This really gets my blood boiling. How can you say or even think that this lineup is going to be successful? This is ridiculous. There’s a reason you can’t defend and rebound well with that starting lineup Mike. It’s because the other team totally out sizes you. What more does this guy need to see than how well this team played when Rip and Sheed were out. Get a friking clue Mike. As if 5 similar losses in a row isn’t enough to go on. I’m disgusted with how this whole thing is playing out. Even if they win tonight it means nothing. I’m hating Curry more and more every day.
I officially don’t care anymore about the cap space that AI is going to give us. Trading Billups was a really stupid thing to do. The guy is a great player and he wanted to finish his career as a Piston. If you wanted cap space then you could have just let Sheed walk after this season and you would have had enough $ to get somebody. I know Stuckey is great but Billups was the heart and soul of this team and without his leadership they don’t have a clue.
And I don’t have AI for any of this. It’s not his fault he got traded. I just don’t think that he’s being used the way he should.
I agree with all who said that we should get outplayed by a better team instead of Memphis.
On the TNT pre-game show they showed Dave Bing getting honored today in Memphis.
Thats the bottom line, AI isn’t being used for his true potential. If Ai and Rip we’re scoring the biggest chunk of points, that leaves everyone else to take clean up shots. I think we’re better off with AI handling the rock. At times he rarely touches the ball. AI and Rip should be starting and have the ball in they’re hands 90% of the time, everyone else should play the role Dyess used to. Max needs to play 25 minutes a game and Sheed needs to at least be a threat in the post. Look how many times no Piston is under the rim, everyone is on the perimeter. We make it look like they’re playing a zone at times. Stuckey will get more shots off the bench, its his team next season. There is no reason Rip, our captain, should come off the bench. And AI isn’t a bench player. Curry is makeing AI’s game look worse. We all now Allen is a great player and he should be set free to do his thing. Too many players on the court at the same time have plays called for them. No team does that. Lets get Curry out of here.
I said it a couple of days ago, Bynum is our best PG. Dude is getting Rip shots. He looks to pass first score second. Stuckey wants to be Duane Wade not Chauncey Billups. I like Stuck, but he runs the point like shit. He holds onto the ball too long looking for a driving lane before he decides to pass.
Rip is playing great with the second unit. The TNT analyst (drawing a blank on his name) is repeatedly saying this, “Rip plays better without AI on the floor, he leads that second unit.” Both Rip and AI needs shots to stay hot in the game, and with both on the floor, one negates the other. Let Rip lead the second unit Curry. Sounds like a good thing to me. Hopefully Curry takes note.
Yeah.. RIP is having his best game since coming back from the injury..
Sheed and Tay are 2-12 FGs in the first half!
While i acknowledge that Curry coaches as well as my middle school coach, why isn’t any accountability being put into the hands of the players? Coach Curry isn’t out on the floor while Durant strolls into the lane for an easy layup. He wasn’t the one blowing leads in the Charlotte and Indiana games. Sheed, Tay, and Rip have been on this team awhile, they know what each other can do, it’s time for them to buckle down and be leaders! We need leadership in this tough string of losses. We obviously can’t count on Curry, so Sheed be our vocal leader, Rip lead by example, Tay be a leader on the court. I mean imagine if we were in this situation and still had Chauncey, do you think he’d sit back and let the losses pile up? NO! He’d hold on to those leads in the 4th quarter that we let slip away. Hell even Stuckey can knock some sense into us. It’s time to man up and start shitting on our opponents like we used to!!!
Dominic, I think its less the players fault because the small line up mekes it easier for players to penetrate. I would also say that Sheed is getting old or lazy, dude only plays D against players he considers a challenge ie Duncan, Garnett, Howard. The small line up makes him look real bad though. With Tay at power forward, no one can give Sheed the help he actually needs. When did you think you would see PF and Tayshaun in the same sentence?
whyyyyyyy the helll is wallace
shooting brickss
hes like 0 for 4 wtfff
bench him hees useless
wow its bout some time
Fox sports is grading teams in the eastern conference…Thought what Charley Rosen said about us was interesting.
“DETROIT has dropped into the middle of the pack. Rasheed remains AWOL too often. Without Billups running the show, Rip and T. Prince are lost in the ozone. And while Iverson brings some temporary excitement, he’ll be long gone by the start of next season. The Pistons are due for a major overhaul. Grade: D”
This is my opinion in the lineup.
Rodney
Amir
McDyess
Rasheed
And either AI or Hamilton.
This will give the team defense, rebounds, steals, blocks, and points. If we add AI than we will get another guy who can shoot from anywhere and make those last critical points.
yeyah the small ball no more!
nate ru seriouss
is this posted online or they said it during the game
it was posted online.
Dyess is the hero. 16 rebounds. He’s the MVP of the game.
Anyone can score. It takes a real player to do the dirty work that doesn’t get recognition
Heres what the lineup should be
1- stuckey
2- AI
3- Tayshaun
4- McD
5- Sheed
i think that sheed would be a better PF than C. but if he is a PF, he might be tempted to shoot more threes. which is extremely agravating.
Yeah but truth be told I think Sheed is losing his legs and is tired at his age. Plus I think he is a little worried about techs so he is trying to stay away from the post to keep from getting pissed. Though I don’t believe that should deter him.
What is more impressive about Dyess is his 16 boards came in 25 minutes. Imagine if he got starters minutes
Why do people consistently want to start Amir at SF?
The guy’s a PF
Here’s what your lineup should be:
PG-Stuckey
SG-Rip
SF-Tayshaun
PF-Sheed
C-Kwame
This current small ball lineup has too many scorers in it.
Bring AI and Dyess off the bench.
this as well might have been a loss, we played terrible the whole game, tied after 3rd quarter with a crap team like Memphis, and then Memphis missed like 6 of their last shots and we won, this was painful to watch especially when after that i watched Celtics steam-roll suns for 30 points in the first half….
we’re making the play offs, but we’re not making out of second round for sure…
it’s official… rip to come off bench:
http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/truebluepistons.html
i say official, b/c we all know keith doesn’t have a mind of his own and any of his “predictions” or “opinions” are just messaging coming straight from the coach and/pr dumars
Here is a food for thought….
Let both Rip and AI start( with Stuckey running point) and play for 5 mins. Take the guy who is not hot out after that, and let him pair with Will Bynum and the bench later in the game. This way keep all egos satisfied, Bynum gets playing time, and you have leaders with both 1st and 2nd team.
they are doing something like that now. Without the Will Bynum part. But for 5 minutes that could be someones playing time who can actually provide something different than scoring. Since rip and ai both need to score. That is a wasted 5 minutes for somebody who could use those minutes better.
Since it’s going to happen I’m not going to comment on who should come off the bench. But I will say Whatever happens. Curry needs to stick with it through the season. Don’t change based on matchups, just allow some consistency to the lineup
Thanks for feedback AP.
You are right, maybe 5 mins is a little too much.But that will mean early entry for Dice into the game, which I am not sure if he likes.
I honestly wish we would have lost because then Curry would have been guaranteed GONE