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?
i could do a better job than curry at handing out minutes… he takes players out when they’re doing good (Amir today) and takes out players too soon even when they only struggle a little (Max)… I mean, in NBA 2k9 i have a good rotation going and win and get a lot of people to play but keep in my top players and that’s only in six minute quarters… imagine what i could do with real players in 12 minute quarters
We’d be 35 and 11 if i handed out playing time
fire his ass.. pleasee….. im really getting tired of wathcing them lose…..
fire his ass pleasseeee… im getting tired of watching em lose…. get avery … then get someone who’s hungry for the hardware…
PLEASE TRADE MAXIELL?!?!?!
SHEED PLAYS 40 MINUTES, MAXIELL PLAYS ONLY 4?
IVERSON, THE POINTTTTT GUARDDDDDDDD HAS ONLY 1 ASSIST? PLAYS 40+ MINUTES, AND HAS 5 TURNOVERS? WHAT?!?!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE TRADE MAXIELL TO A TEAM THAT WILL UTILIZE HIM!
Do something …. for the love of God …. the Pistons have been consistently at the top of the Eastern conference for as long as I can rememeber and they are lying on the side of the road bleeding right now and Joe D and Michael Curry are doing NOTHING!!!!!! Do something please! Don’t let the Pistons die!
if curry was coaching any other team he’d be long gone
No hard feelings to AI hes doing his best to fit in, but we should trade him for Jermaine Oneal and start Rip and Stuckey and Jermaine and Sheed, Jermaines 20 mill comes off the books in 2010 and i think that line up could keep us really blanced and atleast competitve untill the big free agency.
its simple.. fire curry.. hire eddie jordan or avery johnson.. curry cant coach.. fire curry and ull see more wins.. this loss was 100% currys fault.. im not a big amir fan whatso ever but he had it goin on tonight and the peice of shit pulled him out? wow curry great job.. after this loss i hope dumars makes u wash his car twice tonight instead of the one daily scrub down.
hey nat, long time no talk….how ya been? u gonna be in phoenix for the all star?
I have been a die hard fan since ’88 and this is prob one of the worst seasons I’ve seen. Michael Curry has no clue what he is doing. I agree why take out players while they are on a hot streak and help getting the lead, just so others can have minutes…? BS, please I’m sure the players who are not getting minutes would rather have a “W” under the belt. The trade deadline is coming up and keep in mind I bleed pistons….but….was this the billups show? no it was not but he was a great leader on the floor. trade one leader for one scorer (bill for AI)…This should work!! You have four other players who can score and now a 5th who can run the show and take over or dish off to 4 others. Now with billups gone are you gonna tell me four other players are lost….no. This chemistry is dead on perfect just as it was with Billups. Flip was let go due to getting to the ECF with no results…WTF is curry still doing there? Don’t give me this “It’s his 1st year give him a chance”…BS This coaching situation needs to change. Now with the trade deadline… IMO I think sheed is not the player back in the day..he is not out there hustling, attacking the basket, getting off rebounds. I watch him just look @ the ball go right over his head when we miss. & McD.. just not the same either great for those 5 to 10ft range shots but no energy. I don’t wanna see 5ft to 10ft range shots fired from big men or 3 points shots or “attempts” being made, and if one is made don’t come back down court & try and shoot another one just to look like a star. You got JM and amir who love to attack that basket. We get our @ss handed to us when teams charge in. Get the young big guys to stop that. And if you say well sheed is old, well AI is old but he takes a beatin’ driven in, (yes he cant play D, but thats what JM & amir will take care of). Start AI & Stuck as grds, tay & amir as frwds & JM as cntr. Rotate amir with rip, and when rips in rotate amir with JM. thats just my 2 cents. Change this team Joe b4 we don’t become a contender for the playoffs…
The Cavs made I think 2-3 layups on the fourth and the majority of their points came from perimiter jumpers. There are alot of reasons the Pistons lost today, wrong roation, missed open jumpshots, etc. But part of it was the Cavs weren’t missing on their jumpshots. It may not see like it now, but the Pistons aren’t that far off from the contenders in the east. It all counts during the playoffs.
this game reminded me of last years ECF game 6…disgusting
Johnson’s first good game in a while.
He definitely was playing with a bum ankle. McCosky said it and you could see it over the last month or so. Today was the first game where he looked to be almost 100%. I would say 90%-95%
1. Johnson needs to keep starting so Joe D. has a better idea of what to do with his other pieces both in the next 19 days up to the trade deadline and then over the summer.
2. Johnson needs to do three things this coming summer
A. He needs to run. He was a long and short distance track star in high school so running shouldn’t be a problem. But he needs to build his endurance if he wants to play 30 minutes plus next year.
B. He needs to spend hours in the weight room or at some place like Gold’s gym. Johnson needs to add as much muscle as one can reasonably add over 3 – 3 1/2 months
C. He needs to work on his hook shot and work on a turnaround post up jump shot.
As much as Curry absolutely needs to go, I fear that Joe Dumars is not going to do anything after this season. Reasons…
1. Look at the coaches in Detroit of recent.. none have lasted long (which is wrong every way you look at it if you ask me.. Flip, Larry Brown, and Carlisle were great in Detroit). This has spawned media, as well as the rest of the league, to look at us like we just get rid of coaches without second thought.. it really is an ugly truth. We’re the only team that apparently fires coaches when the team has a good season. Dumars won’t want to keep this up, and submit to the arguement that he made an awful appointment in Curry.
2. This season will be looked at as a re-building one… where one may make the assumption that any coach could have the same results with this team. The Billups trade from the get-go was to free cap-room once AI’s contract expires as well as Rasheed’s at season’s end. If this is the case, expect Dumars to give Curry another go as coach of the Pistons.. and maybe at this point next season if it’s still not back to what it SHOULD be, or worse, then I’d say expect Curry to be fired.
For the record… I’m not defending Curry.. I think he’s garbage as a coach, and he knows nothing about drawing up game-deciding and winning plays, and surely NOTHING of managing player time and rotation. And I highly question his ability to develop the younger players.
I’m just saying, consider those points, because they may just be as real as how bad this season is turning out to be.
And enough from the people saying “it’s still early”… shut the hell up, we’re past 1/2 way point in the season, and 4 games over .500. If anything, the team has worsened, not grown together over the last couple months.
As I’ve said before this team is doing it’s best impersonation of the tigers….WOWZY WOWZY!
Hope the results are not the same!lol
Sadly I’m not even that upset after watching this game. It’s pretty much what I’ve come to expect from our beloved Pistons. Just remember that the Cavs are one of the best teams in the league, so at least they didn’t get blown out.
Curry will be around for a long time.
Just think Mike Woodson at Atlanta
Um, do the math guys.
25-21 is TWO games over .500, with .500 being 23-23 at this point in the season.
Mike Woodson was dealing with an extremely young and inexperienced team. Curry is coaching an experienced veteran group and a decent bench. There is absolutly no comparison Mike.
Fluidics.
Um, do the math guy.
25 wins.
21 losses.
4 games difference.
4 games above .500.
With your method, hell, we’re only what.. 6 games out of first place!
They have 4 more wins than loses, true. 23-23 would be .500 after 46 games. Pistons have 25 wins= 2 games over .500.
A point was made yesterday about why Rodney Stuckey can’t come off the bench. He doesn’t seem to get going until the third quarter anyway. Also, why are we not utilizing Walter Hermann? Rasheed acts like he is stoned out there sometimes. He lumbers up the floor as if he weighs 400 pounds. Rip and AI are doing as much as they can, it appears. Tay has been junk lately. This team acts like they have lost their spirit. Is Curry the best coach. No, but I don’t think he pretends to be. He looks clueless and afraid on occassion. While I believe we can get better, I don’t feel like the fire is there anymore.
Bummer..Can somebody enlighten the Piston Nation who will be in the draft next season, coz with the way things are going, i would strongly believe Joe D is deliberately tanking this season for a lottery pick.
To kind of put my two cents on why we still go small at time (i.e. Rip and Iverson guarding LeBron at times). I think it’s because we don’t have much depth at the SF position and Curry evidently has no faith in Herrmann (don’t ask me why. So he just goes small and it kills us.
Either way, this is all just very frustrating and disappointing.
I agree the Pistons don’t look as good as they have been this year. But when you fire the head coach (Flip) and trade your team captin your asking for chemistry problems. I love and trust Joe D, but i’m curious to see what he does with this cap room. We took a real gamble firing Flip, and trading Chauncey. This move should bring a quality big man to the Pistons. If we don’t get a good big man we are in big trouble!
Okay, straight up – this is what I think the Detroit Pistons should do…
1. Give Jason Maxiell and Aaron Afflalo more minutes.
2. Trade Allen Iverson for a good big man (possibly Marion, Bosh, Brand, who all want out of their teams) Younger is better.
3. ^^ This would put Rip back in the starting lineup, making it this:
– Wallace (Centre)
– _______ – player aquired in an Iverson trade (Power Forward)
– Prine (Small Forward)
– Hamilton (Shooting Guard)
– Stuckey (Point Guard)
4. Get rid of a big man on the bench if trading Iverson for a starting big man, since we would have Wallace, McDyess, Brown, Maxiell, and Johnson
5. Get a shooter – Jarvis Hayes was pretty useful last year, and someone like that could be this year too.
I think that if the Pistons drafted Bosh, Melo, or Wade back in 2005 rather than Darko Milicic (hes that bad – I have to say his first name), then we wouldnt have any trouble.
Drafting Melo or Wade back in 05 wouldn´t make much sense. They had (and still have) good starters with Prince and Hamilton. Of course there´s nothing wrong with adding a player like Melo or Wade, but i think most people thought the same thing about A.I. And had they drafted C.Bosh, well, Sheed wouldn´t be here (said the guy from europe) in Motown.
I think AI looked more comfortable with Rip on the court at the point. We’ve tried almost everything, why not try to bench Stucky and have him come off the bench. I suppose he will be a bigger energy boost. The only rational against this move is to say, we are not playing for this season we are developing our young players. WTF , then play more you guys altogether.
I wish we had this win for one SINGLE reason. AI needs to see some hope with this team this season. Otherwise what’s in it for him? Sooner or later he will go off at MC and his teammates.
Natalie, I’m not sure what you mean with your last bullet point: “we go small, resulting in a 15-2 run for the Cavs.” Actually, Prince and McDyess each played the entire fourth quarter, while Amir was on the court for the 11-2 start to the quarter before he was replaced by Sheed. In total, Dice, Tay, and either Sheed or Amir were on the court the entire fourth quarter. The Pistons only played any form of small ball during the 2nd quarter, when RIP/Afflalo played small forward. I’m as anti-small ball as anyone, but that wasn’t the problem yesterday. (http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20090201&game=CLEDET)
^^^Steve added that bullet point, but I admit small ball shouldn’t exist. I think the point he was trying to make was as soon as he pulled Amir…our lead disappeared.
Again, I agree small ball shouldn’t exist, but when Amir was pulled the Pistons were already losing. The Pistons were up 8 at the end of the third, Cleveland went on an 11-2 run, and then Amir was pulled. Yes, the Pistons were outplayed after that point, without Amir, but it would have been a bit much to play him more than the 15 consecutive minutes he did play. You could argue that he should have been pulled earlier and brought back into the game late, but do you sit Sheed or Dice down the stretch?