Via Yahoo Sports
“The confrontation started after Prince didn’t fight through a double screen in time to stop Warriors guard Reggie Williams(notes) from hitting a 3-pointer that put the Pistons in a 25-point hole with 4:27 left in the second quarter. Kuester called a quick timeout and voiced his displeasure to Prince, who barked back at his coach on the bench. As the argument continued, Kuester motioned for a Pistons security official to remove Prince from the bench. Kuester started to walk toward Prince, but was restrained by assistant coach Darrell Walker.
Rip Hamilton replaced Prince, who spent the remainder of the half sitting on the bench with a towel over his head.
“It’s something that happens,” Prince said. “You can call me the bad guy. I’ve pretty much said something to Flip [Saunders], Larry [Brown] and all my other coaches. It’s part of the game. Maybe the way I handled it wasn’t the right way. When you are getting beat by 30 early, strange things happen.”
A team source said Kuester and Prince didn’t discuss the incident at halftime. Prince started the second half, and was on the floor at the end of game after the Pistons trimmed what had been a 32-point deficit to two before losing. Kuester and Prince also didn’t talk after the game about their confrontation, the source said.
“I voiced my opinion, and he voiced his,” Prince said. “We were getting our heads bashed in, and I felt I had something to say and he felt that he had something to say. It’s a situation where everything we were trying to do out there, nothing was going our way. They were picking us apart.
“I felt I had something to say, he felt he had something to say and we left it at that. We came in here at halftime and put everything aside and said, ‘Let’s go out there and try to win this game,’ because Golden State is the type of team with the way they play that they can let you back in the ball game.”
wow… I really hope these two bury the hatchet I was satisfied with the comeback. Hate that it comes down to them lighting a fire up under the Pistons’ asses for them to get focused man! Oh well we got Kobe and the Super Lakers coming to town….
this is not a big deal. when teams winning 30% of their games, this kind of stuff happens. Would you be happy if you were losing? I hope not!
The only problem is people like us from the outside making a big deal out of it, and decide that Tay or Q has to go because of it.
That they are fighting merely shows both Q and Tay have a sense of urgency about the Pistons.
It’s all good.
Prince needs to shut his mouth…getting paid millions to play a game, and one of the requirements is respecting the coach, which he is not doing…I’m glad Q isn’t backing down, I wish he would bench Prince again. Prince isn’t stepping his game up much, has a few good games then a handful of terrible games…thats all HIS fault!
Prince needs to have more intensity on the court out there and I swear to god if I see his ass trotting back on a botched play or any play for that matter with his little Eyore impression hanging his head.
WTF. Pick your head up and give it 100% or get off the court.
yup i hate that hes the first one hanging his head when something goes wrong. In a weird way its like hes not even sad but hes putting on a performance for the audience, cause he wants everyone to SEE him hanging his head. ridiculous
Really the worst part is with his bad attitude (Prince), he’s hurting his trade value…
What Edt said is spot on. Bad things follow bad teams. If we win 15 of our next 20, watch how these sort of stories and rumours dry up. If we lose 15 of our next 20, watch how these sort of stories and rumours come in a tidal wave.
I was happy that this sparked them to fight back.
What I was most cranky with Prince about was his failing to pass to Stuckey on that inbounds play where Gordon turned it over at 98-96. If you watch it, Stuckey had a clear open lane for a layup and was jumping up and down to get Prince’s attention, but he threw it to Gordon instead.
Lol… Get rid of Kuester he sucks. We need a real coach.
We need Bill Laimbeer as our coach period!!!! A real stone from the Pistons days. Kuester just aint got their RESPECT AND they arent buying into his game plan. Joe D go ahead and go get Bill. Seriously!!!
Tayshaun is turning into a huge problem. If he could put his money where his mouth is, that would be great. He is not a leader, and he doesn’t add much to the team most nights. Time for him to go!
tayshaun built a legacy here but its weird how he’s actually making himself out to be the bad guy when most people know kuester is not a hall of fame coach or anything. He gets in a argument cause the coach tells you to “fight through a screen” well not surprised cause tay does not fight for anything on the court. he’s smart but he doesnt fight on the court.
i cant believe how in a way he’s actually getting people to dislike him rather than be on his side.
im sure its a lot more than we know about. the comment by q might of just set things off. im sure everyone would get upset and put their head down too if your team messed up the same play night in and night out. im sure they spend countless hrs practicing it and still make simple mistakes. i can see why prince is frustrated. but i think he should handle it better, try and work with q, he is all we have for now. butting heads isnt going to make things better.
When the coach and players are not on the same page the team does not win. Your not going to win many games playing from 30 behind and being content you almost made a comeback. There is a lack of respect by the players for Kuester and it shows when things like that happen DURING the game. It’s not like it’s happening off court, players are throwing temper tantrums for all to see right on the sidelines. It’s not the first time it happened this season and it won’t be the last as the Pistons continue to rack up losses. Until this team finds an identity and a true leader, this will be the story all season: Losses coupled with drama.
nate that’s backwards from how it really works. when kobe had kwame brown on his team everyone said the lakers had “bad chemistry” and then when he got gasol to play with him everyone said it was “good chemistry”
the truth is that “chemistry”, “respect”, these emotional things come automatically any time you win. It’s not that you win because you have chemistry and respect for the coach, it’s that if you lose all the time, nobody will ever respect the coach and nobody will say there is chemistry.
If this team wins it will all blow over. But if we continue to lose, there will be more “temper tantrums”. Temper tantrums dont cause the losing. Losing causes people to say there are temper tantrums.
Ball dont lie!
If there arent any injuries this team is going to play pretty good. I think fans will be happy to make the playoffs this year and go out in the first round. And when we get a few more wins, suddenly Q and Prince will respect each other. Wait and see.
I sure hope it works that way, because it seems players and coaches at odds when they’re losing tend to just learn to live with each other when winning. The respect never is there and it eventually boils over.