Pistons Blog

Category: Pistons

Tough times

Michael Curry is reaching the first crisis point of his young coaching career. He has an unhappy Tayshaun Prince to deal with, as well as a somewhat baffled Allen Iverson and a Rasheed Wallace who seems to be steadily wearing down physically.

Prince has never been anything but a professional and I don't expect him to be a disruptive force now. But he was clearly shook after the loss to Portland Sunday when he was told that Curry had benched him in the fourth quarter because, "Tay wasn't playing well."

That completely blindsided Prince, who thought he played well and thought it might have been better for Curry to tell him why he was benched before he told the media. Prince did not play his best game -- he was a minus-23. But he was not the worst among the starters. Curry put Wallace and Iverson back into the game down the stretch and they both were brutal all game.

So, Curry is going have to mend a fence there. Secondly, Iverson talked about not being able to find his rhythm. He talked about sitting out more than he's ever sat in his career. Iverson worded his comments carefully, making sure not to sound like he was complaining or making excuses. But the fact is, Iverson is searching right now and it won't take long before he latches on to the lack of consistent minutes as his crutch.

Curry can't very well start giving Iverson 38 to 40 minutes. Who does he take minutes away from? Rodney Stuckey? I don't think so. The Pistons have been at their best the last three games when Stuckey was running the offense. So, this is another fire Curry needs to put out.

As for Wallace, the return of Antonio McDyess (Dec. 7) will help here. Wallace has played too many minutes and because Kwame Brown isn't doing enough, they are hard minutes trying to hold down the low-post defense almost by himself. Wallace had no legs Sunday. It was painfully obvious. He couldn't move, let alone jump, which is why he had missed 8 of 12 shots and had all of one rebound. The guy needs some help down low.

The other issue that doesn't seem like it's going away is the pick and roll defense. I can't remember a Pistons team defending pick-and-rolls as poorly as this one is right now. Part of the problem Sunday was Wallace's dead legs. He's usually much better at defending that play. But overall, the Blazers made the Pistons look like a real old and slow team Sunday and it was tough to watch. They forced Curry to use a bunch of odd player combinations and different coverage schemes -- none worked.

I think Curry can and will deal with Prince, Iverson's playing time and Wallace's fatigue. The pick-and-roll defense, the low-post defense in general, that's going to be a season-long battle.