Pistons Blog

Category: Pistons

A wild one

Michael Curry thought his team won the battle between his small lineup and the Jazz's big lineup. Really. When I asked him about it after the double-overtime loss Friday, here's what he said:

"At times, I thought they posted us up a couple of times, but Iverson and Hamilton were able to get loose and that was our main reason for putting those two guys on the wing."

Iverson did score 38 and Hamilton 30, no question. But the Jazz's big lineup and crisp execution had the Pistons scrambling and fouling all night.

"I think we won the battle there," Curry said. "If we're small then they can't guard us, so you tell me."

The Jazz were credited with 40 points in the paint, but I bet if you check the tape there were a lot more than that. They had 17 offensive rebounds and 21 second-chance points. Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur combined for 50 points and 25 rebounds. Every time the Jazz needed a big basket, they isolated a bigger scorer on a smaller defender. When the Pistons were in control, up eight with 7:28 left, Okur triggered a 15-2 run, scoring 12 points.

If small ball won a battle, then I would say that big ball definitely won the war.

But this wasn't Curry's best night all the way around. The Pistons had a chance to take the lead in the final 10 seconds of regulation. They had the ball and two time outs left. Curry chose not use the timeout, even though he had Iverson and Hamilton on the bench -- they were subbed out for the defensive possession. So he didn't have his leading scorers on the court with the game on the line.

His explanation was that Rasheed Wallace had just scored two baskets off pick-and-roll with Rodney Stuckey. Fine. He could still run the same play with Iverson and Hamilton on the court. They would draw defenders and open the floor even more for Wallace.

Of course, the Pistons aren't going to win many games when Jack Nies in one of the officials. Now everybody is going to howl that this is sour grapes. But I swear it's not. The refs didn't cost the Pistons this game. The Jazz were the better team when the game was on the line. Take nothing from them at all.

But Nies has long-standing feuds going with both Wallace (who he tagged with his 10th technical foul) and Iverson. It is so obvious that he has major issues with both of those players. Nies is 71 years old. He shouldn't be out there in the first place. I wish the league would look at the film of this game. There's no way they could not think Nies was acting out on his grudges.