After another lopsided loss, this time against Dallas, are the Detroit Pistons truly trying hard, as TV analyst Greg Kelser suggests, or are some players such as Tayshaun Prince tanking it, the same as last year?
Intervention: The Detroit Pistons defeated the defending NBA champs, the Dallas Mavericks, 82-81, at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Tuesday night.
No, this writer ain't trippin' .... at least not entirely. I realize that the official final score was Dallas 100, Detroit 86. I'm just not counting the horrible start of the game, when the Pistons, under the veteran leadership of Tayshaun Prince, allowed the Mavs to take a 19-4 lead.
Things are getting so rough, it seems those among us who remain Pistons fans will have to resort to these sorts of tricks.
Of couse, the Pistons never would have outscored the Mavs 82-81 during those final 42 minutes (including 31-24 in the final period) if there had been something on the line. Dallas Coach Rick Carlisle, who must now be eternally grateful that Joe Dumars canned him back in '03, took the opportunity the Pistons are offering their foes this season. He rested his starters. Dirk Nowitzki played the most, 28 minutes, and still managed 18 points.
Greg Kelser, who must have the patience of Job or must really need the job, is still showing empathy. He says the Pistons are better than they've shown, but that they simply are sort of psyched out at the moment and on any given night, they'll break out.
Rookie point guard Brandon Knight may be a legitimate example of Kelser's view. He played 36 minutes and scored 12 points, but turned over the rock six times among the 'Stones' 20 miscues.
However, Tayshaun Prince, he of the four-year $27 million contract, is too old to be psyched out. Rather, Kelser (who lost credibility last season when he generally censored himself on the team's morale problems) needs to call Tay out in regard to effort. Against the Mavs, Prince played 22 whole minutes, took five shots and made one of them. He also had one defensive rebound (off a missed free throw), and one turnover. He's now averaging eight points and three boards, shooting 36 percent for the season, at a pay rate of nearly $90,000 per game. (That's $27 million divided by 309 games .... 66 this season and 81 apiece over the following three. Of course, we aren't counting exhibitions or, ha ha, potential playoffs. As Jim Mora might exclaim, "Playoffs? Playoffs?"
C'mon, Special K, tell the truth about Tay. Does the guy have some kind of secret injury that we don't know about, or are we really seeing what we are suspecting? Your praise for team effort as a whole won't carry any weight unless you also tell some painful truths.
