TAKE FIVE
A five-point dissection of the fourth consecutive Sunday loss

1. Drastic measures –Allen Iverson got benched again Sunday. And this time he wasn’t alone.

Michael Curry told his entire starting lineup to take a seat with 2:53 left in the first quarter, trailing by 14 and well on their way to a fourth consecutive Sunday blowout. Following Rip Hamilton’s game-opening jumper, the Pistons’ starters missed their next six shots and turned the ball over twice.

”I’m not trying to send a message. They weren’t playing well,” said Curry, who sent Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Walter Herrmann, Amir Johnson and Jason Maxiell on the court. “Our starters put us in the hole that we battled back from the entire night.”

For a 10-minute stretch between the first and second quarters, Detroit’s second unit turned around a 25-11 deficit. They shut out the Blazers the remainder of the first quarter, then sparked a 29-point outburst in second. Stuckey spearheaded 15 unanswered points for Detroit, with assists to Johnson and Kwame Brown at the rim to bookend the run, which gave the Pistons a 31-30 lead. Portland coach Nate McMillian called a timeout and The Palace crowd roared in approval as Stuckey egged on the crowd. It was the kind of emotion, on the court and in the stands, which had been lacking in their three prior Sunday defeats.

“We did battle back, there were times when we had to give our guys off the bench a (break),” Curry said. “This game’s on our starters. When we put them back in, we never got great things going. I thought our guys came off the bench and gave us a chance to compete and win the game. That was disappointing.”

With the starters back on the floor, Portland rebuilt an eight-point halftime lead. Detroit hung close - even taking a 77-75 lead early in the fourth - before the Blazers finished them off with an 18-3 run.

“As a coach I should haven’t to search to find where I’m going to find my energy,” said Curry, sounding as agitated as he has all season. “I coach the game, I can’t coach the energy.”

TEAM COLORS
The story of the game in Pistons red, white and blue

2. – There were five Trail Blazers on the floor to start the game, but Portland only needed one to outscore the Pistons as it built its 25-11 lead. LaMarcus Aldridge - who scored 22 points twice against Detroit last season - made six of his first eight shots for 13 points in the first seven minutes, repeatedly making the Pistons pay on pick-and-rolls.

“My jumper has felt better these past few games and I’ve been shooting it with great confidence,” said Aldridge, who shot 11-for-19 for a game-high 27 points. His last field goal - a 20-footer from the top of the key - boosted Portland’s lead back to 11 with three minutes left.

“LaMarcus Aldridge started off extremely hot and he got them into the rhythm and they just followed his lead,” Iverson said.

3. BLUE COLLAR – With Aldridge doing most of the damage, the Trail Blazers made 11 of their first 15 shots - a robust 73.3 field-goal percentage. That came to a sudden stop when Curry unleashed an all-Zoo Crew lineup. They forced Portland into three missed shots and four turnovers to end the quarter, highlighted by several hustle plays by Jason Maxiell, who dove out of bounds to save the first of his career-high three steals, then took a charge in the final seconds.

That tenacity carried over into the second quarter as Johnson took a charge on the opening possession and a Stuckey block led to a Rasheed Wallace triple, cutting the deficit to five. “The young guys came in and got some turnovers on them, got to the basket,” said Stuckey, who had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. “Just being in an aggressive mood and we came back.”

Stuckey had a team-high plus-minus rating of plus-12, followed by Herrmann (plus-10), Afflalo (plus-seven) and Johnson (plus-four), who also had a team-high eight rebounds. Every other Piston was outscored by Portland when they were on the floor.

4. RED FLAG – The NBA’s second-best 3-point shooting team didn’t bombard the Pistons from downtown, but they struck at opportune times to keep Detroit in perpetual comeback mode. They made 7-of-17 from beyond the arc, almost exactly their season average of 41.2 percent.

“Portland came out and played a good game today,” Stuckey said. “They were hitting their shots, they got a good lead on us in the first half. We tried to come back, it took a lot of energy out of us, but that’s no excuse. They just played pretty well today.”

Wallace’s 3-pointer with 1:01 left in the second quarter cut the deficit to 45-42 and put Detroit in position to strike in the third quarter. Then Sergio Rodriguez tripled just 22 seconds later, and Blazers went on to take a 50-42 halftime lead while erasing momentum swing toward Detroit. Likewise, after Arron Afflalo’s fourth-quarter free throws gave the Pistons a 77-75 lead - their largest since 2-0 - Steve Blake’s triple sparked Portland's 18-3 game-clinching run.

“We just got to clean up some stuff on defense,” Stuckey said. “Like I said, I think they shot the ball pretty well today and we just got to play harder on defense.”

THE LAST CALL
A little perspective on Iverson’s struggles

5. – As Curry noted, none of the starters played particularly well, though Rip Hamilton had a team-high 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting. But the Pistons’ current struggles are arguably toughest on Iverson, who is eager to prove Joe Dumars made the right move in bringing him to Detroit. “It’s frustrating just losing one game,” said Iverson, who had a team-worst minus-28 rating Sunday. “I was frustrated from the first game we lost so obviously I am (frustrated) now.”

Iverson, a four-time NBA scoring leader, had only one field goal through three quarters. He finished 2-of-9 from the floor and even missed some bunnies at the rim. In addition to meshing with his new teammates and Curry’s offensive game plan, Iverson is discovering he’ll have to keep his shooting stroke warm despite coming in and out of the game more frequently. His career average is 41.7 minutes per game; he’s averaging 37.4 since coming to Detroit. He played only 32 minutes Sunday.

“It’s a different situation for me. I’m finally sitting more than I usually do,” he said. “This is the most I’ve sat down in my career and I think just my rhythm is not where I want it to be. But I’m positive and I’ve got a lot of confidence in my game and I know it will come back.”