Rock bottom?: Pistons lose 6th straight; now at .500 - 籃球

Source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090223/SPORTS0102/

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Rock bottom?: Pistons lose 6th straight; now at .500

Monday, February 23, 2009 / Ted Kulfan / The Detroit News

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CLEVELAND -- The Pistons are much like the economy these days. Where exactly
is the low point? How bad can it get?

With the economy, no one really knows where's bottom. But with the Pistons,
it'll be difficult to get much lower than Sunday's 99-78 loss to the
Cleveland Cavaliers.

They never were in the game.

"We stunk the gym out," Allen Iverson said. "We usually play together on the
road, but we just acted like strangers out there. We didn't get it done."

The loss extended the Pistons losing streak to a season-high six games. They
also officially became a .500 team, at 27-27.

It has gotten bad, no question about it.

"I didn't anticipate starting a trip like that, it's disappointing," coach
Michael Curry said. "We talked about having trust on the court (and ended up)
playing like we didn't like each other or we're strangers.

"It's disappointing."

Curry also wasn't pleased with the effort.

"Was the effort satisfactory? No," Curry said.

Iverson has noticed the Pistons slacking off a work ethic that used to be the
standard for the rest of the league.

"I know one thing, we have to play harder than the teams we've been playing
against, that's for sure," Iverson said. "Teams are playing harder than us.

"Usually this team, of all the teams I played against in my career, this team
played the hardest. That's the surprising thing for me. Teams are outplaying
us. When it comes to playing hard, that's something you can always do."

Since a high-water mark of 21-11, after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers on
Jan. 4, the Pistons have gone 6-16. And the scary part is, considering this
was only the start of a brutal five-game road trip, it could get much worse.

"How much more open do the eyes have to be?" Curry said. "You have to learn
from games like this.

"It's disappointing we haven't learned from this and we haven't gotten better
from this. You have to go out there and get it done."

Iverson led the Pistons with 14 points (6-for-16 shooting), Walter Herrmann
scored 13, and Richard Hamilton and Jason Maxiell 11 off the bench. The
Pistons shot 37 percent (32-of-86) from the field.

Delonte West, returning to the Cleveland lineup after missing more than a
month with a wrist injury, led the Cavaliers (43-11) with 25 points. LeBron
James had 20 points and nine assists, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 16 points and
eight rebounds.

"They made a run early and we didn't get out of the gates for whatever
reason," Hamilton said. "When they had a 10-point lead they took it 20 and
when they had it at 20, they took it to 30."

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