Pistons get out-hustled

I didn't really think the Pistons had a shot last night, going into Chicago on the second night of a back-to-back and the beginning of a road trip. Chicago's really good, they're playing really well right now, and Noah has given the Pistons FITS (in their previous meeting he looked like Wilt Chamberlain with 30 points and 23 boards). Well, they lost but not in the way I expected.

The Pistons started out well and really ran out of gas at the end of the game. I'd argue Singler had the best game of any Pistons starter, but he got the fewest minutes and sat the last 7:05 of the game. Drummond was the best on the court, he played fewer minutes than Singler and sat the last 5:31. Frank made no substitutions in the last 5:31 of the game, Thibodeau made 5 subs in the last 2 minutes (switching offense for defense & vice versa)!

Here's my problem: Stuckey has been laying bricks all game and isn't a good 3pt shooter. Prince & Knight aren't playing terribly, but Stuckey is taking all the shots. We get to End Game, 29.4 seconds left, 82-82, Chicago has the ball. These are the lineups:

• For Detroit - Knight, Stuckey, Prince, Maxiell and Monroe
• For Chicago - Robinson, Boozer and Belinelli (just subbed for Gibson & Heinrich), Butler and Noah

So Chicago goes for an offensive lineup, Detroit fails to counter with, say, Drummond (instead of Monroe) and Singler (instead of Stuckey). Then this happens:

Three things bother me about this. First, Noah's initial screen on Stuckey (which eventually pulls Monroe out of the rebounding area) is clearly illegal. He looks like a left tackle, blocking a guy down & then falling on him so he can't get the QB. Second, Monroe's defense on this play is pretty bad. He does a lot of ball watching when Belinelli initially get open, and then he hangs out at the 3pt line as Noah saves it. Third, what the heck is Stuckey doing, fouling like that? If you're going to reach in, wrap him up! I play in a regular weekly pick up game here in Detroit, and when the game gets tight like that... no free-bees. Good hustle play by Noah (after the blatant moving screen), everybody on the Pistons seemed to be asleep.

Anyway, now there's 7.5 seconds left, 85-82 after the free throw, and these are the guys on the court:

• For Detroit - Knight, Stuckey, Prince, Maxiell and Monroe
• For Chicago - Robinson, Gibson and Heinrich (subbed for Boozer & Belinelli), Butler and Noah

The Pistons are down by 3 and have 1 person in the game who's actually connected from distance all game. Stuckey is their 8th best 3pt shooter (9th, if you count Drummond's 1-2 on the year), and it's not like he had a hot hand or anything. Not really sure why Frank had both Maxiell AND Monroe out there, neither was going to shoot. Frank had called a 20 second timeout, you would think he'd use that opportunity to insert a 3 point threat or 2. Alas.

Anyway, Tay and Stuckey both bricked their threes (great rebound & feed by Knight on that play though), and the loss was cemented. I'm not sure what Jerebko did (or didn't do) to get on Frank's bad side, but it's pretty extreme to basically play an 8-man rotation in the 2nd half because of a personality conflict or whatever it is. And reading between the lines

in this article from The Detroit News, it appears Monroe and Drummond don't play together much because they're still adjusting to Monroe at the 4 instead of the 5. REALLY? Halfway through the season and Monroe can't play his natural position? I have serious doubts about Frank's coaching ability if that's the case.