Ball Movement Lacking in Piston Loss to Portland

Posted: Nov. 20, 2009
Ball movement lacking in Pistons' latest loss
BY VINCE ELLIS

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Those who stayed up late Wednesday night, watching the Pistons rally from a 22-point deficit only to fall by six (87-81) to the Blazers, might think the game was decided in the closing minutes.

But it was lost more in the third quarter, when the Pistons only scored 12 points and entered the fourth behind by 20.

Shooting guard Ben Gordon, who didn't play in the fourth quarter, said the bench had a pretty good view of what went wrong.

"The guys on the bench said they counted the amount of times we had one-pass shots," Gordon said. "We had, like, two trips the entire third quarter where we passed two passes or more than two passes. That really hurt us. In the third quarter, we had, like, one assist.

"That's not winning basketball."

Offensive execution has been a problem all season as the team is next-to-last in the league in assists per game (16). Gordon thinks the players are still learning each other's games and trying to overcompensate for missing starters Rip Hamilton (ankle) and Tayshaun Prince (back).

"We just got to continue to play off each other, help each other get easy shots," Gordon said. "I think we'll be fine once we grasp that concept."