Vincent Goodwill
The Detroit News
Oakland, Calif. -- A disturbing occurrence was followed by an amazing, improbable comeback that almost had a historic feel.
Tayshaun Prince and coach John Kuester got into a verbal confrontation in the second quarter of the Pistons-Warriors game Monday at Oracle Arena, where the Pistons fell 101-97. It was not the first time the two have crossed paths.
The Pistons have never been strangers to disagreements with their coaches, but rarely has it been so public and so vocal.
Frustration began to boil over in the second quarter as the Pistons were getting run off the floor. After Prince was beat on a fast break for an alley-oop by Rodney Carney, then scored on during the next two possessions, the Warriors' lead ballooned to 25 and Kuester called timeout.
Add another chapter to the book of team turmoil.
On the way to the bench, Kuester and Prince had words. Then Prince slammed his towel down, yelling at Kuester and walked away from the huddle.
Kuester responded in kind, and had to be restrained by assistant coach Darrell Walker. Kuester and Prince continued jawing throughout the stoppage in play. After the timeout, Kuester attempted to walk over to Prince and continue their discussion, but Walker stepped in again.
"This game is emotional," Kuester said. "This game is played with passion. That's what we needed at this stage of the game, that passion. And I thought he responded in the second half."
Unlike the situation with Rodney Stuckey and Kuester early in the season, Prince started the second half and played significant minutes. Prince seemed to take responsibility in some form.
"I voiced my opinion, he voiced his," said Prince, who scored 15. "We were getting our heads bashed in. Nothing was going our way, they were picking us apart. Maybe I didn't handle it the right way."
Prince, however, stopped short of saying it was a one-time occurrence. The two have gotten into it before, this season and last. After an ugly loss to Boston, Kuester called out the team asking for more leadership, and Prince pointed the finger back at Kuester when talking to media.
"You can call me the bad guy, because I've said something to Flip (Saunders), Larry (Brown) and all my other coaches," Prince said. "It's part of the game. When you're getting beat by 30 early, strange things happen. I hope it don't happen again. I can't say it won't. I'm the type of guy where if I see something ain't right, I'm gonna say something."
Tired legs led to turnovers and turnovers led to frustration that set Prince off, a rarity when a team has come off winning four of five games. The Warriors went on a 20-0 run between the first and second quarter, taking a 32-point lead.
Then the Pistons woke up, and nearly completed the third-largest comeback in NBA history. Monta Ellis, who at one point had more points than the entire Pistons team, was shut down, scoring three points in the second half.
The Pistons actually began to cut into a 32-point deficit after the confrontation. It was an 11-point game with nine minutes remaining. Consecutive turnovers by the Warriors led to two more buckets, and the lead was eight midway through the fourth.
"We kept this thing within fighting distance," Kuester said. "Our guys battled back, they worked hard and again, they showed a lot of grit."
They couldn't muster a field goal for the next three minutes, the Warriors pushed the lead back to 12 and the Pistons appeared done for the evening. Then Charlie Villanueva hit two straight 3-pointers and the lead was four with two minutes left.
Tracy McGrady followed up a miss with a basket and foul, but missed the free throw. Rodney Stuckey tied up Stephen Curry on the next possession. Villanueva dove on the ball and called timeout, with the Pistons trailing by three.
Ben Gordon was stripped by Dorell Wright but Ellis missed one of two free throws.
"We made some simple mistakes, I made some bad turnovers," said Gordon, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half. "We gave ourselves a chance at the end, but we weren't able to capitalize on our hard work"
The Pistons' final chance was spoiled when Curry fouled Villanueva before allowing him to get a shot up, and Villanueva missed the front end of two free throws with 3.9 seconds left. He led the Pistons with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Prince was proud of the effort, as the Pistons finished the West Coast swing 2-2
"We started helping each other on both ends of the court," Prince said. "The second group came in and started the fourth quarter. They did an unbelievable job."
The Pistons will play the NBA champion Lakers on Wednesday.
Extra point
Austin Daye hit his 10th straight 3-pointer in the first half, breaking a team record and three away from the NBA record of 13. Daye missed his next attempt from long range.
Nov. 16, 2010
