The Detroit Free Press' Krista Jahnke on Detroit's sputtering offense of late:
The Pistons as a whole shot 37.5% against the Heat, continuing a trend of poor shooting that has coach Flip Saunders scratching his head. In the six games before Saturday night's tilt in Memphis, the Pistons averaged 41.3 percent from the floor. That stretch came with one bright spot, a 52% night against Orlando.
...
Saunders' theory is that the defensive effort has taken some pop away from the offense.
"Sometimes when you give a lot of emphasis at one end, the other end forfeits a little bit," Saunders said. "If you have to exert so much energy defensively, sometimes it hurts your offense. In our last couple games, basically we've been scoring out of our defense, out of shots off our defense rather than out of our offense."
Over the same six games, the Pistons allowed an average of 88 points per game.
The Pistons bounced back somewhat on Saturday by shooting 48% from the field, and here's to hoping that lasts. They'll need to bring both the defense as well as the offensive efficiency if they're going to keep up with some of the league's horses over the next several games.
The Pistons will face the league's top three scoring teams over the next seven games, starting at home tonight against the Warriors (third in the league in scoring), followed by a five-game road trip which begins in Denver against the Nuggets (second) on Friday and ends in Phoenix against the Suns (first) a week later.
Lack of offense? Blame it on the 'D' [Detroit Free Press]
Team-by-team scoring leaders [ESPN]