Pistons coach: We practice harder than we play
By Jeff Adcox
The Detroit Pistons’ latest loss to the Houston Rockets had coach John Loyer scratching his head about the lack of intensity his team showed in the first half.
The Piston let the Rockets take a 69-46 lead into the locker room and they never fully recovered. After the game, Loyer talked about his team’s first half performance.
"“In the first half, we didn’t play with the energy, enthusiasm, or desire you have to play at to play against any NBA tem let alone a high level team like Houston. We came in here and I told our guys we played harder in practice than the first twenty four minutes. We had more juice, energy running a three man weave (at practice) than we did in the first half. There are two halves to a game and fortunately we played a much better second half.”"
Loyer also said there may be no easy fix for the bad effort to open games.
"“If there was a simple answer, it wouldn’t have happened. Sometimes there’s no simple answer. You have the same preparation and I thought we had a very good shoot around this morning, a very good pregame and sometimes you just go out and you don’t play. Against a high level team, the playoff teams, you have to find a way to do it more consistently every night and we need to get to that level.”"