Iverson also changes Detroit's defense

The Detroit Pistons’ 100-92 win over the Sacramento Kings last night was closer than what one would reasonably expect from an Eastern Conference finalist going against a Western Conference also-ran that was missing two of its best players.

It’s still quite clear the Pistons have a lot of work to do with Iverson, but the adjustment is not only on the offensive side. The defense also has an adjustment to make.

Detroit has never had the type of guards that team’s would look to post-up the way they’re going to look to post-up Iverson.

Kings guard John Salmons took Iverson down low several times and it nearly won the Kings the game. Pistons first-year coach Michael Curry had a lot on his plate before Joe Dumars traded Chauncey Billups for Iverson, but now he has a lot more. Maybe all this new responsibility took hold last night and Curry was distracted by it as Salmons kept posting up Iverson and making plays for his team. Lets not forget, last night’s game was Curry’s seventh as an NBA head coach. He still has some things to learn, especially on the game-management end.

Detroit gained the advantage once Sacramento started breaking down in its half court sets.

The change in feel defensively may have led to Spencer Hawes playing as well as he did in the limited minutes he had. He always seemed to be working in space. He was hitting open mid-range jumpers and once, working one-on-one against Rasheed Wallace down low, he made Wallace bite on an up-and-under fake and then finished with a two-handed slam.

The only thing that seemed to keep him from dominating the game was that he was in foul trouble. But while he was in there he showed he was both big and quick. He looked a lot like Kevin Love did at UCLA last year — and this was against a Detroit front line that has no slouches.

The Kings lost by eight points without two of their big guns in Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia. Had they played, perhaps the Pistons would have never been able to lull the Kings into the half court style as much as they did and maybe that would have been enough to get a win.

Either way, the Kings didn’t seem as sorry as they might at first glance appear to be.

But was it Detroit’s defense that made them look that way?

The Celtics shredded it in their 88-76 win over Detroit Sunday and Devin Harris looked like a franchise player two nights before in a 106-93 win over the Pistons in New Jersey.