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Auburn Hills, MI – The Detroit Pistons lost three consecutive games once last season, a slump they followed with 10 wins in a row.
With a loss to the Chicago Bulls, they’ll have dropped three straight twice this December.
The Bulls, however, have one of the league’s worst records away from home, and on Tuesday they’ll try to avoid losing a fifth consecutive road game for the second time this season.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Pistons –6.5 point spread favorites for Tuesday’s game against the Bulls. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 67% of more than 243 bets for this game have been placed on the Pistons –6.5.
After losing the first two games of Allen Iverson’s tenure, Detroit (14-11) rattled off four wins in its next five games, including victories over the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland, to improve to 8-3 overall.
But the Pistons are 6-8 since then, struggling to find consistency from Iverson or anyone else. Iverson had 28 points in a win over Washington on Wednesday, then put up 38 in a double-overtime loss to Utah on Friday. Yet on Sunday in Atlanta, he scored 10 points in 41 minutes, the fifth time he’s failed to top 10 points with Detroit.
Prior to being acquired in a trade with Denver, Iverson had five games in the past six seasons in which he failed to score at least 11 points.
A loss to the Bulls would give Detroit its second three-game skid this season – it also happened from Dec. 5-9 – after having two total in the past three seasons.
The latest loss saw Iverson struggle at both ends of the floor. He let Atlanta’s Mike Bibby get free frequently on Sunday afternoon, and Bibby scored a season-high 27 points – hitting 6-of-6 from 3-point range – as the Pistons lost 85-78.
"It was just mental lapses," coach Michael Curry said. "You can’t ball-watch and Allen struggles ball-watching sometimes. Bibby made him pay.
"… The only thing we didn’t do well is, we didn’t defend Mike Bibby."
After having trouble defending Bibby, Iverson and the Pistons won’t be getting a break as they get their first look at Chicago’s Derrick Rose when these Central Division rivals begin their season series.
Rose was the No. 1 pick in the 2008 NBA draft, and he’s surpassed nearly every realistic expectation as a rookie. He’s second on the team in scoring with 17.7 points per game, and leads all first-year players with 6.2 assists per contest.
Rose had been struggling, averaging 12.0 points on 30.2 percent shooting in a three-game stretch last week. He played a season-low 22 minutes as Chicago (13-14) dropped to 3-11 on the road – 0-4 this month – with a blowout loss to Boston on Friday.
But at home against Utah on Saturday, Rose led a fourth-quarter comeback as he scored 10 of his 24 points in the final 12 minutes. He outplayed Olympian Deron Williams and carried the Bulls to a 106-98 victory.
"For the past couple of games, I was relaxed a little bit, but now it’s aggressive for now on," Rose said. "If they stop me, then that’s what I have teammates for. If they don’t, I’m going to get a layup or a jump shot."
The duties of following Rose around may be rotated among Iverson, Rodney Stuckey and Richard Hamilton, but someone will have to account for Ben Gordon.
Gordon is averaging 23.0 points over his past six games, connecting on 53.7 percent (22-of-41) of his 3-point attempts.
Gordon averaged 30.0 points on 65.5 percent shooting in his last two games against Detroit in 2007-08, and he made 10-of-12 shots on March 9 in Auburn Hills. The Pistons, however, won 116-109, snapping a five-game losing streak to Chicago.
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Posted: 12/23/08 12:00AM ET