NBA Stock Market: Pistons Turning the Corner?

Two of last week’s fallers got back on the winning side this week, while two of the West’s top dogs suffered a couple of setbacks over the weekend...

Rising:

Detroit Pistons - What a difference a week makes. Once Detroit’s losing steak bloated to eight games, putting them two games under .500 on the season, a change absolutely had to be made. Last week in this space I called for coach Michael Curry to be fired and for Richard Hamilton to be put back into the starting lineup. It turns out I would be half correct. Curry is still the Pistons coach, and thanks to two straight road wins over the Magic and Celtics, he might stay in that seat for the rest of the season. But with Allen Iverson missing the last two with back troubles, Hamilton reverted back to his familiar starting role, and the Pistons reverted back to their winning ways. A question still remains, however: will Iverson accept coming off the bench when he returns?

Charlotte Bobcats - A week ago the ‘Cats had lost three of four facing a four-games-in-five-nights stretch on the road. After dropping the first game against Phoenix, Charlotte rebounded to win three straight against the Kings, Warriors and Clippers. They’re still three games behind Milwaukee for eighth place in the East, but this week they play two teams ahead of them in the standings (Chicago and Atlanta) and one just behind them (New York). The term “must-win” usually is reserved for April, May and June in the NBA, not early March. But for Charlotte, a team fighting to get into the playoffs, every game is pretty much a “must-win.”

Shaquille O’Neal (Suns) - Who says Shaq is on the downside of his career? Lately the 36-year-old (who turns 37 this week) has been downright dominant. On Friday night O’Neal rolled the Raptors for 45 points off 20-for-25 shooting. It was his first 40-point game since 2004. Then he followed that up by scoring 33 points (13-of-18 from the field) in yesterday’s win over the Lakers. Since Alvin Gentry became the Suns’ head coach, O’Neal has shot over 70 percent from the field and an un-Shaq-like 68 percent from the free throw line. If Shaq continues to dominate once Steve Nash returns to the lineup, the Suns could be a team to keep an eye on.

Falling:

Los Angeles Lakers - It’s easy to defend the Lakers’ loss to the Nuggets on Friday. L.A. was coming off a 132-point outburst against the Suns the night before, and it seems the late flight to Denver caused them to lose that hot shooting touch. The Nuggets are a solid team that played a great defensive game, too. But on Sunday the Lakers managed to lose a close game to a Suns team that was down two All-Stars (Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire), despite a 49-point, 11-rebound game from Kobe Bryant. I won’t normally get down on a team for losing two games in a row, but for these Lakers, any slump, even as small as two games, is alarming.

San Antonio Spurs - Tim Duncan returned to the Spurs’ lineup yesterday after missing three games with a stiff knee, but it didn’t matter. The Blazers smoked San Antonio by 18 points to avenge their 15-point loss to them four days earlier, sending the Spurs to their second straight loss and second of the season against Portland. Both Duncan and Tony Parker sat through the entire fourth quarter. There’s still plenty of games left before the playoffs, but Portland is playing well enough that I could see them meeting the Spurs in the second round and making a heck of a series out of it.

Luol Deng (Bulls) - Deng has had a pretty tough season and an even worse February. His season scoring average (14.1) is down nearly three points from last season, but his numbers from last month were pretty awful (12.7 points, 41.8 percent shooting). Over the last two games Deng tallied a total of 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four turnovers. Those are numbers he used to notch in one half of a game. To make things worse, he recently suffered a bruised shin that may cause him to add a game or two to the 11 that he’s already missed this season.