Grizzlies ticked off that they lost to lowly Pistons

Zach Randolph stomped around the visitors' locker room, wearing a scowl and delivering a twofold rant about the Memphis Grizzlies' latest debacle.

"Ten in a row?" the veteran power forward said. "Ten in a row?"

That was in reference to the Detroit Pistons' 10-game losing streak that fell by the wayside Tuesday night with a 105-95 victory over the erratic Grizzlies in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The Michigan State alumnus went on to use another word to describe the Griz, who are supposed to be a championship contender but continue to find ways to lose to teams with bad records.

On this night, the Griz were soft. They blew a 17-point, first-half lead, then allowed the Pistons (24-43) to run an offensive clinic over the final two quarters. Detroit shot 61%, turned the ball over just four times and outscored Memphis, 66-41, in the second half. A Pistons team that hadn't won since Feb. 22 looked like a world beater.

"We've got to get tough," Randolph said before nearly pushing the locker room door off its hinges upon his exit. "It's not just one thing. It's a lot. We were soft, and we didn't stick to what we were doing. It's a disappointing loss, especially with what we're talking about doing. We've got to do something to fix this."

The Grizzlies (47-21) have almost exhausted ways to describe the malaise. They are 8-7 since the All-Star break, with four of those defeats against teams with a sub-.500 record.

Coach Dave Joerger stood outside the locker room seven minutes after the final buzzer and before the media assembled for interviews. So Joerger went back into the locker room and later declined to comment to the Commercial Appeal as he walked to the team's bus.

Griz center Marc Gasol wasn't even visible in the locker room. The Pistons' play, however, spoke volumes. The Pistons were the aggressors throughout the second half. Recently acquired guard Reggie Jackson controlled the game by handing out a career-high 20 assists to go with 23 points.

"I don't know what Stan (Van Gundy) told them in the locker room, but they came out guns blazing," Griz swingman Tony Allen said. "They ran us in a lot of pick-and-rolls and that caused a lot of indecision with the roll. Give them credit. They wanted it more than us."

The game proved just how fleeting the Grizzlies' offensive execution is, and how disconcerting their lack of focus is these days.

"It's like we let our guard down," Allen said. "I'm not even worried about today. We've been talking about this for a long time, as a team. We had a good opportunity to push it out to a 20- or 30-point lead and we didn't. It's happened a lot of times. We've got to find a way to change that."