Head coach John Kuester has been second-guessed by his players and the media on a regular basis this season. It was more of the same Sunday night after he rode his second unit during the fourth quarter of a close loss to Portland.

While the Blazers fed the ball to go-to scorers LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews, who combined for 62 points, the Pistons were a mess offensively during crunch time. They wound up with two air-balled three-pointers from Charlie Villanueva and Austin Daye and a pair of turnovers in the final 1:15 as the Blazers outscored them 12-5 down the stretch.

Kuester left Tayshaun Prince, Tracy McGrady and Ben Wallace on the bench throughout the fourth and played Rodney Stuckey just one possession. Stuckey was irritated when Kuester told him to come in during the final minute to guard Andre Miller. The Blazers, holding a one-point play, perfectly executed a pick-and-roll to take a three-point lead.

"Here's what happened. They're the ones that got us back into it and they're the ones that took the lead," Kuester said of his decision to ride his reserves. "Guys that are on the bench have to be ready to play."

Backup point guard Will Bynum said there was a lot of confusion during those late possessions. That speaks to the Pistons' lack of a go-to scorer and a disconnect between the coaches and players.

"Execution down the stretch was critical," Bynum said. "We knew everybody wasn't on the same page execution-wise and that's pretty much all there is to say. Communication is the key in critical situations like that and we didn't communicate as well as we would have liked."

Daye's missed three-pointer with 22.9 seconds was the end result of a muddled set after a 20-second timeout.

"The play was for Ben (Gordon), but he got caught on a screen," Daye said. "We only talked about the play for the last five seconds of the timeout, so there was some confusion once that happened. I ended up missing the shot, and

that's my fault."

The Pistons don't have long to recover from their third straight home loss as they play Atlanta Monday night and Indiana Wednesday before the All-Star break.

TRAIL BLAZERS 105, PISTONS 100: Forward LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 36 points as the Blazers won their sixth consecutive game against Detroit Sunday. Portland shot 54.7 percent and made all but one of its 30 free throw attempts. The Pistons were led by Ben Gordon's 18 points.

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