Erschienene Romane » momentum since lifting the League Cup. I

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Grizzlies needed one half to figure out the Pistons. Once Memphis realized that Detroit couldnt hit a jumper, the Grizzlies packed the paint on defence and outscored the Pistons by 33 points in the second half on the way to a 112-84 victory. Zach Randolph finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds for Memphis. "We were struggling against their post players in the first half, so we made an adjustment and really tried to take away the paint," Grizzlies coach David Joerger said. "They were playing zone against us, but Zach was able to get inside and disrupt things, and that opened up some kick-out shots to our 3-point shooters." Detroit lost its fourth straight and fifth in a row at home. The Pistons are now 4-10 after a 10-10 start. "This is most definitely an emergency right now," Brandon Jennings said. "It is slipping away from us. You start questioning if everyone is willing to sacrifice and do the things that we need to win games." Pistons coach Maurice Cheeks met with his players after the game to try to find a solution. "Im trying to get some insight from them, and well talk more tomorrow," he said. "When things happen like this, and we dont have any ball movement, thats on me. I have to find a way to do that." Detroit missed 16 of 20 second-half jump shots, managing just 28 points after a 56-point first half. Jennings went 0-for-7 in the half. "Right now, for some reason, were just a first-half team," Jennings said. "We arent coming out with the same energy in the second half, and weve got to find out why. This is ridiculous right now." Memphis got a big game off the bench from second-year player Jon Leuer, who had 23 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. "Jon did a great job last year of honing his game all through the season -- he was still working hard in March and April when a lot of players have hit the rookie wall," Joerger said. "This year, hes taken things another step, and you can see where it has paid off. Hes got the shot fake that can set up a drive, and hes doing more things off the pick-and-roll." Memphis had six players in double figures, including 15 from former Piston Tayshaun Prince. Prince acknowledged that he gets a boost from returning to the building where he won the 2004 championship. "Its always special," he said. "You always have some incentive to hopefully go out there and get a team win. This team does a great job that when someone is facing their former team, everyone steps up to help them." Greg Monroe led Detroit with 19 points, while Andre Drummond added 15 points and 14 rebounds. But they combined for only eight points in the second half. "It definitely hurt playing like that in the second half," Drummond said. "To let them come out and do that -- thats definitely tough to swallow." The Grizzlies continued to alternate wins and losses, going 3-2 in their last five without back-to-back victories or defeats. Both teams were short-handed in the backcourt. Detroits Rodney Stuckey (shoulder) missed his second straight game, while Tony Allen (hand) was added to a lengthy Memphis injury list. NOTES: The game was played in front of a very small crowd, with a winter storm dumping up to a foot of snow in the Detroit area. The Pistons played a special video on the scoreboard during the third quarter, thanking the fans for coming out on such a nasty day. ... Prince received an ovation during pregame introductions. Prince was playing his second game as a visiting player at the Palace after being traded to Memphis last season. ... Memphis wore its home white jerseys with Detroit wearing its Sunday navy blue "Motor City" third uniforms. ... Brandon Jennings and Ed Davis picked up technicals for trash talking during the fourth quarter. 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Augustin scored 27 points in a start for Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson matched a career high with 26 filling in for Carlos Boozer as the Bulls improved to 7-2 since trading the popular Deng with a 98-87 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. LONDON -- Protecting 2-0 leads from their last-16 first legs, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are huge favourites to advance in the Champions League this week when they play return matches at home. Yet theres enough evidence to suggest Europes two heavyweight teams still have plenty of work to do. Barcelona has lost three of its last six matches in the Spanish league, giving Manchester City renewed hope the two-goal deficit may not be too much to bridge. Arsenal, meanwhile, heads to Bayern having won 2-0 at the Allianz Arena in a round-of-16 second leg last season. In this weeks other second legs, Atletico Madrid leads AC Milan 1-0 and Paris Saint-Germain is 4-0 in front against Bayer Leverkusen. ------ Here is a lookahead to the games in Europes top knockout competition on Tuesday and Wednesday: BAYERN MUNICH vs. ARSENAL Bayern is heeding the lesson learned from losing to Arsenal at home in the last 16 last season, when only away goals ensured progress before it went on to win the title. Another 2-0 loss on Tuesday would level the aggregate score. "If we let Arsenal have the ball, well have big, big problems," said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, who otherwise has little to worry about. Guardiola had a full squad to choose from for Saturdays 6-1 rout at Wolfsburg. Defender Holger Badstuber was among the 20 players to travel after recovering from tearing the cruciate ligament in his right knee. The win was Bayerns 16th in a row, setting a new record in the Bundesliga, where the side is undefeated in 49 games. In inspiring Arsenal to a 4-1 win over Everton in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday, Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil returned to the kind of form that persuaded the Gunners to break their club record to sign him from Real Madrid in the summer. ------ ATLETICO MADRID vs. AC MILAN Atletico Madrid will have two reasons to feel good about its chances to advance past AC Milan on Tuesday. First, leading scorer Diego Costa will be well rested after missing Saturdays Spanish league win at Celta Vigo due to a one-game suspension. Diego Costa scored the winner in Atleticos 1-0 first-leg victory at Milan. And second, David Villa has found his scoring touch after firing home two well-taken goals with Diego Costa unavailable over the weekend in Atleticos 2-0 victory in Vigo that kept it in the Spanish title chase. Coach Diego Simeone may opt to return to aligning both strikers as he did earlier in the season after not playing Villa in the first leg in Italy or in a recent derby against Real Madrid.dddddddddddd Milan has lost its last two Serie A matches but has Mario Balotelli back from a shoulder injury that has sidelined him since the first leg. ------ BARCELONA vs. MANCHESTER CITY Barcelona is playing its worst football since the end of last season, when the team limped to the Spanish league title. After apparently being rejuvenated under first-year coach Gerard Martino, the side has dropped points in five of the last nine rounds to go from pacesetter to chasing Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. With its domestic title defence in question, failing to protect a 2-0 first-leg advantage over City at the Camp Nou and an early exit from Europe would be nothing less than disastrous for the Catalan club. The match comes four days after Barcelona lost 1-0 at relegation-threatened Valladolid, when only Lionel Messi appeared up to the task. Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets said his team needs to rediscover "the desire to win every game." "We have had enough after this loss," Busquets said. City, meanwhile, will be hoping to build on its winning momentum since lifting the League Cup. It will have forward Sergio Aguero back from injury to help. ------ PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN vs. BAYER LEVERKUSEN PSG is all but qualified for the quarterfinals and this gives coach Laurent Blanc the chance to give some of his key players a breather for the return leg against Leverkusen. Only a monumental collapse will see the German side through but with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a hungry mood and PSG scoring freely, it seems another hiding is the more likely scenario for Leverkusen, which has lost five of its past six games. With a tough match to follow on Sunday against in-form Saint-Etienne, it seems Blanc is already preparing ahead. "We have an important game against Saint-Etienne coming up," he said. "Whatever team is selected, theres always the same desire to win. Its important for the big teams to have this." Although Ibrahimovic should start, he could come off in the second half, thus giving Blanc the chance to switch Edinson Cavani from the right wing and play him in his favouredcentre-forward role. ' ' '