"In the middle of their toughest road stretch to date, Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince wasn't about to use that — or any other factor as a crutch after another blowout loss.

After the Pistons' third straight 20-point beating, this time to a Knicks team that was struggling just as bad as the Pistons — and enduring the infamous New York rumor mill, someone suggested to Prince the lack of practice being a chief reason for their recent issues.

"We can say that all we want, but all the other teams are going through the same situation," Prince said. "Practice time has been a problem and, with being a young team we have to get better at it and practice is how you get it done.

"We have to find a way to get it done without practice time.""