Detroit's defense ranks among the league's best in several categories, but the offense has been stagnant most nights.

Only Charlotte (92.5 points per game) and Memphis (93.2) are scoring less than the Pistons, who average 93.5 points per game.

"Offensively, it comes with time," coach Michael Curry said. "I thought coming into the season, we would be good in both parts."

While some point to the departure of point guard Chauncey Billups as the beginning of Detroit's offensive problems, Curry thinks the loss of Antonio McDyess for a month did even more damage.

McDyess was included in the Billups trade for Denver's Allen Iverson on Nov. 3, but McDyess agreed to a buyout with the Nuggets and re-signed with the Pistons in December.

"I think we'd be top five in both categories real easy if we had Dice the whole time," Curry said.

While McDyess would have helped, Detroit's offensive problems seem to run much deeper than not having one player for a few weeks.

Throughout this season, the Pistons have struggled at the most basic offensive elements of the game, such as making wide-open shots or finishing around the basket.

Although Curry hates to see his players miss easy scoring opportunities, he said it is not something that frustrates him too much.

Instead, Curry said he is more bothered by "the mistakes that I consider mental mistakes, or we don't have the type of effort I like. Missed shots can be corrected. You can miss shots and still win games."

Maybe so, but it helps if you take a high number of them, which has not been the case for the Pistons this season. Detroit ranks 19th in field-goal attempts at 79.1 per game.

If a team doesn't take a high number of shots, then it better shoot a high percentage, which has not happened too often this season for the Pistons.

Although Detroit's 45.5 percent shooting seems respectable, it pales in comparison to other teams that have taken a relatively low number of shot attempts.

The Pistons' shooting struggles have been even more pronounced in the fourth quarter.

Friday's 83-79 loss to the San Antonio Spurs was yet another game in which the Pistons had problems scoring points down the stretch.

Detroit's defense held the Spurs to 19 points in the fourth quarter on 6-for-17 shooting. However, the Pistons' undoing came when they missed their last four shots from the field, which contributed to a disappointing 36.4-percent shooting effort in the fourth quarter.

Allen Iverson led all scorers with 31 points, so the Pistons tried to ride him out as long as they could.

But when Iverson sputtered -- he missed four of his final five shots in the fourth after making four of his first six -- there was no one ready to step in to pick up the slack.

"That's when we get into problems," said Detroit forward Tayshaun Prince, who was scoreless in the fourth after missing his two shot attempts from the field."A lot of times, we go through the person that has the hot hand. If he runs out, then the other guys are kind of out of place."