AUBURN HILLS -- When coach Michael Curry opted to have the Detroit Pistons practice on Thanksgiving, just about every player grumbled about it.
Still, all but one player showed up for Thursday morning's one-hour practice. The one no-show? You guessed it, Allen Iverson.
Curry made it clear that Iverson's absence would not go unpunished.
"He'll be fined, and he won't start (Friday against Milwaukee)," Curry said. "Whether he plays or not, we'll make that decision internally."
Because this is Iverson's first missed practice with Detroit, he is subject to a $2,500 fine in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the player's association.
When asked whether he had a chance to speak with Iverson, Curry responded, "I haven't talked to him. I was at practice today."
Iverson's absence was somewhat surprising considering how much he and the rest of the Pistons talked about how much they gained from the last couple of days of practice.
For Iverson, Wednesday's 110-96 win over New York was his best game defensively as a Piston.
In addition to tallying two steals against the Knicks, Iverson did a much better job of keeping New York point guard Chris Duhon in front of him and limited Duhon's dribble penetration.
After the win, Iverson attributed his solid play defensively Wednesday night to having a couple days of practice.
"The effort is there, what I do on the defensive end of the court," Iverson said. "But the whole thing is just knowing the concepts of how we want to play defense. I played for seven or eight coaches in my career. Obviously, different coaches have different strategies on defense. You may think you're doing it the right way. It might be the right way for one coach, the wrong way for another. The last couple of days, I was able to figure out a lot."
Pistons guard Richard Hamilton also lauded the benefits of added practice time with Iverson.
"We had an opportunity to break down a lot of stuff, not just offensively, but defensively, for Allen," Hamilton said. "Let him know where guys expect him to be at, because at times he didn't know where to be at (defensively) or where to deliver the ball and things like that. The last (few) days, I think it was great because it showed him where he needs to be at, at all times."
Well, most of the time.
Curry knew when he decided to have a Thanksgiving day practice, it wouldn't sit well with most of his players.
"Some things you have to do, to pay the price to get to where we want to be," Curry said. "We have a lot of work to do."
Iverson's absence could make what has been a tough transition even more awkward. But Curry doesn't think it'll have a significant impact on the team moving forward.
"As I told them, together they're all accountable for each other," Curry said. "I expect guys not to be late. I expect if one guy's not here, for each other to be able to call the other and make sure, as a group, they hold each other accountable. Because we're definitely going to hold them accountable as a coaching staff and as an organization. That's how it is.
"It's pretty simple. We have our rules. You follow them. It's no different. If someone else misses practice, you're going to be fined."
Rodney Stuckey, coming off his first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 assists, will start in place of Iverson.
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