AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Detroit Pistons weren't strong finishers under Alvin Gentry, so management decided not to let him finish the season.
Gentry was fired unexpectedly Monday in what Joe Dumars, the former Pistons star and now the team's vice president of player personnel, said was a move to "give the team a jolt."The Pistons have lost seven of 10 games and 11 straight on the road. Detroit has repeatedly blown leads, having led in the fourth quarter in 10 of its last 13 losses.
Gentry, who succeeded Doug Collins a little more than two years ago, was replaced on an interim basis by assistant George Irvine. Irvine, a former head coach of the Indiana Pacers, inherits a team that is 28-30, fourth in the Central Division and seventh in the Eastern Conference.
Gentry said he thought his firing came at an odd time.
"We were still in the playoff picture. I still think the team has a chance to make the playoffs and do well, but this is business," he told the Detroit Free Press.
Gentry told The Detroit News he had no idea the firing was coming.
"I had no inkling whatsoever," he said. "I can't think of anything that could have happened personally between me and anybody else. It's just, I think Mr. Davidson . . . felt it was time to make a move. And I can understand that."
Grant Hill, one of the NBA's best players, called the firing a "tough, unfortunate" decision for a coach who "did the best job he could."