Even given the disparate levels of competition — jumping from the terrible Cleveland Cavaliers to the quite-competent Atlanta Hawks is quite the leap — how in the hell did the Detroit Pistons go from winning by 39 points on Tuesday night against the Cavs to bowing by 32 to the Hawks on Wednesday ? The Pistons aren't the hottest team in the NBA right now, but the team has split its last 14 games and by all accounts provides a competitive showing most nights out, so how do you explain this disparity? There are obvious answers to go around. The team gave up, in Lawrence Frank's public estimation . The team purposely tanked, to hear Dan Feldman of Piston Powered recall it . Tayshaun Prince and Ben Wallace sat, to rest veteran legs in a grueling season. Also, the Hawks are good, the Cavs are not. Also, random blowouts tend to happen, on either side of the coin. There are nice ways to slough this off. We cannot, though. A disparity like this is just another straw in the cap of the NBA's crappiest hat to date. The highs in this 2011-12 season have been significant, but the lows have been unacceptable. And we've got that bloody lockout to blame.

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