The one no-show was, you guessed it, Allen Iverson.

Known for his aversion to practice, Curry made it clear that Iverson's absence would not go unpunished.

"He'll be fined, and he won't start (tonight 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 the benefits of getting to practice the past couple of days.

For Iverson, Wednesday's 110-96 win against New York was his best defensive performance as a Piston.

In addition to two steals against the Knicks, Iverson did a much better job of keeping New York point guard Chris Duhon in front of him as well as limiting Duhon's dribble-penetration.

After the win, Iverson attributed his defense 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."

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."

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 only makes what has been a difficult transition more awkward.

But Curry doesn't think it will have a significant impact on the team.

"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 (they're here)."

"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 against Milwaukee, will start in place of Iverson.