Pistons look to continue stellar play in Sacramento
After putting up a valiant effort against the defending champs, the Golden State Warriors, on Monday, the Pistons are 5-2. On Wednesday night, they’ll take on the lowly Sacramento Kings, who are 1-7. Detroit will hope to avoid a setback, and in turn beginning their first losing streak of the season. Especially with the way the Kings are struggling to create team chemistry early on in the season, the matchup should be a relatively easy win for the Pistons while they’re still trending up.
DeMarcus Cousins will compete with Andre Drummond in who will be the best player on the floor. Detroit held Cousins in check in the one game he played against the Pistons last year, as he scored 18 points on 5-of-17 shooting. With the Kings still trying to figure out a consistent starting lineup, Detroit should take advantage and leave Sacramento with its third win so far of a West Coast road trip.
However, the Kings are desperate for a win, knowing that it could alleviate the frustration that is currently affecting the play on the floor. Kings coach George Karl has been sporadic in his lineups, starting and during the game, leaving his younger squad unable to fire on all cylinders. After an 18-point loss to the Spurs on Monday, Cousins said that the team had “in house” issues, and couldn’t answer if those issues could be fixed in time for the contest against the Pistons.
The answer is likely no, as it will take more than a couple days to play better than 1-7 basketball. So the Kings will come out hungry, but intangibles do not make up for talent, team cohesiveness, or coaching. Karl is an excellent and respected coach, but is still getting his bearings in Sacramento in his first full season at the helm.
As for the Pistons, it will be interesting how they will play after inching close to the Warriors last time out, only to fall behind in the latter half of the fourth quarter. Detroit will not want to find itself behind in the fourth quarter again, hoping to make a huge run to steal a win like it did in Portland. The Pistons will have to take better care of the ball this time out, as they turned it over 20 times in Oakland.
A bright spot against the Warriors was the excellent play of rookie Stanley Johnson, who racked up 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting coming off the bench. If he can keep the high-percentage shooting going against the Kings, it’s a good sign that he’s developing into the shooter that the Pistons hoped he would be.
Johnson will be able to show off his talent along with Sacramento’s premier rookie, sixth overall pick, Willie Cauley Stein. He hasn’t scored over 10 points since his first game, but is known to be more of a defensive presence, and will likely be starting behind Kosta Koufos.
Detroit Pistons’ starting lineup:
Reggie Jackson
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Marcus Morris
Ersan Ilyasova
Andre Drummond
Sacramento Kings’ starting lineup (subject to change):
Rajon Rondo
Ben McLemore
Rudy Gay
Demarcus Cousins
Kosta Koufos
Next: A closer look at the Detroit Pistons' three-man core