With the wound of their 96-98 buzzer beater loss at the hands of Brook Lopez and the Brooklyn Nets still stinging, the Detroit Pistons face the Chicago Bulls on the road.
With their loss to the Brooklyn Nets the Detroit Pistons have now dropped to the ninth seed and are only one spot ahead of the Bulls in the Eastern Conferences standings.
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The Bulls are also coming off the back of a heartbreaking loss, falling 122-120 in overtime to the Toronto Raptors.
Facing a team on a back-to-back who went into overtime the night before should be an easy victory, however the Pistons have proven they have an innate ability to lose games they should win.
The majority of the Pistons had a disappointing night against the Nets and will be looking to bounce back against the Bulls.
Reggie Jackson played just 20 minutes and finished with only 7 points and 2 assists, so he should be fresh and ready to put in a much better performance.
Marcus Morris was also flat, scoring 13 points on a horrible 5 of 14 shooting, including 1 of 5 from three.
Jon Leuer and Aron Baynes scored 2 points in a combined 38 minutes of game time, while Reggie Bullock took Stanley Johnson‘s spot in the rotation and fell flatter than Kyrie Irving‘s thoughts on the shape of the Earth.
There were a number of bright spots that will hopefully transfer over to the game against the Bulls.
Ish Smith picked up the slack for Jackson, dropping 16 points alongside 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, while Tobias Harris (24 points, 66.7 percent shooting) continued his fantastic season.
Andre Drummond (17 rebounds) was active on the glass, which is the least you can ask from him, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope chipped in a handy 19 points.
These are promising performances to take forward, but it has been all too common for the Pistons to not show up on the second game of a back-to-back this season.
They are an awful 3-10 in the second game of a back-to-back, with many of those losses coming against teams they should beat like the Nets.
With the Bulls fresh off an overtime loss, now is the perfect time to turn things around and knock off a team that’s in the same fight for the eight seed.
Jimmy Butler, Paul Zipser and Rajon Rondo all played at least 40 minutes, while Denzel Valentine played 34 minutes off the bench.
The Bulls won’t have veteran leader Dwyane Wade either who is currently out for the season with a fractured elbow.
They also shoot a horrendous 32.4 percent from three, good for second-last in the league. Mind you, the Pistons are the fourth-worst three-point shooting team, hitting just 33 percent.
The Pistons have had a tendency to be slaughtered by three-point shooters this season, particularly stretch fours and fives (Frank Kaminsky and Brook Lopez spring to mind), so the Bulls’ awful floor spacing should play into their favour.
It seems like everything has fallen into place for the Pistons to record an easy win over a divisional rival, yet it still hinges on whether they show up motivated.
Stan Van Gundy has struggled to get this team going at times during the season and it often starts with Andre Drummond.
Ish providing a spark! #PistonsNow pic.twitter.com/Jdnw2ohWP7
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) March 22, 2017
The Detroit Pistons are 9-17 when Drummond records 12 rebounds or less.
On the flip side, in games where he surpasses 12 rebounds the Pistons are 25-20.
Drummond is the barometer for this team; if he’s focused, motivated and willing to put in work, the Pistons are going to more often than not win the game.
When he’s sulking and unmotivated the Pistons tend to lose.
He’s averaging a poor 7.3 rebounds per game this season against the Bulls, almost half of what his 2016-17 average is (13.9 per game).
Within the first couple minutes of facing the Bulls you’ll be able to tell whether the Detroit Pistons are rolling or not and where the game is ultimately heading based almost entirely on whether Drummond wants to be there.
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For the Pistons’ sake, hopefully Drummond turns up with a chip on his shoulder.