After a Friday night win against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Detroit Pistons host the Sacramento Kings at Little Caesars Arena.
The Detroit Pistons played great basketball Friday night.
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After losing in ugly fashion to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Pistons entered last night’s game needing to dismantle the Milwaukee Bucks to prove their previous road trip’s success was no fluke.
However, it took Detroit a few minutes to get going.
Within the first second, Andre Drummond committed a personal foul during jump ball. Then, the Bucks started on a 12-3 run and forced Stan Van Gundy another early, first quarter timeout.
So far, that’s been the story of the season for the Pistons: start slow, play from behind, pressure the bench to jumpstarting the game, and hope to come back for the win. Fortunately, Friday’s game was never too out of hand.
After the timeout, Detroit picked up their defensive intensity and rolled from there.
Reggie Jackson showed off unselfish play and dished out 8 assists, Avery Bradley continued his defensive prowess while adding 23 points, Tobias Harris was efficient moving the ball with 13 points, Stanley Johnson held strong down low against superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo while coming up with critical, late-in-the-game steals, and Andre Drummond simply dominated with 24 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal while shooting 14-16 at the stripe.
Not only did the starters perform well but so did the second unit.
Ish Smith did Ish Smith things by moving the basketball, dribbling around everyone, and shooting the midranger he’s all so in love with, Another Tolliver continued to have his ‘Tolliver Effect’ guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Langston Galloway was shooting sharp from three land.
Even Eric Moreland got in on the fun and logged some quality minutes. The big man recorded 6 points, 9 rebounds, and a monstrous black for a shortly foul-troubled Drummond.
Onto Saturday’s game, Detroit and fans can only hope the back-to-back will have little affect on energy and quality of play and come away with a strong win over the struggling Sacramento Kings.
If Detroit can continue their recent level of play and come out with urgency, there’s no reason to suspect anything less than a win Saturday night.
Hopefully if the situation’s right, Stan Van Gundy will treat fans with a Boban Marjanovic appearance along with Luke Kennard and Henry Ellenson.
Out of the youngsters expected to see the floor after off-season moves, Stanley Johnson has logged serious minutes as the starting small forward while Henry Ellenson has only played when the matchups are favorable with Luke Kennard limited due to being inactive the past few games.
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Play begins Saturday night at 7:00 E.T at Little Caesars Arena.