Three takeaways from the Detroit Pistons’ victory over the Knicks

The Detroit Pistons won their third straight game, beating the New York Knicks 115-108 on Tuesday. This is the Pistons’ seventh victory in their past nine games, and they look to take this momentum into a tough upcoming stretch.

While the Detroit Pistons didn’t play their best tonight, strong defense and a few individual performances led the team to the win. Blake Griffin continued to lead the team on the offensive end with 30 points, and Reggie Jackson chipped in 21 to help keep the starting unit afloat.

After the starting five sputtered out of the gate to a 15-7 deficit, the bench came in and changed this game.

In particular, Stanley Johnson scored 21 points off the bench in what was perhaps his best game of the season. He also closed the door on a Knicks’ comeback with a huge block on Allonzo Trier in the fourth quarter.

Detroit was lucky that the Knicks only shot only 39.6 percent from the floor. However, there are takeaways to be had from every game. Lets take a look at three of them from tonight.

Stanley Johnson’s effect off the bench

Since being moved from the starting five to the bench, Johnson has been on a tear. Tonight he scored 21 points, and looked very comfortable with the ball in his hands.

He moved from the fifth option in the starting unit to the focal point with the bench, and so far he’s had great success.

Rather than watching Griffin and Jackson run the offense from the corner, he is operating with the ball in his hands, pushing it in transition, and creating plays for the team.

In ten games since being relegated to the bench, Johnson has averaged 11.2 points on 47.1 percent shooting from the field and 37.5 percent from three.

Tonight he had a huge impact, sparking the team whenever he checked in. If he can keep this up, he will bolster a bench unit for the Pistons that has sometimes struggled to support its starters  for much of the season.

Andre Drummond’s free throw woes

Early in his career, Andre Drummond struggled mightily with free throws. He was intentionally fouled on a consistent basis (the “Hack-A-Dre” strategy) and that ruined his ability to get into the flow of the game.

He made huge improvements last season, shooting 61 percent from the line, however, he’s struggled a bit in the past few games. He shot 1-of-8 last game against the Phoenix Suns, and 0-of-4 tonight against the Knicks.

Pistons’ fans should hope this trend doesn’t continue, as Andre’s strong start to the season would be hampered by the “Hack-A-Dre” strategy.

Pistons’ slow starts continue

Prior to the game, Fox Sports Detroit reported that Dwane Casey made it a point of emphasis for the Pistons to have a good start, and not to wait until 7:30 p.m. to get into their rhythm.

Tonight however, they did exactly that.

Detroit trailed 15-7 midway through the first quarter. and needed a 17-4 run to close the period up 24-19. This is a bad habit to get into; the Pistons will need play at a high level the entire game once they start facing stiffer competition in their next upcoming stretch.

These takeaways will certainly be factors to watch in their next few games.  They face a tough upcoming stretch, facing teams such as the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers.

The Detroit Pistons will need to keep their momentum rolling in order to continue their strong start to the season.