Detroit Pistons big men Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond highlighted this past weekend with appearances in the All-Star game and on MTV.
Back in June of 2018, Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond posted a Twitter video of a “7 Mile Dre” Wild’N Out shirt, hinting around at his cameo on the popular MTV show and culture staple.
Friday night, the show featuring Drummond, Grammy-award winning Kandi Burruss from the iconic R&B group XSCAPE and Atlanta-based rapper Lil’ Baby finally aired. Watch Drummond, Kandi and the black squad put together a fun melody during Friday night’s run.
https://twitter.com/WildNOut/status/1096588473174114304
The run of the show is perfect timing to remind Detroit Pistons’ fans that Blake Griffin was the only representative of the Motor City at this year’s All-Star Weekend. Drummond’s absence was glaring to a lot of Detroit’s supporters. His 17.4 points per game and a league-leading 15.0 boards a night would have been enough before.
In light of the growing importance and general popularity of the three-point shot coupled with the Pistons’ slumps this season, it was hard to make a case for anyone other than Griffin.
And on Sunday, he showed up and out, although Team Giannis eventually succumbed to Team LeBron and watched Kevin Durant accept the All-Star MVP.
Blake Griffin still posted 10 points and six rebounds on the star-studded night and gave fans this to look forward to.
#BlakeGriffin came to dunk. pic.twitter.com/pk2d6VfzmS
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) February 18, 2019
It’s time to get back to the drawing board for the Motor City.
The Detroit Pistons have 26 games left before the end of the regular season and their possible entrance to the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Their first two games are back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat on the road.
The 19-39 Hawks have struggled the entire season to find their rhythm and have split the regular season series 1-1 with the Pistons. Meanwhile the Miami Heat have a 2-7 record in the month of February and will deal with rotational issues as the staff works Goran Dragic in after the return from the arthroscopic surgery to his right knee.
Their remaining games of February are against tougher opponents like the Indiana Pacers and the San Antonio Spurs.
If you don’t remember, the Pacers put a spanking on the Pistons back in December of last year, 88-125. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs are working guard Derrick White into the lineup again, an importance piece of their post-all star break playoff push.
The Spurs are number one in the league in three-point percentage (40.9), second in the league taking care of the ball (12.5 TO per game) and third in overall field-goal percentage (42.2).
Even with four of Detroit’s five starters in double digits and help from Luke Kennard and Jon Leuer off the bench, the Pistons could not overpower the Spurs in their January meeting earlier this year.
The four remaining games of February will be a good measuring stick to gauge where the Detroit Pistons are after an impressive run before all-star break. The team began to collectively mesh, albeit leading up to a loss to the Boston Celtics this past Wednesday.
The Pistons made some defensive mistakes that cost them the meeting against the C’s, but overall efforts from Detroit’s Big 3 – Reggie Jackson, Drummond, and Griffin – have been consistently effective.
The Detroit Pistons should look to set the pace for the 26 games left in this season in their first four games to start. The Miami Heat are on their heels with an identical record of 26-30 and the Orlando Magic are only a half of a game behind both franchises.
The Pistons have to be able to get off to a solid start to this last-leg of regular season before another eastern conference team slips in and takes their place.
I enjoyed watching Griffin playing in the All-Star game and Drummond being celebrated for being a versatile entertainer. Now that the festivities are over, it’s time to get back to business for the Detroit Pistons.