Detroit Pistons Held Under 100 by Brooklyn Nets, Lose Sixth Seed

The Detroit Pistons surrendered control of the No. 6 seed in the 2019 NBA Playoffs to the Brooklyn Nets after a 28-point loss in Barclay’s Monday night.

It was an ugly loss for the Detroit Pistons as the Brooklyn Nets stopped their win streak dead in stride and handed the Motor City squad a 75-103 loss on Monday night in Barclays. The Chicago Bulls’ game gave way to false prophecy.

The Detroit Pistons overcame a 21-point deficit against the Bulls, but the Nets are a different animal with peak playoff seeding at risk. Spoiler alert: It was going to take more than a single-made field goal from Blake Griffin and 13 points from Andre Drummond to hold that sixth seed tight.

The season tiebreaker is what makes this game so instrumental in the upcoming 2019 NBA Playoffs. The Nets now have a 2-1 advantage on the Detroit Pistons in games played this year and own the tiebreaker should it become a determinant after the remaining month of the regular season. But, Detroit didn’t appear pressed to walk away victorious.

The Pistons shot a 27.8 field-goal percentage, 8-of-34 from beyond the three-point line with only Griffin and Drummond in double digits. Ish Smith and Langston Galloway were not too far behind with nine points each, while they combined for 7-of-23 from the floor. Shots were not falling. And the Brooklyn Nets did not allow much to get past them either.

Reggie Jackson went down in the second quarter with just over five minutes left on the game clock and suffered a blow from Jarrett Allen’s foot that appeared to injure his thigh or groin area. He was helped off of the court but would return by the third. Allen’s screens and brick-wall presence during the game caused a lot of grief for the Detroit Pistons.

Griffin and Drummond’s size often works against them when it comes to drawing contact and the referee’s whistle, so Allen was able to operate with a level of disruption that kept both big men uncomfortable around the rim. His defensive competency never interrupts his edge on the offensive end. He had two blocks and a steal to complement an 83.3 percent shooting night that net him 11 points.

A quick scoop to the bucket by Caris LeVert with 4.0 seconds left on the clock put the Brooklyn Nets at a 26-point advantage (35-61) and had the Brooklyn bench dancing in celebration because the writing was on the wall. The Nets extended their win streak to four games in a game where all the starters scored double digits and Spencer Dinwiddie led all scorers from Brooklyn’s bench with 19 on 45.5 percent field-goal shooting. The former Detroit Pistons’ player continues to showcase how next-level Brooklyn’s player development process is compared to franchises where Dinwiddie landed before and could not crack his potential.

Rodions Kurucs stepped up big for the Nets with three steals that set a menacing tone for a smothering team defense. He ended the game with 13 points (75 percent field-goal percentage), 2 rebounds and an assist. His fast-break scores were haymakers that halted any offensive tone Coach Casey tried to set.

Maybe it was fatigue setting in. The Detroit Pistons have played three games in four days, their last just Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Bulls at home and look to have surrendered to the schedule.

It’s just one game, yet an important one. If we’re going to follow in Coach Casey’s footsteps, we have to give weight to the idea that it is still just one game. There are 16 games left on the schedule for the Detroit Pistons before the start of the 2019 NBA Playoffs including possible first round opponents the Toronto Raptors (home, March 17) and the Indiana Pacers (home and away, April 1 and 3). Sitting in their face right now is a hungry Miami Heat squad who have only lost two of their last eight games.

The Detroit Pistons need to play as if this sub-100 point performance never happened. They had an impressive stretch before Monday night and building off of that culture is first priority.

The Pistons are alright, people. They’re alright.