3 takeaways from Detroit Pistons 117-111 loss to Philadelphia 76ers

1. Free throws and turnovers

Neither team took care of the ball resulting in 45 combined turnovers. The 76ers made a concentrated effort to run the Pistons’ shooters off the three-point line, evident by the team’s 19 attempts beyond the line.

They were so adamant about taking away the three that they fouled shooters a couple of times. The Pistons had to attack closeouts and get to the paint, which they did, mostly drawing fouls. Halfway into the 4th quarter, they had shot 34 free throws and the game was tied.

That was double what the 76ers had but they only made 21 of them, wasting a great opportunity to have a lead late in the game. There’s a thin margin for error when you’re missing key players against a top team in the conference.

Overall, the Pistons shot 21-of-36 from the free-throw line. Brown and Frazier missed one free throw each, Langston Galloway, Wood and Morris missed two each and Drummond missed seven free throws.

Another major issue was the turnovers. The Pistons only had one turnover more than their opponent but they had 23 turnovers overall. That’s a dozen too many. Don’t get me wrong. The 76ers are a scary defense with size in all positions that can cover a lot of ground and jump at passing lanes.

But there were a lot of sloppy turnovers. Sloppiness was the name of last night’s game ⁠— from both sides. Against a better opponent with that kind of defensive disposition, you have to be better than this.

Late in the game, you have to take care of the ball and at least put a shot up. Rose had six turnovers, Brown and Maker had three, Morris and Frazier had two each.

On the other end, late in the fourth, Philadelphia was keeping it simple, as we’ll see later. They relied on the Ben Simmons, Horford pick-and-pop and made the simple plays.