1. Drummond’s big night
In order for this team to have a chance at winning games right now, Andre Drummond has to play like a max player and he absolutely lived up to that standard on Saturday. He had 25 points, 20 rebounds, six assists, five blocks, and three steals for the night. Most importantly, when the game needed to be won, Drummond bailed the Pistons out of a late-game mistake on the inbounds pass.
From Pistons PR: Andre Drummond became the second player in #Pistons history (Bob Lanier) to have three straight 20-point, 20-rebound games.
— Aaron Ferguson (@Sports_Aaron) November 3, 2019
He joins Kevin Love and DeMarcus Cousins as the only NBA players in the last 25 years to accomplish the feat.
With 7.4 seconds left, the Pistons were inbounding on the sideline and unfortunately passed it to Drummond instead of Luke Kennard in an obvious late-game fouling situation. Drummond hit one out of the two to make it a three-point lead with 6.7 seconds left.
On the next possession, the Pistons fouled Taurean Prince immediately, who then makes the first and misses the second free throw. Drummond corrals the rebound on the sideline and gets fouled with 3.7 seconds left. He nails both free throws and seals the game at 113-109 and the Nets without timeouts.
Drummond was a force on the defensive end as well. He established his presence early with three blocks, two of them on Jarrett Allen in the first quarter and 11 rebounds. With all three point guards on the roster inactive, the Pistons needed to rely more on Drummond dribble hand offs near the elbow and also showing off his passing skills in the lane with bounce passes. He was a little sloppy with some passes and that showed up with four turnovers, but overall he was everything the Pistons needed him to be.