3 takeaways from the Detroit Pistons 117-110 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans

What happened to Drummond down the stretch?

As it was just mentioned, tonight’s performance from Okafor was outstanding. His ability to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket was one of the better displays of offense that we’ve seen this season from someone going up against Andre Drummond. Okafor ended tonight’s game with 24 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks on 50 percent shooting.

A sizable amount of his damage was dealt in the first half, when Drummond was usually the one tasked with guarding him. The third quarter was more or less just business as usual, but when the fourth quarter began, Drummond found himself on the bench. Surely this was just Dwane Casey giving him some much needed rest, but as the game went on, and even spanning into overtime, Drummond was no where to be found.

At the time that this is currently being written, no official comment has been made on the matter. It could very well have been Casey benching Drummond for his poor performance defending Okafor, which would make sense. It felt as if Drummond became too focused on one-upping Okafor every trip down the floor, and it was hindering his ability to effectively contribute on either end of the floor.

Or it could very well have been something small like a migraine or some stomach issues that sidelined him for a majority of the second half. Either way, this was a rather peculiar happening in Detroit. Drummond ended his night scoring just 11 points and securing 10 rebounds on 35.7 percent shooting in 22 minutes played.