Rapid reaction: Detroit Pistons 90-84 loss to the New York Knicks

The Detroit Pistons fall in their opening preseason game to the New York Knicks.

It’s been exactly nine months since the Detroit Pistons played their last game prior to the season getting suspended. If you needed to sum up their performance tonight with one simple sentence, you could: It was definitely Detroit’s first game in nine months.

Between shooting 32.5 percent from the field (25.6 percent from three), getting out-rebounded by 13 and committing 22 turnovers, it’s safe to say that the Pistons need some time to get reacclimated.

Not only have a majority of these guys not played since March, but this team is less than a few weeks old. We didn’t definitively know who was on the final roster until last week. There’s going to be a learning process with each other’s tendencies.

As for individual performances, all eyes were on Killian Hayes. He started out strong, finishing through contact and drawing an and-one opportunity on a right-handed drive to the basket to open Detroit’s scoring for the night.

Outside of that, his final line isn’t entirely indicative of how he played. He ended the night with 5 points, 3 assists and 4 rebounds. The most notable figure though, was the 7 turnovers he committed.

Hayes moved with a tremendous sense of urgency every single time he touched the ball. He was constantly trying to force the ball into small windows. Whether it was a fraction of a second too early or late, he didn’t put enough touch on the ball or he put too much, there was always something that thwarted the decision.

Sometimes, it just wasn’t the right decision.

Additionally, he got called for two travels in the third quarter after shuffling his feet on attempted drives off the dribble.

All four of the Pistons rookies saw some time on the floor tonight, but the one that arguably shined the brightest was Saddiq Bey.

Bey’s confidence with the ball in his hands was exceptional, and although he missed 8 of his 12 attempted shots, they were almost all on good looks. He was regarded as one of the purest shooters in the draft, and his mechanics certainly show why.

He was tied for Detroit’s leading scorer with 14 points on the night.

On that same topic, the same way that Bey was creating solid looks for himself was the constant all night for the rest of the team. Despite the aforementioned woes in terms of actually hitting said shots, the Pistons did a good job setting each other up.

That doesn’t mean nothing.

New additions like Josh Jackson, Mason Plumlee and Jerami Grant all had their brief moments, but for the most part have plenty of room to improve.

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Jackson committed three fouls in the first quarter alone, and continued to play with the recklessness around the rim that has more or less become a staple for him.

Grant proved his value on the defensive end, and there’s really no questioning his strength and value on that end. Offensively however, he missed looks at the rim and missed ten of his eleven attempted shots tonight.

It’s the first game of the preseason, so there isn’t too much to read into. However, that’s something that can quickly warrant concern if it carries into the regular season.

To wrap things up on a bright note, there are two things to point out here.

First, Blake Griffin appears to be at full strength. After not playing for nearly a full year, it was expected by it’s still reassuring to see. He was diving on the floor for loose balls and his elevation looked great.

Secondly, Svi Mykhailiuk is really blossoming into a legitimate catch and shoot threat. He was one of the only efficient scorers Detroit had tonight, doing it all on minimal dribbles. His value to this team moving forward will be interesting to monitor.

Ultimately to no one’s surprise, the Pistons didn’t look great. They couldn’t protect the rim, they couldn’t hit their shots, and they couldn’t take care of the ball. With three more games to go in the preseason, they can only go up from here.