Detroit Pistons: 3 takeaways from loss to the Portland Trail Blazers
When the other team’s starting backcourt scores 57 points and yours scores two, you won’t win many games, which the Detroit Pistons found out against The Portland Trail Blazers.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum outscored the Pistons’ entire starting five by seven points, as Saddiq Bey, Saben Lee and Josh Jackson only managed one bucket between them.
It was a rare off night for Bey, who has been shooting the ball very well and is on the cusp of breaking the Pistons’ rookie record for 3-point shots in a season.
Not much went right for the Detroit Pistons after the first quarter. They struggled shooting and taking care of the ball over the final three as the Trail Blazers built a 23 point lead.
There were some positives to this game, especially considering the lowly Timberwolves actually won, bringing Detroit one game closer to the overall worst record in the league.
Here are three takeaways from the blowout loss to the Trail Blazers.
Detroit Pistons: Jerami broke out of his slump
After two single-digit scoring efforts in a row, Jerami Grant finally broke out of his shooting slump and dropped 30 points on Portland while hitting 3-of-5 from long range.
Grant had been shooting under 30 percent from behind the arc over his last ten games, so it was nice to see him get back on track.
These were not easy points either, as no one else was really doing much and Portland was focusing their efforts on stopping Grant.
His night would have been even bigger but he had a rare off game from the free-throw line, missing four of his nine freebies.
This is the next step Grant has to take, as teams are now focused on him as a number one option, so he has had to adjust, which he did last night.
It’s too bad his teammates didn’t show up.