The Detroit Pistons managed to find a way to pry defeat from the jaws of victory with a late collapse against the Indiana Pacers.
The Pistons were up with just over four minutes left to play before Indiana went on a 12-0 run that was assisted by some shoddy Pistons’ ball handling (more on that later).
It was an up and down game in which both teams exchanged big quarters only to give their lead back in the next one.
Dwane Casey tightened his rotation to just ten players which meant several of the young Pistons didn’t see any action in a game Casey was clearly trying to win.
That’s his job and I don’t blame him for doing it but with the Pistons barely clinging to the third-worst record in the NBA, it was a good time to get a loss. With the Timberwolves winning last night, the Pistons are now just one game away from the second-worst record, though it doesn’t come with any better odds in the draft lottery.
There is only one game separating Detroit from Orlando and just 1.5 between them and OKC after the Thunder have tanked their way into 13 straight losses while running with a team that wouldn’t win in the G-League.
It was a good loss for the tank and had some positives, but there were also some problems that point to season long trends.
Detroit Pistons: The Pistons dominated the boards
The Detroit Pistons were able to build a lead behind an absolutely dominant performance on the boards.
With both Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner out, this was to be expected but three Pistons got into double-digits in rebounds and Mason Plumlee had a career-high 21 to lead both teams.
Saddiq Bey added 10 and Hamidou Diallo grabbed 11 off the bench for Detroit, who won the rebounding battle 62-39, including 15 offensive rebounds that helped offset the Pistons’ terrible shooting.
Until the Pistons find some better shooters, crashing the offensive glass will give them extra opportunities and make up for all of the bricks they throw up from 3-point range.
Detroit Pistons: Turnovers are a big problem
If you want to know why the Detroit Pistons lost this game, look no further than the turnover column in the box score.
The Pistons turned the ball over a whopping 18 times to only four by the Pacers, who were able to score 22 points off of those turnovers.
The Pistons didn’t respond well when the Pacers went to a 2-3 zone in the second half and it led to a lot of takeaways and easy buckets for the Pacers.
It’s surprising that teams don’t go to zone more often against Detroit, as their shooting has been poor all season and defenses can just pack the paint and dare them to fire away.
This leads to a lot of tough passes into the interior and more turnovers for Detroit.
The Pistons have now dropped to 23rd in the NBA in turnovers per game which is something they are going to have to clean up if they want to make a leap as a team next season.
Part of this is because they are a young team with a few guys playing out of their natural position, but another part is that Detroit’s lack of shooting causes them to make more difficult entry passes in the half court.
Detroit Pistons: Dwane Casey sticking to his guns
Dwane Casey is driving me crazy with these lineups and allocation of minutes but I have to give him credit, he is sticking to the plan.
All season Casey has preached that the Pistons are not going to lay down, are trying to win games and that the young players are going to have to earn minutes.
After getting some run a week ago, both Saben Lee and Sekou Doumbouya seem doomed to ride the bench again and Tyler Cook also earned himself a DNP.
I don’t mind this, as young players shouldn’t just be handed minutes if they are not playing well and they can learn quite a lot by watching from the bench.
But I would also like to see Casey use a crunch-time lineup with young guys instead of always using veterans in these situations. It’s not like these vets are playing well, so what is the deal here? It’s true that Killian Hayes didn’t do a great job of taking care of the ball last night, but who did?
I am torn between Casey’s loyalty to his ethos and my desire to see all of the Pistons’ rookies get crunch time minutes in close games.
The Detroit Pistons aren’t that far from being a good team but in the NBA there is little margin for error, so you can’t turn the ball over 18 times and expect to win.