Dwane Casey might have found something with these bench lineups

The Detroit Pistons fell apart in the 4th quarter last night and blew a game against the Los Angeles Lakers with coach Dwane Casey having an up and down night.

The game is only going to be remembered for the incident between Isaiah Stewart and LeBron James, but there were a lot of interesting subplots that got overshadowed.

One of them was that Dwane Casey used some lineups that we’ve not seen this season, and they were working well.

I thought Casey had a good game and was pushing all of the right buttons until the disastrous 4th quarter, which was not one of his best.

He left the bench group in too long as it was clear the Lakers were making a run and a 17-point lead disappeared into the ether.

Casey has to take some of the blame for the loss, but the young Pistons simply wilted when the Lakers turned up the pressure. Also, without Isaiah Stewart, the already shorthanded Pistons had no chance of stopping anyone at the rim, and Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis took full advantage.

It was a gut-wrenching loss, so I am trying to look for some positives. There were a couple of bench units that were very effective last night and led to some of the most entertaining basketball of the season.

Dwane Casey may have found something with these bench groups

The first group was:

• Cade Cunningham
• Frank Jackson
• Hamidou Diallo
• Josh Jackson
• Trey Lyles

With all of the starters except for Cade on the bench, coach Casey went with the two Jacksons, Hamidou Diallo and Trey Lyles, a group I don’t think we’ve seen this season.

They only played a few minutes together, but this lineup was flying around defensively, sharing the ball beautifully and if they could just switch out Trey Lyles for a peak Tyson Chandler clone who can block shots and catch lobs, I would run with this group all day.

When Cade went to the bench, Cory Joseph joined this group and they were even better, logging a +4 in just under 7 minutes and playing some of the best basketball we’ve seen all season.

Hamidou Diallo had a breakout game and his hustle was the catalyst for the bench last night. Frank Jackson had another strong game and this group can definitely be an energizer in spurts for the Pistons in the future.

Ultimately Dwane Casey rode this group too long and they were exposed but I liked seeing Josh Jackson out there with Diallo, as those two can be a menace on defense.

I love the two of them with Cunningham and Jackson, and think that is a bench group we will see more of as the season progresses.