3 takeaways from Pistons’ frustrating loss to Wizards

The Detroit Pistons’ bench

The Pistons’ bench had been playing well of late, particularly for the two games before Marvin Bagley III went out with injury.

He was still out last night, but the Pistons did get Frank Jackson back. It mattered little, as the bench was outscored 44-30, which was the difference in the game.

I have been supportive of coach Casey all year, but he blew it last night, as the bench gave up an 18-0 run between the 3rd quarter and fourth and Casey did little to stop it.

After taking the lead on an 8-0 run to end the 3rd quarter, the Wizards piled on 10 more points in the 4th with little resistance from the Detroit bench, which could not get a stop and was stuck on 85 points for what seemed like an eternity.

Casey finally called a timeout after it got up to a 15-0 run, but inexplicably left his entire bench on the floor even though there was just over nine minutes left in the game. By the time he made substitutions, a lead had turned into a 12-point deficit and the game was essentially over.

Casey stuck to his standard bench rotations, which I understand, but games are not played in a vacuum and when you are watching the game slip away, you have to go back to the guys who got you a lead, even if it means disrupting your normal rotations.

It was a disappointing loss for the Detroit Pistons, and one that they will hopefully turn into a “W” in the future with more experience and some better 3-point shooting.