The Detroit Pistons got a big comeback win on the road last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves in one of their best second-half performances of the season.
The Pistons were still shorthanded without Killian Hayes, who was serving the second game of his three-game suspension for punching Moritz Wagner.
The Pistons fell behind big in the 1st quarter and it looked like Minnesota was going to coast to an easy win, but Detroit found life in the second half behind their defense and veteran bench.
The defense is on pace to be the worst in team history, so it was nice to see a better effort on that end, and Dwane Casey may have to continue to lean on some of his veterans to keep that defensive momentum going.
It was only one win against a slumping Timberwolves team, but there were some positive signs that the Detroit Pistons can find new life in the new year.
Detroit Pistons: Signs of life in win over Minnesota
2nd Half Defense
The Pistons fell behind by 18 points early in the game and allowed 39 points in the first quarter, so it looked like we were in store for another lackluster defensive effort.
But the Pistons cranked up the defense in the 3rd quarter behind their veteran bench group and the offense started to feed off the defense, something we’ve not seen a lot of this season.
Coach Casey took notice, saying after the game:
"“A lot of it was about our defense…It’s about the second unit’s character. We have a lot of character guys in the group that hadn’t been getting a lot of run, but they came in and played with pure heart, pure mind and won the game for us.”"
The Pistons held the Timberwolves to just 40 points in the second half, a big change from the norm, as Detroit has mostly gotten killed in the 3rd quarter this season.
The entire second unit was in double digits, and Hamidou Diallo and Marvin Bagley III were huge on the boards. The Pistons’ bench now has the highest offensive rating in the league, though they are still 25th in the league in net rating, so don’t get too excited about the scoring, as the bench is also letting up a ton of points.
But they were able to put the clamps on last night, and hopefully the young Pistons will be inspired by watching guys like Rodney McGruder flying around on defense and this will start a new trend of Detroit getting back to playing Detroit basketball.
Detroit Pistons: Signs of life in win over Minnesota
The Offensive Glass
The Pistons won the rebounding battle 52-39 last night, which was one of the keys to their big run in the 3rd quarter.
Detroit has been particularly good on the offensive glass of late, and were again last night, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds that led to a decisive advantage in points in the paint, an area where the Pistons have struggled.
The Pistons are now 12th in the NBA overall in offensive rebounding, which is good, but can also be a misleading stat, as they are a poor shooting team that has more misses to grab. Selling out to get offensive rebounds can also lead to easy transition looks on the other end, but last night the Pistons found a balance.
With Jalen Duren really coming on in this area, it can be a weapon for the Pistons, who need to find ways to get extra looks to make up for their poor shooting numbers.
Rebounding was key last night, as the Pistons were able to get themselves some easy put backs, extra shots and were closing out defensive possessions on the other end. It wasn’t just the bigs, as Cory Jospeh, Alec Burks and Hamidou Diallo combined for 21 rebounds off the bench.
The entire Timberwolves’ bench only had 10 rebounds combined, so this was one of the keys to the comeback.
Detroit Pistons: Signs of life in win over Minnesota
Finally Running
Coming into the season, I thought this Detroit team would be one that flew around on defense, got a lot of steals and pushed the pace on offense, but that has not been the case.
Detroit is only 22nd in steals and 29th in fast break points, which is a disappointment considering they have the perimeter players to thrive in those areas. I figured this would be a risk-taking young group that tried to jump into passing lanes and take advantage of their speed in transition.
They were finally able to do so last night, though it was the veterans who really got it done. The second unit started piling up stops late in the 3rd quarter and it led to faster, earlier offense and better looks.
Here’s what Bojan Bogdanovic had to say after the game:
"“The second group played great. When we play defense like we played in the second half, then our offense is kind of playing faster and we are moving the ball better.”"
Detroit had a 24-11 advantage in fast break points, which has been rarity this season. Hopefully this a sign of things to come, as the Pistons need to find ways to get some early offense and fast break buckets to offset their awful half court shooting.
Minnesota is falling apart, so we can’t get too excited about this win, but hopefully seeing the veterans playing hard on defense and crashing the boards will give the Pistons a new outlook for the new year.