The Detroit Pistons dropped their 9th game in a row last night, losing a close one to the Wizards and maintaining their position as the worst team in the NBA.
The game had a familiar feel, as the Pistons were able to hang in before losing on the final possession.
This has been a trend of late, as six of their nine losses in this current streak have been by single digits, with five of those being lost in the final possessions of the game.
Like the recent loss against Orlando, the Pistons lost after failing to secure a defensive rebound and allowing a put back at the buzzer.
Rebounding has been an enigma for Detroit, especially considering that they have had two bigs on the floor at times, and is something that they need to figure out.
Jaden Ivey racked up 26 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, taking the game over in the 4th quarter only to once again come up short.
Detroit Pistons: Rebounding and Eugene Omoruyi
The Detroit Pistons have had a strange season on the boards. They are 14th overall in rebounding, which isn’t bad, but a closer look at the numbers shows one of the reasons their defense has been terrible and they’ve had a hard time closing out games.
While Detroit is 11th in offensive rebounds per game, they are just 24th in defensive rebounding, which was true again last night, as they won the offensive rebounding battle 10-9 but were out rebounded 28-20 on the defensive end.
Defensive rebounding is arguably far more important, as it is not only how teams close out possessions, but can lead to fast breaks going the other way, especially when you have a speedster like Jaden Ivey.
The Pistons’ two starting bigs, (James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley III) combined for just 10 rebounds overall and only six of them were on the defensive end. These two seem to give plenty of effort when going after offensive boards, when the reward is a possible dunk, but not so much when they have a chance to close out a possession.
Wiseman left his man last night to go for the block on Bradley Beal, which wasn’t a terrible play, but it allowed Daniel Gafford to grab the rebound after Isaiah Livers didn’t seal out (there was also an uncalled push off) and the Wizards were able to get the last-second win.
The Pistons were actually led in rebounds by reserve forward Eugene Omoruyi, who only recently signed a 10-day contract. He had six off the bench, and played a pretty good game overall, adding 15 points and a steal to go along with his rebounds.
He’s making a bid for a future roster spot with Detroit (likely a two-way) and looked the part last night, playing decent defense on the wing and giving the Pistons some added strength and size.