LOS ANGELES – The last time the Pistons won at Staples Center, Andre Drummond was early in his senior year at St. Thomas More in Oakdale, Conn., Stan Van Gundy was coaching the Orlando Magic and Tom Gores was a name likely unknown to 99 percent of Pistons fans. It was Nov. 12, 2010, and Charlie Villanueva’s 30 points off the bench led the Pistons to a 113-107 win over the Clippers.
The Pistons have lost all 10 games they’ve played at Staples Center since Gores, who grew up in Michigan but established Platinum Equity as a private-equity giant in Los Angeles and has been seated courtside every time the Pistons have played here the last five years, bought the franchise in June 2011.
The Pistons have grown by leaps and bounds since Gores named Van Gundy as coach and president of basketball operations in May 2014, but the Clippers – loaded with veterans and built around superstars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin – are poised to contend for an NBA title this season.
And that’s how they played Monday, taking a 25-point lead 15 minutes into the first game of a Pistons road trip and never seeing it threatened in coasting to a 114-82 win.
Ish Smith wasn’t a part of the previous nine Staples Center losses and that, perhaps, gives him a perspective his longer-tenured teammates might not have.
“I wasn’t here last year, but we’ve got a respect factor with us now,” he said. “So when we come in, the way we’ve been playing, that team came out and respected us – they kind of punched us in the mouth.”
And kept throwing lethal combinations until the Pistons felt their knees buckle.
The Pistons caught the Clippers – the NBA’s early leader in defensive metrics – at the top of their game on both ends.
Their ball movement was sublime, creating an endless string of open jump shots that they drained with astonishing consistency. Guards Chris Paul and J.J. Redick were especially proficient, combining for 44 points on just 19 shot attempts, making 8 of 9 from the 3-point line.
“They really had it going. It was an interesting thing,” Stan Van Gundy said. “They scored 114 points and they only had, what, 32 points in the paint? When we got drilled in Brooklyn, everything was going to the rim. Tonight, that wasn’t really the issue. Their ball movement was great from side to side and they shot the ball a lot better, particularly from three, than they’d been shooting it. Our defense was not very good at all, but you’ve got to give them a lot of credit in the way they moved the ball and the way they shot the ball.”
“They had us in rotation a lot,” Smith said. “They shot the ball well tonight – shot the ball really, really well – and we didn’t help a whole lot and contribute to their misses.”
Defensively, the Clippers played the most physical defense the Pistons have seen yet. They impeded the Pistons on virtually every cut through the lane, grabbing and bumping them, and swarmed Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris in the post when they went to the two players who’ve had to carry the offense with Reggie Jackson recuperating.
“We didn’t handle the double teams well at all. That was disappointing,” Van Gundy said. “That’s something that we’ve worked on. We just didn’t execute. Those guys are going to have to get used to that. Not everybody is just going to line up and play one on one.”
“They outplayed us, all around,” Harris said. “They were more physical than us. It was tough for us to respond, especially their first punch in the beginning of the game.”
The loss leaves the Pistons at 4-3 – 4-0 at home, 0-3 away from The Palace. They’ve held all four opponents under 90 points at home, but have given up more than 100 in all three road games.
“Our energy level wasn’t there from the start. We didn’t match their intensity offensively or defensively,” Harris said. “So it’s disappointing, but from this we have to really learn and understand – getting wins on the road is not easy. We have to take our focus into the next game and be really focused on winning on the road.”