That’s how you snap a four-game losing streak. Invite the overwhelming Eastern Conference favorite to town, spot ’em a 13-point second-half lead, then tie your fortunes to your defense and your stars.
“It’s a big win for us,” Andre Drummond said after putting up 25 points and 18 boards in the 104-99 win over Cleveland. “Knowing that team was just in the Finals, for us to come in and really fight back and grind out a win shows our fight.”
The Pistons limped home from their six-game Western Conference road trip needing a win to reaffirm the belief – at least outside the locker room, but probably to some degree inside of it as well – in the legitimacy of the 5-1 start that had the NBA raising its eyebrows about Stan Van Gundy’s reclamation project.
But Van Gundy knew that it had to start with Reggie Jackson, who despite flashes of brilliance – remember the 40-point outburst at Portland just nine days ago? – had yet to really look like he’d figured out the blueprint for this season’s offense, one featuring new starters at forward in Ersan Ilyasova and Marcus Morris.
Jackson knew it, too. So they huddled for a long time, coach and point guard, after the morning shootaround, seated at a table parked in the corner of the practice court just outside Van Gundy’s office, watching video on his laptop.
“His decision-making tonight was really good, finding the open people, when to shoot, when to pass,” Van Gundy said. “It was good and he was more decisive. The two words he and I talked about today were aggressive and decisive. He’s actually the one who said decisive. Those were his two key words.”
That’s what Jackson thought about on Roundball One’s lonely ride home through the wee hours Monday, following a loss to the Lakers in which Van Gundy pulled Jackson midway through the fourth quarter with the offense sputtering and he looking frustrated.
“Most of the time I wasn’t aggressive or decisive,” he said. “I think that was kind of the problem. Just coming out and make sure I be myself and do those two things each and every night.”
But for at least 40 minutes, it looked like the best the Pistons were going to get out of Tuesday was something to build on. Jackson was putting the Cleveland defense on its heels and Ilyasova (20 points, 4 of 6 from deep) was benefiting by knocking down open shots and Drummond by going to the open space near the rim Jackson’s drives created. But Cleveland, armed with a full cupboard of firepower, kept answering.
The Cavs shot 56 percent and knocked down 7 of 16 triples in the first half, but led by just a point. It was double digits two minutes into the third quarter, though, and still eight when Van Gundy brought Drummond and Jackson – the players he’s built his roster around – back with eight minutes to play. The Pistons outscored the Cavs 25-12 down the stretch and it was equal parts offense and defense – offense to get them back in it quickly, within one by 5:26, then defense to sock it away.
The Cavs, as the always do, put the ball in LeBron James’ hands at crunch time. He’d been lethal in the first half, dropping 23 points. But he had no assists, out of character. And he also didn’t have to expend much energy on defense because Marcus Morris was only 1 of 5 for three points at halftime.
“I said that going into halftime,” Morris said. “ ‘He’s not working on the other end. He’s not doing anything; I’m not doing anything.’ So I had to try to become some type of aggressive the next half and just get him moving a little more.”
Logging 40 minutes, James didn’t turn it up a notch in the fourth quarter, as he’s done so many times against the Pistons – and everybody else – over his career. His fourth-quarter numbers in 12 minutes: 2 for 5 shooting, 1 of 2 free throws, five points, two assists, two turnovers – key ones.
One of them came on the five scoreless Cleveland possessions after Kevin Love hit two foul shots with 3:01 to play. The Pistons forced two turnovers and Cleveland missed four shots. The Pistons went on a 7-0 run, three of the points coming from four Drummond foul shots when Cavs coach Dave Blatt intentionally fouled him.
“Our defense down the stretch was great,” Van Gundy said.
The Cavs wound up scoring two points in the last three minutes, a James layup with 16 seconds left and the Pistons up three and guarding against a triple. Almost conceding the two didn’t cost them because Jackson knocked down six straight free throws in the last 21 seconds.
“That’s probably the best game he’s played since he’s been in Detroit in terms of his energy, mixing his scoring, attacks, passes,” Van Gundy said. “You just couldn’t have a much better game than he had tonight and then finishing it off with the free throws. Tremendous job.”
Van Gundy, Jackson and everybody else associated with the Pistons would’ve left The Palace feeling better about where they’re at even if those last eight minutes hadn’t played out quite so magnificently. They at least would have left believing they’d taken a big step toward figuring out an offense ranked at or near the bottom in a number of metrics, shooting and assists particularly.
But leaving with a win – against a clearly engaged superstar and team looking to bounce back from just its second loss, and against a team off since Saturday – made it a whole lot better feeling.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Jackson said. “We’re always trying to rack up wins. That’s the end goal. Happy to come away with a win against a tough team in our conference.”
“It meant a lot, man, meant a lot,” Morris said. “It’s like we were on the road forever. I don’t know where the league comes up with making these schedules. It was a long road stretch. Not an excuse. We came back home. That’s in the past. And we’re going to keep winning.”