The Pistons, minus their leading scorer, are playing good teams tough – but not quite tough enough. And Stan Van Gundy is imploring them to dial up their toughness. At least as it relates to rebounding.
Whoever thought the Pistons, a dominant rebounding team pretty much since Andre Drummond’s ascendance to elite NBA big man, would have a rebounding issue, of all things?
“It shouldn’t be an issue,” said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whose 26-point outing and nose-to-nose defense on James Harden went unrewarded in a 99-96 loss, the fourth straight for the Pistons. “Within ourselves, we’ve got to find the heart and just start boxing out people and going to get the ball. All five of us and whoever else comes off the bench. We’ve got to make that an emphasis and just hit somebody and then go get the ball.”
The Pistons lost by three at New York last week, in part because their comeback was made more difficult by a Knicks offensive rebound in the last 10 seconds that put Derrick Rose at the foul line. They lost Saturday to Boston when the Celtics scored the winning basket with 1.3 seconds left on a put-back. And a big offensive rebound by James Harden led to his jump shot with 1:06 left to put Houston ahead by three.
“I know they don’t want to hear it right now and we’re all upset about the loss,” Van Gundy said. “But especially on the boards and even getting back in transition, we’re just not competing as hard as we need to. We’re going to have to toughen up to be able to accomplish what we want to accomplish.”
The Pistons were outrebounded 46-39. Andre Drummond grabbed 16, but his rebounding dominance has perhaps contributed to a less-than-robust pursuit of rebounds by his teammates, Marcus Morris said.
“I think we just rely on Dre to get ’em all because that’s normally what happens. Me, personally, too. He grabs all the rebounds, so it’s like times where we think he’s going to get it and we kind of pull out. I consider myself a great rebounder, but he’s the best rebounder in the league, so at times we depend on him to get it because he normally does.”
“We know he’s going to be down there battling for us,” Caldwell-Pope said. “We’ve got to also help him.”
Rebounding wasn’t their only problem in Monday’s loss. An inability to knock down shots – not high-degree-of-difficulty heaves, but the kind of shots Van Gundy’s offense is designed to create – continues to plague them. They shot 41 percent against the Rockets, one of the league’s weakest defensive teams, but even that doesn’t tell the story. The Pistons had 42 shots in the paint and made 38 percent of them.
“One thing that stands out is we got two more shots in the paint than they did and they scored 14 more points in the paint than we did,” Van Gundy said. “To shoot under 40 percent in the paint is pretty difficult.”
And for all of that, they had chances to win it. The Pistons, down 11 with 1:05 to play in the third quarter, went on a 17-3 run. They led by four with 6:45 left. They had two chances to tie at the foul line in the last 10 seconds but failed each time. They’re amid the roughest stretch of their schedule – both in frequency of games and quality of opponent, three games into a nine-game stretch against 2016 playoff teams – and struggling to keep their head above water until Reggie Jackson returns.
And on that score … he’s close. Jackson has been cleared for Tuesday’s practice, Van Gundy said. In a few days, they might be ready to target a date for his return. Can’t come soon enough.
“Makes the job easier for a lot of guys,” Morris said. “He’s our starting point guard. We’ll be happy to have him back.”