featured-image

Pistons come back from 19 down to tie, but lose 4th straight as Hawks close strong

ATLANTA – The Pistons have proven themselves remarkably good at scurrying out of deep holes so far this season, but need a little work at fully extricating themselves yet. And – oh, yeah – they probably should consider not falling so far down the hole in the first place.

In their first seven road games of the season, the Pistons – now 1-6 away from The Palace and a wobbly 3-10 overall after Friday's 99-89 loss at Atlanta, their season-high fourth straight – have fallen 19 points down three times. Twice they came all the way back to tie and once crept within two points. You wouldn't expect three such comebacks on the road all season. So commend them for that.

But when you shoot it as erratically as the Pistons have this season, mounting comebacks of that magnitude is a long shot – probably a missed long shot - the way things are going.

"Every game, you look down it's 37, 38 percent," Stan Van Gundy said after the Pistons shot 37.3 percent in their 99-89 loss to Atlanta. "I'm not putting it all on them because part of it is what you do offensively and the shots your offense is creating. But, man, you look at our shooting percentages and we just don't have really anybody playing at a very high level."

The Pistons have shot under 40 percent in five of their 13 games. In another – Monday's loss to Orlando – they shot 40 on the nose, and it's gone downhill from there in each of the past two games.

Van Gundy said it's both the quality of shots the offense generates and poor shooting conspiring to undermine their scoring. The Pistons went into Friday's game 29th in field-goal percentage – ahead of only Philadelphia – at 41.3 percent and 27th in scoring at 92.4 points per game. They've been held below 90 points in three of their last four games.

"We're just in a shooting slump right now," said Josh Smith, who played a strong overall game – 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot – in his return to Atlanta. "We're getting where we need to, where we want to. We're getting open looks. We're getting shots at the basket. We've just got to slow down and not rush."

But Smith had at least two or three more shots he would usually make that rimmed off and he finished 8 of 19. Andre Drummond played impressively as well, most notably avoiding the foul trouble that has plagued him in virtually every game this season and finishing with 13 points and 16 boards. But also shot below 50 percent, 5 of 12.

"I thought they played a lot better," he said. "But I think it tells you where we are that when two of your front-line guys shoot 40 percent, we call it an offensive rhythm. Really, I think that sort of tells you where we are. I did think they both played well. We're just having so much trouble getting the ball in the basket."

Their best offensive stretch, by far, came in an eight-minute span that ended the third quarter and started the fourth. That's when they outscored Atlanta 23-4 to wipe out all of the 19-point deficit. It's no coincidence that their defense played much better in that stretch, either, a bounce in their step from seeing results on the offensive end and also benefiting from not having to consistently defend in transition.

But, again, they didn't have enough to get over the hump, another consistent trend in the season's early going.

"We just struggle down the last few minutes of games. We just really do," Van Gundy said. "We've got to find some answers. I mean we, as a group. Not just the players. We – players, coaches – we've got to find some answers. I thought our resolve was really, really good to fight back in that game and then we just had no answers down the stretch."

Their 3-point shooting is the one aspect of their offense that's been performing at or near expected levels. The Pistons came into the game right in the middle of the pack – 15th in the NBA – while shooting 35 percent from the arc. But on nights they're not getting triples to fall – and this was one of those nights, the Pistons making just 4 of 21 triples – they have nowhere to turn.

"Not shooting well," said Brandon Jennings, whose frustration was compounded by a hyperextended left thumb that was heavily bandaged in the locker room. "I think that's just the thing. We're getting a lot of shots to the basket we're not making, a lot of open threes we're not making."

Nobody in the starting lineup made a 3-point shot, Jennings missing all four of his tries and native Georgian Kentavious Caldwell-Pope both of his. D.J. Augustin was a huge part of the rally from 19 down and scored 14 points, yet he shot 4 of 17 overall and 1 of 6 from the 3-point line. A 41 percent 3-point shooter with Chicago last season, Augustin is now 8 of 38 for the season, flirting with 20 percent.

"We've been in each and every game," Smith said. "The frustrating part is not being able to close them out, but this is a teaching lesson for all of us. We're still learning and eventually it'll come time where we win these close games coming down the stretch."