SACRAMENTO – The Pistons never say die, but they’re volunteering for too many case studies in infectious diseases to expect a long and prosperous existence. For the third straight game, they spotted the other guy a big lead – 18, 17, 19 points in the third quarter – and as exhilarating as the comeback at Portland was to start that stretch, they have a 1-2 record to show for it.
And winning one of three is not a formula that pays off in a playoff berth.
“We didn’t come ready to play at all and got ourselves in a big hole and couldn’t get out of it,” Stan Van Gundy said as the Pistons lost consecutive games for the first time and fell to 5-3. “We tried to fight back in the fourth quarter. We got away with it in Portland, but you’re not going to be able to play just one quarter, especially on the road, and expect to come away with wins. And that’s what we did tonight. We weren’t ready to play at the beginning of the game.”
The Pistons also were very likely the victims of rotten timing. They caught the 1-7 Kings the day after a dustup between DeMarcus Cousins and coach George Karl led to a team meeting. Cousins has had clashes with every coach he’s had and the pattern is that he plays with raw power and focus in the immediate aftermath.
Cousins, Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo – three veterans of the USA Basketball program, a useful reminder of their collective talent despite the mercurial nature of the locker room they occupy – were sensational for the Kings. Cousins matched his career high with four 3-point baskets – all in the first half, when he and Gay combined for 42 points, 23 by Cousins, and missed only four of their combined 20. Rondo recorded his 24th career triple-double, going the distance with his backups sidelined by injury.
But Van Gundy would have appreciated a little more resistance against the onslaught of numbers put up by Sacramento’s three stars.
“He was not making tough shots,” Van Gundy said of Gay, a notorious tough-shot artist who hit 8 of 9 in the first half, 10 of 14 for the game in scoring 25 points. “He was making easy shots. In the first half, I don’t think they had any tough shots. I think they were having it very, very easy in the first half.”
Easy baskets gave Sacramento the chance to set its defense, which in turn made good shots hard to come by for a Pistons offense struggling in two critical areas: ball movement and putting the ball in the basket.
“We’re playing against five set defenders every time,” said Reggie Jackson, who finished with 16 points but hit only 5 of 15 shots and registered a mere three assists. “That’s tough. The action starts at 18, 16 (seconds). It’s hard to play against a set defense every play in the league. That’s why you try to get fast-break points. Everybody knows in the NBA, it’s tough. It’s very difficult.”
“We don’t pass,” Van Gundy said. “Everybody wants to dribble it six times and looks for their shot before they pass the ball.”
The Pistons get two days of practice in Los Angeles before playing the Clippers and Lakers back to back over the weekend to complete the six-game road trip, which stands at 2-2 through four games. Will that be enough to address their offensive issues?
“I hope so,” Van Gundy said. “We’ll certainly try.”
“We came here to try to clean sweep this West Coast trip,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to learn from each and every experience. We’ve got to learn from this one, but we’ve got to move on from it and get ready for a tough opponent in the LA Clippers.”
The Pistons, just as they did in both Portland and Golden State, made Sacramento sweat, cutting the 19-point deficit to five on Jackson’s layup with 3:59 to play. But they didn’t score again until Jackson’s 3-pointer with seven seconds to play, going eight straight possessions without a point. Caldwell-Pope and Jackson missed on quick 3-pointers on the first two trips. Too quick?
“Probably, but we’re just shooting the ball so poorly, too,” Van Gundy said. “It’s hard.”
“We had some good looks, didn’t go down, in and outs,” Jackson shrugged. “Then we started forcing a few at the end. We probably needed to, to try to get a three. But it’s hard playing from behind all the time.”
One common link to the three comebacks, if not surprising: When the Pistons stiffen defensively, their offense thaws, too. The Kings shot better than 60 percent over three quarters, 16 percent in the fourth quarter when they committed four turnovers. Only Pistons fouls – the Kings hit 8 of 10 foul shots – kept Sacramento from allowing the Pistons to get close enough to make their palms even clammier.
“We have to know what we did before when we were winning,” said Ersan Ilyasova, who kept the Pistons from drowning early with eight points in the first 10 minutes with the Kings already up double digits. “We played with a lot of energy. We made a lot of stops. Played really well defensively. This is the way we have to be. This has to be our identity going forward. If we’re not going to do those things, for us, it’s going to be really hard to win those games.”