BOSTON – On Groundhog’s Day, Stan Van Gundy sounded like the same guy who fretted about his team’s defense after Monday’s win over Brooklyn … or the weekend losses to Cleveland and Toronto … or during the low points of last month’s four-game trek out West.
“We’ve shown that we’re capable of being very good defensively,” Van Gundy said after Tuesday’s practice at Emerson College. “We’ve been very good defensively against very good teams. And now we’re just stuck in a rut of not getting the job done and I don’t know if that’s fatigue catching up 50 games in and we’re in a tough stretch of the schedule right now where we’re playing a lot, another of these 30-day stretches of not having two days in between games ever.”
The Pistons are treading water, like the majority of teams in playoff spots in the East – neither gaining nor losing ground over the past several weeks. And that, coupled with the fact that their offense has improved as their defense has regressed, might be psychologically influencing the lack of urgency Van Gundy senses to play to the same level defensively that got them off on the right foot this season.
The Pistons spent the early part of the season with an offensive rating in the lower-third among NBA teams, but they’ve ticked steadily upward and now come in above the median at 14th. Their defense, on the other hand, has dropped to 11th after being in the top 10 until very recently. Logic says as a team gets more efficient offensively, it should benefit its defense as the opposition has to start by taking the ball out of the net against a set defense.
“It should be better, but when you’re looking at the scoreboard, you’re doing OK. So you’re not as concerned about what’s going on defensively,” he said. “You don’t feel a sense of urgency to put out maximum effort. That’s where we’ve been, contest to just stay in games and then if we get behind we’ll go really hard. We’re looking for chances to rest instead of playing a 48-minute game and we’re just going to have to fight through that.”
But then Van Gundy looked around the Emerson gym and ticked off the litany of nagging injuries that prevented Tuesday’s practice from delving into full-contact status that best approximates game conditions. Reggie Jackson aggravated the thumb he jammed in Monday’s win by getting it caught in a jersey early in practice. Marcus Morris sat with knee tendinitis. Aron Baynes also had a barking knee, Ersan Ilyasova remains iffy with a groin injury and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is dealing with a strained oblique muscle.
“That’s the NBA season,” Van Gundy said. “That’s the grind. I think that’s where our inexperience maybe is catching up with us because when you’ve gone through the grind enough, you know how to manage it and understand how to play even when you’re fatigued. All of our starters’ minutes are up at career-high levels, most of them significantly higher minutes than they’ve ever played. Aron has stepped into an every-night role. Stanley’s a rookie. So we’ve got a lot of guys playing more than what they’re used to in their lives.”
The good news is Van Gundy doesn’t have to twist any arms in his locker room to convince his players of the importance of buckling down on defense. It’s translating it from the intellectual level into action that’s leaving them nearly as frustrated as their coach.
“We’re not where we need to be,” Jackson said. “We’re very inconsistent. We bring it at times. We seem to do it too many times when we need to get stops instead of just doing it from the very beginning and trying to sustain playing at maximum ability all the way through the game. We’re still a young team in that sense. We’ve got to continue to mature and get better.”
“We’ve still got a lot to work on,” Brandon Jennings said. “Especially if we’re going to be a playoff team.”