AUBURN HILLS – There’s a checklist of things the Pistons have to do better if they’re serious about repeating last season’s second-half run to a playoff berth.
They have to play consistently better defense. They have to eliminate their tendency of lethargic second-half starts. And they have to start taking care of business at home.
One game doesn’t make a trend, but they exhibited encouraging signs across the board in Monday’s 113-96 win over Philadelphia. There was a time – and not long ago – when zero conclusions could be drawn from a win over the 76ers, but they came to The Palace with an 11-8 record since bottoming out at 7-24 in late December.
The team that arrived in Auburn Hills didn’t include Joel Embiid, though, and this time the Pistons didn’t get caught looking past an opponent they should have beaten.
“They’ve been one of the best teams in the East since December,” Marcus Morris said after scoring 19 points to lead the Pistons in scoring for the third straight game. “They just beat the (crap) out of us, so it wasn’t hard at all (to get up for the game). We knew how they were going to come in.”
There was only one hiccup the Pistons needed to correct to get a win that allowed them to maintain their hold on the East’s No. 8 playoff spot: turnovers. Not typically a high-turnover team, the Pistons – coming off an ugly 17-turnover second half in Saturday’s loss at Indiana – committed five in the first quarter and another three in the first five minutes of the second quarter.
Philadelphia build a five-point lead thanks to their largesse, too. But once the Pistons stopped coughing it up – “some almost comical ones,” Stan Van Gundy said – they dominated the Sixers. A 23-9 run ended the first half to give the Pistons a nine-point lead and then they played a sublime first five minutes of the third quarter to pump the lead to 20.
“I thought where we made a step forward was we’ve really not played well lately to start the third quarter and tonight we were really good,” Van Gundy said. “I was really happy with our starting group coming out at the start of the third quarter.”
Van Gundy alluded to a conversation he had with Reggie Jackson to address exactly that issue.
“Guys can do a better job of getting themselves ready. Ask Reggie Jackson about changing his halftime routine. He and I had talked about that. I didn’t tell him what to do, but I suggested he change it.”
“That’s a secret,” said Jackson, who got on the exercise bike adjacent to the Pistons bench area before the second-half tipoff. “Just personal discussion. Something to try to get off to a better third-quarter start. We felt something needed to be changed.”
Every starter had a plus/minus rating of at least plus-13 (Jon Leuer) with all four others having numbers greater than plus-20, topped by Morris at plus-33 in his 39 minutes. He also had eight rebounds, more than anyone for Philadelphia but less than half as many as Andre Drummond (17). The Pistons tied a season high with 60 rebounds and held a 19-rebound edge over the 76ers. They also held the 76ers to 42 percent shooting and held an opponent under 100 points for only the second time in eight games.
Playing hard and with force around the rim was a point of emphasis, said Drummond, who left for the locker room with 2:47 to play but did not suffer a consequential injury, the team said.
“Attacking. Attacking with force and not putting up soft shots,” Drummond said to explain the whopping 66 points in the paint the Pistons put up. “When we go in there, we’ve got to go up there tough and not look for fouls but try to finish the play. We did a good job of really attacking and trying to finish everything.”
The win makes the Pistons 15-10 at The Palace and gives them a three-game home winning streak. Three of their five remaining games before the Feb. 15 All-Star break come at home, giving them a chance to position themselves advantageously for a stretch run.
“I think that’s been the formula for everybody throughout the league,” Jackson said of making the most of home court. “So now we have a little stretch, a chance to do so, and we have to protect home court.”