DETROIT – The Pistons played without a net and the Philadelphia 76ers, playing with the confidence of a team on an 11-game win streak, appeared only too happy to shove them off the tightrope they walked.
The 115-108 loss to Philadelphia made official what the 12-25 stretch of basketball the Pistons endured while Reggie Jackson recovered from a catastrophic ankle injury made likely: playoff elimination.
“When Reggie’s out, it’s tough because he brings a whole ’nother element to our team,” Henry Ellenson said after the loss. “That stretch was tough not having Reggie just because of how talented he is.”
Ellenson was part of the rotation again because Blake Griffin, another impact player, missed his fourth straight game with his own ankle injury. When the epitaph of the 2017-18 Pistons season is written, it will contain a monumentally significant footnote given the impact that ankle injuries – to Jackson, to Jon Leuer (missed all but the first eight games) and now to Griffin – caused a team that opened 14-6 and was 19-14, in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, on Dec. 26 when Jackson went down.
Philadelphia is now the No. 4 playoff seed and Wednesday’s win gave the 76ers a clean 4-0 season sweep of the Pistons.
“They’re a tough team. There’s a reason they’re fourth in the East,” said Anthony Tolliver, who started in Griffin’s spot and matched his season high with 25 points, hitting 7 of 8 from the 3-point arc. “They’re going to be a tough out in the playoffs.”
The 76ers added two veterans over the second half of the season from the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks, who waived both Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli and chose the 76ers among many suitors. Ilyasova gave them 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Pistons and Belinelli had 19 off the bench, hitting 4 of 7 3-point shots. He and J.J. Redick, who scored 13 of his 25 in the third quarter and triggered a 9-0 run to close the first quarter and give Philadelphia all the breathing room it needed, made the difference, Stan Van Gundy thought.
“They’ve got two of the best guys in the entire league moving without the ball with Redick and Belinelli and they tore us up tonight,” he said. “They were 16 of 25 and 9 for 14 from three and they just kept getting space. We just couldn’t keep up with them. Those two guys, they put on a clinic tonight.”
The problem guarding them was exacerbated by Pistons largesse. The Pistons aren’t a team that turns the ball over much – they’re No. 8 in the league for fewest turnovers at 13.5 a game – and Philadelphia doesn’t force all that many, but 13 first-half turnovers led to 22 Philly points and accounted for pretty much all of a 16-point halftime deficit the Pistons faced.
“They were pulled in a lot. They were in the paint when we were attacking,” Reggie Bullock said. “We didn’t do a great job of finding people out on the perimeter. They had hands in the paint when we were driving to collapse on us.”
Tolliver, Stanley Johnson (19 points), Bullock (4 of 7 from three, 15 points) and Ish Smith (14 points, 12 assists) and Luke Kennard (12 points) off the bench gave the Pistons a fighting chance. But Andre Drummond, who missed the morning shootaround and wasn’t feeling well, wasn’t nearly as active as usual though he still managed 13 points and 15 rebounds and Reggie Jackson suffered through a 1 of 11 shooting performance.
Without Griffin, the Pistons simply didn’t have the margin for error to withstand that type of game from their best players – not with Philadelphia pushing for home-court advantage and getting big nights from Redick and Belinelli.
“It’s just tough to end up with a loss,” Jackson said. “Just watching the last seconds ticking and realizing we’re out of playoff contention, that was the toughest part, the most frustrating part.”
Frustration was one thing the Pistons have had in abundant supply this season – frustration and ankle injuries. With four games left, all that’s left to pursue now is the avoidance of a losing season. The Pistons can finish 41-41 but can’t make the playoffs.
“We can claw and scratch and hopefully get to the .500 mark,” Tolliver said. “We’re still going to go out there and try to get wins.”