AUBURN HILLS – In the best eras of Pistons basketball, the title years of the Bad Boys and the Goin’ to Work era Pistons – both bubbling to the surface during a halftime ceremony in which George Blaha talked about his 40-plus years as the voice of the franchise – they’d spar with opponents for most of 48 minutes but win games with a flurry of punches in two- and three-minute bursts that would effectively decide outcomes.
The Pistons were on the opposite end of just such a flurry Friday night from a team that has had winning encoded in its DNA for two decades.
As badly as the Pistons stumbled out of the gate offensively – they scored just twice, for four points, on their first 12 possessions – they trailed by just two points midway through the first quarter and by just six points with five minutes left in the first half.
But they were down 19 by halftime.
“We really lost it mentally and gave in to frustration, I thought, at the end of the second quarter,” Stan Van Gundy said. “I just told ’em in there, I thought that’s when the game was decided. We hung in there pretty good other than that. But those six minutes decided the game.”
Another mark of champions: taking away what the other team does best. The Pistons under Van Gundy, largely owing to Andre Drummond’s presence and deployment, have been one of the NBA’s dominant rebounding teams. In wins earlier this week against the 76ers and Lakers, they’d averaged 56 rebounds and a plus-15 rebound average advantage.
San Antonio outrebounded the Pistons by an even broader margin, 52-37, and held a 20-7 edge in second-chance points. Journeyman center Dewayne Dedmon, undrafted in 2013 and starting only due to Pau Gasol’s injury, finished with 17 points and 17 boards and established a tone early with 10 points and eight rebounds in the first quarter.
“They battled on the glass,” said Tobias Harris, who led the Pistons with 16 points off the bench. “Especially in the beginning of the game. Dewayne Dedmon’s energy on the glass – he sparked that team and we never really matched their energy on the glass all night.”
“He hit the boards hard,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He ran the floor. His energy, his aggressiveness, his defense – the dude was fantastic.”
Andre Drummond recovered from missing his first eight shots to finish with 12 points and 15 boards, but his 5 of 17 shooting helped drag the Pistons’ shooting percentage down to 42.4.
“They definitely got after us on the glass,” said Reggie Jackson, who matched Drummond’s 12 points as all five starters landed in double figures but their total was an underwhelming 54. “They were able to beat us up. One of the few times it happens throughout the season, but they definitely made us pay.”
The Pistons held San Antonio to 43 second-half points on 42 percent shooting and limited them to 2 of 8 from the 3-point arc after halftime, continuing a trend of better defensive play that saw them take a 7-4 record over their last 11 games into Friday’s matchup. They remained in the No. 8 playoff spot over idle Charlotte even with the loss, though Miami’s 13th straight win lifted the Heat to 24-30 and within a game of the Pistons.
“It’s good to be back in the hunt,” Jackson said. “Wish we could’ve gotten another one tonight. I’m sure there’s some that all the guys in the locker room agree we (shouldn’t have lost) earlier and we’ve still got a long way to go.”
It’s hard to put Friday in that category against an opponent now 29 games over .500 at 41-12 and 22-6 on the road. But the Pistons left The Palace feeling they let a few bad minutes ruin their shot at a signature win – the same way so many Pistons opponents left the building during the franchise’s title-winning eras.
“We didn’t defend the way we needed to in the first half, especially in the second quarter – especially the last six minutes of the second quarter,” Harris said. “Those gaps, you can’t have in games, especially vs. really good teams that know how to close out and win games.”