AUBURN HILLS – Stan Van Gundy had a whole different set of adjectives than the ones he employed after Monday’s loss at Chicago. Disgusting, humiliating, embarrassing and terrible were out, but their replacements were still the words that come from the losing locker room.
“Frustrating” wins the award for most-used descriptive from the 98-86 loss, the Pistons’ fourth straight.
The Pistons turned the ball over too much (17 times) and missed a week’s worth of open shots, finishing at 36 percent overall and 26 percent from the 3-point line. On a night Marc Gasol scored a career-high 37 points while requiring a mere 17 shots to get there, the Pistons’ lack of offense was fatal even against an opponent that managed only two players in double figures – one of them, JaMychal Green (10 points), by the barest of margins.
“Marc Gasol was unbelievable,” said Jon Leuer, Gasol’s teammate for three seasons in Memphis. “And when a guy as talented as him gets in a rhythm like that, it makes it tough.”
Gasol hit 14 of those 17 shots, including 2 of 3 from the 3-point line, and made 8 of 11 free throws, as well. He had five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots. On one late block of Andre Drummond, Gasol appeared to wrench his right shoulder, grimacing and holding it as he ran downcourt. Apparently not too badly, though – seconds later, he threw in another 16-foot corkscrew fadeaway to put Memphis up 12 points with 3:35 to play, all but sealing the win.
“Bad boy, right there. That’s a bad boy,” said Marcus Morris, who endured the most frustrating night of all, shooting 1 of 11 and 0 of 7 from the 3-point line without an objectionable attempt in the bunch. “I told him, when he starts adding the three, man, he’s a tough guard. Tough guard. He was making some tough ones. He was pump faking, jabbing, the three – 7-foot, 7-1. That’s tough. Tough to guard.”
Van Gundy had no quibble with his team’s fight, nor its defense after a lousy stretch to end the first quarter. He also thought the offense, other than the rash of turnovers, produced plenty of quality shots.
“I think when we go back and look at the 72 shots, we’re going to be pretty happy with the quality of shots that we had. I really do. Wooo – we just couldn’t get the ball in the basket. At all.”
Leuer and Reggie Jackson led the Pistons in scoring with 18 points apiece, each with a story behind their performances. Leuer was involved in a car accident on the way to the morning shootaround, scuttling what would have been his Pistons debut as a starter, Van Gundy revealed before the game. Van Gundy guaranteed a different starting lineup after the Chicago debacle, but went with the same group based on Leuer’s uncertainty until about two hours before tipoff.
Leuer was not at fault in the accident, which occurred on Woodward Avenue outside of Birmingham, he said. It left him with “a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious.” He said he felt surprisingly good despite the impact of a crash that left the at-fault driver’s car totaled and his nearly so. A third car was struck as a result of the impact, he said, but no one was seriously hurt.
Jackson, it turns out, wasn’t seriously hurt, either. At least, that’s the way it appears. He limped off a few minutes into the game and went to the locker room with left knee pain – the same knee treated in October for chronic tendinitis. But he returned to start the second quarter.
“I came back and finished the game, so I’m good,” he said. “Just thought I felt something. Came back and they looked at me, made sure all was good and I just went from there.”
The Pistons, three games under .500 for the first time since they were 6-9 after losing to Houston on Nov. 21, now face the 1-2 punch of Golden State on Friday and defending NBA champion Cleveland on Monday.
Everybody in the locker room found encouraging signs from this game. “We played a lot harder,” Andre Drummond said. “We competed hard,” Morris said. “If we come out with that intensity and keep going forward, we’ll continue to get better.” “Definitely content with our effort tonight,” Jackson said.
Van Gundy, too, said, “We definitely competed hard. There’s no question about that.”
But he’s also understandably wary of frustration washing over his team. Somebody asked if he viewed the game as a step forward.
“It is, but it doesn’t feel like it. It’s just frustrating. That one just added to the frustration. Our guys are just getting so frustrated offensively. … We just couldn’t score.”