INDIANAPOLIS – Without their closer, the Pistons could not have opened – or closed – more emphatically.
Wobbled by news that Blake Griffin would miss Wednesday’s season opener and beyond just more than 24 hours before tipoff, the Pistons went on the road to beat a playoff team by coming back from a nine-point deficit in the second half.
“That says a lot,” Dwane Casey said after the 119-110 win at Indiana. “To be without our star guy back at home says a lot about our guys.”
The Pistons outscored Indiana 36-24 in the fourth quarter, winning with a monster game from Andre Drummond, a career night from Luke Kennard and a performance that echoed Derrick Rose’s MVP past.
Drummond had a 14-point, seven-rebound fourth quarter as part of his 32-point, 23-rebound night. He hit 8 of 10 free throws after missing his first two and added four blocks, three steals and two assists for good measure.
“I’m happy he’s on my team,” Rose said after Drummond’s Herculean 41-minute outing against Indiana’s impressive twin big lineup of Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. “It just feels good to win. We’re trying to change it one game at a time, one practice at a time and now we’ve got to put this one in the past because we’ve got a game tomorrow.”
Rose scored 15 of his 18 in the first half, then turned orchestrator. Five of his nine assists came in the game’s final seven minutes. The Pistons trailed by a point when Rose re-entered, then they outscored the Pacers 18-7 over the next five-plus minutes.
“He just knows how to play the game,” Kennard said of Rose. “He’s a general on the court and nobody can stop him – and when they do, he finds open guys. I’ve said it before, but you’ve got to be a step ahead when you’re in the game with him. He’s a really impressive guy. A really important player. It’s fun to play with him.”
With Rose scoring 18 and Kennard scoring a career-best 30 – including 16 in the fourth quarter when he hit 4 of 5 shots and 3 of 4 from the 3-point arc – the Pistons enjoyed a 57-16 edge in bench scoring.
Kennard, playing before a throng of fans from his hometown of Franklin, Ohio, sparked two 8-0 runs in the fourth quarter – the first to turn a four-point deficit into a four-point lead and the second to put the game away.
“Shot the ball well and I thought the most important improvement was his defensive focus and effort,” Casey said. “That was huge for him to stay in the game.”
The Pistons forced five Indiana turnovers in the fourth quarter and outrebounded the Pacers 15-7. For a team that ran nearly every crucial possession through Griffin last season, it was a remarkable show of confidence and poise coming as it did in one of the league’s most boisterous arenas on a much-anticipated opening night.
“It’s always going to be hard when you’re losing a piece like (Griffin),” Rose said. “Blake is everything to this team. It’s up the guys that come in or are on the team to be a professional about it, come in, do their job and chip in any way possible. Tonight we scratched and clawed and got this win. It’s very hard to win that like in this league.”
Drummond’s production put him in rare company. He became only the fourth player ever with a line of 32 points, 23 boards, four blocks and three steals and the first to do so on opening night. He’s the first Pistons player with 32 and 23 since Dennis Rodman in 1993. His 33rd 20-20 game puts him one behind Shaquille O’Neal. His 32 points was one off his career high.
“That was incredible,” Kennard said. “That might be one of the best games I’ve seen him play. That was really, really impressive.”
Maybe the most remarkable thing about Drummond’s outrageous numbers was that it didn’t make him the slam-dunk player of the game for the Pistons. Kennard was pretty special in his own right, but unfailingly deflected praise to his teammates and coaches.
“Coaches and my teammates, they keep encouraging me to be aggressive,” he said. “They want me to shoot the ball when I have any kind of space. They found me when I was open. Coaches called some great plays, so we got good looks.
“With a guy like (Griffin) out, we’ve got to bring even more energy, even more focus. I loved the way we fought. That was grit right there. I’m really proud of these guys and the way we fought and ended the game.”