By the end of the third quarter Sunday, New Orleans needed a spark, but it had nothing to do with putting the ball in the basket. The other end of the floor was the much bigger priority, as Detroit was already approaching the 100-point mark. The Pistons may have entered Sunday with the 23rd-rated offense in the NBA, but they created plenty of open shots en route to a second straight victory. The hosts scored their most points in regulation this season, handing New Orleans a third straight loss to open a four-game road trip.
Afterward, Pelicans first-year head coach Stan Van Gundy didn’t rule out potential alterations to his rotation. “I’m not saying we will make changes,” he said, “(but) I don’t think we can, with no thought, just put the same guys out there.”
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
New Orleans misfired on three straight shots on the same possession near the two-minute mark, allowing Detroit to maintain a 116-107 lead. Josh Jackson then knocked down a three-pointer from near the right wing to put the Pistons up a dozen at 1:35.
PELICANS PLAYER OF THE GAME
Kira Lewis Jr. was part of a second-half unit, along with Zion Williamson and three reserves, that helped provide New Orleans with some fight, as the rookie stood up to Dennis Smith Jr. and Jackson during a couple minor trash-talking exchanges. The rookie from Alabama scored 10 points and came up with four steals in 17 minutes of action.
“It was just guys competing, playing basketball,” Lewis said of his interactions with the Pistons. “My approach is to just compete, play as hard as I can, stand up for myself, be there for my teammates. For the most part, it was just guys competing.”
BY THE NUMBERS
9/35: New Orleans three-point shooting. The Pelicans have shot well lately in this category, but Sunday took the same number of treys as Detroit, while making eight less.
34: Detroit assists, an indication of how well the Pistons moved the ball and made the Pelicans work defensively.
Revisiting three keys to victory
D UP IN DETROIT
The first quarter was encouraging, as Detroit shot just 4/14 from three-point range and New Orleans took a 40-30 lead. From there, the Pistons scored 30-plus points in the next two periods to go up 97-89.
PAINT TOUCHES
Not bad. Williamson’s shot attempts went up to 20, after he shot 14 of 15 in Dallas two days earlier. By his standards, this was a rare non-uber efficient night, at 10/20 from the field, with most of the misses coming later in the game. Van Gundy commented postgame that Williamson started looking fatigued in the second half after playing so many minutes (35).
GRANT LAND
Detroit season leading scorer Jerami Grant never broke out, finishing 4/15 from the field and tallying 15 points. However, the Pistons got plenty of other contributions offensively, not needing Grant to spearhead the attack.