FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Friday night’s 125-112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at Little Caesars Arena
ROLL CALL – In a week where the Pistons got Reggie Jackson back after a 13-week injury absence, the ledger continues to tilt heavily toward the red on the Pistons injury front. They were without a combined 162 starts when they faced a hot Memphis team without Andre Drummond (facial injuries), Bruce Brown (illness), Tony Snell (illness), Luke Kennard (knee tendinitis) and Blake Griffin (knee surgery) – and even that undersells it, as Griffin and Kennard would’ve started many more games if not for missing a combined 44 going into Friday’s matchup. All five are or had been starters this season with Griffin’s 18 starts the least among the five. The starting lineup of Sekou Doumbouya, Svi Mykahiliuk, Thon Maker, Derrick Rose and Reggie Jackson was the 21st of the season, tying the Pistons with Golden State – another injury-riddled team – for most in the NBA. For all of that, the Pistons – who played from behind most of the night – were tied at 105 with less than five minutes to play. Memphis got a big 3-pointer from Jaren Jackson Jr. – his first points of the second half after 24 in the first – with three minutes left for a six-point lead and hung on to win.
ANOTHER KID – The depletion of the Pistons perimeter with the absence of Bruce Brown, Luke Kennard, Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas cracked the door for Louis King to get his first minutes of the season other than five end-game appearances with the outcome not in doubt. King – along with Jordan Bone, playing on a two-way contract – checked in to start the second quarter when the Pistons got on a roll offensively. In King’s nine first-half minutes, the Pistons scored 33 points and outscored Memphis by 19. He hit his first shot, a corner triple off of a nice setup from Reggie Jackson (and later missed his only other first-half shot, from the same spot), picked up three rebounds, two assists and a steal. King returned with five minutes left in the third quarter and the Pistons trailing 80-72 and finished the quarter with the Pistons trailing by seven. King finished with three points – he missed two free throws after a strong move to end the third quarter – but shows nice feel in amassing four rebounds, three assists and a steal in his 14 minutes. That topped by one his combined minutes total for the season.
JACKSON-ROSE COMBO – Dwane Casey wanted to get more of a look at the Reggie Jackson-Derrick Rose combo, but probably didn’t have starting them in mind until having his hand forced by illnesses to Bruce Brown and Tony Snell on top of injuries to Luke Kennard and Khyri Thomas. With Jackson still on a tight minutes restriction – he played 19 in his debut on Wednesday after missing 13 weeks – Casey played them together for the first five minutes of the first quarter,but kept Jackson on the bench to start the third quarter, replacing him with Langston Galloway. That was likely a response to the way the Pistons struggled late in the first quarter when both Jackson and Rose sat and the Pistons scored just five points in the final 3:48 of the quarter, during which time Memphis went on a 14-0 run. Rose scored 22 with eight assists to lead the Pistons, giving him 11 straight games of at least 20 points. It’s the longest such streak of his career and the longest for any Pistons player since Rip Hamilton in 2006-07. Jackson scored 14 with six assists in 23 minutes.