NEW YORK – Give the Pistons this much: They lost at Brooklyn like they’ve won time and time again for the past month – together.
The reasons they’d fashioned the NBA’s No. 1 offense and No. 1 3-point shooting record since Feb. 1 were many and varied. It starts with getting two healthy point guards, Reggie Jackson and Ish Smith, having Luke Kennard and Langston Galloway both fall into a groove from the 3-point arc, integrating Wayne Ellington into their starting lineup and getting the best sustained stretch of Andre Drummond’s career with a particular uptick in his scoring efficiency and passing.
All of that against the backdrop of Blake Griffin’s consistent excellence.
“All those things are linked together,” Dwane Casey said before Monday’s loss at Brooklyn – where virtually none of those things were present. “Health. We began to screen better. Physical, hard, legal screens became a factor. Ish causes a problem. Wayne Ellington causes another issue. L.G. shooting the ball well. And Luke. Luke has been playing well and Luke’s defense took a step forward. So it’s a combination of a lot of different things.”
All those upward pointing arrows give the Pistons confidence that Monday wasn’t the start of a trend but a blip on the radar screen. They readily admitted Brooklyn caught them on their heels – third game in four nights on a back to back – but the sense in their locker room was of a team confident it would prove their 75-point, 28-percent shooting was an aberration.
“We know what happened tonight,” Langston Galloway said. “We’ve got to look at it, take the positives – a little bit of positives – and build on this and get ready for Miami on Wednesday.”
Here’s a snapshot of the East playoff picture and the teams the Pistons are battling for the final three playoff spots:
6. BROOKLYN – At 36-33, the Nets are a half-game ahead of the Pistons but get only four home games in their final 13. And only the Lakers among their final 13 opponents currently sports a losing record. Brooklyn’s remaining schedule is the NBA’s toughest and by a wide margin, its 13 opponents holding a cumulative winning percentage of .605. The Nets on Wednesday start a stretch of seven consecutive road games. When they finally return home for a three-game stand on March 30, they’ll be faced with three of the top teams in the East: Boston, Milwaukee and Toronto. Then two more tough road games – Milwaukee and Indiana – before hosting Miami to close the season.
7. DETROIT – At 34-32, the Pistons 16 remaining opponents hold a cumulative .502 winning percentage, the NBA’s 13th toughest remaining schedule. The most challenging stretch starts next week with a four-game road trip that takes them to Phoenix, Portland, Golden State and Denver. Even the Phoenix game looks suddenly challenging; the Suns, though 16-52 overall, are 5-5 in their last 10 including wins over the teams favored to meet in the NBA Finals, Milwaukee and Golden State. To finish in the No. 6 spot, the Pistons need to finish with a better record than the Nets. By virtue of Monday’s loss, Brooklyn wins the season series 2-1 to hold the tiebreaker.
8. MIAMI – At 31-35, the Heat are three games behind the Pistons. Miami can close the gap to two games with a win on Wednesday, which would also tie the season series between the teams at 2-2. The Pistons, though, are 24-20 in the Eastern Conference and Miami is 18-22, giving the Pistons the edge for the second tiebreaker with the Heat. Miami’s 16 remaining opponents hold a cumulative winning percentage of .542, giving the Heat the seventh-toughest remaining schedule. Only Dallas and New York among Miami’s remaining 16 games are certain lottery teams.
9. ORLANDO – At 31-37, the Magic are four games behind the Pistons but they can make up some ground over their next five games against certain or likely lottery teams: Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta, New Orleans and Memphis. The Magic, in fact, have the NBA’s fourth-easiest remaining schedule, its 14 remaining opponents holding a cumulative .456 winning percentage. But the Magic have been schizophrenic of late, winning against Golden State, Toronto and Indiana since Feb. 24 but losing to Cleveland, Memphis and New York. The Pistons currently are up 2-1 over Orlando in their season series with the Magic coming to Little Caesars Arena on March 28. Orlando’s record against Eastern Conference teams is 21-19.
10. CHARLOTTE – At 30-37, the Hornets are fading fast and sit 4½ games behind the Pistons. Charlotte is 4-11 in its last 15 games and has the ninth-toughest remaining schedule, its 15 remaining opponents holding a cumulative winning percentage of .529. The Hornets have just five home games left and four of them are against Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto and San Antonio. The Hornets play at the Pistons on April 7, but they’ve already won the season series, winning all three games the teams have played to date.