HOUSTON – You might have made yourself a lot of money if you’d have bet the Pistons to win the last three games of their interminable road trip after they dropped the first three.
You might have, that is, if they’d shot with even half of their typical 3-point proficiency.
Instead, the Pistons – who came into Houston, against the team with the NBA’s best record, No. 6 in NBA 3-point shooting at 37.3 percent – shot 15.8 percent and even that took them making their last two in the final 20 seconds of overtime with the game all but out of reach.
Before that, they clanked 32 of the 36 triples they launched. Blake Griffin had made nearly half of his triples over the past nine games; he missed his first six, making one with 20 seconds left after Houston held the Pistons to two points in the first 4:40 of overtime and held an eight-point lead. Ish Smith followed with one 16 seconds later.
Too little, too late.
“We just … we couldn’t make a shot,” Stan Van Gundy said. “Their defense had a lot to do with it. I mean, we were 4 of 36 from three (and) we made the last two to go 6 for 38 to bring us up to 15 percent.”
Reggie Bullock – shooting 47 percent from the 3-point arc since becoming a full-time starter in mid-December, better than any other NBA starter taking more than three triples a game – made 2 of 7. Ish Smith (two) and Stanley Johnson – both shooting less than 30 percent from the arc – hit half of the Pistons’ six total triples. Luke Kennard, shooting 40 percent from the arc and 50 percent in the previous five games of the road trip, missed all five of his. Reggie Jackson was blanked in six attempts.
“It’s disappointing. I’m disappointed in myself,” said Kennard, who otherwise played well with 14 points. “But it honestly kind of excites me the way we fought, the way we played. We play hard, we play together and we play like that, we’re going to be a pretty good team.”
To be sure, even though the Rockets played without Chris Paul, to hold a team averaging nearly 114 a game 26 below that in regulation – it was both Houston’s lowest-scoring four quarters and worst shooting of the season – should come with a greater reward than an overtime loss.
And for a minute, it looked like the Pistons would get it. Trailing by nine with 4:53 to play – neither team held a double-digits lead all night – the Pistons went on an 11-0 run to take the lead on Kennard’s two free throws with 1:33 left. They followed by forcing a Harden missed layup, but missed two triples on their next possession.
Harden missed another layup with less than 35 seconds left but P.J. Tucker was credited with two points when his follow was ruled goaltending on Andre Drummond. The call was confirmed by replay.
“That’s a tough one,” Van Gundy said. “I hate to sound fatalistic. It’s just that kind of year. He goes up to get the rebound – you can’t fault him for that. It wasn’t a dumb play. I honestly thought when they went to replay, I thought he was good. They have the replay, so I’m not arguing the call. I’m just saying it was close enough that he didn’t do anything wrong in terms of his effort to get the rebound.”
Griffin and Harden both missed shots to win in the final 10 seconds, then Harden got Houston rolling in overtime and scored 10 of its 12 points, six at the line. After scoring two baskets in 35 minutes of regulation, Harden scored two in the first two minutes of overtime and Houston never trailed.
Stanley Johnson opened the game on Harden but picked up two quick fouls – neither against Harden – so Bullock spent most of the night on him. Kennard, Johnson and James Ennis also had their turns. Harden wound up 4 of 20 from the field and missed all eight of his 3-pointers.
“Tried not to let him get easily to the free-throw line,” Griffin said. “I’m sure he averages the most free throws in the league” – he does, more than 10 a game – “so just try to make his drives tough on him, not give him wide-open threes and not let him get to the free-throw line. Stan, James, Reggie, Luke – whoever guarded him did an excellent job the whole night.”
All the Pistons needed to do was shoot 15 percent from the arc in regulation instead of 12.5 percent or make 11 free throws instead of 10 in 19 tries. But after the road trip began with a demoralizing rout at Utah and followed with hard-fought losses at Denver and Portland, the Pistons got Reggie Jackson back and seemed to find something over the last three games across four nights.
“We’ve played hard for the most part and that always gives you a fight chance,” Griffin said. “Even on a night like tonight, where we didn’t shoot the ball well at all, you see the result. Didn’t come out like we wanted, but I was really proud of how hard we played.”