FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Thursday night’s 117-100 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at Little Caesars Arena
ON FUMES – Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but it’s a make-or-miss league, the NBA. And the Pistons simply missed too many of the 3-point shots Dwane Casey’s offense is designed to create to win their home opener. Openers are emotional experiences and the Pistons spilled a fair amount of collective energy in mustering a rousing win at Indiana to open the season 24 hours earlier. Trying to rise to that level again the next night in another emotional opener, the home debut at Little Caesars Arena, proved a little much for them. It didn’t help that the Hawks were off on Wednesday and playing their first game, either. The Pistons looked gassed in the fourth quarter when – after cutting a 14-point deficit to six with a 9-1 run – they just as quickly allowed a 7-0 Hawks run sparked by two sloppy turnovers. Then again, maybe if they’d have sunk a few more of the 37 3-point shots their offense created instead of the 10 they wound up making, their fatigue wouldn’t have been so costly. After surrendering 38 points in a first quarter in which Atlanta shot 60 percent and Trae Young scored 16 points, the Pistons closed the first half on a 12-0 run to take a three-point lead. They were up five in the third quarter when a technical foul on Markieff Morris kick started a 29-12 run as Atlanta took a 12-point lead late in the third quarter. They just couldn’t generate enough scoring to put the heat on Atlanta and see how the young Hawks dealt with a tight road game.
A HANDFUL – Second-year guard Trae Young of the Hawks almost ran the Pistons out of the gym in the first half when he scored 26 points and racked up six assists in 19 minutes. Bruce Brown picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter and Dwane Casey turned to Langston Galloway to take on the job of chasing Young. Casey also tweaked his coverage, sending Andre Drummond to more aggressively trap Young coming around screens. The Pistons limited Young to just three shots in the final five minutes of the first half, the last two misses on a contested three that didn’t draw iron and a tough runner in the paint. Young was held to just one basket in the third quarter – a deep 3-pointer – but he was on the bench for most of the run the Hawks made late in the quarter when they surged to their 12-point lead. Young finished with 37 points, padding his total with some late free throws with the Pistons in scramble mode. He hit 6 of 10 from the 3-point arc.
ROSE ON A ROLL – Through two games, that Derrick Rose contract looks like one of the steals of the summer. A night after scoring 18 points and helping the Pistons to a massive edge in bench scoring, Rose led the Pistons with 27 points on 11 of 16 shooting. Dwane Casey isn’t handing out details voluntarily, but says the Pistons have a plan to manage Rose’s minutes. Rose said in training camp that he wasn’t expecting to sit out the second game of back to backs, though every indication is the Pistons will at least be cautious in how hard they push him in those circumstances. Rose, a night after playing nearly 27 minutes in the season-opening win at Indiana, was used for a shorter burst in the first quarter, just 4:45. He scored 15 first-half points in a little less than 11 minutes, hitting 7 of 8 shots. But Reggie Jackson reaggravated his lower-back tightness early in the third quarter and that scrambled Casey’s master plan. Tim Frazier came on for a few minutes to bridge the gap until it was time to turn it over to Rose midway through the third quarter and he then played two minutes into the fourth quarter before Frazier returned. Rose wound up playing 25 minutes against Atlanta.