FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Monday night’s 96-94 win over the Indiana Pacers at Little Caesars Arena
A WIN’S A WIN – After losing their first two home games and scuffling without Blake Griffin and Reggie Jackson, the Pistons aren’t about to quibble with the artistic merit of their win over Indiana. They scored only 37 second-half points, shooting 39 percent, and committed way too many mistakes, but hung on after letting all of an 11-point lead evaporate to get their second win of the season – both against Indiana. Dwane Casey didn’t want to shuffle his starting lineup with Griffin out, hoping he could keep players in the roles he determined best suited team needs after preseason evaluation. But with the first-unit offense sputtering, he decided three games was as much as he could afford the group to find its footing. Luke Kennard went into the starting lineup for Bruce Brown …and, of course, Brown went 3 of 3 from the 3-point arc and Kennard, averaging 19.7 points, struggled to a 14-point night but hit a critical late 3-pointer to pull the Pistons within a point with 1:25 to go. Derrick Rose, dynamic in averaging 25.3 points through the first three games and deadly from mid-range while shooting 65 percent, struggled most of all. He was 3 of 15 shooting when the Pistons got the ball back with about 40 seconds left, trailing by a point, but hesitated not at all in attacking the basket once again – a possession after he’d had a contested shot in traffic not get close to the rim. Rose’s tough left-handed layup put the Pistons ahead 95-94 with 28 seconds to play. The Pistons survived two missed Pacers 3-point attempts on the ensuing possession – the first from Malcolm Brogdon, the second from T.J. Warren – and then had to survive another Warren corner three at the buzzer after Kennard split a pair of free throws with two seconds to play to finish the scoring. The Pistons shut out Indiana on its final four possessions and finished the game on a 6-0 run. The Pistons and Pacers have played twice in the first four games. They’ll meet three times in the first 10 and four – the entire season series – in the first 23 games. They’ll be finished with the Pacers on Dec. 6, nearly three weeks before Christmas.
FRONTCOURT FLOP – It might have been a more subtle tweak to the rotation than swapping Bruce Brown out of the starting lineup for Luke Kennard, but even before Christian Wood went out and did what he did – 19 points and 12 rebounds – he’d apparently leapfrogged Thon Maker in the frontcourt rotation, too. Wood was first off of the bench behind Markieff Morris and wound up essentially sharing minutes at power forward with him. That left the lesser role of sharing minutes at center with Thon Maker, who had been the first big man off of the bench through the first three games, averaging 20 minutes a game to Wood’s 11. In a nine-minute stint in the first half, Wood gave the Pistons 11 points and seven rebounds. Wood hit 8 of 10 shots and went 3 of 3 from the 3-point line in 21 minutes, committing only one of the Pistons 19 turnovers.
TURNOVER TROUBLE AGAIN – A game after coughing it up 23 times, converted into 31 points, in losing to Philadelphia, the Pistons again had turnover issues. Averaging an unsightly 18.3 per game through their first three games, the Pistons kept Indiana in the game with turnovers. They had six in the third quarter alone, a big reason they were only able to score 19 points. Markieff Morris committed four turnovers in 27 minutes of playing time. Andre Drummond contributed five to the total and Derrick Rose four more. The Pistons finished with 19 turnovers for 23 Indiana points. The Pacers stayed in the game with their superb ball security, turning it over only eight times for seven Pistons points.