FAST BREAKDOWN
Three quick observations from Wednesday night’s 98-94 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Center
BLUEPRINT WIN – That was a big chunk of Dwane Casey’s recipe for winning: take care of the basketball, don’t foul, don’t give up 3-point shots. If their best shooters had shot it a little better, they’d have won going away. Instead they needed Reggie Bullock’s alert play to bat a loose ball ahead and dunk with 14.5 seconds left to stretch a three-point lead to five. The Pistons committed only nine turnovers, limited New Orleans to nine free-throw attempts and held them to 22 3-point shots, nine of them in the fourth quarter, to win their first game in New Orleans in their last 10 tries. They earned the win despite 33 percent 3-point shooting as Reggie Bullock (1 of 8), Langston Galloway (2 of 8) and Luke Kennard (0 of 3) combined to shoot just 6 of 29 overall. The Pistons led by 10 at halftime and by 13 late in the third quarter, but an 8-0 run early in the fourth when Pistons reserves scored on just one of seven possessions helped the Pelicans take a one-point lead with eight minutes to play. But Galloway answered with a basket and a Reggie Jackson (17 points) triple opened a four-point lead. Blake Griffin scored 20 of his 37 in the first quarter when he either scored (six) or assisted (three) on all nine Pistons baskets in addition to hitting 5 of 6 free throws. Anthony Davis missed the game for New Orleans after suffering a broken finger last week. Andre Drummond and Ish Smith were missing for the Pistons. The Pistons had lost 12 of their last 13 overall to New Orleans.
IRON MEN MISS ANOTHER – The three games Andre Drummond has missed while in concussion protocol mark the longest stretch of games he’s missed consecutively since a 20-game absence in his rookie season due to a stress reaction in his lower back. In fact, other than that 20-game absence and the two games Drummond sat to end last season with the Pistons mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, he’d never missed consecutive games in his career. Drummond played in 81, 82, 81, 81 and 78 games in his second through sixth NBA seasons entering this season. Ish Smith was the only Pistons player to appear in more games than Drummond the past two seasons – 163 out of 164 – and he, too, missed a third consecutive game Wednesday while dealing with tightness in the area of the right adductor muscle that caused him to miss six weeks and 19 games before returning for three games last week.
ROTATION JAM – Dwane Casey has gone back and forth over the past week-plus between Langston Galloway and Khyri Thomas as to who gets first call for the last rotation spot. Casey said before Wednesday’s game that he’ll usually determine before the game which one to use based on whether he thinks the Pistons need more offense (Galloway) or defense (Thomas). But he’s also looking for ways to get Thomas more minutes to hasten his development and said he’ll sometimes give him some second-quarter minutes with that in mind and then determine a second-half rotation based on game situation. It was Galloway who got the call at New Orleans, playing 28 minutes despite struggling with his shot. Casey gave him a tough defensive matchup, too, guarding Pelicans All-Star Jrue Holiday, who finished with 29 points, five rebounds and seven assists.